Rats Marrying off Their Daughter (老鼠娶親倒了運，遇見貓兒囫圇吞), Yangjiabu, Shandonghttps://dm.jsdc.com.tw/menu/print/202203292346https://dm.jsdc.com.tw/logo.png
Rats Marrying off Their Daughter (老鼠娶親倒了運，遇見貓兒囫圇吞), Yangjiabu, Shandong
老鼠娶親倒了運遇見貓兒囫圇吞
敘事圖文
A popular folktale about the dangers of reaching too high: "A misfortunate rat got married in town; The groom was a cat, who gobbled her down".
Here's the story:
The rat wanted to find a powerful husband for his daughter.
He asked the sun, but the sun said: “I'm afraid of clouds”.
So the rat asked a cloud.
But the cloud said: “I'm afraid of the wind”.
So the rat asked the wind.
But the wind said: “I'm afraid of walls”.
So the rat asked the wall.
But the wall said: “I'm afraid of rats making holes in me.”
The rat thought, “This wall is afraid of me,
And I am afraid of cats,
So cats must be the most powerful,
I will marry my daughter to a cat!”
At the Tiancang Festival on the 25th of January
The rat carried his little blushing daughter to the cat.
But the cat swallowed the little rat down in his belly!
When her father saw this, he was horrified,
And rushed to the Jade Emperor to make his complaint
The Jade Emperor declared the cat was guilty
But the cat said:
“Because my love for her was so deep
I swallowed her down to my stomach
To keep my bride safe.”
The Jade Emperor considered his defence,
He said to the cat: “Fair enough; since you love rats so much
Whenever you see a rat, just eat them right up!”
The father rat was paralysed in fright
And when the cat saw that,
He ate him up too.
