Reading Notes: The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog, Part A

This week, I decided to look at the Jewish Fairy Tales and found many interesting stories. My favorite story was The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog. The whole purpose of the story explains why, to this day, cats and dogs hate each other. I am a dog person, so while reading the story I felt sympathy for the dog. Cats aren't my favorite, and I thought that character was being crude. Therefore, I like how each character was portrayed because that's how I imagine them to be. The reason for the two to separate didn't make sense to me. I thought they should have a more important reason for promising to never cross paths again.

An idea I had while reading, was that during the cold, harsh winter months the two run out of food. The dog, being the way dogs are, gets so hungry he decides to try and eat the cat while she is sleeping. The dog will apologize for being so hungry and almost eating his companion, but the cat is too scared and upset to reason. This is the reason for the separation, and the cat makes the dog promise to never cross paths again.

This way, when the dog meets other animals, some of which are very mean to him, he misses the cat and regrets what he did. Towards the end when he makes his way back to Adam and the cat, he believes he has learned his lesson; However, sometimes actions cannot be forgiven and he found this out the hard way. The story then teaches a valuable lesson about how actions you make always have consequences. It also still explains why cats and dogs resent each other to this day.

I would also like to change the characters that the dog stays with and make them behave worse, so that it emphasizes how good his friendship with the cat was. I would keep the wolf, but switch the sheep for something more menacing or even just have them be more mean to the dog.

Story: The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog by Gertrude Landa (1919)
Source: Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends

Cat and dog drawing

Source: Wikimedia Commons