Feline Fables.

Feline Fables  

     Fables were commonly used in the middle Ages, to teach people with little access to education the rudiments of right and wrong. The storyteller used quirky tales that featured talking animals to hold the attention of his audience.

Credited to a 13^th century English preacher, Odo of Cheriton, warns to: 
Expect nothing if a promise is obtained unfairly –

‘A cat came across a mouse that had fallen into a jug of beer. Unable to scramble up the smooth sides of the vessel, the mouse was in danger of drowning. After some bargaining the cat agreed to rescue the mouse from certain death. He set the condition that the mouse must come back to the him, when called. This  promise extracted,  the cat scooped up the mouse with a paw and set  her back on solid ground. The mouse scampered away to the safety of her nest.

  A while later the same cat called in this debt of honour. Fearing she would be eaten the mouse refused to join him. Her reason being:

‘A promise is worthless if gained under pressure - AND I was drunk at the time!’’

The story of ‘Belling the cat’ originates from Europe and warns:

‘It’s easier to have a good idea than to put it into action.’ 

‘Belling the Cat,’ goes like this –

A family of mice shared a rambling, old house with a cat. Sadly for the mice, the cat was a gifted hunter and frequently caught one of their numbers for his supper. Their colony dwindling in size, the mice decided to call a council of war and  work out how best to deal with their problem. After much argument, a young mouse stood up and announced he had the perfect solution. He suggested attaching a noisy bell to the cat, so that they would hear him approach and get time to run away.  All murmured approval except for one wise old mouse, who asked -

 ‘ But who is willing to attach the bell to the cat?’

      The various animals were carefully selected for their human characteristics, for example; a bull for strength, horse for pride, lion for boldness and a cat for cunning. Cats were a commonly accepted short hand to show cleverness or mischief, as shown by Caxton writing in 1484;

‘The devil plays with a sinner, like a cat does with a mouse.’

And finally: ‘ The Cat and the Cockerel.’

A cat caught a cockerel and pondered on a reasonable excuse for eating him.  He

accused the cockerel of being a nuisance, crowing every morning and disturbing

the farmer’s wife sleep. The cock defended himself well and replied that if it wasn’t for his crowing, the farmer wouldn’t be up in time each day, to complete his work. After a short hesitation the cat responded,

‘Although a good explanation, if I was to accept it, I would remain hungry.’

 Without further ado, the cat ate the cockerel.

The message? Justification is nice but not essential!

A clear conscience leads to a restful night's sleep!

The New Covey Book Trailer Awards!

I'm thrilled to announce that the book trailer for 'A Dead Man's Debt' has been entered for the New Covey Book Trailer Awards.
To view this evocative trailer, as well as the other entries, please visit:
http://thenewcoveybooktrailerawards.blogspot.com/

Should you wish to vote for 'A Dead Man's Debt' , the trailer is number 4 on the list.
Many thanks,

Grace x

'Familiar Felines' - cats and witchcraft.

  

  A Norse legend, tells that Freya, the goddess of love and fertility, rode in a chariot pulled by two black cats. The latter were actually her swift horses that had been possessed by the devil. The cats served Freya well for seven years, and at the end of this time were rewarded by being turned into witches – disguised as cats!

     Centuries old insecurities led the cat to be labelled as the witch’s familiar. The Hungarians even specified that this happened at seven years of age – the cat could be spared this fate by incising a crucifix into its skin before it reached this significant age.    

     So great was the association of cats with witchcraft in 15^th century Europe that they became synonymous as a symbol of evil. Scotland had its own sinister cat, the Cait Sith or Highland Fairy Cat. More a demon than a fairy, this monstrous black and white animal with a spot on his chest, was said to be a transformed witch.

     Pope Innocent VIII legalised the persecution of witches, and as a result many women who kept cats were tortured. The hysteria spread, encouraged in the name of ‘casting out the devil.’ When Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne, some protestants staged a mocking ceremony of this superstition, by filling a wicker dummy of the Pope with cats, which they threw onto a bonfire. The screams of the cats was said to be,

‘The language of the devil from the body of the Holy Father.’

This sick cycle continued with Catholics shaving the heads of cats, to represent protestant friars, before hanging the poor animals.

Next week - More Cat-tales from history.

A Dead Man's Debt - Grace Elliot - book trailer

Cats and the Possessed.

        On Halloween, spirits from the underworld are said to roam the earth. This tradition has it roots in the

 pagan festival of Samhain. This marked the start of winter when a portal between the spiritual and physical

 worlds briefly opened. The Anglo Saxons held a similar the festival on the same date ‘Halloween’, before

 the Catholic Church christianised October 31st, as the eve of All Saints Day.

    However, folklore in many countries has it that the devil can enter man’s domain throughout the year, using the cat as his agent.  Old English custom held that a cat roving a graveyard was looking for a soul to possess and a cat sitting on a tombstone meant the deceased now belonged to the devil. Two cats fighting in a cemetery were the devil and an angel fighting over a soul of the dead. Throughout medieval Europe, pagan black mass often involved a black cat, to represent the devil, and a white cat, a healer.

    Remarkably similar superstitions existed in ancient China.  On the death of his owner, a cat would be given away until after the burial. The relatives believed that if the cat leapt over the body, the corpse would rise up and miss its chance of redemption. In parts of Eastern Europe, a cat jumping over a corpse was said to transform the deceased into a vampire and in Northumbria during the middle ages, a cat that walked over a body would be killed, so that it couldn’t steal the soul of the departed human.

     On a more positive note, the Malayan Jakurs believed that when they died, a cat would be ready and waiting to lead them through the fires of hell to heaven, spraying as he went to cool the pathway. Likewise the Egyptian Pharaoh, Tutankhamen, was led to the underworld by a black cat.

'Shackleton Shot my Cat!'

Today's post looks at a touching story of devotion and survival - a man and his cat "Mrs Chippy."


Shackleton's ship 'Endurance' trapped in ice.



In 1914 adventurer and explorer, Earnest Shackleton assembled a crew of like minded men to voygage to the Antartic in the Endurance. Master shipwright, the carpenter Henry McNeish, smuggled a cat aboard in his tool box. Much to the crews amusement this cat followed the carpenter around like 'a suspicious wife checking up on her husband' and despite actually being a tom cat, earnt the name "Mrs Chippy."

Mrs Chippy (acutally a tom cat!) on the shoulder of a crew member.



Aboard ship Mrs Chippy had many adventures of his own. The diary of Thomas Orde-Lees recounts the night of 13th September 1914 when Mrs Chippy fell overboard out of a porthole. Luckily the Officer of the Watch heard the spalsh and was able to turn the Endurance around, and despite spending 10 minutes in freezing water the cat was rescued, fit and well.
Mrs Chippy was not above tormenting the 60 Canadian Husky sled dogs, kenneled on the upper decks - either by sitting for a wash just out of reach, or by sharpening his claws on their kennels. The Bo-sun was so enraged by this activity that he threatened to toss the cat overboard - and was demoted for his efforts!

Endurance - trapped in ice for 6 months then abandoned.

But then disaster struck the expedition. In January 1915 the Endurance became trapped in Antarctic ice sheets. Worse still, Mrs Chippy disappeared for 5 whole days and many feared he had frozen to death - only to reemerge stretching and yawning as if he'd just woken from a good sleep!

'Mrs Chippy 's almost total disregard for the diabolical forces at work on the ship was more than remarkable - it was inspirational.' [A crew member]

Whilst the Endurance's crew eeked out their rations by eating penguin and seal meat, Mrs Chippy refused to compromise and insisted on his preferred diet of tinned sardines. In the 6 months the crew was stranded, Mrs Chippy was the only one to gain weight!

But after 6 months the huge crushing force of the ice took its toil on Endurance and there was no option but for the men to abandon their ship and make a heroic hike across ice sheets to find help. In this desperate survival situation Shackleton has little choice but to insist only items essential to survival were taken - and this did not include Mrs Chippy. After a final meal of sardines Mrs Chippy curled up for a sleep ...and never woke up. Shackleton ordered the cat shot.
Despite the amazing feet of all crew members reaching safety under Shackleton's leadership, a decade later Henry Mc Neish was still bitter about the loss of his cat. When interviewed about his ordeal, all he would comment was, 'Shackleton shot my cat.'

A bronze statue of Mrs Chippy resting on his master's grave.

Happily in 2004, the New Zealand Antarctic Society rectified their separation and commissioned a statue of Mrs Chippy to rest on Henry Nc Neish's grave.-

Cat Armour.

Today's blog post looks at the stunning work of artist, Jeff de Boer.

'Elven Princess' helmet - nickel, brass, leather and jade.



Jeff is a Calgary based artist whose career orginated in making suits of armour for people. Later, when studying at the Alberta College of Art and Design, he married his two interests in a sculpture project - by making a suit of cat armour.

The artist first draws the suit he has visualised. Then using sheet metal and jewellry makers tools he slowly bring the sketch to life, starting with the helmet and working backwards so every piece is in proportion.

Elven Princess Armour.

 Materials used to create one of these materpieces include; aluminium, brass, copper, nickel, silver, aluminium, jewels such as jade and textiles like leather.

Persian Cat Armour.

A suit of armour for a cat takes between 50 to 200 hours to make.

Samuria Siamese Armour.

Not content with the challenge of cat armour, Jeff also designs armour for mice - hence restoring some balance to the universe.

Sketch for Gladiator Mouse Armour.



To make a suit of silver mouse armour takes around 20 hours, and to polish it 10 hours.

Tournament Cat Armour.



I'm sure you will all agree that Jeff's work is utterly stunning both in execution and idea. Many thanks for Jeff de Boer and more of his work can be viewed at his website:
http://www.jeffdeboer.com/