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Speaker 1: Hello friends, and welcome to sleep Tight Stories. A short

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Speaker 1: message for grown ups. We are committed to making sleep

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Speaker 1: time easier and to bring joy and calm to your children.

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Speaker 1: If you would like a library full of bedtime stories

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Speaker 1: at your fingertips, along with sleep sounds, guided meditations and

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Speaker 1: Tight Premium. Visit sleep Tightpremium dot com to start your

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Speaker 1: free trial today. The link can be found in our

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Speaker 1: show notes. Thank you. Do you like cats? I used

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Speaker 1: to have a cat named Jenny. She was a very

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Speaker 1: unique cat. She would almost talk to us when we

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Speaker 1: got home and love to sleep on our pillows between

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Speaker 1: our heads and the headboard of the bed. Cats can

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Speaker 1: be very fun, but they also fight sometimes. The cats

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Speaker 1: in this story are going to fight, but something makes

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Speaker 1: them stop. Silver Tip stops a quarrel. This is the

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Speaker 1: story of something which did not really have been in

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Speaker 1: the dooryard of the Big House, yet it has seemed

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Speaker 1: best to tell it this way because it could all

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Speaker 1: be seen from that yard, and because Silvertip the cat,

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Speaker 1: had a part in it. He was sitting quietly upon

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Speaker 1: the broad top rail of the fence one afternoon, wishing

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Speaker 1: that the sun would shine again. It had rained most

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Speaker 1: of the time for three days, and he did not

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Speaker 1: like wet weather. He thought it was going to clear off,

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Speaker 1: for the clouds had not sent any drops down since noon.

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Speaker 1: The grass and walks were still damp, so we sat

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Speaker 1: on the fence rail. He had stayed in the house

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Speaker 1: so long that he was tired of it. And he

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Speaker 1: was also watching a pair of robins who built a

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Speaker 1: nest on one of the upstairs window ledges. They had

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Speaker 1: put it right on top of last year's robin's nest,

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Speaker 1: and that was on top of the one from the

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Speaker 1: year before. You can see that it was well worth

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Speaker 1: looking at. Silver Tip had been here only a short

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Speaker 1: time when he saw mister Whitecat from another house walking

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Speaker 1: over to the one across the street. Miss Tabbycat lived there,

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Speaker 1: and he knew that mister Tiger Cat was around somewheres.

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Speaker 1: Mister Whitecat looked very cross. He was one of those

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Speaker 1: people who are good natured only when the sun is

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Speaker 1: shining and they have everything they want. And this, you know,

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Speaker 1: is not the best sort of person, un said Silvertip

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Speaker 1: to himself. I think there will be a fight before long.

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Speaker 1: I will watch. He stood up and stretched himself carefully,

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Speaker 1: and sat down the other way so as to see

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Speaker 1: all that happened. Silvertip himself never fought. He spent a

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Speaker 1: great deal of time in making believe fight, and usually

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Speaker 1: entertained his cat collars by glaring, spitting, or even growling

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Speaker 1: at them. But he never really clawed and scratched and bit.

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Speaker 1: He did not care to have sore places all over him,

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Speaker 1: and he did not wish to get his ears chewed on.

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Speaker 1: I can get what I want without fighting for it,

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Speaker 1: so why should I fight? He said. He was a

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Speaker 1: very good sort of cat, and had never really been

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Speaker 1: cross about anything, except when the little boy came to

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Speaker 1: live in the big house. Then he had been sulky

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Speaker 1: for weeks and would not stay in the room with

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Speaker 1: the little boy at all. He thought that if he

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Speaker 1: made enough fuss about it, the gentleman and the lady

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Speaker 1: would not let the little boy live there. When he

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Speaker 1: found the little boy would stay anyway, he stopped being

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Speaker 1: cross after a while. He loved him too. No, silver

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Speaker 1: Tip would not fight, but he very much liked to

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Speaker 1: watch other cats fight. Now he saw Miss Tabby sit

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Speaker 1: quietly by the house across the street, and right in

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Speaker 1: front of a hole under the porch. She had her

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Speaker 1: legs tucked beneath her and her tail neatly folded around them.

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Speaker 1: She looked as though she had found a small spot

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Speaker 1: which was dry and wanted to get all of herself

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Speaker 1: on that. Just inside the open doorway of the barn,

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Speaker 1: there sat mister tiger Cat. He also had his legs

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Speaker 1: tucked in and his tail folded around him. Mister Whitecat

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Speaker 1: walked straight up to him and stood stiff leg Mister

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Speaker 1: tiger cat, who had just eaten a hearty meal and

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Speaker 1: wanted an after dinner nap, half opened his eyes and

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Speaker 1: looked at him, then closed them again. This made mister

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Speaker 1: white cat more ill natured. Still, he did not like

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Speaker 1: to have people look at him and then shut their eyes.

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Speaker 1: He began to switch his tail and stand his hair

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Speaker 1: on end. He decided to make the other cat fight anyway.

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Speaker 1: He cared all the more about it because miss Tabb

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Speaker 1: was watching him. He had not noticed silvertip er, he said,

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Speaker 1: drawing back his head and lowering his tail stiffly. Did

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Speaker 1: you say it was going to rain or did you

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Speaker 1: say it was not? I hardly think it will, answered

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Speaker 1: mister tiger cat pleasantly. You don't think it will, hey,

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Speaker 1: asked mister whitecat. Well, I say it will. Poor mister

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Speaker 1: tiger cat slid his thin eyelids over his eyes. Did

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Speaker 1: you hear me, asked mister whitecat, still standing in the

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Speaker 1: same way, certainly answered the other. Well what do you

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Speaker 1: say to that, asked mister whitecat, And now he began

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Speaker 1: to stand straighter and hold his tail out behind. I

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Speaker 1: am willing it should pour, said mister tiger cat, beginning

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Speaker 1: to uncover his eyes slowly. Oh you are, growled mister whitecat.

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Speaker 1: You are are you well? I am not. There was

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Speaker 1: no answer. You see, mister tiger cat did not want

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Speaker 1: to fight. He did not need to just then, and

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Speaker 1: he never fought for the fun of it when his

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Speaker 1: stomach was so full. He supposed he would have to

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Speaker 1: in the end, for he knew when a fellow has

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Speaker 1: really made up his mind to it and is picking

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Speaker 1: a quarrel, it has to end in that way. At

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Speaker 1: least it has to end in that way when one

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Speaker 1: is a cat. If one is bigger and better, there

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Speaker 1: are other ways of ending it. Mister tiger cat knew

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Speaker 1: all this, and yet he waited the longer I wait,

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Speaker 1: he thought, the more, I shall feel like it. My

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Speaker 1: stomach will not be so full, and I can fight better.

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Speaker 1: He needn't think he can come around and pick a

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Speaker 1: quarrel and chew my ears when miss Tabby is looking on. No, Indeed,

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Speaker 1: you see, mister tiger cat was also fond of Miss Tabby. Her,

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Speaker 1: said mister Whitecat, straightening his legs until he stood very tall.

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Speaker 1: Indeed her, he had made himself so angry now that

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Speaker 1: he could not talk in words at all. Mister tiger

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Speaker 1: cat sat still, her, said mister whitecat, speaking way down

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Speaker 1: in his throat. Er. Mister tiger cat still sat still.

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Speaker 1: Silvertip became so excited that he could not stay any

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Speaker 1: longer on the fence. He dearly loved to see a

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Speaker 1: good fight, you know, So he jumped quietly down, without

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Speaker 1: looking away from the barn door, and began walking softly

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Speaker 1: toward it. He knew that when a cat got to

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Speaker 1: sing er down in his throat, something was going to

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Speaker 1: happen very soon. Silvertip did not know, however, exactly what

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Speaker 1: it would be, because he did not see a couple

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Speaker 1: of big dogs trotting down the street toward him. He

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Speaker 1: crept nearer and nearer to the barn, hardly looking where

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Speaker 1: he stepped for fear of missing some of the fun.

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Speaker 1: His pretty white paw got wet and dirty, but that

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Speaker 1: did not matter now. Pause can be licked clean at

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Speaker 1: any time. Fights must be watched while they may be found. Ah,

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Speaker 1: said mister whitecat, giving a forward jumps, answered mister tiger cat,

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Speaker 1: standing stiffly on his hind feet and letting his front

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Speaker 1: ones hang straight down. He was wide awake now and

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Speaker 1: ready to teach mister whitecat a lesson in politeness, said

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Speaker 1: the dogs just behind silvertip. He might have run up

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Speaker 1: a tree nearby, but he had a bright idea. I'll

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Speaker 1: do it, he exclaimed. The little boy says it is

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Speaker 1: not good to fight anyway. Then he ran straight in

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Speaker 1: through that open door and jumped to a high shelf

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Speaker 1: in the barn. He saw miss Tabby turn a somersault

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Speaker 1: backwards and crawl under the porch. Mister tiger cat took

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Speaker 1: a long jump to the sill of a high window.

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Speaker 1: Mister white cat did not seem to care at all

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Speaker 1: whether it was going to pour or not. He sprang

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Speaker 1: to the top rung of a ladder. The dogs frisked below,

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Speaker 1: wagging their tails and talking to each other about the cats.

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Speaker 1: Mister Tiger Cat, who was very well bred and could

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Speaker 1: always think of something polite to say, remarked to Silvertip,

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Speaker 1: your call was quite an unexpected pleasure. He had a

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Speaker 1: smiling look around the mouth as he spoke. Yes, answered Silvertip,

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Speaker 1: who liked a joke as well as anybody, unless it

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Speaker 1: were a joke on himself alone. Yes, I found myself

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Speaker 1: coming this way and just ran in. Then they both

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Speaker 1: settled down comfortably where they were, tucking their feet under

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Speaker 1: them and wrapping their tails around. Nobody said anything to

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Speaker 1: mister Whitecat, who had no chance to sit down, and

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Speaker 1: indeed could hardly keep from falling off the ladder. The

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Speaker 1: dogs frisked and tumbled in the barn for a while

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Speaker 1: and hung around the foot of the ladder. They knew

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Speaker 1: that they could not get either of the cats to chase,

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Speaker 1: but they had a happy hope that mister Whitecat might

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Speaker 1: come down. When at last the dogs had gone and

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Speaker 1: mister Whitecat had also snuck away, mister Tiger said fighting

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Speaker 1: is very wrong, Yes, replied Silvertip, very wrong indeed, But

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Speaker 1: he added, I'll make belief fight anybody. So he jumped

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Speaker 1: stiffly down, and mister Tiger Cat jumped stiffly down. And

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Speaker 1: they glared and growled at each other all afternoon and

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Speaker 1: never bit or even unsheathed a claw. They had a

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Speaker 1: most delightful time, and Miss Tabby came out from under

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Speaker 1: the porch and smiled at them both. She loved cats

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Speaker 1: who acted bravely, and that is the end of the story.

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Speaker 1: Good night, sleep tight, but