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Montagu Museum - a special visitor
Posted by Mareletta Mundey on 09 May 2019 1:15 PM CAT
The cat who came to church.
You can call this a feel good story, a story of chance perhaps, animal lovers will call it a blessing, but the truth is, it’s a story of a cat who came to church.
On the 5th of February, the Museum Herb department set off early to forage for herbs, specifically Buchu, in a valley, right next to the farm Octavia. After a few hours of scouring the valley, climbing mountains, silently praying that a certain elongated, legless reptile, don’t host a welcome party on the overgrown pathways for us, we called it a morning, as dense underbrush and treacherous cliffs made the search nearly impossible.
Almost lunch time and off we went to the Meulplaas picnic spot to break bread, recharge and discuss the grave problem of where to search for Buchu next.
The first thing noticeable on opening our lunch boxes was a plastic container with water, and a few dog biscuits lying on the ground. As if on cue, a small face peeked from a bush nearby and started meowing, as if to say, I’m joining you. Gobbling down Philllip’s bacon bits that he took from his bread, and sampling the Spar pizza, the little minx must have felt that it’s a meal fit for a king.
As we made ready for departure, the haggard face, and yet strange welcoming energy of the scrawny kitten, was enough to make a grown girl weep. Isn’t there a saying “everything happens for a reason”, or “there’s no such thing as coincidence”, as the museum had a few rodent problems just a few weeks back?.
So off we went, full tummies, a few bags of herbs, absolutely no plan for finding the herb that we are actually searching for, and a cat who came to church with us.
He was dubbed Buchu by Mrs Jeanne Biesenbach that day. So in a way, we did find Buchu. Or rather, Buchu found us.
There is something sacred about having a cat at the Museum. It might have a lot to do with the fact that they believe they should be worshipped. We can only thank the Ancient Egyptians for that.
These days there’s a point of interest for kids as well at the museum, as this cat loves interacting, adores attention, and believes it’s his cat given right to stroll into the manager’s office where he knows he’ll get a snack. It’s only a very important meeting after all.
We invite all cat lovers to pop by the museum and see the amazing transformation Buchu has went through. I’m pretty sure your curiosity won’t kill him.
-Anneline Mohammedt.
