Story: The Cat-Maiden

It had already been 24 hours, and Petal was STILL trying to wrap her head around everything that had happened to her.

One moment she was lounging in the warm summer sun, like any other cat, and the next she was quite a bit taller and surrounded by two bickering individuals. 

(Petal lounging in the sun, Source)

“What have you done!” one of them yelled at the other. 

“We could fight all day, so why not test it and see who’s right?” the other replied more calmly. 

As this was happening Petal was glancing back and forth and became even more confused than she was before. She then looked down and realized that she had human hands where her paws should have been and her fur was gone. She cried out at the sight, which caught the attention of the pair. They both looked at each other and quickly explained the situation to the stressed out ex-cat. 

Apparently, these two were the gods Jupiter and Venus, and they had turned Petal into a human so that they could settle a disagreement. Jupiter believed that a living being was capable of changing its nature, while Venus disagreed. They then told her that they had arranged a wedding between Petal and a young man they had found. Neither god explained themselves any further and immediately had Petal change into a wedding dress. Before she knew it she was walking down the aisle. 

After the wedding they had a reception, and all was going well. Except for the fact that Petal was still lost and extremely uncomfortable. Then suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a mouse dart out from underneath a table. Petal couldn’t resist the urge and instinctively chased after it. 

Venus then looked at Jupiter with a smug look, “see, I told you. A living being can’t change its nature! She’s still a cat at heart.” 

Jupiter glared back, and was clearly annoyed that his friend had released the mouse on purpose. 

After chasing the mouse Petal became even more aware of how little she fit in as a human, and walked towards the two gods while hiding her face in embarrassment. Unfortunately, once she reached their table they had already started arguing again. No matter what she tried she couldn’t catch their attention. 

Eventually Petal had had enough and yelled as loudly as she could manage, which finally broke up the fight. Both gods looked at her expectantly, but they also had slight irritation on their faces. 

“Sorry to be a bother,” Petal sighed, “but I’d like to become a cat again. If you don’t mind.” 

Both gods considered her for a moment before Jupiter looked at Venus and replied, “can we keep up this charade a little while longer? This cat hasn’t even been human for a day.”

“You only want that because you lost. But I guess we can give it 24 hours and see what happens,” Venus said with a shrug. 

Jupiter smiled while Petal’s heart sank. She was about to argue when the two disappeared into thin air. Petal frowned and looked back towards her new “husband.” This would be a long day. 

After the reception Petal had moved into her new home, for the day at least, and sat down on a small chair next to the guy she had just married. 

Where did they find him? she wondered to herself. 

He wasn’t the smartest, or most motivated person she had ever come across, and luckily he didn’t seem to take much notice of her. 

After a while he got up and went to a back room, and returned with a cat. The cat followed him towards a cabinet where he pulled out a can of cat food and placed it into a small bowl in the corner of the room. 

Petal stared at the food and her mouth began to water. She even got up and headed for the bowl, but as she did this the man stared at her knowingly. 

“I… I’m just making sure that this cat food isn’t expired. You know. That would be bad for the cat…” Petal managed to come up with a plausible excuse for her behavior, and looked to the man for his response. 

“Dude, I know you’re supposedly a cat-turned-human. Those two weird people told me about it, I just wanted to test it out.” He stated as he nodded towards the cat food. 

Petal’s mouth gaped open, "Then WHY did you agree to marry me? A cat!” 

“It would make for a good story.” the man shrugged. “And this isn’t even my cat, I’m watching him for a friend.” 

Petal was still reeling from this information, but decided to spend the rest of her 24 hours doing human things. Watching TV, eating pizza. And at the end the two gods reappeared and turned her back to the cat she once was. 

Petal didn’t know how their theories were resolved, and didn’t care. She was just glad to be back to herself again. 

Author’s note: When I read this story originally I wondered what Venus and Jupiter did with the cat after they settled their dispute, and so I tried to write it. The beginning is pretty true to the original, up until the point where the cat-maiden chases the mouse at her wedding reception, and after that I added my part. 

Bibliography: Joseph Jacobs, The Cat-Maiden, Source.