Cath Palug: The Kitten...of TERROR

I love cats.

I am, in fact, what you might call a cat person.  I've volunteered at a cat shelter for half of my life.  I cat-sit for friends.  I have the Crazy for Cats achievement in World of Warcraft (so yes, I am a Crazy Cat Lady!).  I even have two cats of my own: Elli, who is blind but somehow always knows where shadows are (the better to lurk in and pounce on my poor unsuspecting toes), and Tali, who loves to curl up and trap my hand rubbing her belly whenever I try to get any work done.

My friends all know that I love to talk about cats - even cats who aren't mine.  (I go for walks in my neighborhood to visit with various cats who live close to me.)  Because of this, I was thrilled when I remembered that Celtic mythology featured a famous cat, and I had to write a post about him.

(Yes, this entire post is an excuse for me to talk about cats.  Stick around, though!  Even if you're not a cat person, this particular feline is awesome!)

Meet Cath Palug.

Cath Palug is ridiculously huge - the size of a horse, if not bigger.  Cat claws hurt even when they're normal sized, so imagine the kind of damage a cat with claws the size of large daggers could do!  In fact, in the stories about him Cath Palug puts his claws to good use, killing quite a few knights.

There are actual several giant, vicious cats in Celtic mythology.  Another famous one is Cat Sith, a feline member of the sidhe who is quite vicious.

(Sadly, he doesn't have a red lightsaber - though that would be amazing!)

Cat Sith shows up in Cold Days by Jim Butcher, where he's pretty terrifying.  If I remember correctly, Butcher attributes most of the giant, scary cat stories in Celtic mythology to Cat Sith.  However, the most famous stories I know are all about Cath Palug.

What are those stories?  Let me tell you what I know.

The stories of Cath Palug's birth vary.  In some he is a mysterious kitten fished up from a river.  In others, Cath Palug is the spawn of a faerie who was raped by a goblin.  However, that version of the story is French and was written considerably later than the others.  Generally, Cath Palug is thought to be the child of a cow.  This particular cow gave birth to many strange litters - wheat, bees, and a wolf, amongst other things - but Cath Palug was the last to be born.

It was near the island of Anglesey that Cath Palug was birthed.  The shepherd who was guarding the cow was filled with horror when he saw the cat.  Though still only a kitten, Catch Palug was the size of a horse!  (The poor cow!  That must have been a very painful birth.)  Gazing into his menacing yellow eyes, the shepherd became convinced that nothing but evil could come from the cat.

(Humph!  He was obviously more of a dog person.)  The shepherd seized Cath Palug and flung him into the sea, determined to drown him.

Bad move, shepherd.

Now, I don't know about your cats, but mine don't like water.  Elli flat out hates it.  Tali will dip her paw into her waterbowl and lick it off of her paw whenever she's thirsty - so dainty! - but she is terrified whenever she sees water in the bathtub.  I've seen videos of cats who like to take baths, and I've heard of cats who enjoy swimming, but I haven't seen one in person.

Turns out, Cath Palug loves to swim.

Imagine the look on the shepherd's face when the kitten he tried to drown immediately began paddling in the water.  He swam away from the man (can you blame him?) and headed to the shore of Anglesey, where he was found by the sons of a man named Palug.  The boys took pity on the poor wet kitten and took him home, where he received the name of Cath Palug - "Palug's Cat".

Unfortunately, Cath Palug did turn out to be evil, just as the shepherd had feared.  He slaughtered cattle and other livestock; he terrorized the denizens of the island; eventually, he began to kill.  Cath Palug became known as one of the three plagues of Anglesey.

Tales of Cath Palug's exploits vary.  If you listen to the origin story in which he was fished out of a river, Cath Palug murders the fisherman and all of his family.  In some stories everyone on Anglesey are either dead or in hiding.  Monks attempt to visit but are warned away by the survivors - only to be pursued through the sea by Cath Palug, who appears to be able to control storms.

Most interestingly, Cath Palug also appears in Arthurian legend.  Here he is said to have fought and defeated quite a lot of knights.  When the number of the dead continues to rise, King Arthur himself travels in search of Cath Palug.  Eventually he finds the dreaded giant feline.  They fight, but it is Arthur who eventually emerges victorious, killing the fell beast and at last ending the great plague of Anglesey.

(I was quite amused to find out that there is a French poem written in the 12th century which pokes fun at this story.  I haven't been able to find a copy of it, so my knowledge is coming from Wikipedia; as such, this might be inaccurate.  However, according to Wikipedia the poem features King Arthur getting his butt kicked by Cath Palug, who slays the king, takes his crown, and goes back to Camelot to rule in his stead.  Quite funny!)

What did you guys think?  I'm quite partial to the story of Cath Palug, but that might just be because I'm a crazy cat lady.  Did you like it?  I especially love the pictures of him, because he always looks so adorably fierce and angry.

I'll be back next week with my last post (for now) about Celtic mythology.  I'll see you guys then!