Well, I have been doing some research on a story from The New York Times, May 18, 1913. The headline caught my little fast eye when I saw “Cat kills rat and saves his friend, the parrot”—you can imagine how my little heart quickened at this! Aside from all the bad rap kitties get about BEING a cat (hunting, killing and so on), I feel that there are many kitties who redeem the reputations of “killer” cats and Napoleon is one of them.
Napoleon was sunning quietly in the garden, while his friend of two years, Bruno, a rare parrot who spoke three languages—Spanish, German and English—waited patiently outside with him while the owner cleaned the parrot’s cage.
Out of the corner of one sleepy eye, Napoleon spotted a HUGE rat approaching Bruno, clearly up to no good, while poor Bruno screamed “Caramba! Mien Gott! Un raton gigante!”
Well, that was it for the rat. While Bruno flapped his beautiful multicolored wings, Napoleon pounced and dispatched the rat with one fell paw smack, but meanwhile, Bruno, traumatized and confused, took wing for Central Park.
The sad thing about this story is that it was a blurry reprint and neither mama nor I could read the blurry outcome, even with a magnifying glass (I look through it sometimes at my teeth and claws just to make sure I am well-armed, haha), so I am going to finish the story: Napoleon took off and searched Central Park, myowing all the while to his feathered friend, and at dusk, knowing his cage was spotless and food awaited on his little parrot’s plate, Bruno swooped down to thank his partner in thwartation (my word—just sounded appropriate), and they flew and padded back to a good dinner and for Napoleon, a nice glass of kitty cabernet.
So the moral of this story is: Why not get a parrot as a playmate for your kitty, and teach it to myow?
