the cat - World eBook Library

THE CAT:
The Cat of Egypt
The number of domestic animals in Egypt is
very great, and would be still greater, were it not
for what befalls the cats. As the females, when
they have kittened, no longer seek the company
of the males, these last, to obtain once more their
companionship, practise a curious artifice. They
seize the kittens, carry them off, and kill them;
but do not eat them afterwards. Upon this, the
females, being deprived of their young, and long-
ing to supply their place, seek the males once
more, since they are particularly fond of their off-
spring.
On every occasion of a fire in Egypt, the stran-
gest prodigy occurs with the cats. The inhabit-
ants allow the fire to rage as it pleases, while they
stand about at intervals and watch these animals,
which, slipping by the men, or else leaping over
them, rush headlong into the flames. When this
happens, the Egyptians are in deep affliction. If
a cat dies in a private house by a natural death,
all the inmates of the house shave their eyebrows.
The dead cats are taken to the city of Bubastis,
where they are embalmed, after which they are
buried in certain sacred repositories.
.Herodotus.
Version of George Rawlinson, M.A.
5