A long time ago there was a lama, a Buddhist monk, who spent his time
in deep meditation. Next to him there lay a cat. One day the cat stole
the lama’s snuff bottle and the lama went after the cat and got his
snuff bottle back. Then another time the cat stole the lama’s rosary and
hid in a hole. When the lama grabbed the cat by the tail, the tail
suddenly got torn off.
not a Mongolian snuff-bottle but close enough
The
cat went away and came upon a place where many mice lived. There she
made herself comfortable and put the rosary around her neck. One day
some mice came along the way and circled the cat warily. So the cat
said: “Don’t be afraid of me! I’m one of those lama cats. Let me teach
you the holy doctrine saying not to kill another living being. Come!
Come here!”
So the mice went to the cat and let her teach them. After a few days
had passed Khuchin tuct, the khaan of the mice, told them: “Oh, it seems
as if our teacher is eating us. In her excrements there are traces of
bone and hair. Go back home and get a bell.” He sent a few mice to carry
out his request.
The mice went home and came back with a bell. They said to the cat:
“Teacher, please accept this jewellery from us!” And they put the bell
around her neck. Khuchin tuct told his mice: “After today’s lesson will
be over, we will exit one after another. If the bell should ring, we’ll
turn around and hurry back.”
So when the lesson was finished, the mice went out together when
suddenly they heard the bell ringing. The mice hurried back, and there
the cat had caught one of the mice and was just about to eat it. Kuchin
tuct said mournfully: “We believed the lies of our false, hypocritical
teacher and so we lost several of our brothers and sisters.” And so the
mice moved to another place.
The cat thought remorsefully: “If I had hidden my excrements, who
would have ever found out about me?” And since then, it is told, cats
hide their excrements by burying them.
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