Curiosity killed the cat but the cat has nine lives

To understand the literal meaning of the proverb it is necessary that we break the proverb into two; 'A cat has nine lives' means every human being gets plenty of chances in his life. The second part 'Curiosity killed the cat ' means we should not interfere into the affairs of other people as we may get into trouble.

From the Egyptian civilization cats have been considered as a holy animal and has also been worshipped by many civilizations. Considering most animals wild or domesticated, cat is very different from most animals. The cat is very agile and it can jump from very high places and can adjust its body posture in such a way that when it jumps it does not hurt himself. It was a belief in ancient times that the cat has many lives as it loses one of its life when it jumps from such heights. Cats climb high trees and roofs, they run in front of vehicles and jump from high places , they do not even hesitate doing such stunts and after all these acrobatics they walk calmly in a cool pace.

They have nine lives means they cheated death eight times before. Only this feline is having this distinctive feature. The number nine has been referred to, does not literally mean nine. The number nine has been deliberately used in the proverb as it is a mystic number which invokes religion and tradition.

Now we relate this to human beings, God ensures that everyone is given opportunities in his life. Sometimes we escape an accident , we may escape near death situations, we may escape being caught or punished . However even after such opportunities we tend to be curious and put our noses into things we are not concerned which may get us into trouble. Human beings by very nature are curious and we unnecessarily interfere in things which is not our concern. Unlike cats we do not have nine lives. Hence it is better not to poke our nose and interfere in things in which we are not concerned. As being curious we may be killed, here killed literally does not mean loss of life but may mean disaster and sufferings.