The Friendship of the Cat and the Rat

This is my version of a public domain story: "The Cat and the Rat" which is a Swahili story from  Zanzibar in Jephson's Stories Told in an African Forest, as reportedly told by "Osmani," who was the personal servant of Captain Robert Nelson. The animals here have their Swahili names: pania (panya) is Swahili for mouse or rat, and paka is Swahili for cat. The illustration are by Walter W. Buckley. I have followed the original word by word while also feeling free to make my own changes and additions. 

The Friendship of the Cat and the Rat

Once upon a time, long ago, Paka the cat and Pania the rat lived together as friends on the island of Kwale, one of those small islands which is stretched like a string of beads to the south of Zanzibar. These small islands were seldom visited by human beings, who lived on the larger islands like Pemba or on Zanzibar itself.

So it was there on the small island of Kwale that Paka the cat and Pania the rat dwelt together, alone but united in friendship. They lived in a dry, sandy cave in the rocks, and they slept in warm, comfortable beds made of dry leaves and grass. It was a pleasant life, and they had plenty of food to eat. The cat caught birds in the trees, and the rat lived upon nuts and the roots of the manioc plant which grew wild all over the island.

Now after they had lived together many years on their tiny island, the rat one day said, "Let us leave this island, my dear Paka, and go to the island of Zanzibar where the humans live. I am tired of the life here alone; I want to go and see how the children of men live."

"I would gladly go with you, Pania," answered the cat, "but between us and Zanzibar rolls the deep salt sea. How shall we cross over? The tide runs strong, and it's too far for us to swim."

"We can build a boat!" answered the rat. "We just need to dig up a big manioc root and then we can scoop it out and make into a canoe."

"Excellent!" said the cat. "I like this plan."

"And I already have my eye on the manioc root we can use," said the rat, who then led the cat to a very large manioc root which they then dug up together. Then, they set to work scooping out the canoe. It was hard work: the rat used his sharp teeth to gnaw at the root while the cat scratched with his long claws until finally, after several days, the canoe was ready.

"It doesn't look very strong," said the cat doubtfully. "Do you really think it will take us all the way to Zanzibar?"

"Have no fear!" said the rat, "We will just need to make some oars to paddle with, and we'll get to Zanzibar safe and sound, I'm sure of it."

So they made two paddles, one for the cat and one for the rat, and then they pushed the manioc canoe into the water, setting off on their voyage to Zanzibar.

They moved along quite quickly at first, but then the tide began to turn against them, and they still had a long way to go.

The rat, who was actually quite a lazy creature, got tired of paddling, and he was also hungry. He lay down his paddle and began eating pieces of their manioc canoe. As the cat sitting in front, he didn't see what the rat was doing and jus tkept on paddling and paddling and paddling until he was quite out of breath. When he turned around to say something to the rat, he saw that his companion was no longer paddling and was instead greedily eating the bottom of their boat.

"What are you doing?" shrieked the cat. "Here I am paddling, while you are trying to drown us. Stop that! You're going to eat through the boat and the water will come pouring in."

"Don't worry!" said the rat. "I only just now lay down my paddle, and I nibbled only the tiniest bit of manioc. I was out of breath and hungry, but I'm fine now. I'm ready to keep going!" 

The rat's calm tone and charming smile made the cat feel ashamed for having gotten angry. "My apologies," he said. "I was feeling tired also, but I'm also ready to keep going." Then each took up their paddles, the cat rowing in front and the rat behind.

The cat was paddling as hard as he could, yet the canoe did not seem to be moving at all, and when he turned around he saw the rat was not paddling but was gnawing at the bottom of the boat again.

"You are lazy and you are a liar!' shouted the cat. "You are making me do all the work, which is bad enough, and you are also going to get us killed. Stop eating the boat! If you make a hole there, we're both going to drown."

"I'm sorry!" said the rat. "Truly, I apologize! I won't eat more of the boat." He then picked up his paddle and began rowing vigorously, and the cat turned around and also rowed as hard as he could.

So they rowed on together for a while, but the canoe was still little more than half-way to Zanzibar and again the rat's greediness overwhelmed him. Once more he started nibbling on the boat and by now the bottom was so thin that it cracked open and water began pouring in. The canoe was sinking!

With a shriek of fright and fury, the cat tried to grab the rat, but then the canoe broke in two and sank. Both the cat and the rat found themselves in the water.

"You wretched creature!" spluttered the cat as he rose to the surface and swam towards the rat. "You have eaten the boat, so now I will revenge myself by eating you."

"Wait!" gasped the rat. "You cannot eat me here! The salt water will get down your throat and make you sick to your stomach. Let's just swim to the nearest little island and you can eat me there."

"Very well," agreed the cat. "I see a little island there to the west. You swim on, and I will swim behind to see that you do not escape."

So on they swam until they reached the shore of the island, which appeared to be even smaller than the island that had previously been their home.

"Now," cried the cat, as they scrambled up on the beach, "now I will make a meal of you as a punishment for your greediness and treachery."

"But wait!" replied the rat, desperately trying to think of a way to escape the angry cat. "Don't be in such a hurry! Why the rush? Let me shake off all the salt water; otherwise, I'll be too salty to eat. Meanwhile, you can rest here in the sun and let your fur dry off. You'll enjoy your meal much more after you've had a chance to get dry and get well rested after our swim."

The cat was indeed dripping wet, so he agreed to wait before eating the rat and then stretched himself out in the sun to dry. Exhausted by the day's events, he soon fell asleep and began to snore.

Meanwhile the rat, pretending to dry himself, began scratching a hole in the ground as fast as he could, thinking if he could just dig it deep enough he might be able to escape the cat.

Awakened by the sound of the rat digging, the cat opened one eye and asked what he was doing. 

"I'm just getting a good foothold so I can shake off all the salt water," replied the rat. "I'll be ready soon. Just go back to sleep, and then when you wake up from your nap you can eat me."

The rat went on digging in the ground, and every now and then he peeped around to make sure the cat was still napping, until at last he had made quite a deep hole. Just as he paused on the edge of the hole to take a breath, the cat sprang on him and shouted, "I'm ready, Rat! Our friendship is over and I'm going to eat you for my supper!"

But the rat just managed to disappear into the hole before the cat was able to grab him.

And that is how the enmity of the cat and the rat began. Since that time, all the cats are at war with all the rats and mice everywhere. So whenever you see a cat prowling round, you can be sure that cat is looking for a rat. Every cat-mother tells her kittens the story of Pania the rat and Paka the cat, and thus the hunting of the rats by the cats carries on forever.