Many centuries ago in Burma, the temple of Lao-Tsun was built for the goddess Tsun-Kyan-Kse. One hundred white cats lived in, and
guarded the temple. One day, while the head priest, Mun-ha, and his companion
cat, Sinh, were praying to the golden statue of the goddess, the temple was
raided. Mun-ha was killed as he tried to defend the goddess' statue, where
upon Sinh leapt upon his master's prone body, and hissed his defiance at the
bandits. With this a miraculous transformation took place, as the cat's white
body took on the golden hue of the goddess. His face, tail, and legs
became the colour of the earth except where his paws touched his master's body.
Here his paws remained the white of purity. The junior priests were emboldened
and the bandits dismayed by this miracle, and soon the priests drove out the
bandits. For the next seven days Sinh refused all food and water, finally dying
and taking his master's soul to paradise. When the priests came to choose
Mun-ha's successor, the temple's hundred cats came into the holy chamber, but
they were no longer white. They had all undergone the same miraculous
transformation as Sinh. They encircled a young priest, Lioa, thereby choosing
him as the new head priest.
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