Red Cat
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Sun San was a butcher. His shop was located near the north gate of Hangzhou. Every morning when he left home, he would say to his wife, “Keep an eye on our cat. Don’t let it leave the house. Or people would steal it.”
His neighbors, having overheard him many times, were curious. One day the cat slipped out of the house and walked into the street. Greatly alarmed, Mrs. Sun hurried out to look for it. Some of their neighbors caught a glimpse of the cat. They were astonished. The cat was red all over, a lovely glowing red that was like a fire. There was nothing like her in all Hangzhou.
When Sun San came home and learned of the incident, he gave his wife a hard beating. Word spread about this rare cat. When a eunuch heard about it, he called upon Sun San and offered a high price for the cat. Sun San turned him down. The eunuch raised his offer. Sun San turned him down again. After four visits from the eunuch, Sun San gave in and reluctantly sold his pet for three hundred thousand ounces of silver.
The eunuch intended to train this rare animal and present it to the emperor. However, the cat’s color started to change. With each passing day it became paler and gradually lost its fiery hue. In two weeks, it turned into a white cat. Puzzled, the eunuch called on Sun San. But the Suns were gone.
The cat’s color never went back to red. It turned out that it had been dyed with a special dyestuff that was meant for coloring the headgear of a horse. Sun San and his wife had worked a long time to pull off their coup. All their postures were a put-on for their neighbors.
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Jade Sculpture
Wise Proverbs
- A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit.
- 吃一堑，长一智。
- Think thrice before you act.
- 三思而后行。
- Lies have short legs.
- 谎言站不长。
Editor Says:
Deception becomes easier when tricksters work in a team.