It was a very long time ago, when cats did not yet exist on earth.
There lived then an archer. He slept and saw how he could get to Seoul for the archers' festival and receive a letter of commendation from the emperor himself for the title of dishandari. Although he shot very well, he always got into such excitement that he made unforgivable mistakes. Then smart people advised him to go to a fortuneteller before heading to Seoul.
The shooter did just that. The fortuneteller, having received a thousand lans from him, said to him:
“Don’t let a woman cross your path.” If she does, kiss her.
The hunter also wanted to ask him, but he didn’t have enough money for another question, and he, limiting himself to one answer, went to Seoul.
Not nine miles (three miles) from Seoul, he met a woman of striking and original beauty. She was strong, slender, and had green eyes, the look of which the hunter could not bear.
She crossed his path, and, according to the order of the fortuneteller, the hunter followed her to kiss her.
It seemed that she walked as quietly as he did, but until the evening he could not catch up with her, until she entered the small hut.
Then the hunter came in after her.
There, in the hut, the girl’s father and mother were sitting.
The shooter greeted them and explained why he came here.
- If the fortuneteller said so, then it should be so.
Then the girl came in and the shooter kissed her.
“It’s already late today, and we offer you a place to stay for the night,” said the old man.
“I wouldn’t mind staying here for the rest of my life, since I fell in love with your daughter and want to marry her.”
“Perhaps get married,” said the old man.
Night came and everyone went to bed.
The shooter woke up and saw that a young tigress was sleeping next to him, and further away were two old, large tigers.
The hunter closed his eyes in fear, and when he opened them again, his wife was sleeping next to him again, and further away her father and mother. The shooter thought that he had imagined everything and fell asleep again.
In the morning, when the shooter went to Seoul to shoot at the target, his wife told him:
“Today, my husband, a big difference awaits you.” You will hit all targets, but this is not enough, and today you will become famous from generation to generation as long as people live.
Remember: when you hit the last target, three people will appear on the road on three mules: two on white mules, in white and with white fans, and the third on a motley one, with a green fan. When you see them, shoot them immediately.
- How? In people?
The wife shook her head:
“These are not people, these are wild animals: if you don’t kill them, they will eat everyone.”
When you kill them, cut the chest of the one who rode the speckled mule. In your chest you will find two animals: never be separated from them, let them be like children to you.
- If for me, then for you too.
- Yes, of course, goodbye, my beloved husband.
“But why are you saying goodbye to me so sadly? I’ll be back soon.”
“I’m sad because one minute of separation from you is like an eternity.”
As my wife said, that’s how it all turned out.
The shooter hit all the targets, and when he lowered the arrow into the last one, three men on mules appeared on the road. Two are white, the third is colorful. The archer drew his bow three times and shot his arrow three times. Each one fell into the heart of each of the travelers.
- What is he doing? Does he shoot people?
“Go and see what kind of people these are,” said the shooter and went with everyone to where the travelers fell.
But great was the horror of everyone when, instead of the travelers, they saw three tigers: two old huge ones - a female and a male - and one young tigress.
“What a blessing that he killed them, otherwise we would all have been in danger of death.”
While they were saying this, the shooter quickly cut open the chest of the young tigress and, taking out two cute little animals, hid them on his chest.
On that day, the shooter received both “dishandari” and the position of governor.
But in vain he looked for his wife - he never found her, nor her parents, nor the hut, and even the place where the hut stood.
A year passed, the animals grew a little, when suddenly a war broke out, unfortunate for Korea.
Then the emperor appointed the rifleman-governor as commander-in-chief.
“But I don’t know anything about military affairs.”
- But you are happy - go and win, otherwise off with your head.
“Don’t be sad, father,” said the animals, “you will win.”
On Amnok, on its two banks, troops met - enemy and Korean.
The night before the battle, the animals went out into the fields and forests and called out to all the rats and mice:
- Go to the other side of the enemy army, gnaw all their bowstrings and bows, eat their provisions and shoes.
But an army without weapons, provisions and shoes is not an army, but a crowd of beggars, and the shooter-governor took them all prisoner the next day.
That was the end of the war. And the governor became a minister.
As for the animals, offspring came from them. Now these animals can be found everywhere - they are called cats.
Although today's cats do not speak, but, remembering their origin, they are still considered sacred animals and are respected and honored in memory of their origin and salvation from enemies.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru