No one knew who he was or where he came from. He was there one morning at the farm, observing all the other animals from a distance. He didn’t talk with anyone or come too close. “Who is that cat?” they wondered but soon lost interest because he behaved just like part of the background.

Things changed one morning when Mrs. Duck started quacking like crazy. “What’s wrong?” asked all the other animals. “It’s that cat!” she quacked, “he tried to catch one of my ducklings!” “How did that happen?” everyone wanted to know. “I was a little distance away and the ducklings were swimming. The cat came and jumped into the water. He almost drowned but grabbed onto some plants and got out of the pond!” “What?” gasped the other animals in surprise. “Cats can’t swim!” exclaimed Mrs. Cow. “That’s why I say he tried to catch a duckling! Why else would he jump into the pond?”

The animals became very alert about the cat’s behaviour and tried to stay safe when he was around. But he didn’t show any interest in the ducklings or even in Mrs. Hen’s chicks. A couple of times the chicks passed him alone without their mother. But the cat didn’t harm them or even bother looking at them. No one could understand the cat!

The animals started to look at the cat in suspicion and moved further away from him. The cat always sat still on the fence or a wall and stared at the others. “He’s so weird!” they talked among themselves, “and probably dangerous too!” But soon enough everyone lost interest in him. However they all made sure they kept away from the cat.

The second time they heard about the cat was, when the pigs started to squeal one morning. “What’s going on?” asked the farm watch-dog, ‘White’. “It’s that cat!” the pigs replied. “He jumped into the puddle we were rolling in and got stuck in the mud!” “Why on earth would a cat jump into a puddle?” White asked in surprise. “You tell me!” said one pig, “he removed himself from the mud and walked away with great difficulty!” he said snorting.

The cat became a news-maker. He stayed very quiet for a few days and then did something out of the blue, which caught everyone’s attention. What he did, didn’t make sense most of the time and he had everyone surprised. All the farm animals looked at him with curiosity but the cat remained quiet and calm as if nothing happened. This went on for a while. The cat really became the talk of the town.

Then one day Crow told the animals what he saw. “He climbed that tree,” said Crow showing a tall tree. “Then he stood on the branch, waved his hands like crazy and jumped off! He fell to the ground on all four legs and luckily didn’t break anything!” All the animals stared at each other looking confused. “I know,” clucked Mrs. Hen, “he’s crazy!” “Well, he has to be. Otherwise why would he go around doing things like that?” questioned Mrs. Cow. And everyone else agreed that ‘this’ must be the reason. The cat was mad!

Mr. Goat was the only one who found the cat ‘interesting’. He knew there had to be something more to his behaviour. The cat didn’t do these things for attention as he didn’t do most of these things when there was a big crowd. Also for some strange reason Mr. Goat believed that the cat was not crazy, although everyone else thought so.

“He probably has some issue and no one to talk to about it!” thought Mr. Goat, feeling sorry for the cat. One morning when Mr. Goat was walking down the path, he saw the cat watching some calves playing in the meadow. Cat slowly got down from the fence and walked towards the meadow. Mr. Goat followed him. The calves started to graze. The cat went near them and took a mouthful of grass. He tried to chew it, his face turning sour. Then he spat it out in disgust.

“Is everything alright?” asked Mr. Goat, while the calves stared at the cat in surprise. The cat looked at Mr. Goat and turned his face away feeling shy. He then jumped back onto the fence and stayed still like a statue. Mr. Goat understood that the cat was a very shy fellow. “Come on now, you have to talk at some point!” he told the cat, “why is it that you do weird things that no cat in their right mind would do?”

Cat looked down in embarrassment. “If you tell me what is wrong, I promise that I will help you!” said Mr. Goat encouraging the cat. The cat finally spoke, “I am new here…” he said softly, “and I don’t know anyone!” “But why do you jump into ponds, jump off branches and eat grass?” asked Mr. Goat. “I was just trying to fit in,” whispered the cat, “I wanted to swim with the ducklings, wallow in the mud with the pigs and fly with the crow. I wanted to have something in common with the others so that they’ll accept me.”

“But you are a cat!” said Mr. Goat kindly, “the best way to be accepted by others is by being yourself. You don’t have to imitate or try to be like anyone else. Just be yourself and if others like you for who you really are, then you’ve got yourself genuine friends!” The cat stared at Mr. Goat with interest. “Come with me and I’ll introduce you to all the farm friends. But you have to promise me you’ll never try to copy others and try to be someone you are not. You must always be proud to be yourself and try to be the very best that you can be!”
The cat nodded his head in agreement.

Kids world