The Adventures of Mithoo

Little Pintu stared at his notebook. He couldn’t believe his eyes! He was sitting under the Gulmohar tree, doing his school homework when suddenly the strangest thing happened. The words from his pages―all his hard work―began vanishing one by one, melting away and disappearing into space. ‘Yippee!’ shouted Mithoo, the golden kitten. The boy’s look of shock tickled him and he laughed till his sides ached. ‘You? You did this?’ Pintu asked, bewildered.

But Mithoo did not wait to answer. With a spring of delight in his tiny paws, he bounced away, leaving Pintu very much annoyed. Sunshine spread in shades of orange on Omland, where angels and animals lived together in harmony. In this beautiful world lived Mithoo, the magical kitten. Cool breeze ruffled Mithoo’s shiny, golden coat. He had the most attractive melting brown eyes, which touched your soul. For a few minutes, the kitten stopped to listen to the music in the wind and lifted his cute face up to the permanent rainbow in the sky.‘Oh, how I love Omland!’ he thought. His heart filled with joy as he sprang around, chasing squirrels up the trees. The tinkling of a cycle bell interrupted his happy thoughts.

‘The Pastrywala―yippee!’ Mithoo was excited. Time for some more fun. . . . The Baker cycled down the curvy path, whistling merrily. He had just turned the corner, when a tiny ball of fur jumped on him from nowhere. Startled, the Baker lost his balance and his basket of goodies tripped to the ground. Immediately, Mithoo pounced on the basket, dragged it to the sparkling, starry river and upturned the pastries into it.

‘Yippee!’ he shouted with glee. ‘You naughty kitten! Wait till I catch you,’ the angry Pastrywala threatened. Before Mithoo could run away from the spot, a small bubble of light floated towards them. As they watched, the bubble turned into a Messenger. ‘Mithoo, you have been summoned by the Angels Abha and Arya,’ the Messenger informed.

The Baker beamed happily and Mithoo realised at once that he was in trouble. Oh God, now what would the Angels say, he worried.

The angels Arya and Abha were in their white robes, and sitting in a grand palatial hall, where the fluffy clouds were hanging low. Mithoo stood in the centre of the hall, looking with awe at the angels. His whiskers trembled, like they always did when he was frightened. Beside him, his parents, Billy the tomcat and Kitty, looked very anxious.

‘Mithoo, we have been keeping a watch on you for the past few days,’ Angel Arya began sternly. ‘You have been a very naughty kitten. You have misused your magical powers, by playing pranks on people and animals. Abha will read out your list of wrongdoings.’

Angel Abha unrolled a long list and read aloud. ‘Mithoo, you ate a squirrel’s bag of nuts, without permission. You drank milk—again without permission—even after a delicious meal of fish and curry. You chased a mouse—with the sole intention of harassment—straight up a pipeline and into someone’s house. You unwound a newly knitted sweater. . . .’

The list was endless. Mithoo stood trembling, sensing that something bad was about to happen to him. Would the angels take his magic away from him? He would die if they did.