Читать книгу Asian Children's Favorite Stories - David Conger - Страница 9

Why Cats and Dogs

Don’t Get Along

^Korean

Some creatures never seem to get along. But this wasn’t always the case when it came to cats and dogs: a long time ago, they lived together as friends. This changed forever when a man named Shu saw his luck take a turn for the worse.

“Mmmmm,” said Shu, holding a fistful of gleaming white rice to his nose. “Your rice smells absolutely heavenly!”

The farmer smiled. “Thank you,” he said appreciatively. “I assure you it smells even better once it’s cooked. Like perfume!” Pushing a hand into his oxcart until rice was up to his elbow, he pulled out a handful of it. The polished white grains sifted through his hand as he spoke. “So would you like to buy some?”

Shu shook his head. “Oh, no,” he said. “I, too, sell rice, and I have more than enough for me and my two pets. But thank you for stopping by.”

True enough, Shu always had piles of rice (and a fine variety, too), from which he made comfortable living. He and his pets—a cat and a dog—lived happily in a small house in a village by a river.

But Shu did not grow rice. He did not grow anything. In fact, everyone in his village wondered where his rice came from, but that was Shu’s secret. No one knew, except—of course—his pets, who were his family.

You see, Shu had once given a travelling monk his last bowl of rice and a place to rest. Even though Shu had hardly any food for himself and his pets, he shared what little he had with the monk, whose cheeks were hollow and very pale.

After the monk had eaten every grain of rice in his bowl, he handed Shu a silver coin. “For your kindness I will give you this magic coin,” he said. “Put this coin in a barrel with a few grains of rice, and the barrel will soon be full.”

Shu looked at the coin and then into the monk’s eyes, sure he was joking. But the monk seemed totally serious. “No matter how much rice you take from the barrel,” he promised, “it will always be full.”

Shu had tried out the coin as soon as the monk disappeared down the road. Much to his delight, the few grains of rice he placed in his barrel magically filled it to overflowing. Shu and his pets would never go hungry again. Not only that, Shu could sell the rice and use the money to buy other things!

But one day Shu opened his rice barrel and found that it wasn’t full. He waited and waited, but it just didn’t fill up the way it normally did. Searching the barrel carefully, Shu soon discovered that the magic coin was gone!

Near panic, Shu tried to think of an explanation. Had he been robbed? He wondered. No, it wasn’t likely. Maybe the coin had accidentally slipped into the rice he’d sold to someone. Oh, what was he going to do? Without the coin, he wouldn’t have any more rice to sell.

Shu’s cat and dog hated to see their beloved master in such distress. They did everything they could to cheer him up. The cat gave Shu all the birds she could catch, while her friend the dog tried to take Shu’s mind off their troubles with many games of fetch. But nothing worked. Figuring their noses could sniff out the precious coin if they tried hard enough, the cat and dog decided to team up and search the whole village. They searched and searched, smelling every crack and corner until they had scoured the whole town, but didn’t have any luck.

“Well,” said the dog, tired but still hopeful, “we’ve looked everywhere on this side of the river, and it’s not here. It must be on the other side. Let’s look there tomorrow.”

Early the next morning, before the sun came up, the two animals set out. Since it was wintertime, the river was frozen and they thought they could easily walk across the ice. But they skidded and slipped, laughing all the way to the other side. They started their search immediately, sniffing everywhere for the coin, and continued day after day, week after week, month after month, refusing to give up. Without the magic coin, they knew their master would go hungry again.

Soon the river began to thaw and the days grew longer. The scent of flowers and growing grass filled the air, sharpening their senses and giving them more energy.

One day, the dog detected a scent that he thought was worth following. “Hey, do you smell that?” he said to the cat.

The cat gracefully swished her tail before sitting down. She raised her nose high up into the wind and inhaled deeply. Yes, she smelled it, too. “Yes! Yes!” she said, her excitement rising. “It’s coming from that house!”

The cat and the dog quickly made their way to a big house by the river. Finding one of the doors unlocked, they followed the faint metallic smell of silver into the house. They padded quietly up a grand staircase and crossed a wide hallway that led to a bright room filled with mirrors. In one corner of the room was a wooden chest.

“The trail ends here,” said the dog, pressing his nose against the wooden floor urgently. “It’s got to be around here somewhere.”

The cat had already climbed on top of the chest. “In here,” she said. “Come. I can smell it.”

The dog tried to lift open the top of the chest. “Uurgh,” he said, grunting. “It’s locked! Now what are we going to do?”

The cat jumped off the chest, landing next to the dog without making a sound. Calmly, she tiptoed her way around the edges of the room, deep in thought. “We need help,” she said after a while.

“Help?” said the dog. “Who can possibly help us?”

“There must be many rats in this old house,” she said. “They can chew their way into the chest.”

The dog barked several times. It was a good idea. “But why would rats help us,” he said, growing exasperated. “They don’t like us! We chase them and torture them all the time.”

The cat purred and swished her tail. “Well,” she said, tipping her head to one side, “we can promise not to bother them for ten years. How about that?”

The dog agreed. He didn’t have any better ideas anyway. Before long, they found some rats.

“Fine,” said one of them, after hearing the plan. “We’ll help you get the coin.”

Just as the cat had imagined it, the rats had no trouble gnawing a hole into the chest. In a matter of minutes their search was over, and they had the magic coin back. At long last, the cat and the dog could go home to their master.

Triumphant and bursting with excitement, they stepped out into the sunny yard and made their way over to the river, eager to cross back for home. But they soon realized they had a big problem. The ice had melted, and the weather was so warm that a group of boys were swimming and playing along the water’s edge.

“How will we ever cross this river?” cried the cat. “I can’t swim!”

“But I can!” said the dog, wagging his tail. “You hold the coin in your mouth and climb on my back. I can carry you across.” The cat did as he said, clinging to the dog as he waded into the river. The dog valiantly paddled against the current, barely keeping his head above water.

One of the boys soon caught sight of them. “Look at that!” he said, pointing at the cat and the dog. “I’ve never seen a boat like that before!”

The other children looked over and began to laugh. But the dog was determined to cross. Panting, he kept his eyes on the opposite bank and stayed on course.

On top, the scared and shivering cat hung on to the dog with all her might. She dug her claws into his back, deeper and deeper.

“Are you okay up there?” the dog asked, knowing how afraid of water his friend was. But before she could answer, the children began laughing hysterically.

“Look at them bobbing up and down!” they said, giggling.

The dog ignored the commotion all around him. His only thought was to bring the coin back to his master. But in spite of her fear, the cat couldn’t keep a straight face. She began to think about how silly she must look to the children, all wet and shaking. No matter how hard she tried, the cat couldn’t stifle her laughter. When she finally lost control and began to laugh, the silver coin slipped out of her mouth, immediately sinking to the bottom of the river.

“Ack!” she said. “I’ve dropped the coin!”

As soon as he heard these words, the dog plunged into the rushing waters to save the coin. He was so angry with the cat that he didn’t care if she could swim or not. After having searched for the magic coin for months, the foolish cat had lost it!

But no matter how long the dog stayed underwater, no matter how hard he looked, there was no sign of the coin. It had disappeared.

By some miracle, the cat managed to make it to shore, where she shook the water out of her fur and coughed and spat until she’d expelled all the water she’d swallowed. But things would never be the same again between her and the dog.

Once the dog saw the cat, he started to chase her. To escape, the cat did what cats always do: she ran up a tree. She sank her claws into the branch, her fur standing on end. Hissing angrily at the dog, the cat vowed never to trust him again. He had left her to drown!

The dog barked fiercely at her and scratched at the tree trunk, trying to climb up it. He had never been angrier in his entire life.

Both the cat and the dog were ready for a big fight.

But finally, his throat sore from barking, the dog gave up and returned to his master’s house. The cat escaped and never returned.

And this is why even today, when more time has passed than you can imagine, cats and dogs don’t get along.

But what do you think happened to Shu? He was so happy that at least one of his pets came home he almost forgot about the missing coin. The dog could not forget, though. He couldn’t stand to see his master suffer hunger or bear the cold winter. So he sat beside the river each day, trying to figure out a way to get the magic coin back.

One day, the dog saw a fisherman pull a large fish from the water. When the man cut it open, out fell the magic coin. The dog quickly grabbed the coin with his mouth and ran home to his master, who was very pleased to see the coin again. Together they reopened the small rice shop and lived out the rest of their lives very happily.