The First Banquet of Legend was not really the first at all.
There had been many before it. Every year on the New year to be exact. Nobles flooded in from the village to celebrate with the royal family, the prosperity of their village was unrivaled. It had been so for as long as anyone could remember, and no one dared question the rule of the king and queen. Their family had ruled as long as they could remember as well, and so long as the village prospered happily there was no need to question.
The "First" banquet actually referred to the first night the curse fell upon the kingdom. The curse itself might have been entirely avoided, if the royal family had but accepted to help a lowly peasant man. He arrived at the castle in the middle of the banquet, while the royals and nobles laughed and rejoiced at another year of bountiful harvest and health. The royal family itself was extensive. Cousins to the king and queen all lived under the roof of the castle, but not one of them expected what transpired that night.
A knock just before midnight foretold the presence of someone uninvited to the castle, but the maids answered the door none the less. The family gathered in a slightly drunken curiousness to see just who dared interrupt their feast. An old gentleman stood at the door, bedraggled and dirty, looking more weary than someone who had traveled a thousand leagues. In his arms was cat, a simple gray color seemingly identical to the old man in wear, losing hair and looking rather unpleasant.
"I need a place to rest for the night-my friends and I." The old man hobbled to one side, revealing behind him the twelve animals that would become the Zodiac. The royal family scoffed at the request. The old man could not be serious-each of these animals were worn to the bone.
"Please… if nothing take my oldest and dearest friend. He no longer has the body to travel." The old man pleaded as he held out the limp cat in his arms, and the family shied away from the pathetic creature.
"I would take the rat over this mangy animal any day."
Despite it's weakened state, the cat began to hiss and growl at the king. His words were painful, the rejection even more so. The old man's eyes narrowed sharply, and in a flash of light he was replaced. A stunningly handsome young man in elaborate robes stood before them, however his companions were not as lucky. The cat in his arms fell limp once again and the man glared sharply at the family that would reject them in such a time of need.
"For treating my friends as such, I shall treat you as you have treated them. Several your family members will no longer know the touch of a loved one, for if they embrace they shall take the form of one of the animals behind me. You, the king, shall know the vengeance of the cat-and your queen will bear your curse within her. For as long as your family exists, the curse will reign-until the day you can learn to accept those despite their looks."
And so the curse took hold. The first Sohma family locked away their king as he transformed into the hidious monster of the cat spirit-ever vengeful of the family's rejection. The queen threw out untouched family members, forbidding them to return to the castle, leaving only the cursed to remain behind the walls. Children born of the Zodiac were brought to the castle as the years past-a reminder of the family's shame-but none ever left.
In time the story was forgotten, twisted… only the castle and lingering family name remains as evidence of the Sohma family royalty.
Lost and forgotten like the family cursed.