- Genre
- Etiological sakme
- Source status
- folkloric
- Motifs
- assembly of animals, search for a camel, cat’s arched back, mistaken identity, origin of hostility
The story
The lion called the animals together for a meeting. Everyone arrived except the camel. The lion chose the dog, who was thought to be clever, to go and find the missing guest.
The dog had never seen a camel and asked how to recognise one. He was told that a camel had a hump. That seemed a sufficient description, and off he went.
Soon he saw a cat. The cat arched its back, and the dog immediately decided that he had found the camel. He invited it to the lion’s meeting. The cat raised no objection and went along.
The dog proudly presented his discovery. All the animals laughed: he had brought them a cat! Humiliated, the dog grew angry with the cat for allowing the mistake and failing to say what it was. From that time on, the story says, the dog has never forgiven the cat.
What does the story explain?
Hostility begins with a mistaken identification and wounded pride. The dog trusts a single visible feature, while the cat lets him make his mistake. Public laughter turns embarrassment into a lasting grudge.
The lion and camel belong to the story’s world of animals. Their presence does not make this an account of Lithuania’s native wildlife.
The source variant
Retold from “Šuns ir katės nesantaika” on Vaikams.lt. This variant contains no lost document or agreement between animals: its central event is a cat being mistaken for a camel. Other explanations of the quarrel should be kept distinct.