The myths why cat cannot go along with dog….
According to a Jewish fairy tale, in the infancy of the world, the dog and the cat were the greatest of friends. They lived together, play together and shared each other food. It seemed that nothing could ever come between them.
Then someday, a winter come. The world grew cold and hard and food became scarce. Hunger made the dog melancholy, while the cat grew peevish and petulant. Finally, the cat proposed that since there was no longer enough food to be had for both of them, they should go their separate ways. She told the dog that she intended to go alone to the house of Adam to rid his house of mice.
The dog was deeply hurt, but the cat said solemnly, “We must each take an oath never to cross the other path. That is the proper way to terminate a business agreement. The serpent says so, and he is the wisest of all animals.”
The cat duly went to the house of Adam, and grew fat and comfortable, while the dog wandered over the frozen ground, exhausted, starving and lonely, of use to neither wolf nor sheep. One night, he came to a house and begged a morsel of food from the owner. Later that evening he woke the man to warn him that wild animals were attacking his home. ‘Good dog’, said the man. ‘You are a wise animal. Stay with me always. You will find Father Adam kind.’
‘Father Adam!’ cried the dog, in alarm. ‘ I must not stay here’.
‘I say you must,’ answered Adam, and the dog was compelled to obey. In the morning, the cat learned that the dog had joined the household and she was angry.
‘The dog has violated our oath. He swore not to come to the place where I am,’ she said.
‘There is ample room for you both,’ Adam replied. But the cat hissed and spat her disapproval, while the dog stood dejectedly, with his tail between his legs. As time went on, the dog could bear it no longer.
‘I must leave you, Father Adam,’ he said. ‘The cat is making my life unbearable. I shall go to the house of Seth.’
‘Are you sure that you cannot make friends with the cat?’ asked Adam.
‘I would do so with pleasure, if she would let me, but alas she will not.’
‘In that case,’ said Adam, ‘you will be quarreling for ever.’ And ever since that time the cat and dog have failed to agree.
Sources: J.A. Wines , Dogs’ Miscellany, Michael O’Mara Books Limited , 2013
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