Cats

You may have seen an article that says that some scientists believe all domesticated cats can be traced back to a wild cat found in the Middle East and in Africa, the Felis silvestris lybica. The name bascially means wild Lybian cat. Tom noticed how much this picture of one looks like Cassidy and Sundance. Well, what Cassidy and Sundance would look like if they were lean and sleek.

Be that as it may, I ran across this amusing African story about how the wild cat came to live with human beings:

Once upon a time the cat did not live in the houses of men. She lived only in the bush or in the jungle.

One cat became friendly with a rabbit. She went everywhere with the rabbit and was astonished at the craftiness of her friend. One day an antelope fought with the rabbit and killed it with its horns. As her friend was dead the cat lived with the antelope. Then the antelope was killed by a leopard, so the cat decided to live with the leopard. A few days later they met with a lion. The lion fought the leopard and killed it. The poor cat then made friends with the lion and lived with him until one day they met an elephant herd. A huge bull fought with the lion and killed it.

The cat thought to herself, "I must make friends with an animal as large and strong as this elephant - surely nothing can defeat it!"

But her troubles were not yet over, for one day a hunter shot the elephant with a poisoned arrow and the elephant died.

Now the cat did not know what to do, for she had never seen a two-legged animal such as this. She thought hard and said to herself, "If this man can kill a huge animal like an elephant, I had better make friends with him so that I can live in safety."

She followed the hunter back to his home, and when the hunter entered his hut the cat crept up on to the verandah. She heard sounds of quarreling in the hut and saw the man in flight from a woman who was beating him with a spoon she had been using to stir porridge.

The cat said to herself, "Now I have seen the strongest of all creatures - a woman!"

Ever after this the cat has lived in the huts with the women, because it is they who are all-powerful.

What can I say?

Since we have no women living in this house, I guess the cats are all-powerful. When Helen visits, she says the cats avoid her because they think she will take them back to Minnesota. Maybe they just recognize that she used to be in charge of Tom's household and now they don't want to give that up.