(Dog and Cat: Image Source)
There once was a dog and a cat that became good friends and decided to go on adventures together.
One day, they decided to go on a walk to the Peach orchard outside of town. As they were walking it started to rain. This was a problem because the cat, who was the leader of the two, HATED the rain. They knew that if they could get to the orchard then they would be sheltered by the trees so they hurried on.
They had to cross a river in the pouring rain. The cat hated rain but hated rivers more so he demanded that the dog carry him across. The dog agreed because he was a very good dog but was also kind of a pushover.
The dog waded into the river carefully. Just as they reached the middle, he turned to check on his friend. But as he turned he lost his footing and briefly went under the water.
When he spluttered back to the surface, he didn't feel the sharp claws of his friend desperately clinging to his back anymore. He frantically swam to the opposite shore and searched the riverbank for the cat.
The dog spotted the cat in the middle of the stream, but the current was swift and carrying the cat far away. In a panic, he ran to a tree along the bank and asked it to give him a long branch that he could then use to save his friend.
"Okay," said the tree, "but first you must get these chipmunks out of my bark, they are annoying and store their nuts in me and it really is rather uncomfortable."
"Sorry tree," the dog replied "I have to save my friend now, I don't have time to deal with your problems!" And off he ran, desperately trying to keep his friend in sight.
He next approached a horse with a lead rope still attached to her bridle.
"Horse!" he barked over the sound of the rain, "please! give me use of your lead so that I might rescue my friend from the river with it!"
"Neigh, I will not. Unless... unless you find the farmer and tell him to bring me my apples! I am hungry! Do this for me and I will give you my rope."
"My friend is literally drowning right now, I do not have time to get you apples!" yelled the dog and chased on after the cat.
Just when the cat had had enough and could not hold on much longer, the dog found a small peninsula and was able to snag the cat out of the water. He rushed his friend to the shelter of the orchard and waited till the cat stopped coughing up water.
"Thank you, friend," the cat croaked when he could finally breathe again, "I thought for sure I was a gonner. I saw you go ask the tree and the horse for help and then keep running after me. I feared you would be distracted like this one grasshopper I knew-"
"Let's not speak of unpleasant things, cat, let's just enjoy the sound of the rain," said the dog with a grunt as he settled in under their tree.
"Yes, yes, you're quite right."
The cat fell asleep curled into the dog and the dog diligently watched the storm until it finally cleared.
Author's Note:
This story is based on The Grasshopper and the Ant. In that tale, the main characters are a grasshopper and an ant. The ant falls in the river and the grasshopper intends to save his friend but gets caught up trying to please everyone he asks for help. It's one of those stories where he has to get one thing for one animal (or being) so the next will give him something else and so on and so forth forever and a half. Anyway, by the time he gets all the items to all the right animals and beings, the ant has died. The final lesson is "help is only valuable when it is given in time, that the earth alone refuses not to yield her gifts to him that asks, and that all other things exist only by reciprocal services."I enjoyed the original story for the most part (I hate reading the same list over and over again) but I wanted to change it up a bit. I made the main characters a cat and dog and allowed for my lovable dog character to have the smarts to turn down stupid requests for things that were not in dire need.
I liked that the original story ended with the ant dying because that was realistic, but I couldn't let the cat die (even though I'm a dog person) so I saved him instead. I also alluded to the grasshopper and the ant in my story for those of you who read it this past week! I hope you enjoyed!
Bibliography: Georgian Folktales unit. Story source: Georgian Folk Tales, The Grasshopper and the Ant, by Marjory Wardrop (1894).