2.If ___________________ were worth money, then I would be rich.

3. I am proud of _________.

2.If hair balls were worth money, then I would be rich. (And that’s the down side to maintaining my luxurious coat.)

3. I am proud of my excellent snoopervising talents. 

Pangur Ban is a white cat made famous by a poem written by a monk  at or around Reichenau Abbey. Some humans say that the poem was a comparison of the monk’s scholarly work with the activity of a cat. Others say that the poem was written by the monk for his cat. I like the second interpretation and can imagine a playful kitty scampering around his human while the monk is working hard at illuminating the pages of the Bible. I would go back to visit that monk and play with his feline friend (and maybe leave some of my paw prints on his manuscript). Here is the poem, I hope you enjoy it as much as The Female Human does.

I and Pangur Bán my cat,
‘Tis a like task we are at:
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.

Better far than praise of men
‘Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill-will,
He too plies his simple skill.

‘Tis a merry task to see
At our tasks how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.

Oftentimes a mouse will stray
In the hero Pangur’s way;
Oftentimes my keen thought set
Takes a meaning in its net.

‘Gainst the wall he sets his eye
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
‘Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.

When a mouse darts from its den,
O how glad is Pangur then!
O what gladness do I prove
When I solve the doubts I love!

So in peace our task we ply,
Pangur Bán, my cat, and I;
In our arts we find our bliss,
I have mine and he has his.

Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade;
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light.