Just Be !

Anecdotes

oi-Staff

By Staff

Thursday, October 1, 2009, 11:07

A very famous samurai noted for his skill in sword fighting, once came home tired after a long day's fight in the fields. As he was about to drop into his bed, he came upon a rat that looked ferociously at him. The swordsman immediately pulled out his sword to kill the rat. He tried to strike the rat with the sword but missed the rat. He tried several times, but in vain. The rat somehow escaped his sword and finally the sword was broken in continuous futile trials. The samurai thought "This is no ordinary rat!"

The swordsman then ran out and told his wife about the mysterious rat. His wife pointed out his foolishness and said that he could have let in a cat instead of drawing his sword to finish the job. Hence their cat, which was no ordinary cat, but a warrior's well trained cat, was brought inside to catch the rat.

However the rat jumped over the cat's eyes and the cat ran out in fright. This was too much for the warrior and hence a more skilled cat, the king's cat which had mastered the art was brought to catch the rat, however the king's cat also had to face defeat.

The king's cat then suggested an ordinary cat without any training whatsoever in the art of rat catching. She just slept through the day but there was something mysterious about it that made the rat world tremble. It is a mystery about when and how she kills the rat. She goes on sleeping. She does not have to do anything as her very presence was enough to scare the rats. The king's cat went on to convince the samurai, "Once I went to that cat and I asked, 'What is your art?' She simply looked at me, and she had no words to say, and she closed her eyes and went to sleep. And I woke her again and asked, 'What is your art?'

She said, 'I don't know. I am a cat, that's enough. A cat is a cat and is meant to catch a rat. What art? What nonsense are you talking about?" The samurai was however hesitant and doubted the capability of an ordinary cat when the most skilled ones have failed. The king's cat however, pushed the warrior to try the ordinary cat since he had tried the most skilled ones.

The ordinary cat was then brought in, a plain vagabond cat whose appearance failed to appeal to the warrior. The cat went into the house and in no time brought the dead rat out. All the other cats, assembled there, surrounded the cat and enquired about the technique that it employed to catch the rat. The cat replied, "I don't know any art. I am a cat! Is not that enough?"