The light of intelligence... A Turkisk Angora cat, Catlar Diana of Akkedi, at a show in Moscow in 2009.
AN Angora Cat belonging to a Carthusian monastery at Paris discovered that, when a certain bell rang, the cook left the kitchen to answer it, leaving the monks’ dinners, portioned out in plates, unprotected.
The plan the Cat adopted was to ring the bell, the handle of which hung outside the kitchen by the side of a window, to leap through the window, and back again when she had secured one of the portions. This little manœuvre she carried on for some weeks before the perpetrator of the robbery was discovered; and there is no saying, during this lapse of time, how many innocent persons were unjustly suspected.
When, however, they found out that Pussy was the wrong-doer, they allowed her to pursue her nefarious career, and charged visitors a small fee to be allowed to see her do it.
Précis
A cat belonging to a Parisian monastery worked out that by tapping a little bell, she could get cook out of the kitchen long enough for a lightning raid the monks’ dinner-plates. When her ruse was uncovered at last, the monks did not exact retribution. They charged vistors admission to watch the little thief at work. (56 / 60 words)