“If
you wish to learn to make humans do as you say,” said Boxtet, the
god of boxes, “you must understand what it is to be human.”
“That sounds awful,” said Fishback the Cat. “I don't know that I want anything to do with this quest.”
“Many would agree with you, but have you never wondered why Bastet, goddess of cats, is half human herself? So that she may better understand, and thus sway the mortal minions of man, of course.”
Fishback paced, circled a pillow, kneaded its fluffy cotton filling for several minutes as he thought. “Well,” he said after no small amount of deliberation, “if Bastet can do it, I suppose it will not be so terrible. I suppose.”
Boxtet nodded and said a few words in the language of boxes, whose sound Fishback could later only describe to be hollow and full of corners, and the air twinged with magic. The cat, who had only just become comfortable, found himself stretched upward, his beautiful fur sloughing off in clumps.
“But I had just found the good spot on the pillow!” cried Fishback in a voice that was part mewl, part whatever awkward thing it was that people did with their mouths to make words.
“This,” said Boxtet, “is the first lesson you will learn about being human. No sooner does he find peace and comfort than someone comes along and messes it all up.”
“That sounds awful,” said Fishback the Cat. “I don't know that I want anything to do with this quest.”
“Many would agree with you, but have you never wondered why Bastet, goddess of cats, is half human herself? So that she may better understand, and thus sway the mortal minions of man, of course.”
Fishback paced, circled a pillow, kneaded its fluffy cotton filling for several minutes as he thought. “Well,” he said after no small amount of deliberation, “if Bastet can do it, I suppose it will not be so terrible. I suppose.”
Boxtet nodded and said a few words in the language of boxes, whose sound Fishback could later only describe to be hollow and full of corners, and the air twinged with magic. The cat, who had only just become comfortable, found himself stretched upward, his beautiful fur sloughing off in clumps.
“But I had just found the good spot on the pillow!” cried Fishback in a voice that was part mewl, part whatever awkward thing it was that people did with their mouths to make words.
“This,” said Boxtet, “is the first lesson you will learn about being human. No sooner does he find peace and comfort than someone comes along and messes it all up.”
Originally
mailed to M. Blackwood of Los Angeles, California
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