The Cat and Aphrodite
Once upon a time there was a young man who fell in love with a cat. The cat was very beautiful, and the young man wanted to marry her. He knew, however, that a man can’t marry a cat. In desperation, he prayed to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, begging her to change the cat into a woman. Aphrodite was moved by the man’s prayer and did as he asked: she changed the cat into a woman. The man was delighted when he saw the woman and immediately asked her to marry him. The woman agreed, and they were married that very same day. Filled with joy, the man took his bride home and invited all his friends to attend their wedding feast.
Meanwhile, Aphrodite was curious about this woman: did she have the soul of a woman or the soul of a cat? The goddess decided to perform a simple test to find out. While the bride and groom were presiding over the wedding feast, Aphrodite sent a small mouse scurrying across the floor. As soon as the bride saw the mouse, she jumped up and chased after it, running on all fours like a cat and meowing very loudly. The guests were shocked by the bride’s behavior, as was Aphrodite. The angry goddess turned the woman back into a cat, and the poor man was left without his bride.
The moral of the story is that even the power of love cannot change someone’s nature. You have to love people the way they are, without trying to change them.