: A fraudster passes off a street cat as a thoroughbred and sells it to a wealthy family. Despite a well-fed life, a freedom-loving cat escapes, returns to its slums and stays there forever.

First life

Every morning, a New York meat delivery man came to feed a poor quarter. Those lucky ones whose owners paid for this servant in advance received food. Cats that were not listed sat at a distance, hoping for a happy occasion.

Among them was a gray, skinny slum cat. She was lucky that day - she stole a piece of liver. After eating, the cat went to her kittens and found that a huge black cat was eating them. She rushed at the enemy and drove him away, but only one kitten remained alive - gray, with black stripes and white spots on the nose, ears and tip of the tail.

This kitten received all motherly love, designed for six. Once, a cat-mother smelled a delicious smell of raw fish. He brought her to the port, where a dog attacked her and drove her aboard the ship, which soon set sail. The cat is gone forever.

The kitten was left alone. In search of food, he wandered into a bird seller's shop, where a Negro worker fed him. The owner of the shop did not need a slum kitten, and the Negro carried it to the next block.

The kitten found a courtyard with a trash can in which it was possible to find food, and settled there. Time passed. The kitten learned to look for food, to escape from dogs and boys. He knew how to remove covers from milk cans that the milkman left on the doorstep of the house, and drank fresh milk every day.

Exploring the quarter, the kitten found himself in the backyard of a bird shop and found the box in which he was born. Tasty mice were found in this courtyard, and the kitten settled there.

By this time, the kitten has become a big beautiful cat. One day in August, that black cat who once ate her brothers and sisters wandered into her yard. The enemy drove off a yellow cat, from which a couple of months later the cat gave birth to kittens.

Nothing conquers a woman’s heart like victory on the battlefield.

Once, after returning from a successful hunt, the cat found a rabbit who had escaped from a bird shop. She was full, so she did not kill the rabbit, but threw it into the box to her kittens. The rabbit became a member of the cat family and sucked milk along with other kittens.

Two weeks later, the owner of the shop noticed the kittens and ordered the black man to kill them. Only the little rabbit survived; he replaced the dead kittens with the cat. The owner of the shop saw them, put him in a cage and began to show visitors.

The little rabbit soon became ill and died, and the cat yearned for free life. Unfortunately, during the days of her imprisonment, she washed her skin well and turned out to be so beautiful that the owner of the shop kept it.

Second life

The owner of the bird shop was Japanese Mali. He was born in a London suburb, but for his very narrow and slanting eyes he was nicknamed Japanese. Cheap canaries and rabbits were just cover. In fact, the Japanese made money by harboring stolen cats and dogs.

Not without ambition, the Japanese dreamed of getting to the exhibition of cats of elite breeds for free. Once he found a newspaper article on how to breed cats on fur. Guided by the advice from the article, the Japanese turned a slum cat into a beauty with luxurious fur of an unusual shade.

The Japanese decided to pass off a slum cat as an elite and came up with the name of the “new breed” - Royal Analostanka, named after Analostan Island, where his Negro Sammy was born. Then the Japanese made a fake pedigree, according to which the Royal Analostanka was born in a palace in the far East and is the only representative of the breed.

The cat was taken to the exhibition, where she received a gold medal. Then the Japanese sold it for a hundred dollars to a very wealthy family. The cat turned out to be too wild for the elite, but all its slum-like habits were mistaken for aristocratic eccentricities.

Despite her well-fed life, the cat yearned for freedom, but she was not allowed to leave the house. Once, seizing the moment, she fled and returned to the bird shop, but the Japanese caught her and returned her to the owners for a reward.

... instead of being disappointed in her former hungry life and rejoicing in a cozy corner, she became more wild and irritable.

In the spring, a wealthy family went to their country estate. They took the Royal Analostanka with them, hoping that a change of place would cure her of melancholy. The cat was carried in a basket, she did not see the road, but she smelled and remembered them well.

At the estate, the cat became attached to a thick cook who smelled of native slums. She almost came to terms with life in captivity, when at the end of summer a large bale was brought to the estate, which smelled of port and slums. This smell reminded the cat of her free past.

The next day, the fat cook was fired, and the cat was orphaned. Then the master’s son tied a tin to the cat’s tail, she severely scratched the boy and for this she got a lot from the mistress. The cat's patience burst, and at night she fled.

Third life

Focusing only on smells, the cat made a difficult and dangerous journey from a country estate to a native slum and found that the familiar buildings no longer exist. The slum area, including a bird shop, was demolished to build a large bridge.

Love for the motherland was its main engine. She sacrificed everything in the world to return to the house, which ceased to exist, and for the first time her brave heart was filled with despair.

The cat tried to return to her wealthy owners, but they were not yet in the city, and the doorman did not recognize the magnificent Royal Analostanka in the emaciated slum and drove her away.

The cat settled in the next quarter, where there was little food and many competitors. By October, many cats died of starvation, but the strong and young Analostanka survived.

During this time, a tall building was built in the ruined quarter. The cat went to examine him and met an old friend - Negro Sammy, who worked there as a lift and cleaner. He recognized the cat and fed it.

Fourth life

The cat began to often come to the door of the building and eventually realized that Sammy was her only friend. Once a cat found a huge dead rat. She was full and decided to hide the prey, but she saw her old enemy - a dog from the shipyard, and rushed to the building where Sammy worked.

Head Sammy saw a cat with a huge rat in his mouth and decided that she herself had caught her. The Negro was not at a loss and confirmed that this cat caught all the rats in the building. Such a cat had to be protected, and the chief undertook to pay the peddler of meat.

The cat liked the new life. Every day she received a piece of liver, lived with Sammy, but was completely free.

It is unlikely that she wised up after her wanderings, but now she knows well what she wants and gets what she wants.

The cat still did not know how to catch rats, but Sammy periodically threw dead pests into the lobby of the building so that the boss could see them and continue to pay the peddler. From time to time, the Negro sold the Royal Analostanka, knowing that the cat would return home anyway.

The wool of the Analogostanka became luxurious again, she was considered an aristocrat, but in her soul she remained a freedom-loving slum cat.

The retelling is based on the translation of N. Chukovsky.