One such interesting Chinese myth is why dogs hate cats. Here is the story: There lived a Chinese family, the Wang family. One winter, there was serious food shortage that resulted from a number of factors- Ming-li, the son had caught pneumonia, thus more money was spent on medicine, and worse still, his father had fallen ill, and had been sacked. Unfortunately, he died a short while later. The bereaved family was left in dire poverty. They lived on crumbs. However, Ming-li always stayed hopeful, and went out daily searching for work, so as to get food for his family. He hoped to get some copper which he could sell, if work evaded him completely, invoking his belief in the provision of the gods. Other victims of this dire food shortage were two pets- a dog and a cat named Blackfoot and Whitehead respectively. One day, an old bald priest passed by and Ming- Li’s mother almost sent him off highlighting their plight. However, the priest was adamant. He showed her a golden beetle and told her that it was a gift from the god of filial conduct, who had noted her sons’ goodness. On seeing it, Mrs. Wang was very excited. She thought that she could be sold for some good money that would be used to buy millet that could sustain them for a few days. However, the priest informed her that the beetle was not to be sold, as it had brought good fortune to them- it could feed them. All she needed to do was boil some water in a pot, put the beetle inside and mention all the food she wanted. She would then cover the pot for about 3 minutes. Mrs. Wang was ready to test this new solution. She thanked the priest. She was advised to try it out when the priest left. Immediately, she followed the instructions, and in a while, the pot was full of dumplings, which she had requested. She gluttonously ate and fed her two pets. This was quite unusual. When Mingli came back home, he found his mother extremely excited. In a little while, there was food for him, and his mother couldn’t wait to explain. The two pets were fed with all the remainders of food, an unknown phenomenon in the Wang family. The Wang household became replete with all sorts of food and they all grew fat and lazy. Mrs. Wang began to invite friends over to enjoy her delicious food. One day, Mr. and Mrs. Chu came over and they stole the golden beetle. When Mrs.Wang came back home that evening, her treasure was gone. This was marked beginning of sliding back to their previous lifestyle, where they had survived on. Hunger drove the pets to the streets looking for left-over bones and morsels. Interestingly, Whitehead began to look excited and Blackfoot wondered what he was up to. Whitehead had actually seen Mrs.Chu steal the beetle. They hatched a plan to retrieve it. When they got to the Chu’s, a big rat helped them retrieve it, with a promise that Whitehead would not feast on her. On their way back, Blackfoot swam across a river with Whitehead on his back. Whitehead was distracted by a fish and he let go of the good fortune as he dived to get the fish. Blackfoot helped him retrieve the fortune. When they got home, Blackhead was tricked into waiting outside, while Whitehead went inside. The latter got the best food, while the former got thinner and thinner. Angered, Blackhead killed Whitehead and called the other dogs to witness the results of selfishness. This is the story that the Chinese use to try and understand the animosity between these two pets that we like to have in our homes.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 08:04:02 +0000