“If they did, then the witch must be dead or something,” the soldier said. “You saw them. They were living wild in that cave. That mother cat must have carried her kitten all the way here in the night. Marvelous, isn’t it? She must have known we’d help her!” He looked up at the huge beast snarling on the rock and did not seem to notice the size of it. “Come on down, sweet thing!” he said wheedlingly. “You know we won’t hurt you or your kitten.”

The mother beast launched herself from the rock. Abdullah gave a strangled scream, dodged, and sat down heavily. The great black body hurtled past above him—and to his surprise, the soldier started to laugh. Abdullah looked up indignantly to find that the beast had become a small black cat again, and was most affectionately walking about on the soldier’s broad shoulder and rubbing herself on his face.

“Oh, you’re a wonder, little Midnight!” The soldier chuckled. “You know I’ll take care of your Whippersnapper for you, don’t you? That’s right. You purr!”

Abdullah got up disgustedly and turned his back on this love feast. The saucepan had been cleaned out very thoroughly in the night. The tin plate was burnished. He went and washed both, meaningly, in the stream, hoping the soldier would soon forget these dangerous magical beasts and begin thinking about breakfast.

But when the soldier finally put the hat down and tenderly plucked the mother cat off his shoulder, it was breakfast for cats that he thought about. “They’ll need milk,” he said, “and a nice plate of fresh fish. Get that genie of yours to fetch them some.”

A jet of blue-mauve spurted from the neck of the bottle and spread into a sketch of the genie’s irritated face. “Oh, no,” said the genie. “One wish a day is all I give, and he had today’s wish yesterday. Go and fish in the stream.”

The soldier advanced on the genie angrily. “There won’t be any fish this high in the mountain,” he said. “And that little Midnight is starving, and she’s got her kitten to feed.”

“Too bad!” said the genie. “And don’t you try to threaten me, soldier. Men have become toads for less.”

The soldier was certainly a brave man—or a very foolish one, Abdullah thought. “You do that to me, and I’ll break your bottle, whatever shape I’m in!” he shouted. “I’m not wanting a wish for myself!”

“I prefer people to be selfish,” the genie retorted. “So you want to be a toad?”