The Cat's Elopement facts for kids

The Cat's Elopement (which means Kätzchens Entführung in German) is a charming Japanese fairy tale. It was first written down by Professor David Brauns in a book called Japanische Marchen und Sagen in 1885. Later, a famous writer named Andrew Lang included an English version of this story in his The Pink Fairy Book in 1897.

The Story of Gon and Koma

A Feline Love Story

This story is about two cats who fell in love. One was a handsome cat named Gon, who belonged to a music teacher. The other was a lovely cat named Koma, who lived with a kind lady. When Gon and Koma met, they quickly became very fond of each other.

They wanted to be together always. However, their owners would not agree to sell one cat to the other. Because of this, Gon and Koma decided to run away together. This is called eloping.

One evening, as they were traveling, a big dog suddenly appeared. The dog looked very threatening. Koma quickly climbed up a tree to safety. Gon, being very brave, stayed on the ground to protect her. Just then, a servant walked by. The servant saw Gon and picked him up. He carried Gon away to his mistress, who was a princess.

Gon's Brave Act

The princess had a problem. A large snake had fallen in love with her and kept visiting her, which made her very uncomfortable. One day, the snake came again to bother the princess. Brave Gon, seeing the snake, quickly jumped on it. He fought the snake and killed it, saving the princess from its unwanted visits.

After this heroic act, Gon was exploring when he saw a large cat bothering a smaller cat. Gon rushed over to help the smaller cat. To his great surprise and joy, the small cat was Koma! They were finally reunited.

A Happy Ending

Gon brought Koma to the princess. He then told the princess their whole story. He explained how they had fallen in love and had to run away. He also told her about their scary encounter with the dog and how they got separated.

The princess listened carefully to their tale. She felt very sympathetic towards the two cats. She decided to keep both Gon and Koma with her.

Later, the princess married a kind prince. She told him the entire story of Gon and Koma. The prince was also touched by their loyalty and love. He agreed that the cats should always stay with them. So, Gon and Koma lived happily ever after. They had many kittens, and these kittens often played with the prince and princess's own children.