Reading Notes: The King o' the Cats #2

The King o' the Cats 

In this story, on a winter evening, the sexton's wife was sitting by the fire with her black cat. His name was Old Tom, and he was asleep. They were waiting for their master to come home. but they waited for so long and he still hadn't come. Finally he came, calling out "Who's Tommy Tildrum?" and they just stared at him, wondering what was wrong.

"What's wrong?" said his wife. "Why do you want to know who that is?"

"I've had such an adventure. I was digging at Mr. Fordyce's grave when I fell asleep and woke up to a cat's meow."

Then, Old Tom meowed.

"Just like that!" the husband exclaimed. "So I looked over, and there were nine black cats just like Old Tom. They all had white spots on their chests. And they were carrying a small coffin and every third step they took they all meowed."

The husband noticed how Old Tom was looking at him, almost like he knew what he was saying.

He continued, "they came towards me and looked straight at me." He noticed Old Tom was still looking at him.

"So then the cats told me to 'Tell Tom Tildrum that Tim Toidrum's dead. And that's why I wanted to know who Tom Tildrum was, because how can I tell him if I don't know who it is?"

"Look at Old Tom!" shrieked the wife.

And Old Tom was sweating and staring and shrieked out, "What! Then I'm the King o' the Cats!" and rushed up the chimney and was never seen again.

Black cat. Link here

Bibliography: The King o' the Cats in More English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1894).