When I had a cold and ran out of rice, I had a rice shop deliver some to my house for the very first time. The person who came to deliver it was an old man of around sixty. Our cat, who normally never comes out when people visit, walked out into the hallway for some reason, making sweet meowing sounds. As soon as the rice dealer said, "Well, look at the cat, look at the cat," he raised both hands above his head and started doing a little hand-dance motion, chanting, "Yoisa, yoisa." Thinking he was an amusing old man, I watched him, and to my surprise, our cat began rolling to the right and left, matching the old man's movements. It was purring loudly and looked utterly delighted. Rolling from side to side and purring like that were things our cat almost never did. When the rice dealer clapped his hands and said, "There, all done," the cat suddenly snapped to attention, sat up, and started licking its body as if nothing had happened. "That's amazing!" I blurted out. The rice dealer laughed and said, "It's the cat dance. I'm good at it. Been doing it since the old days." After the rice dealer left, I tried to copy him, but the cat just glanced at me sideways with a look of utter contempt. I should have asked him for his secret. Was it some kind of hypnosis, I wonder?
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