A Cat Who Is Floating in The Air
(For Makoto , your passion remind me of this island)
(Thanks for Oscar Wilde , one of my favourite writer )
Luna
A long time ago, on an unknown island in Indonesia. It has a long coastline. Here are the bluest seas, the softest beaches, the whitest clouds. Under the transparent sea, the crimson corals is growing exuberantly , the turquoise seaweeds is swaying gently, and the colourful tropical fish are swimming freely . On the soft, snowy beach, the lazy shadow of palm trees sways. At dusk, the big sunset brought the whole island into its golden warm and serene embrace. Forests in this tropical island are always extraordinarily dense and damp, with tall palms, low shrubs, soft grass, and lichens everywhere. The bitterness of a large number of herbs and the sweet aroma of berries are transpiration in the air. If sensitive enough, you can also smell the danger of wild animals. Our story takes place in this lush tropical forest.
There is a group of orange cats in the forest. These cats carry a hard shell which looks like a tortoise. Their bodies were supported by the rough feet, and they walk slowly on the ground covered with moss and lichens. In addition to the slender、torn beard, and the orange color, these cats have almost no resemblance to the cats we most commonly see now. Fortunately, there are always a lot of berries in the forest, so even if they have to walk for a long time to get a lunch, they are still alive and happy. The favorite thing for almost every cat to do every day, is to walk in a small river flowing through the forest for half an hour at dusk. At that time, these hard orange cats melted into the golden sunset and turned into orange-red softness.
One day, accidently, a restless cat climbed onto a relatively tall shrub and accidentally fell from the tree. Within the few seconds that the it fell, it was the first time that it got the feeling of flying away from the heart. When it fell to the ground, it was very painful because its shell was so hard. From then on , the cat fell in love with the air. At the same time, he thought that it will never hurt when he fall if his body becomes lighter than the bird's feathers.
Usually there is always a little magic in fairy tales, and in this story there is no exception. On a starry night, the cat ran to the deep in the forest to find the most intelligent creature(also it was a "close relative")-----Mr. Owl. Mr. Owl told him that although magic can make the cat's shell disappear, and then float in the air like a cloud, there were some prices which means his soft body will never become hard again, and he will no longer touch the ground. But the cat who loved the air was still very happy to accept that.
Then, Mr. Owl started to cast a spell.
"Wulawula" (spell) ~~
The cat's shell was gone, and the orange docile hair grew.
"Balabala" (spell) ~~
The rough foot of the cat disappeared and turned into a soft pad of meat that did not make a sound when stepped on the ground and .
"Pilipili" （spell）~~
The cat's body left the ground and float in the clear air. In this way, from a cat with a hard shell walking on the ground, the cat turned into a soft, fluffy, cotton-like cat floating in the air.
The orange cat was so excited, rolling in the white clouds, jumping in the blue sky, chasing the birds from time to time, and dancing with the raindrops. When the evening came, his hair was shining, and the curled beard shook and tickled in the breeze. The cat sneezed, but he felt a dizzy happiness and couldn't help but scream. Almost all the cats will do this when they feel happy. In the cat's eyes ,the forests and small islands that he once lived in ,turned into a vast green, which is getting farther and farther. The cat felt that his body was lighter than the clouds.
Like a swaying balloon, like a piece of dry leaves, where the wind blows, where is this soft cat drifting away . Someday, the wind scraped it into a village, and the women in the village were spinning. They sew fine cotton threads with white cotton and colorful plant dyes, and then used a smart machine to wrap the cotton thread into a cute little ball . The cat encountered his favorite thing in all his life here: the ball of wool. No woman didn't like this soft cat, and they even let the wind take all kinds of wool balls into the air and brought them to the cat. Then they saw a cat chasing colorful wool balls, again and again. He looked so happy, and never felt tired. At this time, his body was getting lighter and lighter, even lighter than the breeze the spring morning, lighter than the wind in quiet summer evening.
However, the weather on the island is not sunny every day. One day, there was strong convective weather here. The clouds were densely covered. Flock of birds scattered .After a while, the hail was smashed and fell from the clouds. It is impossible to go inside the clouds anymore. At this time, the cat discovered that it has nowhere to hide in the air. Since no wings, he can’t fly away like birds. Moreover, the cat's body is too soft and there is no defense against hard objects. Those hard and cold hailstones stabbed the cat's body. The cat was bleeding and it was the first time that he felt so hurts. But when the hail was gone and the sun came, the cat licked his wounds and thought about something that was very profound for a cat. It had accustomed to be accompanied with clouds, wind, the sun, the moon, and stars. It had also accustomed to its softness and lightness. Where could he go back? Go back to the damp ground covered with moss and lichens? Go back to the hard shell and the rough foot of yourself? He didn’t have the courage to think about it anymore, and also he didn't want to do that. Anyway, this was beyond the scope of a cat's mind, the cat thought. The sun was warm and sprinkled over, and the sky was slanting low with a rainbow hanging. The multicolored color looked like his wool ball! So, he forgot the pain, and turned to chase the ball happily.
In this way, the days on the cloud passed for a long time. One day, the cat found that his body was entangled by his favorite ball of wool. The more it wanted to escape from that , the tighter it was. Like the teeth, the colorful lines bite and slap his soft body. The cat's tail and hair were erected, and it hadn't felt like this for a long time. He was so angry and scared .He roared in a low voice: Meow! The colorful line was not moved at all, and it was even more ferocious. Meow! Meow! Meow! The wind blew, it used to be his favorite wind. But this time it became the accomplice of the colorful line, which helped those “monsters” to entangle him tighter. The soft body of the cat shivered, and it felt terrified. He wanted to go back to the forest and go back to the wet ground where he was born but dismissive , and he wanted to ask for help in his language.
However, time flies since he left the group and he didn’t know that he was the only floating cat in the world. How can his companions receive his help? he wanted to find a pointed stone and get rid of the wool monster on the body. But there is nothing sharp in the air that can be used by him. Huh - Huh - The wind blows heavier and the cat was getting farther and farther from the ground that he desired so much. Where did the cat who liked floating in the air drift to? No one knowed.
A long time later, the women in the village tell me that more and more cats are floating in the sky, and their moon balls are not enough.