Lore of the Cat: The Servant ~ Pawprints and Purrs, Inc.

"Slowly with a look of intense concentration, he got up and advanced on me ... put out a front paw, and stroked my cheek as I used to stroke his chops. A human caress from a cat. I felt very meager and ill-educated that I could not purr." ~ Sylvia Townsend Warner, British novelist and poet

The White Cat Continued
The Servant: Cats served men in protecting their houses and crops from destruction by rodents and their persons from death by poisonous snakes. Cats have been believed to ward off evil, help the oppressed, and bring health and prosperity into human lives. In fairy tales, cats bring money, jewels and treasures of all kinds, including valuable qualities such as feline shrewdness and resourcefulness - all put to the service of mankind.

In the Middle Ages, cats were believed to have the power to produce money. According to a witch remedy, if one buried a black cat with a gold piece and closed its eyes with two black beans, one would always have money.

An Italian fairy tale tells of a woman who had many children but hardly any money at all. One day a fairy appeared to her and told her to climb to the top of a certain mountain. There she would find an enchanted palace which was inhabited by cats who gave alms. So the woman made her way up to the palace and was met at the door by a kitten who let her in. She immediately set about providing help that was needed: sweeping out their rooms, lighting fires, washing dishes, drawing water, making beds and baking cakes for the cats of the enchanted palace. Eventually she was brought before the crowned King of the Cats and asked him for alms. The king pulled a golden chain which rang a golden bell and asked the cats how the woman had treated them. On hearing of the generous help she had given, he ordered the cats to fill her apron with gold coins. This story relates to the lawyers' patron saint, Yves, who is depicted with a cat at his side, giving alms to the poor.

The well known English story of Dick Whittington is of a cat who brought wealth and jewels to an oppressed boy. Through her, he won a wife, fame as the Lord Mayor of London and, eventually, a knighthood.

There is a Celtic myth which tells of a cat with many treasures, whose moral shows what happens if these treasures are stolen instead of received as a gift. A young man called Maeldune, the adopted son of an Irish queen, set out in a boat once day with his three foster brothers to avenge the death of his father. They came to an island on which stood a lofty stronghold with white walls surrounded by white houses, all of which were open and deserted. The young men entered the best of the houses but found nothing in it except a small cat leaping about among four stong pillars.

Ignored by the cat, the youths discovered that round the wall of the house there were three rows of dazzling treasures. The first row consisted of silver and gold brooches; the second of silver and gold necklaces, and the third of swords with silver and gold hilts. In the middle of the house they found an ox roasting on a fire, and large vessels full of fermented wine. Maeldune asked the cat if the food was all for them. When it looked at him for a minute, then returned to its game, they were reassured. They ate, drank and slept.

Unfortunately, just before they left, in spite of Maeldune's warning, the third brother could not resist taking one of the necklaces. They had only got as far as the stronghold, when the cat leapt through the thief "like a fiery arrow" and the young man was burned to a heap of ashes.

Maeldune put the necklace back in its place, spoke soothingly to the cat and, flinging the ashes of his foster brother into the sea, returned to the boat and made for home.

In the well known French tale of Puss in Boots, the cat's cunning and resourcefulness are emphasized. His loyal service and ingenuity turn a poor miller's son into the wealthy husband of a king's daughter.

Perhaps one of the richest of all fairy tales is the French story of The White Cat, in which a female cat helps a youngest son perform tasks which eventually bring him kingship.

This story tells of an aging king who set tasks for his three sons in order to establish which should become his heir. The first demand he made was for an intelligent little dog, and he promised that the one who acquired the handsomest animal should succeed him.

The youngest son, a handsome, courageous and accomplished prince, set off on his own. Each day he bought a number of dogs, keeping only the most attractive. One night, however, he lost his way in a dark forest. A sudden thunder storm soaked him to the skin. After walking blindly for some time, he saw a glimmer of light through the trees, which gave him hope of finding shelter until the morning.

Pushing through the trees towards the light, he came to a magnificent castle with gold gates studded with carbuncles, and walls made of translucent porcelain. When he rang the bell, the gate was opened by bodiless hands, which, as he hesitated to enter, gently pushed him forward. He was led through sixty rooms, whose walls of lapis lazuli, mother-of-pearl and many other jewels were illuminated by thousands of lights. Finally he came to a large easy chair by a fire and sat down. Bodiless hands then stripped the prince of his wet clothes and dressed him in rich robes, embroidered with jewels. After the hands had powdered, curled, perfumed and so adorned him until he looked more handsome than Adonis, they led him into a magnificent hall whose walls were hung with paintings of all the most famous cats of history.

The prince sat at a table laid for two and watched several cats take their place in a small orchestra. One held a music book, another beat time with a roll of paper, and the rest had little guitars. They began to mew in different tones and they sat down to dinner.

Then the prince saw a tiny figure, completely covered with a black veil, enter the hall. She was preceded by two cats in mourning, wearing cloaks and swords, and a long train of cats carrying rat traps full of rats and cages full of mice. When the little figure draped in black approached him and lifted its veil, he saw the most beautiful white cat that ever existed. She appeared youthful but very melancholy. On her paw she wore a bracelet, set with a miniature of a young man exactly like the prince. The White Cat, who had the power of speech, welcomed the prince to her palace and the entire company sat down to dinner.

After dinner, followed by a ballet performed by cats and monkeys, the prince was led by the hands to a bedroom hung with brilliantly colored butterfly wings and feathers of rare birds. He had not been asleep long when he was awakened, lifted out of bed and dressed in a hunting habit. The White Cat was going to hunt and wished the prince to accompany her. In the courtyard below, he saw at least five hundred cats making preparations for the hunt. He was placed on a wooden horse whose saddle was decorated with gold and diamonds, while the Whie Cat rode on a monkey. The hunting cats easily outran the rabbits and hares; kittens climbed trees after birds and the monkey carried the White Cat to heights where an eagle nested.

The prince spent all his days enjoying the company of the White Cat. He fished, hunted or watched ballets with her. They always dined together. The beautiful cat composed sonnets full of passionate tenderness. He fell completely under her spell, forgetting not only his quest but even his native land. The White Cat, however, was very aware of the passage of time. Just before the prince was due to return home, she reminded him of his search for the little dog. She presented the prince with an acorn in which was hidden a dog even more beautiful than the dog star and lent him the wooden horse so he would not be late in returning home.

When he arrived, the youngest son easily won the contest to succeed his father. But the king was reluctant to give up his crown and decided to test his sons' courage and ingenuity for a second time. His new demand was for a piece of cloth so fine that it would pass through the eye of a needle.

The youngest son remounted his wooden horse and set out at full speed to the palace of the White Cat. The cat was highly delighted at his return, and he told her the nature of his second task. Another year slipped as quickly past as the first. Anything the prince wished for was immediately provided by the hands. The White Cat regaled him with a thousand different entertainments. He enjoyed every minute he spent in her company. He often asked her how it was that she could speak and how she had come to be so very wise and talented. But she would reply that she was not free to answer his questions and that he must be content with the affectionate interest she took in all that concerned him.

When the second year was over, and the prince had to leave, he found in the courtyard a golden carriage and four white horses harnessed with flame-colored velvet studded with diamonds. There was also an escourt of a thousand bodyguards and a hundred coaches, each drawn by eight horses and filled with noblemen. The livery of all this cavalcade bore the embroidered portrait of the White Cat. She told the prince she hoped that if he returned home to the king in spendor, all this magnificence would impress his royal father sufficiently to make him bestow the crown on his youngest son. As the procession was leaving, the White Cat gave the prince a walnut. She told him to crack it in the king's presence, for in it he would find the fine cloth.

When the prince returned, his father and brothers were rendered speechless by his magnificence. He took out the walnut and cracked it in front of them. Instead of the piece of cloth he had anticipated, he found only a hazel nut. Cracking this nut, he found a cherry stone; the cherry stone was filled with its kernel, the kernel with a grain of wheat, and the wheat with a millet seed. In the face of his father's and brothers' jeering, the prince began to have doubts and he muttered, White Cat, thou hast fooled me. Immediately as he said these words, he felt a cat's claw scratch his face and and draw blood.

He then opened the millet seed and drew out a piece of cloth four hundred ells in length, decorated with all the birds, beasts, fishes, trees, fruits and plants of the earth, with the sun, moon, stars and planets of the sky, and with portraits of all the kings and their subjects that had ever lived. The cloth was passed through the needle six times. Since there was nothing comparable to it in the universe, the king and his elder sons had to acknowledge that the young prince was indeed victorious.

The third and final test was the three sons should travel for a third year in search of a maiden. The one who returned with the most beautiful woman of all should marry her and be crowned on his wedding day.

Once again the youngest son returned to the White Cat, who had so generously helped him to fulfill his other tasks. He found her seated on a Persian carpet under a gold pavilion, eagerly awaiting his arrival. He accompanied her to a terrace overlooking the sea, where they watched a naval combat she had arranged for his entertainment between her cats and the rats of the country.

The cats sailed on large pieces of cork and the rats' navy consisted of eggshells. The rats swam much better than the cats, but it was not long before the cat admiral devoured the rat general. The White Cat forbade the total destruction of the rats, since she did not want her cats living in a state of idleness.

The prince passed his third year in the company of the White Cat - fishing, hunting and playing chess with her. On the evening before he was due to return to his father's court, she reminded him of his task. She told him since he had to take home the most beautiful princess in the world, the time had come for him to destroy the work of the fairies by cutting off her head and tail, then flinging them into the fire. The prince, who by now deeply loved the White Cat and was very grateful for all her help, found it almost impossible to carry out her instructions. He did everything he could to induce her to spare him this trial, but she assured him that she wanted to die by his hand.

The moment the prince had cut off the cat's head and tail and flung them into the fire, he beheld a miraculous transformation, for she was now revealed as a beautiful maiden. Lords and ladies appeared with cat skins flung over their shoulders, and kneeling before the maiden, spoke of their delight that their queen was at last restored to her natural form.

When she was alone again with the prince, she explained she had not always been a white cat. Her father had rulled over six kingdoms, but he had left her in the care of fairies who had planned that she should marry a monkey. When she refused and tried to run away with a handsome lover, the fairies changed her and all her lords and ladies into cats. She could only be released from feline form by a prince who perfectly resembled the husband of whom she had been deprived and whose miniature was set in her bracelet. She had been aware of her companion's resemblance to her lover ever since the moment she first saw him.

The prince took the beautiful maiden home to his father. She travelled in a rock of crystal ornamented with gold and rubies, which was placed in a glorious chariot drawn by horses shod with emeralds. When they reached the prince's home, the rock burst into thousands of pieces and the princess appeared like the sun that had been hidden by the clouds. She was crowned with flowers. Her hair fell down to her feet over a white, roseate-lined gown.

The king wholeheartedly acknowledged that, although the maidens brought home by the two elder sons were exceptionally beautiful, the White Cat maiden outshone them all and deserved the crown. The marriage was celebrated without further delay between the youngest son of the king and the beautiful maiden who had appeared to be a White Cat - who brought him so much help and assistance.