In a small country cottage lived a kitten. He had ginger fur with dark spots, just like a jaguar. He loved to run around the yard chasing sunbeams, but he especially enjoyed playing with Grandma's woollen ball of yarn. She was always forgetting to put the wool away.
The kitten lived a carefree life, only the yard dog would sometimes bark at him, making him dash back inside. But something did worry the little one: he was afraid of the dark. As soon as night wrapped the earth in its dark blanket, the kitten couldn't be coaxed out of the house no matter what.
He shared his fears with his mum and dad. His parents were very caring and attentive and always showed empathy towards their little one. Empathy is when you want to understand someone so much that you try to see the world through their eyes.
Mum cat and Dad cat explained to their son where his fears might have come from. They also told him that cats can see very well in the dark, much better than many other animals and even people. But this didn't help.
Then Mum told the kitten that one day he would forget all his fears, because something special would happen to him in summer. The kitten immediately became curious—would it be scary? Mum said the event would be special. From that day on, the kitten waited impatiently for the mysterious event. It was early spring—it wouldn't be long.
Summer arrived. One evening, Mum approached the kitten and said they would go into the forest at night. The kitten was very frightened, but then he became curious about what would happen in this dark forest? It was so scary and mysterious, yet intriguing.
When the adventure began, Mum explained that cats were made for night life: they roam about, peer into the darkness, hunt, and climb trees. Their large eyes with narrow pupils help them see, even when there's not a glimmer of light. And from that moment on, the little kitten would begin to learn all the feline secrets.
Suddenly the kitten felt that something special was happening to him. Something inside told him that there was no need to fear the darkness—there was nothing bad in it.
Unfortunately, Mum cat and the little kitten couldn't catch a mouse, although they tried very hard. But the kitten learned a lot from his night lesson.
Day after day, the cat taught her little one to be himself, not to fear difficulties and to overcome them. Of course, this didn't mean the kitten wasn't afraid of anything else. But his fear of the dark no longer visited him. Darkness had become his friend.
