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by Edna Yaghi
- Basboos was a large marmalade
male cat who lived in a Gideon forest. Early each morning, he
would pad softly through the dappled sunlight of his forest
home, silently picking his way through the undergrowth,
stopping at frequent intervals to sniff the air for a tasty
morsel of prized white mouse. He was the king of his clowder
and he ruled supreme in his imperial forest of Gideon. Later
in the day, he would take to a lone stream and either lay down
and stretch himself out or wait for an unwary white mouse to
stop by for a drink.
-
- But Basboos had been forewarned
to change his habits or he would surely perish. "My dear
imperial sire," his religious advisor would say,
"you can’t go on like this forever. You must repent
your deeds, change your colors and learn to be kind to the
white mice that fear you so. At least if you cannot be kind to
them, don’t eat them."
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- Basboos regularly patrolled his
territory on a daily basis, making sure that no other feline
intruders dare approach his forest kingdom. His religious
advisor was the only male allowed into his territory but this
morning, when he heard the news, Basboos was outraged and
answered in a furious growl, "What, have you taken leave
of your senses? How can I not eat the white mice that
pitter-patter everywhere? They are the tastiest morsels I have
ever had the delight to consume."
-
- Then as his whiskers twitched
nervously and his claws retracted into the soft earth of his
newly built and extravagant den, he squinted his amber eyes
and asked his wise advisor, "And just how do you fill
your belly? Don’t tell me you don’t eat mice at all."
-
- "No, your majesty, I have
given up eating mice completely. I went to the Hadj and it is
as if I experienced a rebirth. I now in good conscience can do
no other living creature any harm."
-
- Basboos felt his eyes burn red
with anger. "Then just what is it that you do eat?"
-
- Oh, master, I only partake of
nuts and berries and when lucky, lap up whatever spilled milk
I might find on the forest floor. I have even taken to the
idea of eating honey. You will see, once you go to the Hadj,
everything will change."
-
- Basboos noted how sleek his
advisor’s coat now appeared. Why, he thought to himself, it
is smoother and softer than ever before. He looked deep into
the eyes of his counsel and for the first time saw a calmness
there he had never noticed before. Lo and behold, the
countenance of his advisor was serene and peaceful, even
pleasant to look at for the first time that the monarch could
remember.
-
- "How long does it take to
go to this Hadj of yours and do you think there is hope that I
can change?"
-
- "Oh, yes your highness. You
will experience a great awakening and everything will change,
your desires, your tastes, your wants in this life."
-
- "Everything?"
-
- "Yes, everything."
-
- So it was. Basboos decided to go
to the Hadj. He was accompanied by some other feline delegates
from neighboring clowders. After a few weeks of absence, he
returned to his forest domain thinking to himself that indeed he
was different. He called for his advisor and invited his fellow
felines over for a welcoming party and announced proudly to them
that, "I have gravely wronged the white mice who share my
forest habitat with me. I have reformed and I am now insisting
that my counsel circulate a letter of apology to all mice who
live in the forest of Gideon."
-
- His fellow feline neighbors meowed in
approval and soon after his reception and confession; a letter was
circulated to all the white mice who dwelled in the forest of
Gideon.
-
- The advisor did as he was ordered and
in no time, all the white mice in Basboos’s kingdom read the
circular, which was in truth, an apologetic confession of his past
glutinous habit of devouring any white mouse that happened to cross
his path.
-
- Basboos wasn’t sure that the white
mice would even believe the circular, but all he could do was hope
and wait and dine on berries and nuts and when he was lucky, lap up
a bit of spilt milk from the forest floor. Berries and nuts weren’t
so bad after all, he thought. At least he wasn’t chomping down any
more helpless mice who squealed whenever he bit through their fluffy
white fur and crunched on their tasty flesh. But wrong was wrong and
he was a new marmalade cat. He noticed whenever he stood hours on
end admiring his reflection in the lone stream that trickled through
his forest home, that his coat was smoother now and shinier than it
had ever been and that his countenance was almost angelic. He felt
good about himself.
-
- One day, one great day, his
counsel entered his chambers and announced, "I’m sorry to
disturb you your highness, but you have a visitor."
-
- Basboos only opened one eye and
sleepily squinted at his counsel. He stretched out his limbs and
yawned slightly and then said in a drowsy mew, "Who is this
visitor you speak of?"
-
- "The white mice have sent an
emissary to welcome you sire. It is an occasion to celebrate and
a test of your endurance and abstinence."
-
- Basboos jumped up. "Yes you
are right," he purred. " Have him enter
immediately."
-
- Suddenly, the most beautiful white
mouse that he had ever seen, entered his palatial den. He was
about 3 inches long with a tail of similar size. His pink eyes
were intent and he did not take them off Basboos as if looking
for an answer to his unasked question. His coat was rich and
lustrous and his little nose twitched in anticipation.
-
- Berries and nuts. Bah! What were
berries and nuts to a tasty morsel of mouse? Had he been mad to
give up such delights? Just look at this luscious piece of food
so close to him that he could reach out and pounce on it before
it knew what hit it. Unintentionally, his tongue slipped out and
licked his jaws and he drooled a bit. But all Basboos said in a
low and restrained voice was, "Welcome, my friend. I am
sorry that I have eaten so many mice in my day and broken up so
many micey homes. It is my greatest wish that you will all
forgive me and that we can now be friends and live in peace and
happiness for the rest of our days."
-
- He ended his apology with a long
gentle purr as if to convince the white emissary of his pure
intentions. His tail switched up and down a few times as if to
certify his noble intentions. He even stretched out his paw in
friendship. But instead, the mouse scampered away as fast as he
could, before Basboos could say or do anything further.
-
- The white mouse returned to his
fellow mice. Basboos’s counsel, who happened to be picking
berries in the same vicinity where the mice lived, overheard the
emissary saying to the other white mice who asked him about
whether the monarch had really conformed or not, "The Hadj
went to Hadj but that old glint of mischief is still in his eye.
I did not wait to be his diner. The way he looked at me and the
way he hungrily licked his jaws were proof enough that nothing
has changed."
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Source:
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- by courtesy & ©
2000 Edna Yaghi
