Reading Notes: China Fairytales A
Why Dogs and Cats are Enemies Notes
A couple had good fortune but did not know why. They had a gold ring and sold it but it turned out to be the reason of their good fortune. The dog came to the cat to devise a plan to get the ring back. He had the cat catch a mouse and threaten it into gnawing a hole in the box that held the ring and retrieving the ring for them. The new owner of the ring lived across a river though so the dog had to swim across the water with the cat and mouse on his back. When they got to the house the cat let the mouse go and it got the ring. They came back across the river and the cat ran along house tops and fences back to the house with the ring. The dog could not take these shortcuts though and arrived at the house later. When it got there, the cat had taken credit for retrieving the lucky gold ring solely and was praised while the dog was scolded. From then on the dog and cat were enemies and the dog would chase the cat anytime it were near.
Bibliography: The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).
(Mad dog and cat, Wikimedia Commons)
A couple had good fortune but did not know why. They had a gold ring and sold it but it turned out to be the reason of their good fortune. The dog came to the cat to devise a plan to get the ring back. He had the cat catch a mouse and threaten it into gnawing a hole in the box that held the ring and retrieving the ring for them. The new owner of the ring lived across a river though so the dog had to swim across the water with the cat and mouse on his back. When they got to the house the cat let the mouse go and it got the ring. They came back across the river and the cat ran along house tops and fences back to the house with the ring. The dog could not take these shortcuts though and arrived at the house later. When it got there, the cat had taken credit for retrieving the lucky gold ring solely and was praised while the dog was scolded. From then on the dog and cat were enemies and the dog would chase the cat anytime it were near.
Bibliography: The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).
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