Cleanliness is next to Godliness

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

 

Once upon a time, there lived a cat named Mr. Cleanfur and a dog named Mr. Muddypaws. Mr. Cleanfur lived in a nice little red cottage and Mr. Muddypaws in a beautiful green cottage. They both lived on a spick and span street named Clover Lane.

 

Mr. Cleanfur’s cottage was attractive and cosy and just as clean from the inside as it was from the outside.

 

One could smell fresh roses when entering the house. Mr. Cleanfur was a neat and tidy cat who bathed everyday early in the morning around 6:30 am and enjoyed to clean his house regularly and keep his books and important documents in an orderly manner. He always washed his dishes after a meal and kept his food either covered in a cauldron or in a refrigerator to keep it safe and sound away from the reach of pests and germs. There was not a single fly in his house and he made sure that his windows and doors were shut tight in the night to keep away the pests.  He was a well dressed cat and always wore clean and crisp clothes.

 

Mr. Cleanfur loved gardening and grew some of the most beautiful varieties of flowers.   His favourite flower was the rose, whose beauty he admired.   After potting his plants, he always washed his hands before doing any other chores.

 

 

On the other hand, his neighbour, Mr, Muddypaw's cottage looked fine from far away, but when you went near it, it was a nightmare! There were spider webs all over the walls, the few plants that grew had withered away, the walls of the house, the fence and the mailbox were covered with dust and there were toys lying all over the backyard. It was crystal clear that Mr. Muddypaws had no concern for health and hygiene. In his eyes, cleanliness had absolutely no value. He himself wasn’t a neat and tidy dog.  He wore old, unwashed, wrinkled and ragged clothes.  

His house was even worse from the inside than from the outside, with books, documents, clothes, toys, rubbish and all sorts of other items lying all around. It was so dirty that one could smell the dirty stink of rotten eggs on entering the house. It was a Herculean task for Mr. Muddypaws to find anything in his house and he would have to dig out things from a ginormous pile of books and documents.  He bathed extremely late around 02:00 to 3:00 pm and was so stinky that no one wanted to be near him.

 

Mr. Muddypaws never cleaned his house and his broom and mop were in his basement,  lying under a pile of dust and other rubbish with mice and other pests running around them for Mr. Muddypaws never bothered to go there.

 

His sink would often be clogged with dishes and flies would sit on and contaminate his food and water. Although he had a refrigerator, Mr. Muddypaws never bothered to put his food into it. His leftover food and other garbage would be lying either on his table or in the kitchen and never in the dustbin.

 

Mr. Cleanfur had two adorable white kittens, William and Albert, whom he taught all the moral values including the knowledge about cleanliness and gave them a great education. He was a loving and incredibly caring father who spent ample amount of time with his children. He also taught them to be honest, caring, respectful and decent kittens. Both William and Albert turned out to be wondrous and well mannered kittens, doing all their chores, homework and keeping themselves and their surroundings neat and tidy.

 

Mr. Muddypaws had one brown pup, Henry, whom he taught nothing but to be ill mannered, disgusting and uneducated. He inculcated into him no moral values but to do what he wanted and spend all day playing around. In Clover Lane, it was compulsory to enroll children into school, so Mr. Muddypaws reluctantly did so. However, he would allow and encourage Henry to sleep late and skip school which started around 7:30 am. Henry grew up to be a rude, unhygienic and an uneducated puppy with nearly all the bad qualities a child could possess. He spoke in the rudest manner with everyone he met and made friends with the naughtiest, dirtiest and most discourteous children of the neighbourhood. Mr. Muddypaws and Henry would often litter the streets and throw garbage in their backyard, creating unhygienic conditions not just for themselves but for others also.

 

Due to his unhygienic habits, Henry fell ill one day. He started vomiting continuously and as he drank the contaminated, unclean water of his house on which flies, mice and other pests had roamed, he had thin, watery stools. He had a rapid heartbeat, a fever and his muscles ached. His father did not pay attention at first but after a few hours, rushed to his side. After all, Mr. Muddypaws was careless, not merciless. After realising that his son was in excruciating pain, Mr. Muddypaws decided to call the doctor at once, but alas! His phone’s battery was dead! His charger was somewhere in the big mess in his house. Out of utter despair, he hurried on to Mr. Cleanfur’s house and barged into to it frantically searching for a phone under the sofas and carpets as he would do in his own house. Then, Mr. Cleanfur came out of his room and asked Mr. Muddypaws what the matter was. Mr. Muddypaws told Mr. Cleanfur all the symptoms that Henry had.

 

Mr. Cleanfur was startled to hear that Henry was ill and replied, “That is a deadly problem, Mr. Muddypaws. Your son may be suffering from a serious condition of Cholera. I shall immediately give you a phone." And what do you know! Mr. Cleanfur went in and came back within a minute with a sparkling blue phone and gave it to Mr. Muddypaws after dialling his doctor's number.

With shaking hands, Mr. Muddypaws took the phone and spoke with a stutter to the doctor, who had by now picked it up. The doctor asked Mr. Muddypaws to bring his son to the hospital immediately where he treated Henry by giving him some medicines and liquids and with proper care and the clean environment of the hospital, Henry was fortunately cured.

 

This was a paramount life lesson for Mr. Muddypaws who became extremely hygiene conscious and started to keep himself, his child and his surroundings neat and tidy. He did thorough cleaning of his house, started bathing himself and Henry at the right time, ate clean, fresh washed food, made sure they both wore decent clothes and inculcated good moral values into Henry. He also made sure that Henry went to school every day at the right time and had good and well mannered friends. He began storing his food and water in the refrigerator out of the reach of flies and germs. His house was just as tidy as Mr. Cleanfur's both from the inside and from the outside. Mr. Muddypaws started growing daisies and his house looked fabulous. Both Mr. Cleanfur and Mr. Muddypaws continued their cleanliness routine and made sure their future generations would do the same.

 

This story teaches us a very important moral: Cleanliness is next to Godliness.