The Birman Legend.

""Long before Buddha’s arrival on Earth, a temple was build in Burma and dedicated to the god Song-Hio and the goddess Tsung-Kiang-Kse. The temple itself was named Lao-Tsun. The priests - the kitthas - spent their life in meditation. The very moment they reached eternal ecstasy, their spirit was transferred to one of the many sacred cats, who lived on the temple grounds.
The oldest and most appreciated priest, the wisest of the wise, Mun-Ha, especially worshipped the goddess Tsung-Kiang-Kse, who had wonderful sapphire eyes. It was said that the beard of the old priest was braided by the god Song-Hio him self. Sinh was the name of the cat that served him as an oracle, and it was honoured as much as its master.

Then one night when the Thais came from Siam and besieged the temple, the old man died.
The miracle of transformation took place before the eyes of everyone: Sinh, the cat, jumped onto the head of his master. Its body which up to this moment had been white became the same golden colour as the sacred man’s beard. Its eyes turned sapphire like those of the goddess, and its legs, face, ears and tale turned brown like the dirt, while its paws remained white as the hair, to which it was clinging, as a symbol of purity.

The eyes of the cat excited the priests, who chased their enemies away. Seven days later Sinh died, and at the very same moment the spirit of his beloved master became eternal.
All the cats of the temple changed colour and became like Sinh, a new miracle had taken place... ""