Storytelling Week 5: How Cat and Dog Became Enemies

For centuries cat and dog roamed the earth together. Man loved both cat and dog, but they both also lived free in the wild together. These animals would lie in the warm sun together and chase butterflies in the wind. Cat and dog often hunted together and ate similar foods. These two creatures looked out for one another.

Each year there was a grand gathering of all the dogs and cats in the surrounding areas. Everyone brought gifts and food of all kind to this grand event. Each year the dog leader Fido, and the cat leader Lily sat side by side at the center of the gathering. These two leaders were great friends and worked together so make all the animals of the land happy.

(Lily - Wikipedia)

One of the main events of this annual gathering was the big games. All the cats and dogs created teams and competed against each other in various games. The cats were usually good at the games of trickery, such as hide and seek. The dogs were usually good at games that involved strength, like tug of war. This year was the hundreth anniversary of this gathering, and the games were more grand and competitive than ever.

For the first time there was a grand prize for the team who won the most games. The winning cat team would compete against the winning dog team for an all out final games battle. The cats and dogs prepared for these games for weeks, never taking a day off to rest. They practiced balance, agility, speed, strength, focus and endurance. Every cat and dog believed that they had trained hard enough that they deserved to win that final prize.

The day finally came for the big games to start. Fido and Lily blew the opening horn to start the first race. As the day progressed it was clear what teams were in the running to compete in the final games battle. At the end of the day there were obvious winners for each cat and dog team. The dog team that won was called the Hip Hoppers, because they were quick on their toes. The winning cat team was the Sly Sneakers because they were expert hiders and trickers.

(Dog on the Hip Hoppers - Wikipedia)

Both teams went home that night to gear up for the next day. All the other cats and dogs went home sad about not winning, but also excited to cheer on their friends in the upcoming game battle.

All the cat's and dog's woke early that next morning anxious for the days festivities to come. Both sides were getting a little heated with each other because they had trained so hard for this and wanted to make their species proud. The Hip Hoppers and the Sly Sneakers went back and forth all day switching off winning and losing each game thrown their way. The crowd was going crazy from the excitement! They shouted advice and encouragement to their friends.

The last event of the day was finally here and both the teams were tied. Because these teams were tied this event was what would decide who won the grand battle and the grand prize. This final event was tug of war. The game went on for nearly ten minutes. Both of these teams were not giving up. The crowd was going crazy and wanted their teams to win just as bad as the teams competing. The cats were running in circles around the arena because they couldn't sit still from all the excitement. The dogs were concentrated on giving the Hip Hoppers all the advice and motivation possible.

The Hip Hoppers and Sly Sneakers finally started to tire out, and one team had to give up. The Sly Sneakers could no longer hold on so in unison they all let go. This caused the Hip Hoppers to all fall back on top of each other. The animals in the crowd were in utter shock. All the dogs rushed onto the field to help the Hip Hoppers up from their fall. The cats in the crowd ran to console the Sly Sneakers. The arena was now a very crowded place with all the animals in it. The cats and the dogs started fighting and talking badly about each other. Fido and Lily went into the pile of animals to try and calm them all down. They were unable to help the situation and eventually got involved with the fighting as well. From this day on cat and dog have never liked each other. They are often still seen competing for the attention of humans and competing for objects and food.

Author's note:
This story is based on two Khasi folktales. These stories both describe different ways these animals came to live with humans.

The first story is "How the Cat Came to Live With Man." This story is about a cat who has a lion as a brother. The lion is not nice to the cat and one day the cat meets a group of nice children that pet her and treat her well. The cat ends up running away and staying with the children after her brother gets really mad at her. This is how cats came to live with man.

The second story is "How the Dog Came to Live With Man." A dog goes to an annual gathering where dogs from all over bring goods and food. This dog gets made fun of for what he brings to the gathering because it smells bad. The dog confides in a human about being made fun of. He becomes very fond of this human and continues to live with him because all the dogs treated him badly. This is how dog came to live with man.

I thought it would be interesting to add to these stories and make a story about dogs and cats instead of their relation to humans. Both of these stories are about the animals going against their own species. I wanted to make a story about them sticking together with their own kind.


Bibliography: How the Cat Came to Live With Man and How the Dog Came to Live With Man, Folktales of the Khasis, by Mrs K.U. Rafi, 1920.