A Cats Tale

  Chapter One

  Like I said, I was first born a cat in Egypt, that is, it is this life that I first remember. My mom, Isis (named after the Goddess Isis) was beloved of Isom, a servant girl to Cheo who worked in the palace of King Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti. Sounded pretty important the way mom said it, but it still boiled down to the same thing, pest killing!

  My dad, according to mom, was a real tough mau (Egyptian for cat, or one that meows) that she met while on patrol in the granaries for mice. He didn’t work there, just happened to be passing through. Mom was a force to be reckoned with in her own right, being the biggest cat that worked the palace grounds, Grandpaw was part leopard according to mom.

  I found out through my older sisters that their mating ritual was the stuff of legends and is still mentioned by the palace guards and workers who were witness to the event whenever my mom would pass by on patrol.

  The story my sisters told and later expanded upon by mom, was that the day started out as usual for Mom in her life at the palace… “Isis!” called Isom, “Here kitty! Come get some fresh milk!” Isis, the very large female palace cat, came bolting around corner at the sound of her human’s voice. “There you are! I knew you wouldn’t want to miss out on this treat.” Isom said, as she stroked the cat’s fur.

  “You’ve got that right!” thought Isis, “Nothing like goat’s milk to give me strength to go out patrolling!” Isis accepted the milk and the fur rub graciously and even rubbed her sides on her human’s legs as they walked back to their chamber together, once the milk was gone.

  Along the way she saw her two daughters lounging in the chambers of another servant. Isis called out a hello to each and they both helloed in return. She saw just how fat they had become, living as they do. No granary duty or patrols of the palace grounds. The only action they see is an occasional mouse that makes it past my patrol outside. “Maybe it is all my fault they have become so soft,” she thought, “perhaps if I let more slip in.”

  Her thoughts drifted so that she almost missed an asp slithering alongside the wall close to their chamber. It was Isom’s shriek that brought her back just in time to see the thing coil back into a striking pose. Isis became a black streak that was only a blur to the vision as she attacked and swiftly killed the snake.

  With the snake still dangling from her mouth, dead and limp, she saw her daughters come out of their chamber. “Way to go Mom,” they called out, “thanks, but we would have gotten it!”

  “Kids,” she thought, “I’m glad I am through with all that!” She thought back to their father. He was much smaller than she was, not a good hunter and wasn’t very lucky either. He was unfortunate to have scampered out of the palace one day after the kittens were born and right under the wheels of a passing chariot. “Served him right,” she thought, “for producing these two.” At least they were cute kittens and were quickly taken off her paws after they were weaned.

  As she let the snake drop from her mouth Isom came over and gave her fur a great rub. “You know? I can see why even the king has heard of what a great cat you are.” she said, “Come and rest before the night sets in.” With the asp cleanly discarded out the hall window, they entered the bedchamber and Isis curled up on Isom’s sleeping mat and drifted.

  She awoke to the sounds of raised voices and cheers coming from the hall. As she went to investigate, she saw Isom and others leaning and waving out the hall windows. Isis clambered up to the window ledge in front of Isom and saw the King going by in his chariot, followed closely by his Queen driving her own chariot. “OK”, she thought, “that was interesting, but it doesn’t mean a thing to me.” So Isis went back to bed.

  Her next awakening revealed the Sun God Ra was driving his chariot past the mountains in the west and it was getting dark, “Time to hunt!” she thought. If she had known what was coming next, she said she would have stayed in bed! The patrol started out pretty routine as it always does. A few mice trying to slip in by the stables, a few snakes sliding along the bushes near the palace steps, but as she turned the corner towards the granary Isis said she caught the scent of, something.

  “It seemed as if eyes were watching me the closer I got to the storage bins.” She did quick turns to see if the culprit was closing in, nothing. Her attention turned to a rather large mouse that was trying to enter the space under the granary door, which really wasn’t a space at all, or a way into the granary, stupid mouse. The granary was constructed in such a way that it was sealed tighter than one of the tombs down in the Valley of the Kings, she would know, that is where she was born.

  Isis and her Dad use to explore all the tombs. His job was to protect the tombs from thieves and such. Grandpaw, being part leopard, is where Isis got her size from and skills. When humans talk of curses being placed on tombs, that was the job of Isis and her Dad! They would scare the wits out of anyone who would come to desecrate the tombs of the kings, and send them screaming for their lives.

  Isis was little more than a kitten when Isom came to visit the tombs with Cheo. She and her Dad would usually hide in the dark recesses watching everything, but Isis had failed to find a spot big enough for her to be totally hidden from sight and Isom saw her. Without fear she came over to the spot and knelt down to look at Isis in her hole. Isis tried to scare her off with hisses and spits, but they were only half-hearted, due to the fact that this human had brought something in her hand that smelled wonderful. Her mouth was watering so hard that it was difficult to hiss; it was more like someone doing a raspberry, with a lisp!

  The human opened her hand and offered the kitten the contents. Isis discovered later that she had given up her independence and time with her father for cheese. As she made short work of the cheese the human touched her fur. It was a soft caress that felt soothing, like when she would rub against her dad or mom as a kitten. She was lifted into a basket and Isom said, “I think I will call you Isis!” That was the last she saw of the Valley of the Kings, or her dad.

  The granary stores were sealed tight, with only the aroma of grain escaping to entice hungry rodents. It was as she was choking down the fat tail of this stupid mouse that Isis was knocked flat! “Hey there, good looking!” purred out the ambushing attacker, “What’s a cute thing like you doing in these parts?” Isis staggered back to her paws and looked up to see what it was that had just floored her, ready to strike back.

  “What I saw almost laid me out again.” He was the biggest mau I had ever seen since my dad, he might have been a bit bigger, and man was he gorgeous! “What did you do that for?” Isis hissed.

  “I simply could not resist!” he purred back, “I had seen you on patrol the last time I passed through here and you intrigued me enough to cause me to stop longer this time through, and, might I add, that I am now glad I did!” The large leopard mixed mau circled Isis, careful to stay just out of claw length.

  “I may make you change your mind about that last bit.” she hissed, careful to keep her front to him as he circled, then added, “If it is a meal you have stopped for, I will make you regret your poor choice!”

  “A meal?” came the low response from the mau and with a wink. “That is not why I stopped.”

  Isis realized now just what this handsome mau was after and coyly hissed, “It would be easier to make a meal of me than to get that! Now, be gone or be dead!”

  The larger male chuckled slightly and said, “I think I am up to that challenge, my dear.” His constant circling was obviously creating the effect he had hoped for. Although Isis was smaller than he was, she was very capable of fending him off, but she was getting dizzy. He looked determined to make this one his.

  The howls from the two in their circling dance attracted the attention of some guards and palace workers. They debated whether to stop the exchange, but settled for placing wagers instead. The crowd grew as the howling grew. Isom came running to the palace wall to see, as well as my sisters when the w
ord spread through the palace. Her instinct was to rush down into the granary yard to protect her beloved pet, but the guards held her back.

  Isis was keeping pace with the larger male, but was feeling more and more vulnerable as the circling became faster. She admired the stranger’s style, turning this into a challenge of wills, but she didn’t have the need or the time to have more kittens! Her eyes were focused on his, locked in his matched pace, then he stopped. She saw the expression on his face had changed and his eyes had caught something and in a flash he had sprung towards her. Isis had her claws at the ready and raked the stranger across his stomach as he leapt, over her? She quickly turned to see the handsome mau snatch a cobra in mid strike that was aimed to bite her. The cobra went unnoticed by both while they were circling until the stranger spotted it about to strike. The snake did not stand a chance of winning against the savage attacker and was quickly destroyed.

  With his stomach scratched up pretty good the mau retreated to one of the granary doors, away from Isis, and the humans watching from the wall. Isis stood there for a moment looking at the shredded remains of the cobra, then toward the door where the mau went. She went to the doorway and saw the handsome mau slumped down in the corner.

  “I knew you would be fast,” he said, “but I had no idea!”

  “I am so sorry!” Isis cried, “I thought you were attacking!”

  “If this was what was in store for me,” he said, “I’m glad I didn’t! Ouch!” The mau licked the wounds on his stomach.

  “I think you will live.” Isis said, relieved.

  “Yeah, just a scratch!” he chuckled back. “Well I guess I should be moving on,” the mau continued, after a final inspection of his wounds, “I have a long way to go.”

  As the mau was getting up to leave, Isis said with a wink, “Aren’t you forgetting what you came here for?”

  The two remained in the doorway for almost an hour and this was causing the watchers on the wall to become concerned, when all of a sudden the mau came trotting out. The blood from his scratch encounter with Isis was clearly visible to the observers, who let out gasps. Isom screamed and the mau was heading out of the granaries when the spear of a disgruntled bet loser came flying towards him. He never heard a sound until it was too late, and it was the gasps of the watching crowd that alerted him. The spear thrower’s aim was true and the large mau was well on his way into the afterlife before he even realized he was doomed.

  Isis did not realize what had happened, she was exiting the doorway and saw the handsome beast had slumped into the dirt of the garden. She ran over to him and then noticed the spear. “No!” she cried, “Not again!”

  “Don’t worry my dear Isis,” he said weakly, “It’s just a scratch…”

  “I didn’t even get your name!” she wailed, but he was gone. She did not hear the disappointed shouts from the wall, the wage losers, nor did she hear the shouts of jubilee from the winners. What she did hear was the approaching steps coming toward her in a fast run. She weakly turned to the sound and felt her heart leap when the approaching sounds were those of her Isom. Isis, weak with sorrow, collapsed in the dirt across the unfortunate mau.

  She said she awoke back in her home, on a mat of her own, with Isom tending to her. She was still mourning and it felt good to lie there and be tended to. Milk and cheese were close by and Isom fed her the cheese and dipped a cloth in the milk and let it flow into Isis’ mouth. The food made her feel much better and she was back on duty in a few days.

  Mom said she continued her patrols and guard duties at the granary until her stomach became so large that she couldn’t climb up and down the palace steps. The thought that kept going through her head was is she going to explode or be doomed like her own mother was because of the size of the kitten inside her? Mom’s mother was large, but nothing compared to her daughter’s size. The trauma was so great to her that she survived only by sheer will to nurse her kitten. Within three weeks of delivery Grandmew was gone, but had given just enough nourishment to her daughter to ensure her survival. Fortunately Mom had a father that stuck around and provided the protection and food that she needed. This made her miss her handsome mate even more.

  Mom said the labor lasted what seemed an eternity to both her and Isom. Both did their part, one the labor and the other providing comfort. My sisters were also around, but proved mostly a source of antagonism to their mom. The closer she got to delivery, the less comfort she found. Her comfort came only when I was born. I looked like my mother, mostly black, with shocks of gray and white, no tail and tufted ears. Mother admitted that she had survived the birth due to her own size and that she had already given birth prior.