His Gloriousness Mata Chapekar

Back in the days of my position of Royal Emissary to British India under Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands - a role in history I thoroughly regret -, I made the acquaintance with an Indian prince down on his luck. This prince needed money badly and offered to sell me his cat. "Sir," he said to me, in his gracious Oxford-English, "I'd like to make you an offer no internationally renowned savant and lover of cats can refuse." I mentioned I wasn't really interested. To interest me, he showed me this picture of his cat, Mata Chapekar, and was I surprised when I saw it.

His Gloriousness Mata Chapekar could levitate. Now, I have seen a lot of cats, but never before and since have I seen a cat that could levitate. Of course, I demanded to see the cat in real life before buying it, but the images seen on the photograph were true. And he could do so much more.

It didn't end with levitation, he did the Indian rope trick, stuck sharp objects through his skin without bleeding and pain, and flew a magic carpet. I was amazed, to say the least. Though I must also mention that, next to this "magic" tricks, he was also a wise cat, teaching me things about life and eastern wisdoms no westerner had heard before.

I never regret the fact I bought His Gloriousness. In all honesty, however, I must admit I was rather disappointed when I discovered he mostly used his levitation for catching birds.