The Cats of Ulthar

It is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no man may kill

men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales

the two, and because their cottage was so small and so darkly hidden

peculiar. But the villagers did not discuss such things with the old man

the market-place they told fortunes for silver, and bought gay beads from

beforethe fire. For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which

the owners of cats hated these odd folk, they feared them more; and

whence it is all cats first came.

under spreading oaks at the back of a neglected yard. In truth, much as

lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is

narrow cobbled streets of Ulthar. Dark wanderers they were, and unlike

and sounds heard after dark, the loser would lament impotently; or

One day a caravan of strange wanderers from the South entered the

In Ulthar, before ever the burgesses forbade the killing of cats, there

the merchants. What was the land of these wanderers none could tell; but

their neighbors. Why they did this I know not; save that many hate the

instead of berating them as brutal assassins, merely took care that no

voice of the cat in the night, and take it ill that cats should run stealthily

from forgotten cities in Meroe and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungles

many villagers fancied that the manner of slaying was exceedingly

his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the

and his wife; because of the habitual expression on the withered faces of

the other roving folk who passed through the village twice every year. In

cherished pet or mouser should stray toward the remote hovel under the

console himself by thanking Fate that it was not one of his children who

dwelt an old cotter and hiswife who delighted to trap and slay the cats of

had thus vanished. For the people of Ulthar were simple, and knew not

Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten.

dark trees. When through some unavoidable oversight a cat was missed,

man and woman took pleasure in trapping and slaying every cat which

a cat; and this I can verily believe as I gaze upon him who sitteth purring

came near to their hovel; and from some of the sounds heard after dark,

about yards and gardens at twilight. But whatever the reason, this old

it was seen that they were given to strange prayers, and that they had painted on the sides of their wagons strange figures with human bodies

andthe heads of cats, hawks, rams and lions. And the leader of the

sun and prayed in a tongue no villager could understand; though indeed

black kitten. So the boy whom the dark people called Menes smiled more

mostly taken up by the sky and the odd shapes the clouds were

Kranon, the burgomaster, swore that the dark folk had taken the cats

There was in this singular caravan a little boy with no father or mother,

of such illusions to impress the imaginative.

householders were troubled when they noticed that in all the village there

was notorious and increasingly bold. Still, no one durst complain to the

him, yet had left him this small furry thing to mitigate his sorrow; and

On the third morning of the wanderers stay in Ulthar, Menes could not

but only a tiny black kitten to cherish. The plague had not been kind to

night. And when he heard these things his sobbing gave place to

sinister couple; even when little Atal, the innkeepers son, vowed that he

often than he wept as he sat playing with his graceful kitten on the steps

and the little boy. But Nith, the lean notary, declared that the old cotter

vanished; cats large and small, black, grey, striped, yellow and white. Old

had at twilight seen all the cats of Ulthar in that accursed yard under the

was not a cat to be found. From each hearth the familiar cat had

meditation, and finally to prayer. He stretched out his arms toward the

caravan wore a headdress with two horns and a curious disk betwixt the

assuming. It was very peculiar, but as the little boy uttered his petition

away in revenge for the killing of Menes kitten; and cursed the caravan

find his kitten; and as he sobbed aloud in the market-place certain

there seemed to form overhead the shadowy, nebulous figures of exotic

abreast, as if in performance of some unheard-of rite of beasts. The

villagers told him of the old man and his wife, and of sounds heard in the

when one is very young, one can find great relief in the lively antics of a

the villagers did not try very hard to understand, since their attention was

things; of hybrid creatures crowned with horn-flanked disks. Nature is full

trees, pacing very slowly and solemnly in a circle around the cottage, two

of an oddly painted wagon.

That night the wanderers left Ulthar, and were never seen again. And the

and his wife were more likely persons to suspect; for their hatred of cats

villagers did not know how much to believe from so small a boy; and

horns.

though they feared that the evil pair had charmed the cats to their death, they preferred not to chide the old cotter till they met him outside his

duty, though in so doing he was careful to take with him Shang the

dark and repellent yard.

small, black, grey, striped, yellow and white, none was missing. Very

night the cats were away. In another week the burgomaster decided to

Old Kranon again insisted that it was the dark folk who had taken them,

sleek and fat did the cats appear, and sonorous with purring content. The

reward. They talked of the old cotter and his wife, of the caravan of dark

blacksmith and Thul the cutter of stone as witnesses. And when they had

It was fully a week before the villagers noticed that no lights were

curious. And for two whole days the sleek, lazy cats of Ulthar would touch

the innkeepers son, was closely questioned and given a sweetmeat as

dawnbehold! every cat was back at his accustomed hearth! Large and

broken down the frail door they found only this: two cleanly picked

appearing at dusk in the windows of the cottage under the trees. Then the

There was subsequently much talk among the burgesses of Ulthar. Zath,

and of the sky during that prayer, of the doings of the cats on the night

and Shang and Thul were overwhelmed with questions. Even little Atal,

crawling in the shadowy corners.

no food, but only doze by the fire or in the sun.

lean Nith remarked that no one had seen the old man or his wife since the

the coroner, disputed at length with Nith, the lean notary; and Kranon

dark trees in the repellentyard.

overcome his fears and call at the strangely silent dwelling as a matter of

human skeletons on the earthen floor, and a number of singular beetles

So Ulthar went to sleep in vain anger; and when the people awakened at

by traders in Hatheg and discussed by travelers in Nir; namely, that in

their portions of meat or drink their saucers of milk was exceedingly

his wife. But all agreed on one thing: that the refusal of all the cats to eat

citizens talked with one another of the affair, and marveled not a little.

the caravan left, and of what was later found in the cottage under the

wanderers, of small Menes and his black kitten, of the prayer of Menes

since cats did not return alive from the cottage of the ancient man .and

And in the end the burgesses passed that remarkable law which is told of

Ulthar no man may kill a cat.