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Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a girl named Tara. She was an innkeeper’s daughter. She worked for her father at the inn.
Tara was a kind and quiet girl. She had been a happy child, always laughing and smiling. But then her mother died. After that, Tara rarely smiled. This was a shame. When Tara did smile, it was the kind of smile that made all the people who saw it want to smile back.
Tara was pretty. She wasn’t too tall and she wasn’t too short. She wasn’t too thin and she wasn’t too fat. Her eyes were blue. Her hair was hard to describe. It was too dark to be called blonde and too light to be called brown.
Tara wasn’t the prettiest girl in the kingdom. There were princesses and noblewomen in the King’s court who had the time and the money to make themselves much more beautiful. But Tara was certainly the prettiest girl in the village. The young men of the village noticed this.
One day Xander, the shoemaker’s son, said “Marry me, Tara. Be my wife. I will work as hard as I can to provide for you. Our children will be well-shod and well-loved.”
Tara said “I’m sorry, Xander. I can’t marry you. I don’t love you.”
The next day Riley, the blacksmith’s son, said “Marry me, Tara. Be my wife. I will protect you. Our children will be healthy and strong.”
Tara said “I’m sorry, Riley. I can’t marry you. I don’t love you.”
The next day Jonathan, the merchant’s son, said “Marry me, Tara. Be my wife. You will want for nothing. Our children will be plump and happy.”
Tara said “I’m sorry, Jonathan. I can’t marry you. I don’t love you.”
The villagers tried to tell the innkeeper that his daughter was making a mistake. “She needs a husband. It doesn’t matter if she loves him.”
“Tara deserves to be happy,” said the innkeeper. “She deserves to be with someone that she loves.”
One day Tara found a cat mewing piteously in the woods. The cat had been attacked by a wolf and could barely move. Tara brought the cat home to the inn and cleaned the cat’s wounds as gently as she could. She fed the cat scraps of meat and fish. Slowly Tara nursed the cat back to health.
It was a beautiful cat. No, she was a beautiful cat. Tara could tell that she was a girl cat, not a tom. The cat had thick, soft fur, white and orange in color. The orange parts of her fur were so dark that they were almost red. The cat’s eyes were a bright green.
The cat would follow Tara around all day. Whenever Tara stopped moving, the cat would rub against her legs. In the evening, when Tara sat down, the cat would leap into Tara’s lap. Tara would stroke the cat and the cat would purr. Her purring was like music. Tara would hear it and smile.
Sometimes the cat would meow and then stare at Tara, as if expecting an answer. “It’s like she’s trying to talk to me,” said Tara to herself.
One evening, Tara entered her room to find that the cat was sitting on her bed. As the sun set, Tara saw the most amazing thing. The cat took off her fur, just like a person taking off a shirt. Before Tara’s eyes, the cat transformed into a beautiful girl.
“Hello,” said the girl. “My name is Willow.”
Willow had green eyes, the exact same shade as the cat’s eyes. Willow had red-orange hair, the exact same shade as the cat’s fur.
Willow was totally naked. She did nothing to hide her body from Tara. (Cats don’t care about nakedness; cats don’t wear clothes.) Tara looked at Willow and decided that she had never seen anything or anyone more beautiful.
“Hello. My name is Tara.”
“Yes, I know,” said Willow. “You saved me when I was almost dead, and you took care of me. And I’ve been trying to tell you for days how grateful I am, and how nice and kind and pretty you are, but it didn’t work because you don’t speak Cat. But now that I‘m human, I can think of another way to thank you.”
Willow rose up from the bed and kissed Tara on the lips. Tara was startled at first, but after a moment she kissed back.
That night was a revelation to Tara. She had never kissed a boy. She had never kissed a girl. She had certainly never kissed a magical cat-girl. Soon their kisses turned into more than kisses.
When Willow kissed her, it was like fire. When Willow caressed her, it made her tremble inside. And when Willow made love to her, it was the most wonderful thing that Tara had ever felt. Tara tried her best to kiss Willow, to caress Willow, and to make love to Willow with exactly the same care and tenderness that Willow had shown her.
Afterwards, the two of them cuddled together. “Did you enjoy it?” asked Willow.
“Yes,” said Tara. “Very much.”
“Good. I wanted to thank you properly before I leave.”
“Leave?” asked Tara with a tremble in her voice. “You’re going to leave?”
“Yes. I am bound by the magic of my kind. When the sun rises, I must put my fur back on and become a cat again. I must return to my family and my clan whether I want to or not.”
“But I don’t want you to go.”
“I’m sorry. Really, I am. But I don’t have a choice.”
That night, Willow slept in Tara’s bed. Tara lay next to Willow. Tara couldn’t sleep. She lay in bed, thinking. There had to be a way to keep Willow from leaving.
And then Tara had an idea. She slipped out of the bed without waking Willow. She grabbed Willow’s cat fur. She carried it out of her room and up the stairs into the inn’s attic. There Tara found a trunk full of old clothes. Tara buried the cat fur at the bottom of the trunk. Then she went back to her room and slipped back into bed with Willow.
In the morning, Tara woke to find Willow frantically searching the room.
“You’ve got to help me,” said Willow. “I can’t find my fur.”
“I know,” said Tara. “I hid it.”
“You hid it? Why?”
“Because I want you to stay,” said Tara. “Because I want to get to know you better. Because you’re the most beautiful person I‘ve ever met.”
For a long moment, Willow looked at Tara and said nothing.
“I’m sorry,” said Tara. “I’m being selfish. I’ll get your fur and you can go.”
“No. Leave the fur where you’ve hidden it. I’ll stay with you, at least for a few days.”
So Willow stayed with Tara. Tara taught Willow the ways of humans; how to wear clothes, how to serve food and drink to the customers of an inn, and how to clean your body without using your tongue.
In return, Willow taught Tara the ways of cats; how to move silently and with grace, how to stalk prey, and how to speak Cat.
At night, Willow and Tara always shared the same bed. Some nights they made love. Some nights they talked for hours. Some nights they just slept, cuddled up together.
Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Everyone in the village noticed that Tara smiled often. Tara was happy again.
One night, Tara said to Willow “I love you. I want you to stay with me forever.”
Willow burst into tears. This was the last thing Tara had expected.
“What’s wrong?” asked Tara.
“I want to stay with you forever too,” said Willow. “But I can’t. I am bound by the magic of my kind. Sooner or later, I will find my cat fur. I’m not looking for it. I don’t want to find it. But sooner or later, I’ll find the fur by accident, or someone else will find it and show it to me. It’s fate. When I see my fur, I won’t have a choice. I must put the fur on, turn back into a cat, and leave. My magic will take me far to the east, to the Mountains of Jade, to be with the rest of my kind.”
“What if I burned the fur?” asked Tara. “Then you couldn’t find it.”
“No! Don’t do that!” Willow exclaimed. “If you destroy my fur, I’ll die.”
“Oh,” said Tara.
That night the two girls came to an agreement. If fate decreed that Willow must leave, if their time together was limited, then the two of them would do their best to enjoy the days they had.
Over the next few weeks, Tara asked many questions about the Mountains of Jade. What were they like? Where exactly in the Mountains of Jade did Willow’s family live? Tara asked Willow to describe all the lands, all the obstacles, all the roads that lay between her village and the Mountains of Jade. Tara listened very carefully to Willow’s answers.
All too soon, the fated day came. There was a ten-year-old boy in the village who was extremely curious. One day he wandered into the attic of the inn. The boy looked at everything that was stored there. He opened all the trunks in the attic. He found Willow’s cat fur, then he carried it downstairs.
When Willow saw the cat fur, she whispered “No.” She knew that her doom was upon her. She walked across the room and took her fur from the boy. She put her fur on and magically changed back into a cat. The cat ran out of the inn and into the woods faster than any person could follow.
Tara had been outside, feeding the chickens. When Tara discovered that Willow had left, she began to cry. Through her tears, she told her father that she had to leave. She was going to search the world until she found her Willow again.
The villagers thought that Tara was crazy. They spent three days trying to talk Tara out of leaving. “You’ll just get lost,” they said. “You’ll run out of food and starve to death. You’ll be hunted by wild beasts and eaten. You’ll be robbed by bandits. The bandits will kill you, or do something worse than kill you.”
After three days, the innkeeper asked his daughter “Do you really have to leave?”
Tara said “Yes. I love Willow. I will never be happy without Willow.”
“If you must go, then go,” said the innkeeper. “But please promise me that you’ll come back to us if you can.”
“I promise,” said Tara.
Xander, the shoemaker’s son, said “I’ve made you these sturdy boots, to wear during your journey.”
“Thank you,” said Tara.
Riley, the blacksmith’s son, said “I’ve made you this sharp dagger, to protect you during your journey.”
“Thank you,” said Tara.
Jonathan, the merchant’s son, said “Here’s a purse with money in it, so you can buy food during your journey.”
“Thank you,” said Tara.
So Tara left the village she had known all her life, and walked the roads of the wide world. She knew where she was going, for Willow had told her about all the lands she must travel. She traveled east, always east.
Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Tara walked through forests and fields. She crossed plains and deserts, rivers and mountains. Whenever wild beasts or bandits were about, Tara hid, using the stealth that Willow had taught her.
Without the sturdy boots, Tara never could have walked that far. Without the purse of money, she would have run out of food.
Finally she arrived at the Mountains of Jade. Willow had told her exactly where to go. Tara rode the ferry across the River of Swans. She walked upriver for two days. She followed the babbling brook up into the mountains. She passed the misty waterfall.
At last Tara came to a clearing. In the clearing, she saw dozens of cats. They were all beautiful, in their own ways. But in Tara’s eyes, none of the cats were as beautiful as Willow.
Tara hid in the bushes and made no noise. Fortunately, Tara was downwind, so the cats didn’t notice her.
The cats were eating and drinking, singing and dancing. The cats were having a party. When the cats talked or sang, Tara could understand everything that they were saying. Willow’s lessons in Cat had really worked.
All at once, the cats stopped talking. A white tom cat with a tiny crown on his head had climbed up on a boulder. ‘He must be the King of the Cats,’ thought Tara.
The King began a speech. “Today we are gathered to celebrate a joyous event. Today my daughter comes of age.” A beautiful cat with orange and white fur jumped up next to him. It was Willow.
The King continued. “It is time for Willow to marry. Her spouse will be the one who passes three tests, according to our traditions. Who wishes to marry my daughter?”
“I do,” said a black-and-white tom.
“Very well, Spike,” said the King. “Are there any other candidates?”
Tara watched in despair as several young tom cats stepped forward. One of these cats would surely pass the tests. Willow would be married and Tara would lose her forever. But maybe there was still a way.
Tara stepped out of the bushes and into the clearing. “I wish to marry Willow,” she said. All of the cats were amazed. A human had found her way to their secret clearing. Not one cat had seen her, heard her, nor smelt her.
“Tara?” said Willow, as if she couldn‘t believe her eyes.
“Tara!” shouted Willow, as she ran across the clearing as fast as her four legs could carry her. Willow leapt into Tara’s arms and began to purr.
“You came,” Willow said. “I missed you so much. I thought that I’d never see you again. But now you’re here.”
“Of course I came for you,” said Tara. “I love you.”
Soon Tara found herself in the presence of the King of the Cats. Tara curtseyed to the King.
“Who are you?” asked the King.
“My name is Tara, your Majesty.”
“You want to marry my daughter?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I love her.”
“Please father,” said Willow, “Let me marry Tara. I love her.”
“This is ridiculous!” objected Spike. “She can’t marry Willow. She’s a human, not a cat.”
“Our traditions are clear,” said the King. “Cat or no, the one who passes the three tests has the right to marry my daughter. We shall proceed with the first test immediately.”
The King led Tara, Spike, and all of the other candidates through the forest to an ancient tree. It was huge. Its trunk was so thick that Tara couldn’t even reach her arms around it.
“A cat’s claws must be sharp,” proclaimed the King. “The first test is to remove a piece of bark from this tree.”
Have you ever seen a tree where the bark just peels off easily? This was not one of those trees. The bark of this tree was extremely hard and tough. Cat after cat tried and failed to pry off even a small piece of bark.
Then Spike’s turn came. Tara could see that his claws were sharper than any other cat’s claws. With great effort, Spike was able to remove a piece of bark.
“Spike has passed the test,” said the King. Now it was Tara’s turn.
Tara tried to pry the bark from the tree with her fingernails. It was hopeless. But Tara remembered that she had a sharp dagger. She used the dagger to cut off a piece of bark.
“Tara has passed the test,“ said the King.
“No fair!“ shouted Spike. “She used a human trick, not her claws. She cheated.”
“I am the judge,” said the King, “and I say she passed the test. The second test will be tomorrow morning.”
That night, the King offered Tara a room in his palace to sleep in. But the room was built for a cat and it was too small for Tara. Tara slept outside, under the stars.
In the middle of the night, Tara woke to the sound of purring. “Can I sleep here?” asked Willow.
“Of course you can.”
The two of them slept side-by-side, woman and cat together.
In the morning, the King walked Tara and Spike to a meadow. (Since Spike and Tara were the only two to pass the first test, they were the only ones allowed to attempt the second.)
“A cat must be a hunter,” said the King. “In this meadow lives the wisest and canniest of all mice. To pass the test, you must catch this mouse and bring it to me.”
It was Spike’s turn first. He hid in the tall grass and waited for the mouse to emerge from its burrow. When he saw the mouse, he slowly crept toward it. Then with a great spring, he pounced.
Spike missed. He had pounced from too far away. In his impatience, he had attacked the mouse too soon. The mouse scrambled away to safety.
“Give me another chance,” said Spike to the King. “I’ll get that mouse next time.”
“You‘ve had your chance,” said the King. “It’s Tara’s turn now.”
Tara had noticed that the mouse was eating only one kind of grass seed. ‘Those seeds must be his favorite,’ thought Tara.
Tara gathered together a pile of those particular seeds. Then she lay down in the tall grass close to her seed pile. Tara waited for two hours, without moving, without making a sound.
Eventually, the mouse found the pile of seeds and began to eat. Tara quickly reached out and grabbed the mouse. Then she brought the mouse to the King.
“I’ve caught the mouse,“ said Tara, as she opened her hands to show the King the mouse within.
“The mouse is still alive,” complained Spike.
“Your Majesty, you said I had to catch this mouse. You didn’t say I had to kill it.”
“She’s right,” said the King. “Tara has passed the second test.”
Willow was overjoyed. “Tara’s the only one to pass both tests. Please father, can I marry her now?”
“No,” said the King. “Tara must still pass the third test tomorrow. And it is the hardest of the three tests.”
The next morning, the King pointed across the valley to a tall peak. “A cat must be brave. Near the top of that peak is a cave. In the cave lives the Great Bear of the Mountains. The third test is to confront the Great Bear and bring back a piece of his fur.”
“Father, no!” shouted Willow. “That’s too dangerous.”
“I’m sorry, daughter. This is the traditional third test.”
Willow turned to Tara and said “Don’t go. I’d rather that you stay safe, even if that means we never marry.”
“I have to do this,” said Tara. “I love you, Willow. I will never be happy without you.”
Tara walked across the valley, then up the mountain. It took hours to climb to the top. Without the sturdy boots, she never would have made it.
At last, Tara reached the mouth of the Great Bear’s cave. She stood, hesitant, unsure of what to do. Should she sneak into the cave? If the bear was asleep, she might steal some of his fur. But what if the bear wasn’t asleep? And even if he was, would stealing the fur be the right thing to do?
As it turned out, the Great Bear wasn’t sleeping. He heard and smelled Tara outside his cave, and came outside to investigate.
“Well?” said the Great Bear, gruffly. “What do you want?”
The Great Bear was truly a great bear. He was huge. On his hind legs, he stood almost twice as tall as Tara. His limbs were as thick as tree trunks. He had sharp teeth, and equally sharp claws.
Tara was scared. This was the most fearsome creature she had ever seen in her entire life. She wanted to run away. But she if did, she would lose her chance to marry Willow.
“Mr. Bear,” said Tara. “Could I please have some of your fur?”
“My fur?” said the Great Bear. “Why should I give you my fur?”
“The King of the Cats said that if I got a piece of your fur, then I could marry his daughter.”
“Wait a minute. You’re a human. Why would you want to marry a cat?”
“Because I love her,” said Tara. “Please, Mr. Bear. I would be ever so grateful.”
The Great Bear thought about this a moment. Then he spoke. “You know, everyone is always pestering me. They come here to prove their courage, to prove that they are great fighters. I am constantly annoyed by wolves, by dogs, by cats, and by humans. Sometimes even lions and tigers come up here. But you’re the first one, the only one, who has ever asked me for something politely.”
The Great Bear held out his paw. “Lend me your dagger,” he said. He used the dagger to cut off a small piece of his fur, and he gave it to Tara.
“Thank you, Mr. Bear,” said Tara.
“You’re welcome, Miss Human,” said the Great Bear.
It was night before Tara returned to the clearing of the cats. She gave the piece of bear fur to the King. He instantly recognized the fur’s scent. You see, the King had passed this test himself, years ago. He had met the Great Bear himself. There are some scents that a cat just doesn’t forget.
“Tara has passed the third test,” proclaimed the King. “Tara has won Willow’s hand in marriage.”
After a week of preparations and festivities, Willow and Tara were married. The ceremony had all of the pomp and spectacle that the court of the King of the Cats could provide. And afterwards, the cats served a great feast for everyone in the kingdom. (Tara ate the fish course. She did not eat the mice.)
The King had arranged for a new bedroom for Tara to be built in his palace. It was big enough for humans to sleep in. On her wedding night, Willow took off her fur and once again turned into a human girl. Willow and Tara made love with all of the intensity of lovers separated for months.
In the morning, Willow said to Tara “Do you trust me?”
“Of course I do.”
“Then there’s something I want to try. Because we are married now, I believe that I can share my magic with you.”
Willow put her fur on, and turned into a cat as Tara watched. And then Tara began to change.
Tara was shrinking. She couldn’t stand upright anymore. She dropped down to her hands and knees.
Tara looked at her hand. Her fingers were getting shorter. Her nails grew into claws. She was growing fur on her paws. She had paws!
“What’s happened to me?” mewed Tara.
“Come and see,” purred Willow as she led Tara to a mirror.
In the mirror, Tara could see not one, but two beautiful cats. The first cat had green eyes and thick fur, orange and white in color. The second cat had blue eyes. The second cat’s fur was hard to describe. It was too dark to be called blonde, and too light to be called brown.
“I’ve become a cat,” said Tara, as she watched her tail twitch in the mirror.
“Is this ok?” asked Willow. “I can change us back to human if you want.”
“It’s alright. You spent months as a human. It’s only fair for me to be a cat for a while.”
Tara found that being a cat was amazing and strange. Her senses were so different. She could hear every little sound. She could smell everything around her.
Willow and Tara’s lives fell into a new pattern. By day, they were cats. They hunted together and groomed each other. Tara became friends with all of the cats in the kingdom, even Spike.
At night, Willow and Tara became human. They always slept together.
“Cat bodies are better for hunting,“ Willow would say. “But human bodies are much better for love-making. We’re getting the best of both worlds.”
Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. One day, Willow noticed that Tara was staring towards the west with a sad look on her face.
“Tara, is something wrong?”
“I miss my family. I miss the village. I miss the inn. I like living here, and I love living with you, but I promised my father that I would come back to him someday.”
“Is that all? Let’s go visit your family.”
“Really? It would take months to walk to my village from here.”
“Not if we use cat magic,” said Willow. “At night, when the moon is full, we cats can run like the wind. How do you think I traveled to your village in the first place?”
The next full moon Willow and Tara ran thousands of miles to return to Tara’s village. Tara’s father was overjoyed to see them. So were all the villagers.
Tara said to Xander “Without your sturdy boots, I never would have found Willow. Thank you.” And she kissed him on the cheek.
Tara said to Riley “Without your sharp dagger, I never would have found Willow. Thank you.” And she kissed him on the cheek.
Tara said to Jonathan “Without your money purse, I never would have found Willow. Thank you.” And she kissed him on the cheek.
When the young women of the village saw this, they realized that Xander, Riley, and Jonathan were kind and generous men. Within a year, all three of them had loving brides of their own.
Tara and Willow were never separated again. Sometimes, they were human, and they helped Tara’s father at the inn. Sometimes, they were cats, and they lived in Willow’s father’s palace. And always, they worked together, they played together, they slept together, and they loved together. They lived happily ever after.
THE END