And the Lord said, 'No problem. I will create for him a companion who will be with him forever and who will see him as he is. The companion will remind him of his limitations, so he will know that he is not always worthy of adoration.'
And God created Cat to be a companion to Adam. And Cat would not obey Adam. And when Adam gazed into Cat's eyes, he was reminded that he was not the Supreme Being. And Adam learned humility.
And God was pleased. And Adam was greatly improved. And Dog was happy.
And Cat didn't care one way or the other. (we are not surprised!)
There are other versions which include Eve into the tale as well.
Another version, from an old Romanian folktale, tells how Noah shepherded all the animals into the Ark and then all his family, except his wife.
"Come in" he said to her.
"No" she obstinately refused.
Noah began to get angry for the waters were beginning to rise.
"Oh you devil, come in" he said.
Giving the devil the invitation he needed to come in, Once on board the devil turned himself into a mouse to avoid detection and set to work gnawing at the planks of the Ark to make a hole to sink the boat and drown all of God's creatures.
Noah caught him and threw a fur glove at him, immediately the glove turned into a cat at the same time the cat seized the mouse.
Noah couldn’t allow chaos in the Ark so he seized the cat, the mouse still in its mouth, and flung it out into the water. The cat swam back to the Ark and climbed up the side, found a place to stretch out and dry. There it stayed until the water subsided and that is where you will often find it today, lying on your doorstep, basking in the sun.
This tale has an addition in other quarters claiming that because the cat ate the mouse the devil made the cats fur bristle and give off sparks when touched and made its eyes glisten in the dark, phenomena common to all cats today
You want to know why cats kill rats?
A tale from Nigeria
Ansa was King of Calabar for fifty years. He had a very faithful cat as a housekeeper, and a rat was his house-boy. The king was an obstinate, headstrong man, but was very fond of the cat, who had been in his store for many years.
The rat, who was very poor, fell in love with one of the king's servant girls, but was unable to give her any presents, as he had no money.
At last he thought of the king's store, so in the night time, being quite small, he had little difficulty, having made a hole in the roof, in getting into the store. He then stole corn and native pears, and presented them to his sweetheart.