“They say curiosity killed a cat once.”
Mind your own business
she cautioned back in 1868
in an anonymous story
published in Waterford, Ireland,
and spread to all English speakers.
But what cat is not curious
what’s behind closed doors
or under the covers
and will not venture there
given the opportunity?
The reward is not a mouse
though mice there may be
or something tasty
thought tasting may follow.
The prize is in the knowing
and the pleasure is in the finding
of that which was concealed.
Curiosity may kill a cat;
but satisfaction brings it back.
Source: Aunt Hetty’s Stratagem, an unsigned short story published in the Waterford Mirror and Tramore Visiter (Waterford, County Waterford, Ireland) of Wednesday 28th October 1868.
Often when I came home from a solitary ramble, I would find Aunt Hetty and Carrie in close conversation; and what caused my surprise, they became suddenly silent whenever I appeared. I was very curious to know the cause; I couldn’t help but suspect that it in some way concerned me.
‘Carrie,’ I said one day as we were taking our usual walk, ‘do you know you have begun to make me jealous? It seems to me Aunt Hetty takes you a great deal into her confidence. She never thinks of confiding in me so!’
‘Am I.’ said Carrie, laughing merrily. ‘I am sorry; but you will know by-and-by what Aunty Willis and I have so much to talk of.’
‘Very well,’ I said, laughing. ‘They say curiosity killed a cat once, so I will take warning and let things remain as they are.
’‘That’s very prudent, Hester,’ said Carrie tapping me playfully on the shoulders.
