Why Cats Kill Rats African folktale is a folklore story about love, betrayal and murder.
African Folktale Why Cats Kill Rats
Ansa was King of Calabar for fifty years.
He had a very faithful cat as a housekeeper, and a rat was his house-boy.
The king was an obstinate, headstrong man, but was very fond of the cat, who had been in his store for many years.
At last
he thought of the king's store, so in the night-time,
being quite small, he had little difficulty, having made a hole in the roof, in
getting into the store. He then stole corn and pears, and presented them to his
sweetheart.
At the
end of the month, when the cat had to render her account of the things in the
store to the king, it was found that a
lot of corn and pears were missing.
The king was very angry at
this, and asked the cat for an explanation. But the cat could not account for
the loss, until one of her friends told her that the rat had been stealing the
corn and giving it to the girl.
When the cat told the king, he called the girl before him and had her punished. The rat he handed over to the cat to deal with, and dismissed them both from his service.
The cat was so angry at this that she killed and ate the rat, and ever since that time whenever a cat sees a rat she kills and eats it.
When the cat told the king, he called the girl before him and had her punished. The rat he handed over to the cat to deal with, and dismissed them both from his service.
The cat was so angry at this that she killed and ate the rat, and ever since that time whenever a cat sees a rat she kills and eats it.