Book excerpt: Rare edition with unique illustrations. Kipling wrote some of the best animal stories for children, including his Jungle Books and Just So stories. His language is rich, inventive, and sonorous. He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature. Originally collected in Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories in 1902, The Cat that Walked by Himself is one of the best-loved cat tales ever written. It is a story of the beginning of domesticated life: Man meets Woman and they move into a cave and set up the first household. Dog, Horse, and Cow come out of the Wild Woods and become tame. But Cat refuses, "I am not a friend and I am not a servant. I am the Cat who walks by himself and all places are alike to me." Woman makes a bargain with Cat to allow him to come into the cave and sit by the fire and drink milk. But when night comes, he is once again the Cat that walks by himself.