CAT 79 



is, if a cat is seen scratching on ground it is a sign of death, for it 

 is looking for a corpse ! If a cat leaps over a corpse, the first 

 living person it leaps over thereafter is rendered blind ; it also 

 portends additional misfortune if it leaps over the house first, then 

 the head of the house will die shortly thereafter. Though, as 

 above shown, means are sometimes adopted to keep cats at home, 

 some are so lazy and fond of the fireside as never to leave it or 

 hunt, such cats in the North or Highlands are called "Cat- 

 griosaich" or fireside cat, its equivalent in the South is called 

 "Axen-cat." The first term is often applied to lazy men who 

 are too fond of the fireside. 



An ancient Celtic mode of invocation, or seeking for 

 * information " by cats, called Taghgairm, was by the cruel 

 practice of putting a live cat on a spit and roasting it alive until 

 other cats appeared, and through one of their number answered 

 the questions, to relieve it. For a full description of this horrible 

 Pagan practice or rite see " Caraid nan Gaidheal," second series ; 

 an account is also to be found in James Grant's Adventures of 

 Rob Roy. 



In an Irish tale a famous cat is referred to and styled " Cat 

 firionn Brighid Ni Mhathghamhna," the male cat of the bear 

 daughter St Bridget : — 



Is cat Bhrighid Ni Mhath' uin 

 A d' ith am bagun. 



It was St Bridget's cat, the daughter 

 of the bear, that eat the bacon. 



St Bridget it is who was styled "the daughter of a bear," not 

 the cat. 



As will be presumed poetry has been composed in pussy's 

 honour and sometimes otherwise ; the following is " A Highland 

 welcome to a cat," or " Failte Chait " : — 



Mile failte dhuit a chait A thousand welcomes to you, O cat, 



Bho na thachair dhuit 'bhi m' achd Seeing you've happened in my way, 



Cuim 'nach leigteadh moran leat Why not give thee thine own way 



'S a liuthad bean a thug ro ghradh Thou animal so much loved by 

 dhuit. women. 



An tu an cat-fiadhaich bhiodh aig Art thou the wild-cat Fionn had wont 



Fionn To hunt the game from glen to glen 



Ri fiadhaich bho gleann gu gleann Or did the fair-haired Oscar own thee 



An tu bh' aig Oscar an fhuilt f hinn You left there heroes hurt and slain ? 

 Dh'fhag thu laoich fo dhochar ann ? 



An tu bh' aig Lughaidh MacLoin Did you belong to Looaidh MacLoin, 



Ciod is fath nach cumhain an t-sleagh Why did he spare the spear 

 No 'ntu chuir an t-suil mu 'n tor Or was it thou cast the eye o'er the 



No 'n tu bhuin ri Brian nam bladh ? hill 



Or was it you who dealt with Brian 

 the famed ? 



