6 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



is lost in the dawn of history. It was so very long 

 ago that our minds grow dizzy, contemplating the 

 vast stretch of centuries. A tablet in the Berlin 

 Museum, which has on it a representation of a cat, 

 dates from 1600 b. c. : and another, two hundred 

 years older, bears an inscription containing the 

 word Mau, or cat. The temples of Bubastis, of 

 Beni Hasan, and of Heliopolus were the most 

 sacred haunts of this most sacred animal. There, 

 petted, pampered, wrapped in silken ease, and, above 

 all, treated with that delicate reverence she is so 

 quick to understand and appreciate, she lived her 

 allotted lives ; and there, when all nine were well 

 spent, her little corpse was lovingly embalmed, and 

 buried in a gilded mummy case with dignified and 

 appropriate ceremonial. Her 



"splendid circled eyes 

 That wax and wane with love for hours, 

 Green as green flame, blue-grey like skies," 



were believed to be emblematic of the waxing and 

 the waning of the sun, and added to the mysterious 

 sanctity of her reputation. 



Plutarch held that she also represented the 

 moon, because of her nocturnal habits, and of her 

 singular fecundity. " For it is said that she brings 

 forth at first one kitten, afterwards two, and the 

 third time, three ; and that the number increaseth 

 thus until the seventh and last birth, so that she 



