Monthly Archives: August 2013
65.The Cat-Maiden
THE GODS were once disputing whether it was possible for a living being to change its nature. Jupiter said “Yes,” but Venus said “No.” So, to try the question, Jupiter turned a Cat into a Maiden, and gave her to a young man for a wife. The wedding was duly performed and the young couple sat down to the wedding feast. “See,” said Jupiter, to Venus, “how becomingly she behaves. Who could tell that yesterday she was but a Cat? Surely her nature is changed?” 1
“Wait a minute,” replied Venus, and let loose a mouse into the room. No sooner did the bride see this than she jumped up from her seat and tried to pounce upon the mouse. “Ah, you see,” said Venus,
“NATURE WILL OUT.”
64.The Cat and the Mice
There was once a house that was overrun with mice. A cat heard of this, and said to herself, “That’s the place for me,” and off she went and took up her quarters in the house, and caught the mice one by one and ate them.
At last the mice could stand it n longer, and they determined to take to their holes and stay there.
“That’s awkward,” said the cat to herself. “The only thing to do is to coax them out by a trick.” So she considered a while, and then climbed up the wall and let herself hang down by her hind legs from a peg, and pretended to be dead.
By and by a mouse peeped out and saw the cat hanging there. “Aha!” it cried, “You’re very clever, madam, no doubt. But you may turn yourself into a bag of meal hanging there, if you like, yet you won’t catch us coming anywhere near you.”
# If you are wise you won’t be deceived by the innocent airs of those whom you have once found to be dangerous.
# Old birds are not to be caught with chaff.
63.The Cat and the Cock
A CAT caught a cock, and pondered how he might find a reasonable excuse for eating him. He accused him of being a nuisance to men by crowing in the night-time and not permitting them to sleep. The cock defended himself by saying that he did this for the benefit of men, that they might rise in time for their labours. The cat replied,
“Although you abound in specious apologies, I shall not remain supperless”; and he made a meal of him.
❖ Beasts do not need excuses for killing and eating others.
62.The Cat and the Birds
A CAT, hearing that the birds in a certain aviary were ailing, dressed himself up as a physician, and, taking his cane and a bag of instruments becoming his profession, went to call on them. He knocked at the door and asked of the inmates how they all did, saying that if they were ill, he would be happy to prescribe for them and cure them. They replied,
“We are all very well, and shall continue so, if you will only be good enough to go away, and leave us as we are.”
❖ Fond of doctors, little health.
❖ A human should be realistic to enter circumstances and settings that conform to his nature. There he may rise to sing happily for quite a while.
