A Cat with A Million Lives

Story by: Yoko Sano, Thai translation by Phorn-aong Niyomkha

English translation by: moi.

Synopsis: A story of a cat who had born and died for a million times. For a reason.

Note: Once upon a time, I found this children book in a store, and I cried reading it. Years later I seeked it out and bought it, and translated it. There's another Japanese book I have read and loved, and I will translate that one too. They are both simple yet very profound, like good Japanese tales are. And it's about coming home, at last.

Warning: This translation wasn't beta'ed, so please forgive any mistakes, or else, email me *g*.

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There was a cat who lived a million lives.
He had been born and had died for one million times.
He was a brave, Bengal cat.
One million men had fed this cat.
All of them had cried when the cat died.
Yet, the cat had never shed a tear for once.


In one life, the cat belonged to a king.
He didn’t like the king.
The king was a fierce warrior and he liked wars.
Whenever he went into battles, he took the cat with him.
One day, the cat was struck by the enemy’s arrow in the battlefield.
The king held tight the cat’s little body and wept.
The king stopped fighting and retreated back to his kingdom.
He buried the cat in his garden.


In one life, the cat belonged to a sailor.
He didn’t like the sea.
The sailor took him out to sailing to every port around the world.
One day, the cat fell off the boat and he couldn’t swim.
The sailor scooped him up with a net.
But the cat was soaked and he was dead.
The sailor held tight the soaked little body,
Crying loudly.
He buried the cat under a tree,
In a public park in a far away city.


In one life, the cat belonged to a magician in a circus.
He didn’t like circus.
Everyday, the magician put him in a magic box and sawed it half open.
Then he would bring the cat that was curling in a ball out of the box.
He bowed for the applauses.
One day, he made a mistake.
He sawed the cat in halves.
The magician took the cat that was now cut into two parts out of the box,
Crying aloud.
No one applauded for him.
He buried the cat at the backyard of the circus.


In one life, the cat belonged to a thief.
He never liked the thief.
The thief brought him to tiptoe around the town at night.
The thief only broke into the house with a watchdog.
While the dog was busy barking at the cat, the thief would break into the treasure box.
One day, the cat got killed by a dog.
The thief held tight on the cat’s little body along with the jewelry he had stolen.
He cried loudly,
Walking along the dark road.
When he arrived home, he buried the cat in a small garden.


In one life, the cat belonged to a lonely old lady.
He never liked her.
Everyday, she held the cat in her arms and stared out a small window of her house.
The cat slept all day on her lap.
The cat grew old and old, and one day he died.
The old lady was very old, too.
She held tight to his dead body, and cried all day.
She buried him under a tree in her garden.


In one life, the cat belonged to a little girl.
He never liked her.
She liked to carry him around, and took him to bed with her.
When she cried, she wiped her tears on his back.
One day, she winded a rope around his throat,
So she could put him on her back like a bag.
The rope strangled him.
The girl held tight on his limp, little body,
Crying all day long.
She buried the cat under a tree.
The cat got use to death.


In one life, he didn’t belong to anyone.
He was a street cat.
He started to be a cat of his own.
He liked himself best.
He was a brave, Bengal cat,
Who also became a brave street roamer.


Every female cat on the street wanted to be his girls.
Some of them gave him a big fish as a present.
Some of them gave him a big rat.
Some of them gave him a rare fruit.
Some of them licked his body for him.
The cat announced:
“I have died for one million times. Nothing can move me!”
He liked himself better than anyone else.


There was a cat, a plain white, beautiful one, who didn’t care about the brave Bengal cat.
He approached her, saying:
“I have died for one million times.”
She replied in one word.
“Yes.”
The cat became angry, because he liked himself best.
Day after day, he went to see the white cat, and said,
“You have never lived a lifetime, have you?”
She replied in one word,
“No.”


One day, the cat did a triple somersault in front of the white cat.
He said, “I used to be a circus cat, you know?”
She replied in one word, “Yes.”
The cat opened his mouth to say something, then halted.
He said, “Can I be by your side?”
She replied, “Yes.”
From then on they both were always together.


The white cat had cute small kittens for the cat.
He never said again that,
“I have died for one million times…”
He loved the white cat and his kittens,
More than he ever loved himself.


Time went by, the kittens became cats, and went on their way.
“I hope our kids will become brave street cats,”
The cat murmured with content.
“Yes..,” the white cat replied, and purred softly.
She became an old cat.
The cat purred even more softly.
He wanted to live by her side forever.


One day, the white cat lay still next to the cat, unmoving.
For the first time, the cat began to cry.
All days, all nights.
When night fell, he cried.
When morning came, he still cried.
He cried for a million times.
He cried and cried till one noon, he stopped crying.
He lay still next to the white cat, unmoving.


He would never be reborn again.


---End---