playing w/your cat is the best thing to do not b/c it's amusing for you,

That's just a nice side-effect. (Our cats just look at us like we're insane when we try to play with them, and then go and climb the garage. Floyd, occasionally, will deign to chase something. He gets his thrills laying in wait for the next door neighbour's dog.)

I'll have to try and find The Sherwood Ring, it'll be like harking back to the glory days of my childhood reading which had a disproportionate number of books about orphaned girls.