A cat lover by nature

Are you a cat lover?  I am.  When I was young, my family bought a cat from a dog and cat home.  That means that she had been owned by another family who had decided they didn’t want her and gave her away.

So we didn’t decide her name.  She already had the name “Domino”, since she was a white cat with black spots.  A domino is a small rectangular black block with white spots, used in a game.  So the name was quite appropriate. 

Domino was very shy and nervous at first.  She didn’t like to be touched by humans much and would sometimes turn around and give us a warning bite if we tried to pet her.  I would probably be shy and nervous if I had been thrown out by my family too. 

But after many months and years she got used to people.  She became very friendly and would jump onto your lap to be petted.  You could say that over time she learned to change her nature. 

But Aesop would disagree.  Below is another one of his fables, in which he suggests that someone or something’s essential nature can never change. 

He also has a different idea of what is meant by a ‘cat lover’...

 

The Cat Maiden 

The gods were once disputing whether it was possible for a living being to change its nature.  The king of the gods said "Yes," but the goddess of love said "No."

So, to resolve the dispute, the king of the gods 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 the king of the gods, "how appropriately she behaves.  Who could tell that yesterday she was but a cat?  Surely her nature has changed?"

"Wait a minute," replied the goddess of love, 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 the goddess of love,

"Nature will out."

 

Vocabulary:

rectangular – The shape has four sides.  It is like a square, but two of the sides are longer than the other two.

a dispute – An argument or discussion with opposing sides.

a maiden – A young, unmarried woman.

“The wedding was duly performed” – 1. The wedding was soon thereafter performed. /  2. The wedding was properly carried out.

to let loose something – To release something, especially something dangerous.  For example, don’t let loose the dog.

“No sooner did the bride see this than she jumped up” – The bride saw this and then immediately jumped up.