The Cat that walked by himself

illustration by Rudyard Kipling.

This is the tale by Rudyard Kiplng that explains how the solitary cat lives side by side with humans on his own terms.Kipling traces the cat's legendary independance to a bargain his ancient ancestor struck with primative man. The agreement they arrive at isn't entirely favourable to the cat-it calls for periodic doses of physical abuse-but it provides felines with a tentative place in human society without making them entirely dependant and sevile in the ways that dogs and other domesticated animals are.

Dick Whittington

According to the traditional pantomine, the ten year old Dick Whittington posessed a cat.When he was an apprentice his employers took him on a voyage to Africa and of course he took his cat with him.

The King of Barbary's palace was infested with mice, the King was so impressed with the cat's prowess as a mouser that he paid a huge sum of money for him. Dick returned to London and invested the money and it grew into a fortune.He became Lord Mayor of London for three terms (according to the legend)

The truth is that Dick Whittington was really the youngest son of Sir William Whittington of Pauntley in Gloucester.He did become very rich, thanks to cats, but not the feline variety.Cats were the name of the sailing barges that used to bring coal to the city.

He made large loans to the people including Henry 1v and Henry v, and bequethed his fortune to charitable and public purposes.He did serve three terms as Lord mayor 1397-99, 1406-07, 1490-20, he did not appear in pantomime until 1605.