Another example of this deep seated fear happened during the campaign for the Battle of Wagram. An Aide de Campe passed Napoleon’s tent and was alarmed to hear screams and cries for help. Fearing his leader to be in mortal danger, the Aide drew his sword and burst in.... to find Napoleon sweating profusely and wildly stabbing at the air…because a stray cat had wandered into the tent!
My favourite Napoleon-and-cat story, and wonderfully demonstrates the British sense of humour, takes place after the Emperor’s defeat by
“Rats…came out at night…so thick as the floor appeared black.”
Over time reports filtered back to England Saint Helena and rid the prisoner of his vermin infestation.
Poor Napoleon, this must have been a case of “good news” and “bad news” when that shipped docked!
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| Ahhh - Widget! (Guess where I stand on cats!) |
I’m not a fan of spiders (to put in mildly) and if my house was infested with flies, I wouldn’t be overly pleased to receive boxes of spiders….so how about you? Would you rather put up with rats and flies….or be prepared to face a phobia?
Oh my. Napoleon probably shouldn't have decided to take over the world. He could have been safe at home with zero cats in his life. Did Josephine have cats? Apparently not or they would not have been together. Phobias are not reasonable and yet they are powerful. I just learned why I have my phobia when reading the baby book my mother kept on me! Clear as a bell; no wonder. Now why was I never told about what happened to me! :)
ReplyDeleteIntriguing Debbie, interesting how early experiences can influence later life even when we cant remember the inciting incident.
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