Mouse vs Cat in Chinese Literature Read online

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  They enslave the ten-thousand creatures and lord over them,

  And yet I was bamboozled by a mouse;

  I fell into the trap that was set by this creature,

  Like a young girl scared by an escaping rabbit.”

  While he was seated and slowly dozing off, he thought about this, and

  it seemed as if someone said to him, “You may have studied much and

  know things, but you only gaze at the Way and have not seen it. You are

  not concentrated in yourself, but are distracted by others. That’s why you

  were transformed by the chewing of one mouse. People may be able to

  shatter a jade piece of a thousand gold, but cannot keep themselves from

  shouting out over a broken pot; they may be able to wrestle the fiercest

  tiger, but cannot keep themselves from losing all color at the sight of a

  wasp. This is the problem with lack of concentration. You said so once

  yourself—did you forget?” Master Su bowed his head with a smile, and

  when he looked up, he woke up. And then he told a boy to write down

  this composition.21

  If mice and rats are smart enough to playact, they are also smart enough

  to be trained as performers. This tradition goes back to as early as the fourth century when mice were exhibited pushing a mill or sitting on a swing.22 Pu Songling (1640–1715) in his Strange Stories from Make­Do Studio (Liaozhai zhiyi) included a short item titled “Plays by Mice” (Shuxi), which records the words of a friend who had visited Beijing:

  In the Chang’an market there was man who made a living by showing

  mouse plays. On his back he carried a sack that contained more than ten

  mice, and whenever he found himself in a crowd he produced a little wooden

  contraption that he placed on his shoulders that looked exactly like a little stage. Then he beat the drum and clappers and chanted an old play. As soon

  as he started to sing, some mice came out of the sack, wearing masks and

  dressed in little clothes. From his back they ascended the stage, where they performed, standing up like human beings. Male and female, sadness and

  joy; everything corresponded to the plot of the play.23

  Also from later dates there are several descriptions. These plays by mice

  appear to have been welcomed especially by women, who in the Qing dynasty

  were not allowed to visit public theaters.24

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  Not only might mice and rats display intelligence; they also on occasion

  showed a sense of virtue, as we learn from Pu Songling’s anecdote titled “A Brave Mouse” (Yishu):

  Yang Tianyi told me that he once saw two mice emerge from their hole.

  When one of them was swallowed by a snake, the other stared at it with

  eyes that were bulging like peppers as if it was overcome by rage, but it

  kept looking from a distance without advancing. When the snake had

  filled its belly, it wriggled into its hole, but when it had entered more than halfway, the mouse rushed over and bit its tail as forcefully as it could.

  The enraged snake came back out again, but the mouse was nimble and

  fast and disappeared in a flash, so the snake could not catch it and went

  back. When it entered its hole, the mouse came again and bit it like before.

  When the snake went into its hole, it came after it, and when the snake came out of its hole, it disappeared, and this went on for quite some time, until the snake came out of its hole and spat out the dead mouse on the ground.

  The mouse sniffed at it and squeaked as if it were mourning it, and then

  left, carrying it in its mouth. My friend Zhang Liyou wrote the Bal ad of the Brave Mouse.25

  R ever ed R ats

  Despite its enduring reputation as a cunning and destructive thief, the rat occupied the position of the first of the twelve birth-year images and, as such, was also a respected divinity.26 The series of the twelve birth-year animals has a long history that can be traced back to at least the third century BCE.

  The series of animals corresponds to the twelve “earthly branches,” and in

  that series the rat corresponds to zi and the hour of midnight (11 p.m.–

  1 a.m.).27 The association of the rat and midnight is natural enough, but the paradoxical result is that in the series of birth-year images the rat takes precedence over powerful animals like the dragon and the tiger and useful ani-

  mals like the water buffalo and the pig.28

  The position of the rat at the head of the list does not seem to have been

  experienced as problematical in the first millennium, but in late-imperial

  times one comes occasionally across the statement that the rat earned its

  position because at the beginning of time, by its chewing, it separated yin and yang, heaven and earth.29 In the twentieth century several oral folktales were This content downloaded from 129.174.21.5 on Wed, 17 Jul 2019 13:04:29 UTC

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  recorded that explain the rat’s priority. In one common type of tale, the sneaky rat gained its position because it rode on the back of the water buffalo (ox) and jumped from its back ahead of the ox at the last moment:

  Why is the mouse at the head of the birth-year images?

  The story goes that once an emperor wanted the twelve animals to stand

  guard, but none of them wanted to take the late shift. So the emperor came

  up with an idea: he would let the animals run a race and the fastest runner would take the first shift.

  When the race started, the water buffalo turned out to be the fastest run-

  ner, but the mouse had jumped on its back. When they came to the end the

  mouse arrived in one jump as the first, and so he was the winner and took

  the first shift. The other animals stood guard in the sequence of their arrival, and later people followed this sequence in determining someone’s age.

  That’s why the mouse is placed at the head.30

  In other more elaborate tales the topic is linked to the enmity between

  the rat and the cat:

  A long, long time ago there lived at the foot of a mountain two very close

  friends: cat and mouse. No friendship could be closer than theirs. At night the cat allowed the mouse to sleep while lying on its neck and it even

  intoned sutras for the mouse. But when the cat had fallen asleep, the mouse opened its little eyes until they were fully round and looked around in all directions. When outside they encountered any enemies, the cat carried the

  mouse with it when it climbed into a tree to escape. When they wanted to

  eat something, the mouse would go and steal it, and together they would

  enjoy their meal.

  One night the mouse stealthily told the cat, “Have you heard? The Jade

  Emperor wants to determine on the twelve birth-year animals for the people

  and has issued an edict ordering us to come to heaven first thing in the

  morning to hear which animals he will select.”

  “Wow! This is the happiest thing imaginable!” When the cat heard this,

  it was so excited that it danced around on all fours, jumping up and kneeling down; one moment it combed its beard, one moment it scratched its ears;

&nb
sp; swinging its tail now one way and then the other, it truly seemed to be so

  satisfied that it forgot all about its surroundings.

  Now, the cat had the poor habit of sleeping late. When it had happily

  played around for a while, it felt tired, and so it said to the mouse, “I want This content downloaded from 129.174.21.5 on Wed, 17 Jul 2019 13:04:29 UTC

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  to rest for a while, but my sleep is very deep, and once I have fallen asleep I don’t know when I will wake up again. When you leave tomorrow morning,

  don’t forget to give me a wake-up call!” When the cat had said this, it contentedly closed its eyes, and within a moment it started snoring.

  But the mouse could not sleep, and when it looked at the cat, it saw that

  it had a square face and large ears—its two eyes shone brilliantly, its teeth resembled sharp swords, its whiskers looked like steel awls, and the pelt all over its body gave off a luster. And when it looked at itself? A pointed beak, small eyes, a thin tail, and all over its body as gray as gray could be, without any of the luster of the cat. So it thought, “If we go up to heaven together, His Majesty the Jade Emperor is bound to choose him—no way he will

  choose me. I had better sneak off while the cat is still asleep.”

  When the mouse had made up its mind it left the cat without making a

  sound and went up to heaven. The Jade Emperor selected the water buffalo,

  the tiger, the hare, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog, the pig, and the mouse to be the twelve images for the people. But they all kept on disputing which of them would be the head. The Jade Emperor issued an edict: “Go all down to the world of men and the one

  whom the people call the greatest will be the head.”

  Thereupon they all together went down to the world of men. The water

  buffalo ran ahead of them all, and the pig walked so slowly that it came at the end. The mouse shuttled this way and that below people’s bellies to find out what people were saying. All it heard was that they voiced different opin-ions: “This water buffalo is as strong as several tigers!” “Look how long this snake is!” “Look how beautiful this rooster is!” “Look how fat this pig is!”

  But none of the people mentioned the mouse. In its desperation the mouse

  climbed up by the leg of the water buffalo and landed “kerplonk” on the

  back of the animal. This time the people suddenly started to shout: “Hey,

  look at this big mouse!” By this trick the mouse became the head of the

  twelve birth-year images.

  When the mouse, extremely satisfied, returned, the cat was still sleeping.

  When the mouse had woken up the cat with quite some pulling and shoving,

  the cat asked while rubbing its eyes, “Do we have to leave?” Overflowing

  with joy, the mouse replied, “I have already come back. And I also got hold of the first position among the twelve birth-year images.”

  The more the cat opened its eyes, the bigger they became. Eventually

  it spat out a breath of fire and its scorched pupils turned brown. Having

  howled for half a day, it finally squeezed out one phrase, “You ungrateful, unfaithful little fellow!,” and filled with hatred jumped toward the mouse.

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  As soon as the mouse saw that the situation was dangerous, it ran off with

  bowed head, with the cat following behind in hot pursuit. The mouse was so

  frightened it kept on squeaking as it fled into someone’s house to hide itself.

  The cat in pursuit also entered the house. From this moment on they became

  enemies. The cat hates the mouse; as soon as it sees a mouse it grabs it, and once it has grabbed it, it eats it without any pardon. The mouse was in the wrong, and as soon as it sees a cat it flees, sneaking into a hole at the base of a wall.

  That cats nowadays catch mice, it is said, all started from that day.31

  Throughout the two millennia of imperial history, the twelve birth-year

  animals (including the rat) have often been depicted, in both three-dimen-

  sional and two-dimensional media, as animals, as beast-headed humans, and

  as humans accompanied by their iconic animals.32 As one of the birth-year

  animals, the rat deserved the respect and veneration of those who were born in a zi-year, the year of the rat.33

  Yet another aspect of mice and rats that induced veneration was their

  amazing fertility. But while the group of the twelve birth-year animals is

  often depicted, mice and rats in isolation are a very rare subject in traditional Chinese painting. One of the few painters to have left some works showing

  rodents is the Ming Xuande emperor Zhu Zhanji (1399–1435; r. 1425–1435).

  When mice or rats ( shu, homophonous with shu [number, numerous]) are depicted, they are often shown together with melons or grapes, as both fruits contain many seeds ( zi), and so the paintings express the wish for many sons ( zi).34 As we will discuss in chapter 3, the one genre of pictorial arts in which mice/rats are prominent is the New Year prints of the Qing dynasty and

  Republican China that are devoted to the marriage of the mouse (as well

  as the papercuts devoted to the theme). But those prints also will include a picture of a big cat, about to swallow the reveling rodents.

  Wildcats and Pussycats

  While mice and rats are very much present in early and later Chinese culture, cats for a long time played only a marginal role. This was not because felines were not present on Chinese soil, but it appears that the tiger absorbed all attention, leaving little space for an independent role of its minor relatives.35

  Alongside the tiger, many varieties of wildcat are native to continental East Asia, and it has been suggested that one of these native species, felis bengalensis,

  may have been (semi)domesticated as early as the fourth millennium BCE.

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  But while it is quite possible that early Chinese farmers welcomed wildcats that chased rodents around their house, there is little evidence for a continuous presence of domestic cats in Chinese homes before the sixth century CE.

  Authors of the Tang dynasty still describe how young cats were captured in

  the wilds and then kept in homes to capture mice, and this practice may well have had a long tradition. At the same time, we have plenty of evidence for the practice of using dogs for chasing rodents up to the six century CE. The modern domestic cat probably arrived in China following the introduction

  of Buddhism, protecting both the physical food (the grain stores) and the

  spiritual food (the sutras) of the monastic community against the depreda-

  tions of rodents.

  The issue of the origin of the domestic cat in China is complicated by the

  words used for “cat.” The modern expression for the domestic cat is mao. This word is already encountered in the early Book of Odes, where the king’s soldiers are said to be “like tigers, like mao.” The earliest commentators explain mao as an animal like the tiger but with a lighter fur. Most modern scholars therefore conclude that it must have been a feline of roughly the same size as
the tiger, but a smaller wildcat of course can be a ferocious fighter too. The word mao is also encountered in reference to an ancient harvest ritual in The Records of Rites (Liji), in which the tiger and mao are thanked for their killing of vermin in the fields. But whereas the tiger is thanked for killing boars, the mao is thanked for killing mice and rats. From the third/second century BCE

  we also encounter the word li, which in glossaries and dictionaries is explained as a wildcat. During the Han dynasty, however, the words mao and li appear to be used interchangeably. The Garden of Tales (Shuoyuan), a collection of moral anecdotes assembled by Liu Xiang (79–78 BCE), records, for instance,

  “Qiji and Lu’er when yoked before a cart can cover a thousand miles in one

  day. These are the fastest animals on earth. But if you want them to catch

  mice, they are no match for a wildcat ( li) of a hundred cash.”36 But Dongfang Shuo (second century BCE) in a variation on this statement is credited with the following lines: “Qiyi, Lu’er, Feihong, and Hualiu are the finest horses of the world. But they cannot match a lame cat ( mao) when it comes to catching mice deep inside the palace.”37

  While it is clear from the last statement that by that time cats were used to rid the palace of mice and rats, it does not prove that the mao was a domestic cat.38 Even in the Tang dynasty it was apparently still common to catch wildcats ( li) for ridding a house of rodents, as we learn from “An Account of Feeding a Wildcat” (Yangli shu), an essay by the statesman Shu Yuanyu (791–835). In this essay, he first describes at length how the house he had rented in the capital This content downloaded from 129.174.21.5 on Wed, 17 Jul 2019 13:04:29 UTC

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  Chang’an was infested by rats that caused no end of damage, proceeds to narrate how a wildcat caught by a hunter decimated the vermin, and concludes

  by drawing a political lesson from his fable: troops from outside the capital would have to be brought in if his colleagues wanted to rid the court from the all-powerful eunuchs.39 In another essay on the use of cats from the Tang by a certain Chen An and titled “On the Origin of Cats” (Benmao shuo), the

  author describes the “cat” as the wildcat’s degenerated descendant, which by its easy living has lost its killing instinct and so betrays its purpose: