Black Cats: Lucky or Unlucky?

I’m guardian to a black cat: Lucky for me but not so lucky for the mice he eats (they don’t see him coming.)

“It is a very unfortunate thing for a man to meet…an ill-favoured woman, a rough-footed hen, a shag-haired dog, or a black cat.” 1620 Anon

In the UK the image of a black cat is commonly used as a notation for good luck, but this hasn’t always been the case. Indeed, whether a cat brings good fortune or bad depends on location, historical period, and the circumstances.

For example, at the beginning of the 20^th century in Yorkshire fishing village it said a black cat brought good luck when strolling through the village, but was a bad omen on-board ship. Interestingly, having a horseshoe (another symbol of good luck) also became a harbinger of doom when on a ship, so perhaps water brings about a reversal of fortune.

But oh the inconsistencies!

In 1890, John Nicholson wrote about local folklore and observed:

“It is considered lucky to have [own] a black cat, but unlucky to meet one.”

It seems the situation in which you encounter the cat matters, and there are a number of superstitions that are influenced by the cat’s ‘direction of travel’. For example, a black cat crossing your path is lucky, but to drive a cat away from your door is unlucky.

“An Oxford landlady told us …she had driven a black cat away from her door…and since then she had buried 23 relatives.”  Wright. 1913

However, a black cat crossing your path is lucky is a little perverse, because the explanation is the cat attracts the bad luck to his unlucky shoulders, thereby freeing you of the burden.

To find out why black cats are so steeped in superstition we need to go back to the days when cats were persecuted by the Christian church. The sleek, mysterious, and enigmatic cat became associated with witches, and black cats especially so. With an undeserved reputation for being witches’ familiars, the black cat’s coat colour doubly linked to the devil. And with severe punishments for being found guilty of witchcraft, you could say it was unlucky to own a black cat.

To put a modern twist on things, rescue shelters find it more difficult to home black cats than others. This isn’t for any reasons of superstition, but because they are more difficult to photograph and get a good picture. And with the popularity of social media everyone wants to share photos of their cat…so they pick any colour but black. Shame! 

Hey Diddle Diddle: Cats and Nursery Rhymes

I never was a huge fan of nursery rhymes. Although they are meant to entertain small children, I always found them slightly sinister. This is perhaps backed up by the eldest son, who when little used to think the words to “Baa Baa Black Sheep” went:

Baa, baa, black sheep

Have you any wool?

Yes, sir, yes, sir,

Three bags full;

One for the monster ….

Obviously this should have been master, but my son misheard.

Perhaps I would have liked these rhymes more if they featured cats. So let's see what is on offer.

The Cat and the Fiddle

Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon,

The little dog laughed to see such fun

And the dish ran away with the spoon

What is the significance of the “cat and the fiddle”?

There are several different explanations.
One is that the cat is code for Queen Elizabeth I, and is a comment on her evasive behavior with foreign diplomats. She is famous for skillfully manipulating those emissaries sent by foreign princes to negotiate a marriage contracct with Elizabeth. Some believe this nursery rhyme is a comment on her ability to fiddle and pull the diplomates' strings and play with them as a cat does mice – especially as she never married and was famous for being the virgin Queen.

However, nice as this story is, sources believe Hey Diddle Diddle was written around 200 years after her reign – which hardly makes it topical and top of the rhyme-makers mind.

A representation of Bastet
holding a sistrum

Perhaps more convincing is the explanation likening the words to a description of a type of ancient Egyptian instrument called a sistrum. Many ancient depictions of the cat-goddess Bastet show her holding a sistrum which is fiddle-shaped. Intriguingly, the cow and the moon could be represented by another Egyptian goddess, Hathor, who bore horns on her head between which is suspended a large disc.

Alternatively, the “cat and fiddle” could be a corruption of the Latin expression “catus fideles” meaning faithful cat, but to the untrained ear sounding like ‘cat and fiddle’.

The Cat and the Pudding String

Sing, sing, what shall I sing?

The cat’s run away with the pudding string.

Do, do, what shall I do?

The cat’s run away with the pudding too.

This rhyme is altogether more straightforward. If you’ve ever made traditional Christmas puddings, you’ll have some idea what this is about. The pudding ingredients are mixed and then placed within a large muslin cloth which is gathered around the mix and tied off. The pudding is then steamed or boiled.

Obviously, a playful  cat took a fancy to the securing string and played with it. Perhaps the cook saw what kitty was about and chastised her, at which point the cat takes off with the string in her mouth and pulls the pudding after her.

Simple! (Must have been a small pudding though.)

Going to Saint Ives

As I was going to Saint Ives,

I met a man with seven wives;

Every wife had seven sacks;

Every sack had seven cats;

Every cat had seven kits

Kits, cats, sacks, and wives.

How many were there going to Saint Ives?

Beautiful St Ives on the Cornish coast of England

This one is my favorite because on the face of things it’s a simple test of multiplication. [St Ives is a town in Cornwall.]

However, is it instead a trick question?

Can you be confident the man with seven wives was indeed going towards St Ives, or could he and his entourage have been walking away (and therefore making the math considerably easier!!)

What do you think?

Deadly Cat Customs

It is only relatively recently that cats have shed their sinister associations to become a much loved, benign pet and family member. In previous centuries the cat was viewed with suspicion or even regarded as the Devil's agent.

"Among quadrupeds the cat has long been looked upon with suspicion, a circumstance due no doubt to the belief that this was one of the forms in which witches were wont to masquerade." 

Corrie 1890/1

This goes some way to explain why there are so many superstitions linking cats and death. Indeed our first custom relates to cat predicting death. 

It was said if a cat refused to come into the house where a sick person lay, this was a predictor of the latter's impending departure from this earth. This ability was said to be due to the cat's ability to see beyond the physical world and tap into the supernatural.

"Mrs Fawset's cat had been curled asleep on the rug...he started up, eyes glaring, fur on end and made fantic efforts to get out of the room...We later learnt this was the exact time that Mrs Fawset died."

22 Nov 1930

Conversely, in previous centuries if a member of the household died, the cat was banned from the house. This stems from a belief that if the cat jumped over the body or coffin, the welfare of the deceased spirt would be imperiled.

"It was not uncommon for the cat to be imprisoned beneath an inverted tub." Wood 1911

This fear even extended to the funeral cortege, with widespread panic from the mourners if a cat was spotted strolling near the church.

Turning things on their head, the is a traditional saying: "Curiosity killed the cat." Playwright Ben Jonson used a similar phrase in his 1598 play, Every Man in his Humour.

"Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care will kill a cat, up-tails all, and a pox on the hangman."

Shakespeare used a similar version of this saying in Much Ado About Nothing (1599)

"What, courage man! What though care killed a cat, though has mettle enough in thee to kill care." 

So when did curiosity put in an appearance?

The earliest written record of "Curiosity killed the cat" was in a compendium published in 1873, where it was listed an an Irish proverb, and it makes more sense to me than "Care killed the cat."

***

New Release!

Castles, Customs, and Kings: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors, Volume 2 
Edited by Debra Brown and Sue Millard

Contributing author: Grace Elliot

An anthology of essays from the second year of the English Historical Fiction Authors blog, this book transports the reader across the centuries from prehistoric to twentieth century Britain. Nearly fifty different authors share the stories, incidents, and insights discovered while doing research for their own historical novels.

From medieval law and literature to Tudor queens and courtiers, from Stuart royals and rebels to Regency soldiers and social calls, experience the panorama of Britain’s yesteryear. Explore the history behind the fiction, and discover the true tales surrounding Britain’s castles, customs, and kings.

Purchase links:

Amazon US 
Amazon UK 

Popular Feline Sayings and their Origins

Expressions such as ‘Letting the cat out of the bag’, and ‘A cat in hell’s chance’ are in common parlance – yet what are their origins? 

If you stop to think about it, putting a cat in a bag in the first place is a strange thing to do. So that you don't lose sleep over this, let’s take a look at the origins of these popular sayings.

Let the Cat Out of the Bag

This expression means to give away a secret. As a child I remember my parents using this expression, and feeling vaguely perplexed that a cat was in a bag in the first place. Why was it there? Who put it there? Although in my childish mind I knew with all certainty that the cat was ginger(I’ve no idea why).

It’s origins go back to 18^th century tricksters selling goods in the market. The trader claimed to be selling piglets and presented the punter with a wriggling bag. If the potential purchaser asked to see inside, the tradesmen would tell them the pig was too lively and to open the bag risked it escaping. If the purchaser insisted, then the bag was opened and an irate cat jumped out – hence giving away the fraudster’s secret trick.

An interesting twist is another saying, “Never buy a pig in a poke” comes from the same source. This is a warning about buying unseen goods, with the ‘poke’ in question being another word for the bag or sack.

Raining Cats and Dogs

This popular expression meaning a deluge or exceptionally heavy rain, has less than pleasant origins. It goes back centuries to when towns were basically roads lined with houses with very little in the way of drainage. In addition, there were lots of stray animals who were often in a pitiful state of health. After a heavy downpour the rainwater flowed in makeshift rivers through the streets, sweeping refuse ahead of it.

When people emerged from their houses they often found the corpses of these unfortunate strays, washed up in the gutter. This gave the impression that the cats and dogs had actually fallen from the skies along with the rain, and hence gave rise to this expression.

It must have been a deeply unpleasant scene, as in  this description of a storm by Jonathan Swift, written in1710.

“Now from all parts the swelling kennels [gutters] flow, and bear their trophies with them as they go…drowned puppies, stinking sprats, all drenched in mud, dead cats, and turnip tops, come bumbling down the flood.”

A Cat-in-Hell’s Chance

This saying means that a successful outcome is very unlikely. Although the expression is well known its origins are murky and uncertain. A likely explanation may be found in the longer version:

“No more chance than a cat in hell without claws” – meaning ot be pitted against impossible odds without adequate means to defend oneself.

Indeed, as another saying goes: “He that plays with cats, must expect to be scratched.” 1710

Some Favorite Cat Memes

Many apologies, but for reasons too complex to go into, I'm running way behind this week. Rather than leave a blank space (cue for a Taylor Swift song?) I've posted a few of my favorite cat memes to make you smile.

Normal service will be resumed in two weeks time.
Grace xxx

There's this one...

and this aspirational cat meme...

and sinister is always funny - especially when the cat comes off best

Then there's the way cats have life so sorted...

and this one reminds me of Widget - only in her case she wanted to taste the guinea pig food...

Then there are the cats that comment on the state of society

and the cats with a keen sense of observation

and not forgetting their sense of irony...

their unrivaled cuteness

and this...

That's quite a lot of favorites isn't it....and I haven't even scratched the surface.
Night all,
sleep well.
G x

Portaloos and Puppies: Reflections on the Popularity of Spaniels

Yesterday I spent the day sitting in a field in the freezing cold, listening to various lectures on topics such as 'neuropathic pain' and 'cranial nerve examination'. This was part of my undertaking as a veterinarian to keep to date with developments in veterinary science. The event was called "Vet Festival" but what I had failed to appreciate before setting off was "Festival" was as in an outdoor music event rather than meaning a celebration. Hence the portaloos, tents, and me being desperately under-dressed in sandals! 

However it was all worthwhile because the lectures were excellent and very practical. Also, the organizer, Noel Fitzpatrick, wanted to emphasize / rekindle a love for animals - which he very much did. This set me thinking about pet keeping over the centuries, and hence the topic for this week's blog post - a royal loves of spaniels! 

The history linking England’s monarchs to spaniel breeds goes back centuries. In the 16^th century Henry VIII decreed that only “some small spanyells for the ladies” would be allowed at court, and the spaniels were described as “smalle ladyes puppees”

Perhaps the king most associated with dogs was Charles II. He owned so many spaniels that his Gentleman of the Bedchamber, the Earl of Ailesbury [sic], used them as a metaphor for currying-favour, describing certain courtiers as: “Pliant as a spaniel dog.” The dogs Charles prefered are today known as King Charles Spaniels – a name which was never applied to them in their day. These dogs were much beloved of King Charles I – and folk lore has it that every dog across the land wept when at Charles I’s execution.

A subtly different strain of spaniel was favoured by Charles II – and became known as the ‘Cavalier’ King Charles Spaniel – a term synonymously linked to the Royalist cause and therefore potentially dangerous to own during the Civil War.  With the eventual restoration of the monarch in 1660, in celebration the new king was said to award Cavalier spaniels the freedom of every inn in the land, that they were not to be denied access to any public place and they alone were allowed the freedom to roam the royal parks!

Indeed Samuel Pepys accompanied Charles aboard the Naseby, in 1660, on his return to England. He records the presence of a dog: “That the King loved, which sh*t in the boat, which made us laugh and me think that a King and all that belong to him are but just as others are.”

In the 18^th century and the Hanovarians now on the throne, spaniels were well established as part of court life, and regularly featured in portraits of royal children. Indeed, in the early 19^th century the Prince Regent commissioned a portrait of his father, George III, with a spaniel at his feet and a statue of Charles II in the background. By 1841 it was estimated that five thousand spaniels were kept as pets in London alone, but it was to be over a hundred years later, in 1945 that the breed was first officially recognised as Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

In the early 18^th century, the Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill, kept red and white coloured King Charles spaniels, which he records as trotting alongside his horse. His estate was named Blenheim, after the Battle of Blenheim, and as a patron of the red and white spaniel, this colour variety of King Charles and Cavalier King Charles became called Blenheim. 

Now of course spaniels are much loved companions for all dogs lovers, although their popularity has meant in-breeding has produced conditions such as Chiari-like malformation, syringomyelia and a propensity to heart disease, which are excrutiatingly painful (the former - as show in the lectures yesterday) and heart-breaking (the later.) Hence sometimes being popular is not always a good thing. 

Cats in Fiction: Some Musings

Is it just me, or is a house not a home without a pet?

OK, I admit to being biased because I’m a bit bonkers when it comes to cats, but for me animals give a place soul – and the same is so for animals in books – their presence gives an extra dimension and by seeing how characters react to felines, give extra clues to their character. References to cats in particular can be found in classic literature from Charles Dickens to Henry James, Rudyard Kipling to Emile Zola.

Indeed, I suspect the Victorian novelist George Moore thinks much the same as me as he bemoaned the absence of pets from those most august of novels ‘Tom Jones’ and ‘Vanity Fair’. His reasoning went like this:

“Both books lack intimacy of thought and feeling. No one sits by the fire and thinks…and welcomes the approach of a familiar bird or animal.”

To my view, Charles Dickens was on the right track. He knew that animals are important in making a book come to life. Take for example ‘Bleak House’ which features several cats. There is Krook’s cat Lady Jane who follows her master or perches hissing on his shoulder. Then there is Mr Jellyby’s cat who finishes his morning milk, and finally, Mrs Pipchin’s old cat who likes to purr...   “While the contracting pupils of his eyes looked like two notes of admiration.”

Come to think of it, Dickens has quite an association with cats because he made several references to cat pies…but that’s another story.

Perhaps the master of feline literature is Rudyard Kipling in his “Just So” stories. He wrote a story titled “The cat that walked by himself”. In this tale the cat makes a bargain with the woman that he will accept milk and a place by the hearth, and in return will do only what he wants to do– which deliciously sums up the independent nature of the cats.

In one of my favorite novels, ‘Wolf Hall’ by Hilary Mantel, there is a delicious evocative passage that describing an interaction with Cromwell’s cat, Marlinspike.

“A cat may look at a king,” he [Cromwell] says. He is cradling Marlinspike in his arms, and talking to Thomas Avery, the boy he’s teaching his trade…

…He puts the cat down, opens the bag. He fishes up on a finger a string of rosary beads; for show says Avery, and he says, good boy. Marlinspike leaps on to his desk; he peers into the bag, dabbing with a paw. “The only mice in there are sugar ones.” The boy [Avery] pulls the cat’s ears, tussles with him. “We don’t have any little pets in Master Vaughan’s house.”

I love to find a reference to an animal in a novel. To see how characters react to it can speak volumes for their personality – things they may wish to keep hidden, leak to the surface when there’s a cat about. Do you have a favorite fictional cat? If so, do leave a comment and share the love.