The King of the Cats (or The King o' the Cats) is a British folk tale. The earliest known example is found in a letter written by Thomas Lyttelton, 2nd Baron Lyttelton, first published in 1782, though Walter Scott reports that it was a well known nursery tale in the Scottish Highlands. M. G. Lewis related the story to Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1816, and a version was adapted by Joseph Jacobs from several sources, including one collected by Charlotte S. Burne in Herefordshire. It can be categorised as a "death of an elf (or cat)" tale: Aarne–Thompson–Uther type 113A, or Christiansen migratory legend type 6070B.
Read more about The King O' The Cats: Summary, Variants, Folk Tradition, Influence, See Also
Famous quotes containing the word cats:
“When cats run home and light is come,
And dew is cold upon the ground,
And the far-off stream is dumb,
And the whirring sail goes round,
And the whirring sail goes round;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)