The Three-Year-Old and His Silly Cat

One day, while little Xie — three years old — was playing in the mud, he heard a cat crying somewhere nearby.

“Meow~~ meow~~~”

“Wow, a kitty! Where are you?” And so little Xie started meowing too: “Meow~ meow~ little kitty, where are you~ meow~ meow~”

After a few rounds of “cat calls,” the two “cats” finally locked eyes.

A little tabby slipped out of the bushes, flopped onto the ground, and showed her belly as a sign of friendship. Little Xie slowly reached out his small hand and gently touched that fuzzy little head. To his surprise, the tabby stretched her neck right out and buried her head in his palm.

From that day on, the two little ones were best friends.

A few months later, little Xie came to play with the tabby as usual.

“Tabby, come here~~”

“Tabby, stop lying there, come play with me~ Tabby~”

“You silly cat! Still not coming? All those ham sausages I fed you, wasted!”

To his astonishment, the tabby lifted her head and drawled: “Look who’s talking — we used to speak Meowish, you and I. Now you only ever talk human at me. You think this is easy for me?~~”

Little Xie burst out laughing: “Tabby, you can talk?! Why didn’t you say so earlier!”

The tabby sighed: “I never wanted to learn it, you know. But these days you keep assuming I’m just like you, and you won’t speak Meowish with me anymore. I’m exhausted~”

Little Xie froze for a moment, and something dawned on him —

So we’re not the same after all.