Our finest gifts we bring pa rum pum pum pum...

Most of the cats do it, out of love people say, at times bringing home the trophies they´ve caught during their daily hunt to prevent their owners from starving, this way letting them know they´re cherished though they are incapable of hunting for themselves, missing all those funny creatures a cat would hunt down in a wink. Mr. Tails does it, too, he brings me mice. Not that often, and fortunately only those with the head missing, this way I can be sure I won´t have a wee mousie frolicking around in my house during night, though I do love mousies, a lot! The two females do it, carrying mole crickets onto my terrace, placing them at my feet, observing my reaction and afterwards the crickets trying to flee into the safety of the meadow, only that they never come that far before being brought back to my feet, where they usually expire. Pirate Cat does it, though he delivers his prey at my neighbour´s subtenant: slow worms, fish and frogs, and all four of the kois the vet has bought for her pond. Pirate Cat has got hit by some car driver who took no notice of the "private road- do not enter" sign and passed through at high speed. Vet was able to save the cat´s leg, but the eye was a lost cause, so no more mice and birds for Pirate Cat, because he is too slow. My cats do not hunt outside. What do they bring to me then? Well, Namo never brought me anything, because edible creatures are...edible, and feeding is Namo´s favourite occupation. Maybe he even has thought of bringing me a "tasty" little present, after all Namo is a nice guy and loves to sit on your lap for hours on end, though no one seems to appreciate it (might be because of the twenty pounds he weighs), but was not able to withstand the temptation and devoured the present instead of delivering it. That´s Namo all over! And Vaire? She brings me...spiders. Big fat ones. She catches them in the winter garden, plays with them and often kills them as a gift for me. Now comes the important part: Vaire is not even allowed to stay in the winter garden because of the plants. The toxic-to-cat plants, strictly speaking. So she arranges the (half)-dead spiders right in front of the doorstep to the winter garden, scratches at the door, waits for me to let her in and then watches the spectacle from a safe lookout in the parlour. And what a spectacle it is, me swinging the broom to squish those unfortunate spiders, most but not all of them dead. Yesterday Vaire caught six really big ones, neatly arranging them in a row for me to find the remains. I haven´t seen a living spider in the Winter garden for many a month, and yet Vaire tracks them down regularly. And she is so proud of having caught them! So after the usual screaming fit I give her a treat, otherwise she would think her owner to have gone mad, not appreciating the value of her gift!