Ratcatcher

An exterminator of unwanted and wily rodents.

“The citizen led the tom to the militia, dragging the poor beast by his front paws, bound with the green tie, and forcing him with gentle kicks to walk on his hind legs. ‘You,’ scolded the citizen, accompanied by a gang of whistling urchins, ‘quit, quit fooling! It won’t get you anywhere! Be kind enough to walk like everybody else!’ The black tom merely rolled his eyes like a martyr. The poor beast is indebted for his rescue first to the militia, and second, to his mistress, a respectable aged widow. As soon as the tom was delivered to the precinct, the officers found that the citizen reeked most revoltingly of alcohol, which cast immediate doubt on his testimony. Meantime, the old woman, who had learned from neighbors that her tom had been arrested, rushed to the militia and just made it in the nick of time. She gave the tom the most flattering testimonial, explained that she had known him for five years, since his kittenhood, vouched for him as for her own self, and proved that he had never done any evil and had never been in Moscow. He had been born in Armavir, and it was there that he grew up and learned his honest trade of catching mice. The tom was unbound and returned to his mistress—true, after having had a taste of trouble and learning from experience the meaning of error and slander.”

Mikhael Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita (1928-1940).