About the Cat Who Searched for Her Friends

A fluffy-tailed Cat was searching for friends, but they were nowhere to be found. She looked for them for a long, long time, until finally, she began to weep and cry out loudly: "Where are you, my friends, where are you?! I am so miserable without you, I have no one to meow with, no one to stroke me or brush my fur. A little longer, and I will die of loneliness. Take pity on me, please show yourselves!"

The Cat called out long and loud, but no one heard her. So, she decided to go into the forest and search for friends there. Filled with hope, she ventured into the thicket. But she met only wolves, jackals, and snakes. They all wanted to bite the Cat and tear out a clump of her fur. And they usually succeeded.

Then she decided: "Let the beasts eat me; I am of no use to anyone anyway." She came to a river. She sat there, looking around, still searching for someone—an enemy might forget about her, but a friend might remember.

But it was empty all around. Or perhaps she had cried so much that her eyes ached, and she could no longer see anything but her own loneliness?

The Cat sat on the bank and thought: "I’ve walked so much, climbed so many trees—I am covered in dust. I need to wash up." She leaned over the water and instantly recoiled. Sitting in the river was a filthy, sick, exhausted, and weeping old creature.

The Cat was frightened. Such suffering and sorrow were etched onto the old creature’s face that looking at her was terrifying—what if her grief was contagious? The Cat paced along the bank for a while; she felt pity for the sufferer. Sitting there in the water, she must be so cold. "I need to help her somehow," the Cat decided, and leaned over the water once more.

"Can I help you?"

Silence was the only answer... "Strange," thought the Cat, "what’s wrong with her?" She looked closer and suddenly gasped: "But that’s me!!!" And indeed, it was her. She had wandered through such wild thickets, fallen into such deep swamps, brushed past such thorny trees, and encountered such vicious monsters that she barely had any fur left. And what remained was matted and ugly.

Her fluffy little tail had turned thin and frail, her paws were trembling and battered. And her face looked tormented.

She looked old—for everyone who does not warm themselves by the gentle fire of love grows old.

The Cat looked at herself and said: "I have forgotten how to meow, I have become ugly, and I am so very tired. People shun me. I will never find friends. The only thing that doesn't expect gifts from me and doesn't want my fur is my reflection in the river. It only wants to see me, it belongs only to me, and it loves me. I will go to it, for it is my only friend."

The Cat had always been afraid of water and cold; the darkness terrified her. But there, in the cold, wet darkness, was her reflection, and she decided to do what she had long dreamed of—embrace her newly found friend.

Uttering her final words, the Cat threw herself into the water. She thought: "It is better to die in an embrace than to live alone."

When she found herself underwater, she saw how many fish there were: "Why, I can eat these!" And the Cat began to hunt the fish, catching plenty, and she learned how to swim in the process. She leaped out onto the bank, glanced at her reflection, and meowed with pleasure. Diving in the river had washed her clean. Chasing her prey had reminded her how wonderful it was to jump and fly.

Everyone knows how to fly, only many forget how to. And everyone is only truly happy in their own world—the main thing is to see it or invent it. And then, out of thousands of parallel worlds, you will find yourself precisely in yours, and you will be happy.

And the Cat, having found herself—for everyone who searches for anything or anyone is ultimately only searching for themselves—lived happily ever after. Which is what we wish for everyone.

I drew this illustration a long time ago, but I still love it, just like this parable I came up with. An editor at one of the publications where I worked used to call such pieces "timeless masterpieces" (netlenka).

Nelli Verkhovska PhD in Psychology For more on alternative relationships, check out my YouTube channel