Reply #16: Yes, and I've heard that the people there believe [View All]

[AlienGirl]

that if you feed the temple rats, and are very good, you'll come back in your next life as one of the temple rats, to spend your remaining lives playing and enjoying the food left by villagers.

Interestingly, the denizens of this town were protected from the bubonic plague because when the epidemic came close, they moved into the temple with the rats. Their temple rats, who were not infected, kept the infected rats away.

Rats have been considered sacred or magic throughout much of the world, because of their ability to go almost anywhere and survive almost anything. The earliest stories in Europe of magical animals that entered a house in springtime to leave gifts involved a rat--not a rabbit; the "Easter bunny" had its origins as the Oester rat.

Rats are actually highly intelligent, social animals that really shouldn't be compared to Republicans.

Tucker