The All-Eating Cats of Legend

Before the Earth had fully matured, in a time when nature ruled the land and all creatures possessed the gift of speech, there walked two celestial beings: Maya and Molly, the all-eating cats. This magnificent duo had great prowess in the field of eating, going to great lengths to acquire food by any means necessary. Maya was a scatterbrained creature, often engaging in foolish methods to achieve her goals. Molly was the more cunning of the two, as she was the one who devised the schemes for both of them.

One fateful morning, an unwitting human walked across the cats’ territory. He was a young man with fair hair and skin, clad in a striped hat. As he crossed the border onto their land, he took note of the peculiar scenery. Why are there so many cans of food littered around? He wondered. Atop a nearby hill, the two cats were dozing. However, the scent of the food carried by the boy awoke Maya from her slumber. As soon as her eyes opened, she was on her feet, her usual laziness chased away by the possibility of food. For a moment, she considered waking Molly, but remembered the argument that had taken place just before they went to sleep:

“How can one be so foolish?” Molly had complained, giving Maya a judgmental stare. She had been training Maya to become better at bargaining with travelers for food, with little success.

“Huh?” Maya replied, confused as usual, having been drooling at the thought of freshly sliced turkey ham, her favourite meal. She blinked slowly, one eye slightly ahead of the other, and Molly let out a quiet hiss of frustration before turning around and curling up to sleep.

But alas, there was no point in dwelling on it. A potential victim had just stumbled upon their domain, and Maya was not about to let them pass through without paying their dues to the two cats. Although, what was to say she had to share with Molly? She could prove that she was indeed capable of outsmarting a simple-minded human, and get more food for herself in doing so.

As the young man neared the center of the cats’ territory, he noticed the faint outline of a snowy-white creature, fur drifting off of her in great clouds as she sat determinedly in his path. Confused, he continued towards the mysterious animal, trying his best to ignore it.

“Good afternoon!” Maya called, attempting to befriend the human. The boy raised an eyebrow, having never met a talking cat before, as they always shied away from him rather than engaging in conversation.

“Uh... hi? Is something the matter?” He asked, trying to push past the strange cat. Maya stepped into his path yet again, refusing to let the boy pass.

“Give me your food.” She demanded, albeit in a pleasant voice.

“What???”

“You have food. I know a can of cheesy chicken pasta when I smell one. Give me your food!” At this point, the boy was absolutely baffled. He’d met many unintelligent creatures on his travels, but never had he met one this unbelievably empty-headed. It seemed only to have room in its mind for food, all pleasantries and persuasion forgotten.

For a moment, he contemplated donating some food to this pitiful creature. However, he remembered that it was to be his only meal that day, and he wasn’t about to waste it on this random cat. Before Maya could guess his plan, he ran past her as fast as he could, catching her off guard. Maya considered chasing after him, but knew that at her usual lazy saunter, she would never catch him and instead decided to go back to sleep. As she reached the top of the hill and plonked herself down to rest, her foot kicked out and hit Molly in the face. Unaware as always, Maya drifted off to sleep while Molly awoke to a sharp pain in her nose.

She was moments away from waking Maya back up to yell at her when her still-aching nose detected faint scents of food from the center of their territory. She gave her sleeping friend an angry glare before she bounded off toward the smell of food. However, when she reached the path, she noticed nothing but the footprints of whoever had been there, already heading toward the end of their territory. Also, she saw something shining from the floor. Moving closer, she found a small necklace lying discarded in the mud, a rare gem hanging from the chain. Who would leave such an interesting trinket just lying on the ground? Molly wondered, batting at it with her paw. Whoever was here must have dropped it!

A mischievous grin spread across her face as she realised that the intruder would soon discover his blunder and retrace his steps. Excitedly, she grabbed the pendant in her mouth and hid behind a tree to wait for its owner to return, already considering the many schemes she could execute. Just as she expected, the boy who had earlier outsmarted Maya hurried back down the path, his eyes frantically scanning the ground.

“Hello child,” Molly called out as she emerged from behind the tree, “you seem quite distressed. What’s the matter?”

“Hold on- aren’t you that daft cat from earlier? What did you do to my necklace?” he demanded. After he had a proper look at the new cat, though, it was clear that they were vastly different. This cat was covered in brown and black stripes and was much more kitten-like. She held herself with an air of intelligence, a mischievous glint in her eye. Molly inwardly cursed Maya for trying to trick the boy on her own, but quickly regained her composure.

“Oh! Are you looking for this?” Molly swished her tail around, revealing the pendant that dangled from it. The boy lunged forward to grab it, but Molly swept her tail behind her and gave him a scratch on the hand for his troubles.

“Remember your manners, boy. I will return your trinket - for a price,” she held out a paw, then continued, “Give me all the food in your bag and you can have it.” The boy nursed his bleeding hand, considering running away from this cat as he had with the other. But the object held too much importance to him, so he stayed put.

He decided that despite costing him his only meal of the day, he had to have the necklace back. The boy reached into his bag with his unscathed hand and pulled out the can of food. His eyes darted around, trying to find a different solution, but he found none and placed the can of food at the feet of the grinning cat.

“You’ve got your food, now give me the necklace or I’ll-”

“Pitiful human. Did you really think I would give such an important object back to you, merely for the cost of some food?” Molly laughed in his face, “On the other hand, what’s to say that it’s yours? Maybe it’s actually mine!”

“You... No! It’s mine! Please, my mother gave it to me before she died. It’s all I have left of her!” The boy pleaded, dropping to his knees in despair. For a moment, Molly felt a twinge of guilt, but she pushed it away. What use was this trinket anyway? She needed it to trick travelers into giving her food, and he needed to stop living in the past. If anything, she was helping the boy.

“What a sad story. Too bad it’s mine now!” she retorted, curling her tail around the can of food. Then, her voice took on a kinder tone, “Besides, you need to stop living in the past. Don’t waste your life dwelling on things you can’t change.” A cloud of hair floated off her body as she darted away faster than should’ve been possible for such a small creature. As she reached the top of her hill, she sat down self-satisfiedly and sliced open the can with her claws. Maya was immediately awoken, and the two feasted on the cheesy chicken pasta, all disputes forgotten.

Back on the path, the boy was still kneeling there in shock with tears streaming down his face. After a couple minutes of sobbing, he wiped the tears from his face and stood up. By now the cat was long gone, but her words stuck with him. Maybe he was living too much in the past...

Feeling stronger than before, he continued on his way, smiling as he thought of the years to come.

This short story was submitted by an anonymous student at the American School of Dhahran