Romantic fairy tale: The Nine Lives of a Cat
A proud cat walked through a beautiful field of flowers. He did not fall in love with any of the flowers; instead, he fell in love with a purple butterfly. The flowers displayed their beauty to the cat, but he said to the butterfly, “I love you.” The butterfly, with a purple smile, responded, “I love the strong ones. Do you know the tiger in the mountains? He is a true strong one.” The cat left and went to the mountains to prove that he was strong. He found the tiger and fought with him without hesitation. The tiger ended the fight with one swipe, but with his last strength, the cat bit off the tiger’s nose. The tiger lost, but the cat also died. The cat met God, and God told him, “You have nine lives, and now you have eight left.” The cat returned to see the butterfly.
The butterfly asked the cat, “Do you really love me?” The cat nodded. The butterfly said, “I have never seen the ice flowers of the Himalayas. Can you bring me one?” The cat left and went to the Himalayas, but his fur was too thin, and he froze to death before he could gather an ice flower. God told the cat, “You now have seven lives left.” The cat knew that his fur was too thin to gather an ice flower, so he asked God for help. God said, “You must exchange one life for an ice flower.” The cat agreed without hesitation. He obtained the ice flower but lost another life. The cat brought the ice flower back, and the butterfly was very happy. The butterfly then said, “I really like the purple coral at the bottom of the sea. Can you bring it to me?” The cat went to the sea, but he couldn’t swim and soon drowned. The cat met God again and asked for the purple coral. He was willing to exchange one life for it. He obtained the purple coral but was left with only four lives. The cat brought the purple coral back to the butterfly.
The butterfly was pleased, but she said, “You are an excellent cat. If you can make a shooting star streak across the sky, I will love you.” The cat felt helpless; he couldn’t think of a way to make a shooting star appear. Then he thought of God, but he knew he could only see God if he died. So, without hesitation, the cat pierced his own heart. The cat met God and said, “Almighty God, can you give me a shooting star? I am willing to give you everything I have.” God said, “You have only three lives left. If you give them all to me, I will make a shooting star appear in the sky.” The cat said, “I am willing, but I hope you can let me return to the world once more.” God agreed.
The cat returned and brought the butterfly to a vast plain. That night, a bright shooting star appeared in the sky, beautiful beyond words. The butterfly saw the stunning shooting star and felt that the cat was great, and she fell in love with him. The cat knew that he had no lives left, that his life would disappear along with the shooting star. But he loved the butterfly, and now the butterfly loved him too. However, the cat had lost the ability to love. The cat said to the butterfly, “I don’t love you.” The butterfly cried, hating the cat for playing with her emotions. The cat walked away, wanting to leave quickly before the shooting star disappeared.
The shooting star finally faded from the sky, and the cat disappeared from sight. The cat met God, who said, “You have no lives left. Was it worth it for love?” The cat hesitated for a long time. He thought that if he had to choose again, he would still do the same, though he was unwilling, but also powerless. God told the cat that he could go to heaven and become an angel. But the cat chose to go to purgatory instead and said, “If I spend a thousand years there, can I get another life?” God said, “There is no precedent for this, so it’s not possible.” The cat pleaded, “Just give me half a life.” God agreed. The cat battled in purgatory, enduring darkness, loneliness, fear, and endless fighting, like sharp knives stabbing into the cat’s heart every day. The cat became an Asura in purgatory, a cold and fierce war god. Even God thought the cat had turned into a ruthless deity.
After a thousand years of battle, a thousand years of suffering, a thousand years of cold-bloodedness, a thousand years of tenderness, a thousand years of waiting, and a thousand years of tempering, the cat emerged from purgatory. The Asura had transformed into an angel.
The cat dragged his half-life back to the world. He found the butterfly, and the butterfly said to the cat, “Unless you die in front of me, I won’t believe you.” The cat laughed, a sad laugh, because he had only half a life left. The cat pulled out his own heart, letting his tears fall on it. The butterfly then realized that the cat had not lied to her. The butterfly said, “Cats have nine lives. You will come back again, and even though you will have only eight lives left then, we can still love each other well.” The cat said, “I can’t come back. I’ve lost even half a life.” The Asura had lost his fighting spirit, and the angel no longer had love’s arrow.
The Asura was finally swallowed by the flood of purgatory, and the angel got lost in the clouds and mist. The cat in heaven said to the butterfly, “God gave me nine lives, but my love required ten lives. I don’t have that extra half. If ten thousand years in purgatory could give me that extra half, I would become an Asura again.” The butterfly, shedding purple tears, said, “Even though our love would then only have half a life left, it would last ten thousand years.”
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
