Alfonso was the towns lamp lighter.
Every evening, just before it got dark, he had to take his ladder, and his matches, and his lamp oil, and light every street lamp in Villa Macaroni.
It was a very important job, because if he didn't get the lamps lit, then all the people would not know which way to walk, and the horses would pull their buggys down the wrong streets.
It would be very dark!

One day, when the sun was just starting to set behind the mountain, Alfonso began to get ready for work.
He put his ladder by the door, put his matches in his pocket, and went to the big barrel in the corner to fill his bucket with lamp oil.
But when he looked in the barrel what do you think he saw?
It was empty!
"Oh no" he cried, "it can't be empty, not tonight of all nights."
For you see, this was Christmas Eve!
"Oh my" the old man wailed, "if I don't get the lamps lit tonight, then Santa Claudio", that was what they called Santa Claus in his country, "wont be able to see the town from way up in the air, and all the children will be without presents on Christmas morning!"
Alfonso was very sad, there was not enough time to go to the next village and get more oil.
And so he sat in his big brown chair and rocked back and forth, and cried and fretted, and didn't know what to do.
Minerva the mouse had heard her friend crying and worrying, and came out of her mouse hole to see what the matter was.
When Alfonso told her of his troubles, she too was upset and in such a state that her squeaky little voice got even squeakyer and tinyer.
This was going to be a terrible Christmas!

While Alfonso and Minerva were setting and fretting, there came a scratching at the door.
The old lamp lighter got wearily to his feet and opened the door to see two beautiful black cats, with shining yellow eyes looking woefully up at him.
They looked very hungry and very tired, as though they had traveled a long way.
"Well" said the old man, "what do we have here, two lost kittys in search of a meal and a bed?"
Minerva had scurried back to her mouse hole as soon as she saw the two black beasts, for in all her years she still hadn't come to trust cats.
She knew that mice and cats just didn't get along well together.
So she opened her little mouse hole door just a wee bit, and watched and listened.
The old man picked up the two cats and carried them to a thick rug by the fireplace.
Then he poured a large saucer of warm milk, and set it down in front of them.
The two weary travelers lapped up the wonderful treat in a flash, and then both fell soundly asleep, purring as they nodded off.

The visitors had taken Alfonsos mind off his troubles for awhile, but now all his woes came quickly back.
He would not be able to face the townspeople in the morning, he would be too ashamed of not having done his job and dissapointing all those children.
There was only one thing to do, he would go to bed, get a good nights sleep, and leave the little town early in the morning, for he could not stay there any more.
And so, with a heavy heart, he laid his head on his pillow and tried to rest.
Minerva was still upset with having the two black terrors in the house, but something else was bothering her also.
She was trying to remember the stories her grandparents had told her long ago, about midnight black cats with gleaming eyes as yellow as sunflowers.
"They were probably just fairytales" she thought, but still, she wished she could remember!
So she thought and thought, and her tiny eyes squeezed shut as she tried to recall, and she scratched her head with her skinny tail.
All of a sudden she remembered, she remembered the stories about the magical black cats!
And she knew what must be done!
Now Minerva was deathly afraid of the two black creatures who were sleeping so soundly on the hearth, but she gathered all her courage, put on a brave face, and marched out of her hole and right up to the beasts.
She poked and prodded them till they opened one eye each, and then she began to speak softly to them.

The old man awoke to the sounds of bells ringing and children laughing.
He looked out the window and saw people smiling and talking and having a grand time!
Boys and girls were riding new bicycles and playing with lovely new dolls. It was a sight to behold, it was a Christmas morning sight!
And then he saw an even stranger sight.
There, in front of the hearth, on the warm rug, were the two black strangers and his little friend Minerva, all curled up together!
This was truly a confusing day.
"The townsfolk should be sad, and angry with me for not lighting the lamps," he thought, "And these three should certainly not be curled up so peacefully!"
He picked up Minerva , and gently stroked her fur untill she opened one sleepy eye and looked at him.
"Look Minerva," he said, "the people are happy and the children have new toys, what has happened?"
Minerva was wide awake now, and she began to tell him what had come to pass.
She told of remembering the tales her grandparents had told her, of the magical powers of black cats.
She told him how she had faced her fears, and gotten the help of the two wonderful creatures.
How the three of them had gone out into the cold, snowy night, and how they had gone to each and every street in the village.
Minerva told him how she had used a tissue to remove a little of the yellow sparkle from the cats eyes, and then put that sparkle into the lamps, and how that sparkle had made the lamps shine more brilliantly than they ever had!
She told him how they had done this at each and every lamp, and how, when they were done, the town was brighter than it had ever been!
It was so bright that Santa Claudio had no trouble seeing the town and delivering his gifts.
It was so bright that he even saw a few houses on the edge of town that he had never seen before, and that made even more children happy!
"And so" she said, "that is the way it happened."