Story: Why Dog and Cat Are Enemies

Long ago, the dog and the cat were the best of friends. They lived comfortably together with their owners and they were happy. They spent all of their days together. Little did they know their lives were about to be flipped upside down. Their owners, Jim and Marie, were struggling to make ends meet. They were able to have food on the table for every meal, but they were not able to buy new clothes. They were barely making ends meet. Marie decided her wedding ring was worth more than anything else they had, so it would be a good idea to sell it.

So the next day, Marie headed down to the market to sell her most prized possession. This ring was not an ordinary ring though. The second she sold it, she immediately felt a change of pace. Something was not quite right anymore. This ring had magical powers that made sure families were always well fed and had the bills paid. It helped families stay afloat and they did not even know it.  The only ones that knew of this power were animals. The dog and the cat knew the family was going through hard times, but they had no idea what was about to hit them.

Marie sold her ring and was so excited. She knew they were going to have money that would last them for weeks. But when she arrived home, Jim had lost his job. Their only source of income was Jim’s job since Marie had to stay home with the kids. Without his job, they were completely lost. The cat and the dog overheard this conversation and immediately started brainstorming.  “How can we possibly get this back, Cat?” The dog questioned.  First, they had to find out who bought the ring.

The cat and the dog hurried out of their house and hoped their owners would not notice they were gone. They went down to the market and saw the shiny gold ring shimmering in the window.

The next step was getting it out of the store. The cat had an idea to get a mouse to grab it for them. The only possible creature that could fit into the crack would be a mouse. Cat walked down the street and looked for the first mouse she could find. After a small chat about how she would kill it if he didn’t get the ring, he agreed to sneak it.

The mouse worked his magic and successfully got the ring. There was only one small drawback: the alarm. Almost like a scene from Indiana Jones, the alarm went off the second he picked up the ring from its spot. The mouse grabbed the ring and sprinted back out the door. The three animals ran as fast as they could back home. Mouse and cat easily made it back to their house, but the dog was not so lucky. The dog tripped while running and broke his leg. He limped all the way home, to find the cat getting all of the praise from the owners.  Jim and Marie realized how much impact the ring had on their lives.  They were sadly mistaken though because they thought the cat had done this all by herself. The dog was so betrayed by the cat that he swore they would never be friends again. The cat took all the credit while the dog was left in the dust. And that’s why the cat and the dog can never be friends.

Author's Note: This weeks story was a little difficult for me to get creative with. In the original, it is based a long time ago. I wanted to give it a more modern twist. It gets a little confusing trying to tell the difference between each character, but I tried my best! For the ending, the dog got stuck behind the house and the cat climbed the roof, thats how she beat him home. I thought that was a little too confusing though, so I gave the dog an injury instead.

Image: Golden Retriever from Pinterest. 

Bibliography: The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhelm, link to Why Dog and Cat are enemies.