In the dune village of Katveloren, beside the sparkling waters of the North Sea, there stands a tower, black against the sky. For many years there was a curious weathervane on this tower and strangers often inquired about it in the village. For on this weathervane there was a cat, perched on a cracle—a cat with a blue jeweled eye. The weathervane is gone now, and even the tower is crumbling, but the old nursemaids and grandmothers can still be heard, singing their Dutch babies to rest with two sweet, sleepy lines:

     "There's a cradle rocking, rocking,
     There's a cradle gently rocking in the sunlit sea."

And that peaceful lullaby, and the legend that it tells, are all that remain to remind the town of the long-ago day when the villagers watched, in disbelief, a cat on a cradle sail in on the morning tide.

Behind the gentle mood of the lullaby there lies a sad and cruel tale of olden days, when a wise and merciful old woman almost met a witch's death. She was not an ordinary woman, it is true, for believing trustfully that all God's creatures have a right to live, she took into her home a magpie and a cat—a cat with a bright blue eye. And she taught these two creatures, by patience and love, to live together in peace. The news of her strange companions, living with her by the edge of the quiet graveyard, filled the minds of the villagers with fear, for to them all that was not usual was wicked, and a blue-eyed cat was an omen of evil.

This is the story of a terrible night in Katveloren, when the wise old woman and her cat saved the town from a tragedy that would have hung heavy on the hearts of its people. Meindert DeJong tells a tale of terror, but it ends in gentleness and peace, as the night-stormy North Sea, subsiding, breaks gently on the shore of the sunlit morning. In this town, where crossed brooms stood upside down against the doors to guard each family from evil and witchery, we see how the old woman, by her wisdom, taught two creatures--enemies by nature--to be friends; how she befriended Crazy Alice who lived in the lonely lighthouse; how she helped to save the burgomaster's baby; and how, in the end, she escaped by her wits and her simple goodness from the superstitious vengeance of the villagers. 

With the same pity and affection that distinguishes all of his work, Mr. DeJong writes a moving and beautiful story which readers of any age will find deeply meaningful. There are many black and white pen drawings by Barbara Comfort.

From the dust jacket