A young cat is tempted to be indolent, but then learns how to survive in a rough and tumble world. (Wang Jiayi/The Epoch Times)
The kittens all follow their mother diligently, learning from her; all except for a white bellied, orange, tiger-striped cat named Barbie. Since, near the baseball field, cat lovers would often leave cat food out for the cats, the kitten gradually developed a tendency for laziness and stopped following her mother around to learn survival skills.
One day, taking advantage of the fact her siblings were busy following and taking lessons from their mother, Barbie secretly slipped away from the group and wandered around alone in lazy indolence. Just then, in a twenty foot tall tree by the roadside, Barbie saw some sparrows chirping and skipping joyfully around.
At once, Barbie saw the perfect chance to scare these sparrows and have some fun. With the inborn instinct of all cats, Barbie jumped up high, and using her sharp claws, quickly climbed up the thick bough of the tree. The sparrows, startled by the sudden threat, fled in alarm. Barbie, seeing the sparrows flee in fright, was proud of her scheme’s success and laughed out loud.
At the completion of this mischievous scheme, Barbie decided she wanted to get off of the tree. Only then did she realize that she had climbed to a height she had never reached before, and what was worse, she didn’t know how to safely reach the ground from such a sheer perch. When her mother was teaching tree climbing skills, she was lazily relaxing in the shade near the baseball field.
By this time, Barbie, who was now in a very difficult dilemma, could only cry out plaintively. However, several dozen minutes passed without a sign of her mother or her siblings, without the sign of even another cat. The panic-stricken Barbie became more and more frightened. Her cries for help became more shrill and frantic. This unusual sound finally caught the attention of some passersby.
A female passerby saw the situation and felt compassion for Barbie. She tried to use soothing words and hand signals to guide Barbie down the tree, but due to the language barrier, was unable to make any progress even after a long time of effort.
Another woman saw the problem and with a sudden inspiration, grabbed a bulky piece of cardboard from nearby and, after folding it, placed it against the bough to form a temporary ladder. Under the lady’s gentle encouragement, Barbie stepped gingerly onto the cardboard and cautiously started to climb down it step by step until, like a child, she slid down the ladder as if on a slide.
Perhaps she was in shock, but as soon as she hit the ground, Barbie took off, disappearing into the distance, leaving the unrequited lady laughing merrily as she watched Barbie rapidly disappear into the distance.
After suffering this traumatizing experience, Barbie finally became a well-behaved kitten. She had learned how important survival skills are to a cat living in this rough and tumble world where only the strong survives. From then on, she returned to her mother’s side and started to assiduously learn all the skills necessary for survival.
A few months later, Barbie had grown into an experienced street cat and had started to live independently. That night, near twilight, Barbie was hunting in the park near the baseball field when, suddenly, she saw a medium sized stray dog gradually moving towards her. Since there were a lot of pets and stray dogs wandering around the park every day, everyone treated it as normal; therefore, Barbie did not mind the dog and was not alert.
However, today this stray dog seemed to have a malicious intent; he headed straight at Barbie. When only two or three meters away, the stray dog finally stopped and started to bark thunderously at Barbie, showing her a threatening face and sharp white teeth.
At this sudden change in situation, Barbie’s back instinctively arched into a circular shape in order to make her body seem bigger and scare away an enemy by appearing large. However, this tactic, learned from her mother, did not work on this dog several times her size. In fact, it seemed to incense the dog further, causing him to move into attack position.
At this critical moment, Barbie, seeing that she was not far from a thirty foot tall tree, dashed towards the tree. In the nick of time, just as the dog seemed about to bite Barbie, Barbie jumped up and in the space of a few short seconds, climbed two stories up into branches. All around, under the dim glow of sunset in the usually quite park, came the sound of barking dogs and mewing cats. A few minutes later, the park resumed its usual quietness, and the bored dog left in a huff with his tail hanging down.
Conscious of the danger she had been in, Barbie didn’t dare be careless. She carefully watched the dog’s every move. Only when the dog had almost vanished in the field beyond did Barbie carefully, step by step climbed down onto the ground.
At this moment, Barbie remembered how, a few months ago, due to her indolence, she had gotten herself stuck in a tree and had to be saved by passersby. Comparing that to today when, having worked hard and learned survival skills, she was able to save herself in a crisis, Barbie’s face broke into a smile, as if to say, though living in a harsh environment, she was now a survivor with more confidence and capability.
Read the original Chinese article.
