Reading Notes: Rouse's "Giant Crab", Part A

• The Hypocritical Cat
• Once Upon a Time...
• There was a troop of Rats that lived by holes in a river bed
• a Cat would watch them come and go and wanted to eat them, but wasn't strong enough to attack them all at once
• So he would stand early in the morning near their holes, with his face turned towards the sun, smelling the air and standing on one leg
• The Rats wondered why he did that, so they all asked one day
• They asked his name: "Holy is my name" said the Cat
• Why did he stand on one leg, they asked: "Because if I stood on all four, the Earth could not bear my weight."
• Why does he keep his mouth open: "Because I feed on air, and never eat anything else"
• Why does he face the sun: "Because I worship the Sun."
• They all thought he was very pious, and bowed to him one by one in the morning as they filed past to show respect for his piety
• But every morning, he would pounce on the very last mouse and gobble him up.
• The cat's plan was going fine for a while, but eventually the Chief of the Rats noticed that his ranks were thinning out
• He suspected that the pious cat might know more about it than he let on
• The next day, he posted himself at the tail of the troop, and watched everything that went on
• The Cat prepared for his pounce, but the Rat was ready and dodged out of the way
• The Chief Rat calls out the cat for his false piety, then lunges at his throat
• The rats heard the scuffle and came trooping back, and the first ones had cat to eat, and the last ones went sniffing about the mouths of their friends, asking what cat tasted like
• And the Rats lived happily ever after.
• Bibliography: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse (link)

An Attentive Cat (Wikipedia, link)