“Nobody ever shows us cats ANY respect!” Biki told her grandfather one day.
“Don’t they teach you anything at that school of yours?” Her grandfather scowled. “A cat was once king of all Pelaria!”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Pepetus! Eighth king of the age!”
“Wow! Was he a good king?”
“One of the greatest kings to ever wear the crown! Would you like to hear the story of how Pepetus became king?”
“Oh yes!”
“Fine then. Sit here with me a spell and I will tell you…”
* * *
Pepetus, known as Pepe to those closest to him, was born near Appleglen. He was a singular cat in that he was born with blue eyes. From the time he was a kitten, he came to be known as the most handsome of cats.
The king in those days was Bairnard of the Ursus clan. It was tradition at that time, that the king of Pelaria was chosen amongst the clans of the Six Heroes. When the old king died, the new king would be chosen from the next clan. As now, the king was responsible for the wellbeing of all, but as is animal nature, favour usually fell on those of the king’s own clan.
Bairnard was the second king of the Ursus clan and seventh king of the age. Being a bear, he recognized size and strength as the greatest attributes an animal could possess. Smaller and weaker animals were often disadvantaged during his reign. Being a cat, Pepe was neither excessively large, nor particularly strong, but he was very clever.
It came to be that when Pepe was in his fourth year, Bairnard passed away. All of Pelaria was aflutter with talk of which of the six clans would produce the next king. The consensus was that either Seymour of the badgers or Cairith of the stags was the most likely to ascend to the throne. But through all the debate, it seemed only Pepe was interested in knowing: “Why is it that the king must come from the six clans?”
“The Six led us out of the darkness!” others would argue. “Without them, we would be the slaves of man!”
“As I know, we all had a paw in that victory,” countered Pepe.
The more others argued that it was right that one of the Six clans should rule, the more Pepe was convinced that the crown should be accessible to all. And so he declared that if a cat could not be king, then the kingdom would have no cats. The cats would form their own kingdom and Pepe would be their king!
The other animals scoffed at such a ludicrous idea. But the cats did not think it was so crazy. Why couldn’t a cat be king? And if a cat, why not Pepe? And so in short order, Pepe came to be the king of cats.
Now, during his youngest years, Pepe had travelled widely across Pelaria chasing bits of string and shinies of all kinds. Through his witty antics, he had befuddled many fiends and befriended many furs, most of which were small and overlooked by those that were bigger. When they saw what the cats had done, they rallied to the cats’ side. The rabbits, the beavers, the ferrets and the mice…they all claimed Pepe as their king.
The other animals did not take this secession all that seriously. What could the little critters do? Pepe would show them the error of their ways. His small subjects ran amuck throughout Pelaria nibbling their way through bags, chopping down trees so that they fell onto houses, inciting bees to sting travellers, and generally being the very worst of pests. But because they were so small, they were always able to scurry away before their larger foes could counter them.
These nuisances continued for the better part of a year until exasperated, the Provisional Council had no choice but to recognize the smaller animals’ rights. Furthermore, in exchange for halting the attacks, Pepe was named as the official heir to the throne, henceforth to be heralded as Pepetus, eighth king of the age.
“And *that* is how a small cat came to be king.”
“What happened to Pepe after he became king?”
“He ruled over Pelaria for many years and the kingdom prospered. But eventually Pepetus grew bored. A cat never stops yearning for new bits of string and shinies and so Pepe went out in search for adventure once more.”
“What about the kingdom?”
“Well, remember that Pepe was a clever cat. And so it was that before he left, he made his greatest contribution to furkind. He convened the Committee of Six to rule in his stead. The Six would be chosen from amongst the wisest of furs, scales and avian. Under their watch, Pelaria continued to prosper as well as it had under Pepe. Over time, the kings who followed Pepe deferred more and more to the Six until finally the Committee became the ruling body in Pelaria. Tradition has kept a king on the throne but he is mostly king in name only.”
“I wish I could be king, well queen!”
“I just told you that the Committee of Six are the real rulers of Pelaria!”
“Who cares about that? If I were queen, I could have all the ‘nip I wanted…not to mention string and shinies!”
“I suppose you’re right, granddaughter. I suppose you’re right.”