[fantasyfan]

If you like The Child's Garden of Verses by R.L.Stevenson and also love cats you might be interested in the delightful collection by Oliver Hereford The Kittens's Garden of Verses {1911} available as a free e-book from Project Gutenberg. It is a very fond pastiche of the Stevenson original. The gentle illustrations are by the author.

Here is the first poem by Stevenson:

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

And here is te opening poem by Herford:


In Winter when the air is chill,
And winds are blowing loud and shrill,
All snug and warm I sit and purr,
Wrapped in my overcoat of fur.

In Summer quite the other way,
I find it very hot all day,
But Human People do not care,
For they have nice thin clothes to wear.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the world is like a stew,
And I am much too warm to purr,
I have to wear my Winter Fur?

This pastiche is really very charming. I have a copy on my Kindle and Apple devices. The iPad gives the illustrations in colour.