Folk tale: The Savior of the Spirit Cat ascends to immortality

The following story is from Xu Yue's "Records of Seeing and Hearing" in the Qing Dynasty, and has been added and changed when translated.

In Shanxi Province, there is a rich and noble family, and the owner of the family is named Zhang Miao.

Zhang Miao loves small animals, cats, dogs, fish, etc., he likes them all.

However, if Zhang Miao's favorite small animal is a cat.

Zhang Miao's family has raised a lot of cats, one of which Zhang Miao especially likes, regarded as a pearl in the palm of his hand, and even refuses to show people easily.

The reason why this cat is valued by Zhang Miao is because of its particularly good appearance.

Its eyes are golden yellow, like the yellow sand desert, very beautiful;

Its claws are a little turquoise, which is really rare;

And the cat also has a pinch of hair on the top of the head, which is reddish;

Best of all, the cat is snow-white, with no other variegated colors, except for its tail, which is black.

The ancients had different names for cats of different colors.

For example, a cat with black legs and white claws above the legs is called dark clouds covered with snow;

If the cat is white underneath and the claws are black, it is called stepping on the snow to find plums;

If it is white and only the tail is black, such a cat is called a snow gun, or an iron gun to drag a jade bottle.

As for cats with white bodies, black tails, and a little black forehead, they are called hanging print drag guns or negative print drag guns.

In addition, the ancients also paid attention to the appearance of cats, believing that cats of different colors could also determine the wealth of the owner's family.

"Xiang Cat Sutra" cloud: pure white and the tail is pure black, a lump of black on the forehead, the name is hanging seal drag gun, or negative seal drag gun, people get this lord noble.

That is to say, for the hanging seal drag gun cat, it can make the owner's family rich.

It is precisely for this reason that Zhang Miao loves and attaches more importance to his cat.

Every day, Zhang Miao buys delicious chicken, fish, frog meat, etc. for the cat, and is reluctant to let it catch mice.

It was cold, and the cat jumped on him to warm up and sleep, and he was motionless, lest he disturb the cat.

When sleeping at night, Zhang Miao will also take the cat with her.

Sometimes, the cat is naughty, or frightened, scratching Zhang Miao, Zhang Miao does not mind, but thinks that he should not scare the cat.

All in all, Zhang Miao's feelings for cats are almost like her own family.

After a long time, this cat also has aura, and he is obedient to Zhang Miao, and he can't leave him.

Others don't say touch it and touch it, just want to look closely, it will run away.

There is a local person, who is also a rich family, the son of the owner of the family is called Zhou Liying, who also likes cats, not far from Zhang Miao's home.

Zhou Liying saw Zhang Miao's cat and immediately wanted it, and after indicating his meaning, Zhang Miao naturally directly refused.

Zhou Liying knew that Zhang Miao also loved this cat and would not cut love easily, so he used the family's horse to exchange for Zhang Miao's cat.

Zhang Miao did not love horses but only cats, and resolutely refused.

After Zhou Liying was rejected, he was fierce and gave Zhang Miao the concubine he bought with heavy money, just to change to the cat, but Zhang Miao still refused.

Zhou Liying took out a thousand taels of silver and directly said that he wanted to buy a cat, but Zhang Miao also had money and didn't care at all.

Zhou Liying was furious and corrupt, bought off the official palace, framed Zhang Miao for adultery, and plundered the people.

The government sealed Zhang Miao's home, fortunately he did not start a family, no one was affected, and Zhang Miao, because of his good popularity, got the news in advance and ran to Guangling with the cat.

In Guangling, Zhang Miao lives in a good friend's house, this friend is also a big businessman, after he saw the cat, he also likes the cat, and tried his best to get this cat.

For gold and silver jewelry, beautiful clothes and tall buildings, beautiful concubines, etc., Zhang Miao refused, as long as the cat, nothing else.

In order to get the cat, this friend actually killed the heart, he thought of a way, thinking that he was foolproof.

One night, a friend invited Zhang Miao to a banquet, saying that he would no longer want a cat, so he let Zhang Miao live in his own home, which was equivalent to having a cat himself.

Zhang Miao was very happy and ate with friends.

The friend toasted, Zhang Miao was about to raise the wine glass, the cat suddenly jumped on the table and overturned the wine glass.

Zhang Miao thought that the cat was naughty, and took the cat in his arms, and his friend poured him wine.

At this time, the cat jumped up again, overturned the wine glass, and the friend's face changed slightly.

Zhang Miao was not angry, took the cat in his arms, and said to his friend that the cat was naughty, don't be surprised.

The friend's face was cloudy and he poured another glass of wine, and the cat struggled to get out, pushed the wine glass down again, and grinned his teeth, as if he saw the evil man.

Zhang Miao sensed that something was wrong and shouted at his friend: This wine is poisonous, is it not?

While his friends were staying, Zhang Miao ran away with his cat all night.

On the way, Zhang Miao met a deceased person again, the deceased rowed a boat, Zhang Miao hid behind the boat, begged his friend to take him across the Yellow River, and the old man agreed.

When he was on the boat, Zhang Miao had mixed feelings, several people had to harm themselves, really did not know whether to be happy or sad, thinking that the cat saved his own life, he was very moved.

After placing the cat in the cabin, Zhang Miao paced at the bow of the ship, not knowing who else could be trusted behind him.

At this time, because Zhang Miao was very worried, forgot to be in the bow of the boat, and accidentally fell into the water, he could not swim, struggled in the water, because choking on the water could not shout for help, friends rowed at that end, did not see.

At the critical moment, the cat seemed to sense it, ran out of the cabin, saw the owner fall into the river, shouted loudly, and after the friend saw it, took out the oar to save him, it was too late.

After the cat saw it, it did not hesitate to jump into the water, swim to Zhang Miao, and pull Zhang Miao with its mouth and paws, as if to pull him up.

But how does it move?

After several struggles, the cat no longer struggled, and even did not come out of the water, biting Zhang Miao's clothes deadly.

Soon, the cat drowned in the water and disappeared.

That night, this friend was sad, and had a dream, in the dream, Zhang Miao said: Good friend, don't be sad, my cat and I are not dead, we are in the Tianfei Palace, the Tianfei Water God thinks we are very affectionate, so left us, and now we have all become gods.

The friend felt strange, so he found the Tianfei Palace and found the bodies of Zhang Miao and the cat, both under the statue of tianfei.

He buried Zhang Miao and buried his cat next to him.