How the Siamese Tribe comes by their coloring: Ericka
What is the Myth of how the Tribe of Siamese come by their coloring?
Once a long time ago, the Kingdom of Siam was full of white cats with blue eyes. The King at the time did not like so many white cats so he ordered them removed and transported to the neighboring countries. The cats, upon hearing this, gathered and formed a plan.
The King was quite fond of his coffee and hoarded it in his stores. The cats, having seen what the coffee did to things that are white, decided to dye themselves the same color as the floors and walls of the castle. Thus, they did so, dyeing themselves a gentle buff color.
One afternoon, as a cat lay sunning himself on the floor, the King walked by, almost stepping on the cat’s tail. Knowing the King’s dislike of cats, the cat held his tongue and waited for the King to pass. When he could, the cat jumped up and asked his friends what they could do. The coloring was not working as planned because the cat could have had his tail badly hurt. The cats decided to dye their tails a darker color and thus make the tails look like snakes. This they did.
One afternoon, as a cat lay sunning himself, his snake-like tail drawn straight out behind him, the King wandered by and was startled by the spectacle. He ordered the snakes removed from the castle at once. The cat, upon hearing this, again called his many cat friends and they discussed this problem. They decided if they dyed their legs, there would be so many snakes in the castle the King would no longer even try to remove them and would hopefully leave. They followed through and took to laying all over the floor with tails and legs dyed a dark mocha brown. The King, stunned at the sudden snake population explosion, reacted as suspected, and left his Kingdom, believing the infestation was easier to abandon rather than remove.
The cats, very excited for their victory, partied all night long. They emptied the bags of coffee in celebration and played in the grounds. They were grateful to the coffee’s darkening nature. They partied for a very long time, [some say three days and three nights!], and were so tired from all of their celebrating that they fell asleep right where they had been standing, laying face down in the coffee. Lo and behold, on the evening of the third day, it rained a tropical warm rainstorm, soaking the coffee and the cats. When they awoke from their reverie, the cats all had coffee darkened faces and ears, as well as the dark markings on their legs and tails!
And that is the myth of how the Siamese came by the buff and mocha coloring they display to this day!
Tribe of Siamese Cats, February 9, 2009