Another Cause of Enmity between the Cat and the Rat

Long ago before cats and rats were enemies, a cat and a rat were on a journey together. They reached the side of a very wide river.

“How shall we cross?” asked the cat.

“We need a boat,” the rat replied.

“There is no boat here,” said the cat.

“In that case,” the rat answered, “we shall have to find something else which can be used as a boat.”

The rat led the way to a nearby yam farm and being an experienced thief, he did not hesitate about going to a ridge and pulling out one of the biggest yams. The rat asked the cat to help and the cat did so.

As they were leaving the farm with the yam, the owner of the farm came upon them. The cat ran up a tree, but the rat ran along the ground and only just managed to escape being caught.

After the farmer had gone, the rat returned and blamed the cat for not carrying him up the tree.

“Let us not quarrel,” said the cat. “Let us make haste to cross the river.”

Then the rat gnawed at the yam until he had made it into the shape of a boat. The two animals launched their yam boat, put in their loads, climbed in themselves, and started to cross the river.

Now the river was very wide and before they had crossed half way the friends had finished the food they had brought and were hungry.

“Let us sleep,” said the rat. “We must try to forget our hunger.”

The cat and rat went to sleep, but soon the rat woke again because of his great hunger. He began to gnaw at the yam boat. After some time the sound of gnawing woke the cat.

“What have you been doing while I was sleeping?” the cat asked. “I heard a peculiar noise.”

“I’ve been doing nothing except sleeping,” the rat answered. “You must have heard me snoring.”

The journey across the river continued. The cat had nothing to eat, but every time he slept the rat would eat more of the boat. At last when they were nearing the other side of the river the rat gnawed a hole in the bottom of the boat and water started to pour in.

“Ah,” cried the cat as he and the rat leapt ashore, “I see how you have been cheating me and endangering my life.”

At once the cat seized the rat in his paws and began to eat him. The taste of the rat was so sweet that he ate him all up. Thus all cats soon began to enjoy eating rats, and from that day they became enemies.