Pretty soon the very old woman saw them coming.
"My dear!"she cried,"What are you doing?I asked for one little cat,and what do I see?
"Cats here,cats there,Cats and kittens everywhere,Hundreds of cats,Thousands of cats,Millions and billions and trillions of cats.
"But we can never feed them all,"said the very old woman,"They will eat us out of house and home."
"I never thought of that,"said the very old man,"What shall we do?"
The very old woman thought for a while and then she said,"I know!We will let the cats decide which one we should keep."
"Oh yes,"said the very old man,and he called to the cats,"Which one of you is the prettiest?"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"No,I am!"
"No,I am the prettiest!""I am!"
"No,I am!I am!I am!"cried hundreds and thousands and millions and billions and trillions of voices,for each cat thought itself the prettiest.
And they began to quarrel.
