An old folktale in England concerning cats takes many forms, told in different ways in different areas. Here's one of them.
Johnny Reed had spent a long, cold night digging a grave for a parishioner who had died very suddenly, and he was making his way home gratefully; knowing his wife would have waited up for him and a fire would be burning warmly. He had not walked far when he came to a field gate, through which he could see a number of little lights like flickering fires, dancing in the field. Naturally, he approached the gate to take a closer look, and found himself faced by nine black cats, whose eyes were flashing like little fires. Scared by the sight, he bent to find a stone to throw to frighten the cats away, but his hand was stayed when a cat’s voice called, “Johnny Reed!”. Now, this was the first time Johnny Reed had ever been spoken to by a cat, so he had to pay attention. He asked the cat what he wanted of him? The answer was mysterious; “Tell Dan Ratcliffe that Peggy Poyson’s dead!”. Johnny said he would certainly do so, although he had no idea who either of those people were. But the cats seemed satisfied with his answer because a moment later, they had all run away.
When Johnny Reed arrived home, the first thing he did was ask his wife; “Who’s Dan Ratcliffe? And who’s Peggy Poyson?”. But his wife did not know either of those names. So Johnny told his wife everything that had happened to him that night, while she watched him with wide eyes and their black cat with the one white paw slept quietly by the fire. But perhaps he was only pretending to be asleep, for when Johnny related the message the nine black cats had given him, the black cat with the one white paw suddenly leapt up and shouted: “Peggy Poyson’s dead? Then I must be gone!”. The cat ran through the door and was never seen again.
But what does it mean? One version explicitly says that the old cat king is dead, and the new cat must take its place. In another, the cat runs off to attend the funeral. Or maybe the cat is now able to return to its old home after the death of a sworn enemy. The thing they have in common is that cats have their own names for each other, which are unknown to humans. Read several other versions of the story at #Folklore Thursday. -via Strange Company
(Image credit: Fiver, der Hellseher)