School: Cromadh (B.)

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   “Returning from Abbeyfeale last night, I saw under the light of the lamps, a cat travelling by the roadside.”

   

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   Returning from Abbeyfeale last night, I saw under the light of the lamps, a cat travelling by the roadside. There was nothing wonderful or unusual in that, but it served to remind me of "Cat stories" that used be told at our fireside when I and my brothers and sisters were children.

   There was one story that made a lasting impression on me. It was to the effect that a poor man informs his wife one evening, when the whole household are collected by the hearth, that as he has a little money, he will go to the town in the morning and buy boots for all the family against the winter, which was setting in hard.

   He says he will get a pair for each of the children as well as for his wife, whereupon the cat, which has been curled up in the corner, gets up and demands in no uncertain tone of voice that he also be provided with a pair.

   The poor man is taken aback by the imperious voice and demand of the cat and attempts to temporise with the animal, but the cat insists on his 'dues'. Accordingly it is decided between the man of the house and the cat of the house, that as it would be impossible to get a proper 'fit' for the latter without his being on the spot, he must accompany the man to the town, and further that as it would be dangerous for the cat to travel, dogwise with him, the man must carry him in a bag.

   In the morning the man sets out, carrying the cat

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Folktales index

   AT2412C: (The Cat Asks for Boots)

   Language

   English

   Informant

   Rev J. W.

   Gender

   Male