The Lord of the Lives

We’ve all heard crazy myths. Myths that are too hard to believe, even when you are the craziest person on Earth. So, here goes something that I find seriously difficult to rationalize.

Does a Cat Really Have Nine Lives?

Ofcourse it doesn’t!

If you ever believed that it is the case, then I have nothing more to say. Just imagine man! How can something have nine lives. Even if cats had nine lives literally, we selfish humans would have found a way to extract 8 of them for our benefits. Then why do we say so?

William Shakespeare referred to the nine lives myth in his play Romeo and Juliet. There is also an ancient proverb that claims, “A cat has nine lives. For three he plays, for three he strays and for the last three he stays.” People believe that the nine lives myth originates from the cats ability to always land on their feet. Cats are known for their dexterity and agility.

Cats are probably the most agile pet out there. Thanks to its unique anatomy, cats can survive high falls and other serious accidents without being fatally wounded.

• Cats have a large surface area compared to their weight - reducing the impact of landings
• Cats have evolved to live in trees and therefore have adapted to conquer falls
• Their ‘righting reflex’ enables them to twist their bodies and land safely on their feet
• Cats have flexibility in their bones and ligaments, which help them to sustain minimal injury from many different accidents
• Cats don’t have collarbones

Thus, people generally say that a cat has multiple lives (nine to be precise). But why 9?
Since this is an ancient myth, it is quite difficult to point out where it came from. However, there are interesting theories put forth by many people.

The ancient Egyptian Sun God, Atum-Ra, was believed to take the form of a cat on visits to the underworld. Legend has it that Atum-Ra gave birth to 8 other Gods and thus represented 9 lives in one.
Others suggest that the number was derived from the Greek culture where 9 refers to the trinity of trinities and is considered a supernatural number. Some people even refer to ancient Chinese beliefs in this regard.

Truth be told, cats are amazing survivors and kudos to them for being able to do so. But honestly, sometimes we humans tend to oversimplify their irrational beliefs and thus, produce such golden myths. After all, we are emotional creatures and not logical ones!