The Cat and The Rat story
Folktale from Japan
Long ago, the God Heaven spoke to all of the animals in the
world.
Twelve animals will be chosen to protect the world. Each one will do this for a
year at a time. Come to my palace on the twelfth day of the first moon. The first twelve animals to arrive will be chosen.
Folktale from Japan
All
of the animals waited excitedly for the day. The Cat however
was very forgetful and could not remember which day it was.
So she asked the Rat, “Which day do we go to the palace in Heaven to be chosen
to protect the world?”. The Rat wanted to be
chosen, so
he said to the Cat, “On the thirteenth day of first moon, we will all go
to the palace.”
Folktale from Japan
The
Rat lived in the stable of the Ox. One evening, he heard the Ox
getting ready to leave for the palace. “Why are you leaving so early?”
asked the Rat.
Folktale from Japan
“Oh, my feet
are so clumsy and slow.” Answered the Ox, “I must
go now or I won’t get there in time to be chosen.” As soon
as the Ox turned to go, the
Rat jumped into the bag on his back. The Ox did not know that he was carrying the Rat and
he walked slowly through the night until
he reached the palace. There were no other animals in front of him, so he thought he
must surely be the first. Just then, the Rat jumped out of the bag and
ran to the gate.
Folktale from Japan
“The first
is the Rat,” he called out to the Ox.The Ox was very angry but not as angry as the Cat.
She went to the palace on the thirteenth day as she had been told by the Rat.
There was nobody about so she thought she must be the first. However, the guard called out to her.
“You are a
day too late, Cat. The animals were chosen yesterday. First the Rat, then Ox, Tiger.
Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Cock, Dog and last of all, Bear. You shouldn’t be so sleepy, and look how dirty
your face is! You shouldn’t was it better than you do. “With that he closed the gates.
Folktale from Japan
Since then, the Cat has hated the Rat, and has always tried to
catch him. She also keeps washing her face
with her tongue because the guard told her how dirty her face was.
The White Rabbit story
There once lived a white Rabbit on a small
island. One day, when he was on the
beach, he saw a large island in the distance.
“There must be a lot of good fresh grass on that
island,But how can I go to it without a
boat?” while he was thinking about what to do a big
shark
swam close to the beach. The Rabbit saw the Shark and called to him.
“Hello, Mr.Shark, you
look a clever fellow. Do you think there are more sharks than rabbits in
this world?”
“We would have to count them to find that out,”
answered the shark.
“Well,” said the rabbit, “You line up your sharks
between this island and that one and I’ll
count them.”
“Very well,” said the shark, and he called to all of his friends to come and float side by
side between the two islands. When they were ready, the rabbit jumped from one shark to the
next counting them. “One, two, three …..” he had almost reached the
other island when he laughed and said
without thinking, “You stupid shark! What is the use of counting you? I only
wanted to cross over to this island.”
At once, the Sharks were
very angry because they did not like being cheated. They began to
bite the white Rabbit who asked them to forgive him. After that they let go but all
of his lovely white fur was torn off. His skin was bare.
He sat down and cried. Soon three men came along and
asked him why he was crying. The rabbit told them what had happened. The men looked at each other and then one of them said,
“The best thing you can do is to wash yourself in the sea and then let the sun
dry you. Your wounds will heal and your
white fur will grow again.”
The Rabbit ran back to the sea and then sat in the sun, But his skin was
only more painful. It began to hurt so badly that he cried out, “Who
will save my life? Help! Help!”
A young man, who was coming along the
road, stopped when he heard the rabbit crying. “What has happened to you, Rabbit?”
He asked. He felt sorry for the Rabbit. The poor creature could not stop crying, and told
his story as the tears ran down his face. The
young man was annoyed when he heard how the Rabbit had been treated.
“The three men did not give you good advice. Please forgive them. I’ll help
you. Now, go and wash your body in fresh river water and I’ll get a bed ready
for you.”
The Rabbit did as he was told and
returned to rest on the soft grass bed which the young man had made
ready for him. The poor
rabbit rested and comfortable. His white fur grew again. He was so happy that
he did not try to cheat anyone again.
