Chapter 1555: Chapter 1555-nine lives
After being reminded by Zhang Zian, the other Elfins re-observed old time tea, fina, and the three cats on the phone screen. They suddenly felt like they had woken up from a dream.
The Elfins had just vaguely seen something, but they couldn’t find the right words to describe it. After hearing his description, it was as if a stone blocking their windpipes had been removed.
They followed Zhang Zian to Egypt entered the Great Pyramid, and entered the Golden Pyramid. They also saw many souvenirs of ancient Egyptian culture in the market, among which were many items and murals related to scarabs. After all, ancient Egyptians believed that scarabs pushed the sun to rise and set every day, which occupied a very important position in ancient Egyptian mythology. It symbolized the rebirth of pharaohs and was one of the most commonly used shapes to make amulets.
The pattern on Fina’s forehead was a Scarab with an unusually clear outline.
Old time tea had a similar pattern on its forehead, but it was not as bright as Fina’s Scarab pattern.
Richard could only hear but not see, and it was very anxious. It pecked Zhang Zian’s head with its beak, asking him to explain in words. Because it usually did not dare to look at fina, and old time tea always wore a bamboo hat, it really did not pay much attention to the pattern on the foreheads of the two cat elves.
Zhang Zian knew that if he didn’t give Richard a clear explanation, it would probably be tormented the whole night. At the same time, to let the other Elfins understand better, he said,””The Scarab lines on fina and old time tea’s foreheads are similar to the capital letters W, H, and M. They are arranged from top to bottom.”
He used a branch as firewood to write these three letters in the soil.
W
H
M
The turning points of W and M were connected to the upper and lower ends of H, making it look like a sacred beetle with forelimbs, hind limbs, and a body.
There were also some who omitted the H in the middle and only connected W and M.
In contrast, the three cats in the photo album didn’t have the upper half of the picture on their foreheads, only an M.
The sacred beetle pattern and the M-shaped pattern. Basically, all the tabby cats had these two patterns on their foreheads. The former was the majority, while the latter was a small portion.
The Elfins finally understood. Thinking back to the ordinary cats in the Pet Shop, as long as they were tabby cats, they seemed to be like this.
But what did this mean? It’s just a vein pattern on the forehead!
Zhang Zian had never noticed this subtle difference before. He had to thank professor Wei Kang for understanding this.
Professor Wei Kang was studying the evolution process of domestic cats. He wanted to find a transitional cat species with mackerel patterns and spots, which was the primitive Egypt cat.
Zhang Zian had participated in the trip to Egypt as a special consultant and enjoyed the free food, clothing, accommodation, and transportation provided by Binhai University. He had to be loyal to the people who ate their salaries, otherwise professor Wei Kang would be embarrassed, so he was quite active in maintaining communication with professor Wei Kang. By chance, he had heard professor Wei Kang mention this, about the problem of the striped tabby cat’s forehead.
Professor Wei Kang specialized in the study of domestic cats and was quite knowledgeable in this area. At that time, he had only mentioned it casually and mentioned an ancient legend that explained the differences between the two lines.
Professor Wei Kang had said it in a half-joking tone, but because it was quite interesting, Zhang Zian silently took note of it.
“Fina, how much do you know about this?”
Zhang Zian stared at fina, who had been silent.
When he was thinking, observing, and telling, Fina’s attitude was different from its usual calmness. Even when he met the four dead cats during the day, its attitude was so calm that he suspected that it was going to die quietly.
“Bengong noticed it long ago, long before today.” Fina began to speak,”when I taught the kittens to dance, most of the kittens were very obedient. Some kittens were a little naughty. At that time, I thought it was the difference in intelligence, but I did notice that the patterns on the foreheads of these naughty kittens were incomplete … Thousands of years have passed, and the world has changed. The cats today are different from the cats of my time, so I didn’t pay much attention to it.”
The other Elfins all knew that fina would teach the new kittens to dance from time to time, but they didn’t think there was a hidden story behind it.
Fina’s eyes suddenly became brighter, and it stared at Zhang Zian.”About this, what do you want to tell me?”
Zhang Zian didn’t answer immediately, but asked,””Do you know that cats have nine lives?”
“Nine lives? Nonsense!” Fina said firmly,”if cats had nine lives, the sacred beetle would not be the symbol of rebirth in ancient Egypt!”
Old time tea also interjected,”about this, I often hear people talk about it on TV. I don’t know where it came from. Every time I hear it, I’m confused. I’ve lived for so many years, but I’ve never seen a cat come back to life …”
“Gah? Nine lives?” “When you were selling the Siberian Forest Cat, which is said to not cause allergies, didn’t you say there was a movie about cats called nine lives?” Richard asked.
Zhang Zian nodded.”Yes, the legend that cats have nine lives is not only popular in China, but also widely spread in the West.”
“Nonsense!” Fina repeated,”I’ve never heard of it! I won’t believe it either!”
“It’s normal that you haven’t heard of it. ” Zhang Zian explained,”because this legend started after you.”
He said to the elves,”there were no cats in ancient China. Cats came to China from the Western regions. The legend of nine lives also came from the Western regions. The origin of this legend is the Middle East.”
In the ancient Middle East, the “ancient” period was after Fina’s era. There was a very famous and prestigious man who was respected as a prophet by others.
The Prophet had a cat called Mieza and doted on him.
One time, when the Prophet was about to pray, he found miezha sleeping in his long sleeve. In order not to disturb its good dreams, he simply cut off his sleeves and put on a long robe to pray. Miezha seemed to know how much he cared for her after she finished her prayers. She bowed and wagged her tail as if she had a mind of her own to express her gratitude. The Prophet lovingly stroked miezha’s head three times, leaving behind four black lines, which were his four fingerprints in the shape of an M.
According to legend, the Prophet not only left an M-shaped mark on miezha, but also gave him nine lives. This was the origin of the legend of cats having nine lives.
From then on, the sacred beetle and the M-shaped pattern had parted ways.
After Zhang Zian finished, the other Elfins were entranced, while fina sneered.
People said that the moon on the 15th day was 16 round.
He raised his head to look at the full moon in the night sky. A cold wind blew past, and he suddenly felt a little cold. He shrank his body and muttered,”
“The White jade capital in the sky, twelve buildings and five cities. The Prophet touched my head and formed a seal to receive nine lives …”