I stumbled across the story of the Cat sìth.
The Cat Sìth or Cat Sidhe is a fairy creature from Celtic mythology, said to resemble a large black cat with a white spot on its chest. Legend has it that the spectral cat haunts the Scottish Highlands. The legends surrounding this creature are more common in Scottish folklore, but a few occur in Irish. Some common folklore suggested that the Cat Sìth was not a fairy, but a witch that could transform into a cat nine times.
…
The people of the Scottish Highlands did not trust the Cat Sìth. They believed that it could steal a person’s soul, before it was claimed by the gods, by passing over a corpse before burial; therefore watches called the Feill Fadalach (Late Wake) were performed night and day to keep the Cat Sìth away from a corpse before burial.[1] Methods of “distraction” such as games of leaping and wrestling, catnip, riddles, and music would be employed to keep the Cat Sìth away from the room in which the corpse lay.[1] In addition, there were no fires where the body lay, as it was said that the Cat Sìth was attracted to the warmth.
And then I looked down at our cat, which has been a major pain in the butt while my wife is away, and realized…solid black cat with a white spot on its chest.
Goddamnit, it’s been trying to steal my soul all this time.
Nonsense. Your cat is trying to distract you from noticing you have no soul (anymore).
Darth Meow – the cat Sith.
Sidhe is pronounced ‘shee’ (as in banshee; bean sidhe, fairy woman).
That’s what sidhe said.
Let the Cat Sith have me! Let it bat my soul around like a ball of yarn! That sounds much more fun than pretty much any other afterlife we hear about.
Not your soul; they want your precious kibbles.
Happy Halloween!
Alas, Cat Sith was taken by the Nemesis and defeated by Harry on Lake Michigan near Demonreach. It remains to be seen if his Mantle was released and moved on to the next eldest Malk.
If you like fantasy works and you don’t know what I’m talking about, you might want to pick up Jim Butcher’s “Dresden Files” books.
There we are. I assumed it was a typo.
@#6, stroppy:
I wish I had the willpower of the person feeding those cats. I can barely stand not to give my cat extra food on (excessive) demand, because he’s so cute when he does it. (I’ve finally managed to steel myself and he’s slimming down a bit, but it breaks my heart.)
Cat Sidhe is best cat.
So what do the gods and the cats do with the souls they have claimed? Are they ornaments? Cuurrency? Food?
Yeah, used to have the cat incessantly trying to steal my sole. Fortunately, I can gobble down a hell of a lot of fish in one bite.
Cats have no use for sullied human soul. Especially American ones. Cats have more than enough of their own soul. (Soul singular: There only needs to be one. It is shared.)
Sadly, this is one of the reasons why the Scottish wildcat is close to extinction.
My cat Sooty who is black ,haha has a few white hairs on his chest ,i call him the Shropshire wildlife killer because of the
amount of critters he brings in ..He caught a Great Tit a few days ago ,so it was another trip to the local wildlife center .
Just phoned them up and it is doing ok .Any critter that gets caught by a cat gets a course of antibiotics before it gets released .
Where no doubt it will get taken by a Sparrowhawk .