Story: The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog

An old dog sat on a porch, looking towards the road, waiting for her granddaughter to return from her first day of school. She was waiting patiently, and wanted to hear every detail of her day. 

A few moments later she saw her granddaughter rushing towards her from the street, and as she stood to greet her the grandmother noticed tears running down the puppy’s cheeks. Alarmed, the dog ran to meet the little dog halfway. 

“What happened! What’s wrong?” The grandmother asked. 

The puppy looked up sadly, “I made a friend today. But he was a cat, and people made fun of us for playing together!” 

"I’m so sor-“

“What’s wrong with liking cats?” the puppy interrupted. 

The grandmother pondered this for a moment and finally responded, “Cats and dogs haven’t gotten along for a long time now. It all began from a quarrel between two friends, who were a cat and a dog.” 

The puppy still looked confused so the old dog continued, “would you like to hear the story?” 

The puppy nodded and the grandmother started her story. 

“A long time ago, even before I was born, there was a dog and cat who were the best of friends. They were always together, kept each others secrets, and shared everything they had with each other. They even shared the food they hunted.”

“However, during a harsh winter, food became scarce and the pair began to go hungry. The cat came up with an idea to go their separate ways, hoping that they would eat better if they weren’t sharing every scrap of food they could find. The dog didn’t like this idea, but the cat pushed it.”

“Eventually the dog gave in to the cats request, albeit sadly, and the two shared an oath to never cross each other’s paths again.”

The puppy spoke up, “Why did the dog agree! They need to stay together!”

Her grandmother only nodded and continued speaking. 

“After their oath the cat found a house to live in, where it caught all the mice it could imagine. But the dog wasn’t so lucky. It ran into trouble with a monkey, who pelted coconuts at it, and a flock of sheep he agreed to protect, who ended up getting eaten by wolves. This discouraged the dog, and it decided to stay away from all other animals.”

“Over time the dog began to get weaker and weaker until it came across a man working in a garden. The man seemed to like the dog and invited it to live with him. The dog agreed and was nursed back to health.”

"Coincidentally, this was the house that cat had decided to live and it was unhappy to see the dog there. It thought that the dog had broken their oath and constantly scratched and hissed at it whenever they passed one another.”

(The cat being angry with the dog, source) 

“Finally, having enough, the dog decided to leave the comfortable home. The man was saddened by this and asked if the two would become friends again. The dog said that it would gladly do so, but the cat would never agree.”

“And that, is why dogs and cats have been at odds for so long,” the older dog finished. “But that doesn’t mean that this relationship can’t be changed.” 

The puppy seemed to be processing this information still. But after a moment she spoke up. 

“Do you think I could help fix things between dogs and cats? Through my friendship with a cat?”

“It’s a start” replied the grandmother dog. “You may face disapproval by some, but don’t let that deter you. True friendships don’t come around often.” 

The puppy smiled and thanked her grandmother for the story. Then she ran off to meet her new friend. 

The grandmother watched pridefully as she rushed away. 

Author’s Note: I chose to alter the “Quarrel of the Cat and Dog” for this week’s story. The original told of how the dog and cat became at odds with each other, and I decided to explore how this would affect future generations. So I created a situation where a puppy became friends with a cat, but as a result of the past they were teased by their peers for it. I wanted the story to have a better ending, so I decided to have the puppy try to make a difference and “repair” the relationship between the two species. 

Bibliography: Jewish Fairy Tales by Gertrude Landa, "The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog," Source.