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Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there lived a little kitten.  He was a very cute, but not well looked after kitten, as his original owners didn’t really care for him…in fact they had never really wanted him at all.

Now this little kitten may have been small but he was also very smart and he decided one day that he needed to find a new home with an owner who would give him the love and affection that he deserved.  So he ran away from his birth home and branched out on his own to find his own fortune.

He wandered alone through the streets and houses that were close at hand, but nobody wanted to care for him.  He survived on rain water and bread that he managed to steal from people’s kitchens when they left their windows open.

He never took more than he should, just the odd bit of dry bread to keep him fed. 

One day he decided that he did not like the city anymore and wandered further afield, into a dark and scary forest.

He was feeling very lonely and tired after walking for a few hours and wondered if this had been a good idea…when suddenly he saw a little cottage with smoke coming out of the chimney just along the path that he had been travelling.

He hid behind a tree and watched as a small woman came outside, she was singing to herself and seemed a very cheerful and happy person.  But the kittie was a little bit afraid to go and approach her as he was very wary of humans by this point.

Now..unknown to our kitten..the lady was a witch..not a bad evil witch like you hear about in stories, but a good and kind witch…and she knew that our kitten was watching her.

She went into her cottage and grabbed two bowls from her cupboards, she filled one with milk and the other one with a lovely cat food that she knew he would like.

She took the bowls back outside and with a smile left them in her front garden for him to come and eat and drink from whenever he wanted to.

When she woke up the next morning, she found both of the bowls empty as the kitten had not been able to resist the food and drink on offer and had snuck over while she was asleep and eaten and drank every last bit of them.

Our little witch patiently put the bowls out every day for the hiding kitty and eventually he became bold enough to eat and drink from them while she was watching.

Her patience paid off, because finally the frightened kitty learned to trust her and wanted to show her that he loved her just as much as she loved him.  He had realised, you see that the little witch, was just as lonely as he was since she lived all the way out in the dark forest with no other person for company.

When he came up to her one morning as she was putting his bowls of food and drink out, he rubbed himself all around her ankles.

The little witch gave a joyous smile.

“Hello beautiful” she murmured.

“My name is Jojo, who are you?”

He meowed mournfully as he didn’t know what his name was.

“Oh,,I see,,you don’t have a name..poor kitty…well how about we give you one?” she asked.

He purred happily at her.

“hmm, alright then…how about..Harry…no that’s not right….Peaches?…ooh no definitely not…ah ha…what about Merlin?  Do you like that name?” she asked.

He did like that name, very much and he jumped up on to her lap and curled himself up on it just to prove it.

She smiled happily while stroking his soft fur.

“Merlin it is then, you and I are going to be very happy together” she said.

“You are a very magical cat and I will teach you how to weave your magic to help lots of people all over the world, as there are lots of lovely people out there who need our help…what do you think Merlin? Shall we help them with our spells?”

Merlin loved the sound of this idea…and so Merlin the magic cat’s adventures began!!!