Reading Notes: The King o' the Cats, Part B

  Story source: More English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1894).

The King o' the Cats

  • it was winter
  • the sexton's wife was sitting with her old black cat (tom)
  • they were waiting for the husband to come home 
  • the husband came rushing in yelling "Who is Tommy Tildrum"
  • the cat and wife looked at him wildly
  • the wife asks whats the matter and why he needs to know who that is
  • the husband had been digging away at a grave and fell asleep
  • he was woken up by a cats meow
  • the old cat (tom) meowed back at the husband
  • when he woke up he looked down into the grave
  • there were nine black cats carrying a small black velvet coffin
  • every third step they would all meow together
  • tom meowed again when he heard the husband tell the story
  • the husband continues on with the story
  • the cats were growing closer and closer to him
  • tom meows every time the husband does while telling the story
  • the husband thinks tom knows what he is saying
  • the husband says that the head cat starting talking to him
  • the cat in charge of the coffin told the husband "Tell Tom Tildrum that Tim Toidrum's dead"
  • that is why the husband came in asking who that is
  • they both look over at tom 
  • tom screams that the old tom is dead and he is king of cats now
  • tom runs up the chimney and was never seen again
King o' the Cats


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