ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 229 In this 229th issue of the Baba Indaba’s Children's Stories series, Baba Indaba narrates a tale from the early times of the world – The Cat that walked by Himself. This is a story from the time when the tame animals were wild. The Dog was wild, and the Horse was wild, and the Cow was wild, the Sheep was wild, and even the Pig was wild—as wild as wild could be—and they walked in the Wet Wild Woods. But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him. Of course the Man was wild too. He was dreadfully wild. He didn't even begin to be tame till he met the Woman, and she told him that she did not like living in his wild ways. She picked out a nice dry Cave, instead of a heap of wet leaves, to lie down in; and she strewed clean sand on the floor; and she lit a nice fire of wood at the back of the Cave; and she hung a dried wild-horse skin, tail-down, across the opening of the Cave; and she said, 'Wipe your feet, dear, when you come in, and now we'll keep house.' One night wild man and wild woman ate wild sheep roasted on the hot stones, and flavoured with wild garlic and wild pepper; and wild duck stuffed with wild rice and wild fenugreek and wild coriander; and marrow-bones of wild oxen; and wild cherries, and wild grenadillas (passionfruit). Wild dog heard wild woman singing but this was overcome by the most mouth watering aroma. He sniffed the air and followed the aroma to the cave of the man and woman. He poked his head around the dried horse-skin hanging in the doorway and asked woman what the delicious aroma was. “It is cooked sheep” she said and tossed him a bone. He sat in the entrance of the cave and gnawed on the bone which was most satisfying. Unbeknown to him, the cat had followed him to the cave. On seeing what had transpired, Wild Cat said to himself 'Ah! That is a very foolish Dog.' And he went back through the Wet Wild Woods waving his wild tail, and walking by his wild lone. But he never told anybody. You are invited to download the story here and find out what happened to Wild Cat and what the outcome of his pride at being independent was? Baba Indaba is a fictitious Zulu storyteller who narrates children's stories from around the world. Baba Indaba translates as "Father of Stories". Each issue also has a "WHERE IN THE WORLD - LOOK IT UP" section, where young readers are challenged to look up a place on a map somewhere in the world. The place, town or city is relevant to the story. HINT - use Google maps. 10% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities. INCLUDES LINKS TO DOWNLOAD 8 FREE STORIES