Why am I posting a picture of this feline domesticus?
This photo of the SECOND best-looking cat in the world?
Well, a reader of this blog felt compelled to send me a photo of this little guy.
His name is Richard Parker.
Not the owner.... the cat! The cat's name is Richard Parker.
It is the first cat I have ever heard of, that has TWO names, a first and a last.
Apparently, this puss was named after the Bengal tiger in Yann Martel's [2001] Booker prize-winning blockbuster of a novel, Life of Pi. [A great book!]
For those who have not read it yet, the young boy Pi Patel is stranded for 227 days on a lifeboat with this tiger when a ship full of animals sinks in the Pacific ocean. It's really a wonderful story. Martel named the tiger after an Edgar Allan Poe character from his The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838). The [Poe] book tells of four shipwrecked men who, after many days privation, drew lots to decide who should be killed and eaten so the others could survive. Richard Parker, a mutinous sailor, drew the short straw and was eaten.
I've been told that this cat, Richard Parker is a real mischievous thing.
UNLIKE MY WELL-MANNERED, CIVILIZED JACK!
Possibly demon-possessed, even!
Admittedly..... this is a cute, if misbehavin' Ragdoll.
But, he is SECOND cutest..... not FIRSTEST!
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When you said the cat's name was Richard Parker I immediately thought Life of Pi. How excellent! He is a cute kitty but because of my own Waldo and Dickens I can't be over enthisiastic about other cats :)
ReplyDeleteThis is without a doubt the most wonderfully gorgeous, adorable cat I have ever seen in my entire life. There is nothing cuter!
ReplyDeleteThis is a wholly unbiased view. As all cat views are.
Jack is the best.
ReplyDelete