"After a long while they closed and wrestled together, and although the Prince bit at his neck, the old one brought up his hind claws and scratched, and Ninebirds' fur was scattered in the air. When they broke apart, Ninebirds was full of surprise that this lean elder could do him such harm.

" 'You have lost much of your pelt, O Prince,' said the old one. 'Will you renounce your claim?' Angered, the Prince charged, and they fell again to fighting. The old one caught the Prince's tail between his teeth, and when the Prince tried to turn and rend his face, the elder pulled his tail from his body. The Folk hissed with astonishment and fear as Ninebirds wheeled bloodily around and faced the old cat once more, who was himself wounded and panting.

" 'You have lost your fur and tail, O Prince. Will you not also yield your claim?1 Maddened by pain, Ninebirds flung himself on the ancient one, and they wrestled-spitting and swiping, blood and tears glistening in the sun. At last the challenger wedged Prince Ninebirds' hindquarters beneath a root of the Vaka'az'me.

"As the dirt settled, an excited shock ran through those watching-in the last battling, quantities of white dust had been knocked free from the coat of the challenger. His muzzle was no longer gray, and his paws and legs shone the color of flame. 'You see me revealed, Ninebirds,' he said. 'I am Lord Tangaloor Firefoot, son of Harar, and it is by my command that there is no King of Cats.'

" 'You are a brave cat, O Prince,' he continued, 'but your insolence may not go unpunished.' With that, Firefoot caught the scruff of the Prince's neck and pulled, stretching his body and legs until they were thrice as long as a cat's are meant to be. He then pulled the Prince loose from the tree root and said: Tailless and hairless, long and ungainly have I made you. Go now, and come never more to the Court of Harar. you who would have usurped his power. But this doom I lay on you: that you shall serve any member of the Folk who commands you, and so shall all of your descendants, until I release vour line from this bane.'