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The King of the Cats
Traditional folk tale, this version copyright
© 2003 by Dan Norder
 Once upon
a time there were two brothers who lived in a house in a very
lonely part of northern Scotland. An old woman would cook and
clean for them, and there was no one else living within miles
of them, unless we count the woman's cat and the brothers' dogs.
One autumn afternoon the elder of the two,
whom we will call Elshender, did not feel like going out. The
younger one, whom we will give the name Fergus, went alone to
follow the path where they had been shooting the day before to
look for any fallen birds that they had missed.
Fergus had said he planned to return home
before sunset. When he did not, Elshender became very uneasy
as he watched and waited in vain until long after their usual
supper-time. At last Fergus returned, wet and exhausted, but
did not explain why he was so late.
After supper, when the two brothers were seated
by the fire with their dogs lying at their feet and the old woman's
black cat sitting gravely with half-shut eyes on the hearth between
them, Fergus recovered from his weariness and began to tell Elshender
about his adventures that day.
"You must be wondering what made me so
late," he said. "I saw something rather curious while
I was out. I hardly know what to say about it. I went, as I told
you I was going to, along the route we took yesterday. A mountain
fog came on just as I was about to turn towards home, and I completely
lost my way. I wandered about for a long time, not knowing where
I was, until at last I saw a light, and went towards it, hoping
to get help. As I came near, the light disappeared, and I found
myself close to a large, old oak tree. I climbed into the branches
so that I might better look for the light, and, behold, it was
beneath me, inside the hollow trunk of the tree. I seemed to
be looking down into a kind of church, where a funeral was taking
place. I heard singing, and then I saw a coffin, surrounded by
torches, all carried by..." Fergus stopped, obviously thinking
about what he had seen, and groaned. "But I know you won't
believe me if I tell you!"
The older brother eagerly begged him to go
on and threw another log on the fire. The dogs were sleeping
quietly, but the cat was sitting up and seemed to be listening
just as carefully and with as much attention as Elshender was.
Both young men couldn't help but look at the cat as Fergus continued
his story.
"I know it is unbelievable, but it is
as true as I sit here. Both the coffin and the torches were carried
by cats! And, if that were not strange enough, the coffin was
marked with the images of a crown and a scepter..."
He got no further in his story, for the black
cat jumped up and shouted, "My stars! Old Peter's dead!
That means I'm the King o' the Cats!" and then rushed up
the chimney and was never seen again.
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