The cat had the ball hung round his neck day and night , and he was such a light sleeper that it was useless to think of taking it while he slept . No ! the only thing was to get him to lend it of his own accord , and after some days the lion -LRB- who was not at all clever -RRB- hit upon a plan that he thought would do . ` Dear me , how dull it is here ! ' said the lion one afternoon , when the rain was pouring down in such torrents that , however sharp your eyes or your nose might be , you could not spy a single bird or beast among the bushes . ` Dear me , how dull , how dreadfully dull I am . Could n't we have a game of catch with that golden ball of yours ? ' ' I do n't care about playing catch , it does not amuse me , ' answered the cat , who was as cross as ever ; for no cat , even to this day , ever forgets an injury done to him . ` Well , then , lend me the ball for a little , and I will play by myself , ' replied the lion , stretching out a paw as he spoke . ` You ca n't play in the rain , and if you did , you would only lose it in the bushes , ' said the cat . ` Oh , no , I wo n't ; I will play in here . Do n't be so ill-natured . ' And with a very bad grace the cat untied the string and threw the golden ball into the lion 's lap , and composed himself to sleep again . For a long while the lion tossed it up and down gaily , feeling that , however sound asleep the boy-brother might LOOK , he was sure to have one eye open ; but gradually he began to edge closer to the opening , and at last gave such a toss that the ball went up high into the air , and he could not see what became of it . ` Oh , how stupid of me ! ' he cried , as the cat sprang up angrily , ` let us go at once and search for it . It ca n't really have fallen very far . ' But though they searched that day and the next , and the next after that , they never found it , because it never came down . After the loss of his ball the cat refused to live with the lion any longer , but wandered away to the north , always hoping he might meet with his ball again . But months passed , and years passed , and though he travelled over hundreds of miles , he never saw any traces of it .
At length , when he was getting quite old , he came to a place unlike any XXXXX he had ever seen before , where a big river rolled right to the foot of some high mountains .
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