Friday, December 30, 2005
Feline Folklore: Winter dreams
Snow, snow, snow. There’s nothing for a disgruntled cat to do but dream of summer.
While I was napping, amanuensis hunted down a delicious item about—what else!—feline folklore, by the writer and artist Terri Windling. Windling says:
A friend of mine once dreamed that she was in the throes of giving birth — not an unusual dream for a woman to have, but in this case instead of a human child, she gave birth to a litter of kittens. "Were you frightened?" I asked. "Not at all," she replied. "In fact, strange as it sounds, it was quite a lovely experience."As the twice-catted Windling notes, cats are associated with creativity, especially in "the stereotype of the cat-owning writer . . . particularly women writers, and particularly those in the field of mythic arts. (Just take a quick survey of any random dozen women writers and you'll see what I mean.)"
She serves up a mouthwatering array of examples, from The White Cat, a popular tale by the 17th-century French author Countess Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy to Angela Carter's retelling of "The Tiger's Bride" in her decidedly adult fairy tale collection, The Bloody Chamber.
# posted by Aloysius @ 10:42 AM 
2 Old Comments:
In Hindu mythology, the goddess of childbirth is Shasti, and her favorite animal is the cat (I believe she rides around on one and lives in the company of many of them)
By 
Gigolo Kitty, at
12:00 AM
Many Goddesses are catted. They have good taste!
Purrs!
