Week 2 Story: The Cat, The Goddess, and the Bunny

Authors Note: This story is inspired by The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal. I replaced the Tiger with the Cat, the Brahman with a Goddess named Hestia, and the Jackal with a bunny. The Goddess is opposite of the Brahman in terms of personality. The general flow of the story stayed the same, but there is a greater emphasis on the setting now. I wanted to create a story that explained why the Earth is the way it is, so less emphasis was placed on the lesson. The trickster is still included, along with similar conversations leading up to the trick.

Many years ago, and many worlds away, the Goddess of fire traveled throughout our galaxy in anger. Her name was Hestia. Hestia set an everlasting flame to occupied planets. These are the stars you see in the sky. She went to billions of planets and not a single creature could stop her anger. When she reached the solar system she stopped at Sol, a planet covered in life, and burned everything. Hestia went to many other planets but there was no life, until she came to Earth. Earth was covered in ice and snow, but after Sol went up into flames, the ice began to melt. Hestia had grown tired after her travels and decided to rest on Earth.

While searching for a place to rest, she came across a large white cat like creature. It was six times her size. The Cat was stuck on a floating piece of ice moving far from the coast. It peered at her with big blue eyes.

"Please bring me to shore Goddess"

"And what should you do on this shore? All ice will melt the same when I set Earth to flames."

"I will serve you eternally. I am the Cat of great power. I will protect you Goddess."

Hestia saw the power of having the Cat and set her hand in the icy water. The water began to boil and a dessert emerged in its place. The Cat pinned Hestia down, "What a fool you are Goddess, I will destroy you like you destroyed my ice and snow." The cat was too powerful for Hestia and she cried out for her life. Seeing that Hestia was much too weak to do any harm, the Cat lifted his paw and told Hestia to bring him one animal that could explain why she should not die for her actions.

The first day Hestia found a small white fox in a dark icy cave. She told the fox about the cat and explained herself. She explained how she was a fool and promised the fox she would not burn the Earth. The fox exclaimed: "You and the Cat are one in the same. You are both liars. I used to hide in my cave from the Cat, and now I must hide from the heat. Go away Goddess."

The second day Hestia found a large whale in the water. She told the whale about the Cat and explained herself, begging for forgiveness. The whale exclaimed "You boiled my home away to save the cat, now you are enemies. You and the Cat are one in the same, liars. Go away Goddess."

On the third day a small white bunny with floppy ears emerged from the snow, "You look quite cold, you will die out here, let me help you Goddess." Hestia told the bunny what occurred and the bunny tilted its head in confusion. Frustrated, but out of options, Hestia picked up the bunny and took it to the Cat.

The Cat stood, revealing itself from the snow. "You have been away much too long Hestia. Set the bunny down. I have put off killing you much too long"

Hestia set the bunny down reluctantly, "The bunny is here to justify what I did." She glanced down at the bunny "Please tell the Cat why I should not die." The bunny tiled its head at the Cat. "But how did you get on the ice?"

"The Goddess"

"But how did you swim to it?"

"I do not swim Bunny, I was on the ice and it melted"

"Are you the ice?"

"No, I am the Cat"

"I do not understand, how did you get on the ice?"

"You stupid bunny, I will show you what happened" the cat hissed as he jumped on an iceberg next to the coast.

"Why did you not jump back?"

"Because the ice floated away"

"Like this" grinned the bunny as it pushed the ice far away "please enjoy the swim home Cat"

After the bunny saved Hestia, she swore to return home, but much of the Earth had already become hot and dry from her presence. The source of her anger may never be known, but the destruction she left still remains today.

(Bunny Tracks by Creative Commons)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal by Joseph Jacobs. Website: Indian Fairy Tales