Chapter Two, The Cat Summary

Beetle spends what time she can watching an orange stray cat lie in the sun and groom itself. Some days Beetle saves a bit of the little food she earns and leaves it for the animal, though she has so little for herself.

Beetle heads off to deliver some food for the cat and discovers the boys of the village tormenting the animal as they sometimes do. Beetle is horrified when the boys toss the cat into a sack with an eel to see which will survive a fight. Tossing the sack into the stream, the boys watch until it sinks to the bottom, then leave, assuming the eel has won.

Beetle is beside herself and after a few false starts pulls the bag from the water and slits it open before running to hide. The eel...