The ancient Greeks and Romans kept weasels in their homes to hunt for mice; they did not keep cats. Over time, this ancient Greek fable a weasel and Aphrodite eventually morphed into a fable about a cat instead of a weasel: Perry 050. The Weasel (Cat) and Aphrodite.
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Text and illustration from Aesop's Fables by the Rev. Thomas James, with illustrations by John Tenniel.
VENUS AND THE CAT. A Cat having fallen in love with a young man, besought Venus to change her into a girl, in the hope of gaining his affections. The Goddess, taking compassion on her weakness, metamorphosed her into a fair damsel; and the young man, enamoured of her beauty, led her home as his bride.
As they were sitting in their chamber, Venus, wishing to know whether in changing her form she had also changed her nature, set down a Mouse before her. The girl, forgetful of her new condition, started from her seat, and pounced upon the Mouse as if she would have eaten it on the spot; whereupon the Goddess, provoked at her frivolity, straightway turned her into a Cat again.
What is bred in the bone will never out of the flesh.
There is a similar story told about Zeus who transformed a fox into a human, but that human also failed the test that Zeus set for her: Perry 107. Zeus and the Fox. (Text from Henry Thomas Riley's translation of Phaedrus.)
JUPITER AND THE FOX. No fortune conceals baseness of nature. Jupiter having changed a Fox into a human shape, while she was sitting as a Mistress on a royal throne, she saw a beetle creeping out of a corner, and sprang nimbly towards the well-known prey. The Gods of heaven smiled; the Great Father was ashamed, and expelled the Concubine, repudiated and disgraced, addressing her in these words: “Live on in the manner that you deserve, you, who cannot make a worthy use of my kindness.”
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