Once upon a time, there lived a poor peasant couple in a village. They were both very kind people. They had a lot of children, but they couldn't give them a decent meal.

The eldest son started helping his father at the age of 14, while the younger daughters had to help their mother with housework almost as soon as they learned to walk.

It was just that there was something wrong with the younger boy. He wasn't strong enough to help his father. But he was very smart, knew everything, and knew a lot more than his brothers and sisters. But the people in the village said he would never be strong, never grow up.

Therefore, his parents wanted him to become a monk, and being a monk must be better than being a farmer.

So one day they took the boy to a temple in the village and asked a kind old monk in the temple to teach their son how to become a monk. The old monk had a gentle conversation with the little boy and asked him some difficult questions. The little boy answered very well, and the old monk was satisfied and agreed to take the boy as a disciple.

The little boy soon grasped what the old monk had taught him, and was always respectful of him.

However, there was one thing about the little boy that made the old monk unhappy. When he was studying the Fa, he always liked to draw cats, and he often drew them in places he shouldn't have.

Whenever he was alone, he painted cats. He painted on the walls of the temple, on the tall columns that supported the temple's roof. The old monk advised him many times not to draw cats, saying it was wrong to draw cats, but he couldn't help himself. He had this so-called "artist's gift." Because of this, he would never be a good monk.

One day, after drawing many more cats on some paper, the old monk said to him, "My child, you will never be a good monk. You must leave this temple immediately, and perhaps you will become a great painter. Before you leave, I will give you a piece of advice that I hope you will keep in mind: stay away from big places at night and stay in small places."

The little boy did not understand what the old monk meant. He packed his clothes and left, thinking nonstop. He didn't dare ask the old monk any more, just said goodbye and left.

He left the temple sadly, not knowing what to do next. Go home, and his father will surely punish him, saying that he does not listen to the old monk and only knows how to draw cats all day.

He remembered that there was a large monastery in a neighboring village, and he heard that there were many monks living there, so he decided to go there and ask if they could accept him and let him become a monk there.

In fact, the monastery had been closed for a long time, and the little boy didn't know it. The reason for the closure was because a monster had taken over the monastery and scared away all the monks there. It is said that some warriors once went there to get rid of monsters, but none of them survived.

The little boy went straight to the village. By this time, it was already dark and the people in the village had calmed down.

He saw a large monastery on the hillside outside the village, and the lights were still on in the monastery. The lights were used by monsters to confuse passers-by and make people think that people lived inside. But the little boy did not know this, and when he saw the lights, he went to knock on the door, but there was no sound inside. He knocked again, and finally pushed, and the door opened. The little boy was happy and went in, hoping to see the monk inside, but all that appeared in front of him was a burning oil lamp.

The little boy thought the monks would be back soon, so he sat down and waited.

He looked around and was puzzled: Why did the monks make the monastery so dirty?

Looking up at the wall, he saw a clean and white place, so he wanted to draw cats again. So he stood up, studied some ink, and began drawing cats on the snow-white wall.

He drew a lot of cats and felt a little sleepy, so he was ready to sleep under the white wall where he drew cats. But suddenly he remembered the old monk's words: "Leave the big place at night and stay in the small place."

The monastery was very large, and he was alone. He looked around, looking for a place to sleep, when he found a small wooden box with a door. The small wooden box may have been used for things, although not very large, but enough for him to sleep. He got in, closed the door of the small wooden box, and soon fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, the little boy was awakened by a very terrible sound. It was a mix of fighting and screaming. The sound was so terrifying that he didn't dare open the box door to see what was going on. He just lay quietly inside, almost stopping to breathe.

The lights in the monastery went out, but the terrifying sound continued, and it became even more terrifying. The walls around him seemed to shake. After a long time, everything quieted down, but he still felt very terrified.

He waited until the sun penetrated the gap in the box before he moved.

He slowly and carefully emerged from his hiding place. Looking around, the first thing he saw was that the floor of the temple was covered with blood. Then, in the middle of the floor, he saw the dead body of a mouse. It was a demon mouse, huge and bigger than a calf.

Who killed that huge mouse? There were neither people nor animals around.

Suddenly, the little boy saw that the mouths of the cats he had drawn the night before were covered with red, damp blood. Then he realized that the demon rat was killed by the cats he had drawn.

Then he understood why the wise old monk said to him, "Leave the big place at night and stay in the small place."

Later, the little boy became a famous painter.

Tourists can still admire the cats that the little boy drew to this day.