Noah’s Ark was full of animals that would never willingly sleep side by side. Hooves beside claws. Wings beside teeth. Now put a lion among them and try to relax.

The other creatures could not. Even resting, the lion was powerful enough to terrify everything nearby.

The medieval account says GOD struck the lion with a fever—the first fever on Earth. The heat weakened the great animal, and the panic aboard the Ark finally eased. The king of beasts, the book says, remained feverish from then onward.

Problem solved? Not quite.

Mice began multiplying inside the vessel. They chewed through food and goods, treating the carefully packed stores like an endless banquet. The animals were safer from the lion, but now tiny destroyers were eating their supplies.

And the answer came from the animal everyone had feared.

The lion’s fever rose. Its nose twitched, its chest tightened, and then came a sneeze big enough for an old animal legend.

Out popped a cat.

Small, quick, and made for the Ark’s narrow spaces, it chased the mice into hiding and protected the stores. I had to read that line twice the first time I met it.

That reversal is the whole charm of the story. The lion begins as the danger and ends as the source of help. The cat does not arrive with a roar—just one impossible burst of breath, ready to follow wherever the mice run.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Why did the lion get a fever?

    The other animals could not rest with a lion beside them, so the medieval account says GOD struck the lion with a fever — the first fever on Earth — which weakened the great animal and eased the panic aboard the Ark.

  2. Where did the first cat come from in this tale?

    From the lion's sneeze. As mice multiplied and chewed through the Ark's stores, the lion's fever rose, its nose twitched, and the sneeze brought out a small, quick cat that chased the mice into hiding.

  3. Where does this story come from?

    It is retold from al-Damiri's Hayat al-Hayawan al-Kubra, the 700-year-old Arabic book of animals behind every tale on this site.

Source: Al-Damiri, Hayat al-Hayawan al-Kubra.