Mystery of the Golden Cat. Eleanor Beatrice Coerr
The Mystery of the Golden Cat
by ELEANOR COERR
CHARLES E. TUTTLE COMPANY
| Rutland. Vermont | Tokyo. Japan |
Representatives
For Continental Europe:
BOXERBOOKS, INC., Zurich
For the British Isles:
PRENTICE-HALL INTERNATIONAL, INC., London
For Australasia:
PAUL FLESCH & CO., PTY. LTD., Melbourne
For Canada:
M. G. HURTIG, LTD., Edmonton
Published by the Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc.
of Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan
with editorial offices at
Osaki Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0032
Copyright in Japan, 1968
by Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 68-13871
ISBN: 978-1-4629-1273-5 (ebook)
First printing, 1968
PRINTED IN JAPAN
This book is dedicated
to those citizens of Thailand
who smilingly answered my questions
and posed for many pictures
with infinite patience and charm
Table of Contents
Chapter One: The Night Visitor
Chapter Two: A Big Splash
Chapter Three: Fuss on a Bus
Chapter Four: The Missing Shoes
Chapter Five: Golden Gat Plays Detective
Chapter Six: Golden Cat's Secret
To read this story, be ready to let the "Land of Smiles" or Siam, as Thailand is sometimes called, cast its magic spell over you.
In Bangkok, drifting down one of the many canals in a sampan, you will admire houses on floating pontoons and be dazzled by gleaming golden spires that almost scrape the sky. A thrill will tingle your spine as you watch dancers wearing frightening demon masks leap and twirl through the air. If you look closely, you may even catch a glimpse of the pee, mischievous little elves who love to play tricks on visitors. With luck, you may run your fingers through the golden fur of a royal Siamese cat.
Such an extraordinary cat would bring you much good fortune, because Siamese cats are very, very special as you will discover while reading The Mystery of the Golden Cat.
Chapter One
The Night Visitor
Dang and his sister Malee lived in Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. The great Menam River runs through the city. It is called the "Mother of Rivers."
Many of the streets in Bangkok are canals. The canals are called klong and they all meet in the Mother of Rivers.
Hundreds of golden temples glitter in the sunshine. Those that stand alongside the river and klong are reflected in the water.
Wooden houses on high stilts line both sides of the busy klong. Dang and Malee lived in one of the houses on stilts. Their mother, father, baby sister, and grandmother lived there, too.
Dang's father was a mailman. Every day he went out in his mailboat to deliver letters up and down the river and klong. His boat and the family boat were tied to the landing porch.
It was the night before Children's Day—the biggest holiday in the year for Thai children. Bangkok, the "City of Angels," was asleep.
The King and Queen were asleep in their golden palace.
The monks were asleep in the temples.
Down by the river, Dang and Malee were asleep, too.
The house creaked and groaned. The sound of wooden joints cracking in the cool night air woke Malee.
"What's that noise?" she whispered, raising herself on one elbow to listen.
Suddenly she saw a shadowy form crouching on the window sill against the starry sky.
"Dang!" Malee called. "Dang! Wake up!"
"What is it?" her brother sleepily asked. "What's the matter?"
"I'm frightened," Malee said in a shaky voice. "There's a ghost on our window sill."
"Oh, is that all!" Dang smothered a yawn. "It's just your imagination."
A faint "Tokay! Tokay!" came from a corner of the room.
"See," he said, "it's only a lizard."
"No, it's not." Malee was close to ears. "The ghost is on the window sill. I can see it! The tokay is on the floor."
Dang was wide awake now. When he saw the shadow, he felt a little tingle of fear. But Thai boys are taught to take care of the family, so he tried to sound very grown-up.
"Mypenrye! Never mind! It must be the ghost that comes around at night to pull our toes. He won't hurt us."
"Oh-h-h," wailed Malee, "let's call grandmother!"
"Don't forget that I'm a boy scout," Dang said stoutly. "I'm not afraid of any old ghost." Why, on his boy scout camping trip, Dang had learned how to deal with ferocious tigers. Besides, in Thai language, boy scout is "the son of a tiger."
He slowly put one bare foot down, then another, onto the smooth wooden floor.
Malee held her breath and buried her face in the pillow.
Click! In a moment, the bedroom was flooded with light as Dang found the switch and turned it on. He laughed with relief when he saw a surprised cat blinking back at him from the window sill.
"Hey!" he yelled. "It's only a cat."
Malee sat up and rubbed her eyes. "I'm a silly monkey to be afraid of a cat."
"This is a Children's Day surprise," Dang said, stroking the cat's cream-colored fur. "I wonder where it came from?"
Malee pattered