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THE KING OF THE CATS
- an English folk-tale by Ernest Rhys. Read this short-and-spooky black
cat tale at Halloween, along with other Halloween
stories.
Don't Cross my Path - Black Cat
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Once upon a time, there were two brothers who lived in a lonely house in a
very lonely part of Scotland. An old woman used to do the cooking, and
there was no one else, unless we count her cat and their own dogs, within
miles of them.
One autumn afternoon the elder of the two, whom we will call Elshender, said
he would not go out; so the younger one, Fergus, went alone to follow the
path where they had been shooting the day before, far across the mountains.
He meant to return home before the early sunset; however, he did not do so,
and Elshender became very uneasy as he watched and waited in vain till long
after their usual supper-time. At last Fergus returned, wet and
exhausted, nor did he explain why he was so late.
But after supper when the two brothers were seated before the fire, on which
the peat crackled cheerfully, the 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 himself and began to tell his adventures.
``You must be wondering,'' said he, ``what made me so late. I have had
a very, very strange adventure to-day. I hardly know what to say about
it. I went, as I told you I should, along our yesterday's track. A
mountain fog came on just as I was about to turn homewards, and I completely
lost my way. I wandered about for a long time not knowing where I was,
till at last I saw a light, and made for it, hoping to get help.
``As I came near it, it disappeared, and I found myself close to an old oak
tree. I climbed into the branches the better to look for the light,
and, behold! there it was right beneath me, inside the hollow trunk of the
tree. I seemed to be looking down into a church, where a funeral was
taking place. I heard singing, and saw a coffin surrounded by torches,
all carried by--But I know you won't believe me, Elshender, if I tell you!''
His brother eagerly begged him to go on, and threw a dry peat on the fire to
encourage him. The dogs were sleeping quietly, but the cat was sitting
up, and seemed to be listening just as carefully and cannily as Elshender
himself. Both brothers, indeed, turned their eyes on the cat as Fergus
took up his story.
``Yes,'' he continued, ``it is as true as I sit here. The coffin and
the torches were both carried by CATS, and upon the coffin were marked a
crown and a scepter!''
He got no farther, for the black cat started up, shrieking:--
``My stars! old Peter's dead, and I'm the King o' the Cats!''--Then he rushed up
the chimney, and was seen no more.
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