English / B2
The King o’ the Cats
One winter evening, a church caretaker’s wife sat by the fire with their big black cat, Old Tom, on the opposite side. Both were half asleep. They were waiting for her husband, whose work included digging graves, but he seemed unusually late.
After a long wait, he burst into the house, calling out, “Who’s Tom Tildrum?” His manner was so excited that both his wife and the cat stared at him.
“What’s happened?” his wife asked. “And why are you asking about Tom Tildrum?”
The man explained that he had experienced something extraordinary. He had been digging old Mr Fordyce’s grave when, he supposed, he must have fallen asleep. A cat’s cry had woken him.
“Meow!” said Old Tom.
“Yes, exactly like that!” the man replied. “I looked over the edge of the grave, and what do you think I saw?”
His wife pointed out that she could hardly guess. There had been nine black cats, he told her, each with a white patch on its chest, just like their own. Eight were carrying a small coffin covered with black velvet. On the covering lay a little golden crown. The ninth cat, the largest of them all, walked in front.
At every third step, the cats had cried together. Old Tom immediately supplied another meow.
“That was precisely the sound,” the man said. “They kept coming closer. Their eyes shone green, so I could see them more distinctly. But look at our Tom! Anyone would think he understood what I was saying.”
“Go on,” said his wife. “Don’t worry about Tom.”
The procession had approached slowly and solemnly, he continued, with the same cry at every third step. Once more, Old Tom answered him. The cats had finally halted directly opposite Mr Fordyce’s grave and looked straight at the man, making him feel thoroughly uneasy.
Even as he described it, he noticed that their own cat was looking at him in exactly the same way. His wife urged him to continue.
The cat at the front, which was not carrying the coffin, had stepped towards him. Then, in a high, thin voice, it had spoken: “Tell Tom Tildrum that Tim Toldrum’s dead.”
“And that’s why I asked you who Tom Tildrum is,” the man said. “How can I tell him Tim Toldrum’s dead if I don’t know who he is?”
His wife suddenly screamed at him to look at Old Tom. The cat was swelling and staring. At last, it cried out in words of its own: “What? Old Tim is dead? Then I’m the King of the Cats!”
Without another word, it rushed up the chimney and vanished. Neither husband nor wife ever saw Old Tom again.
English summary · includes the ending
On a winter evening, a woman and her black cat, Old Tom, wait by the fire for her husband. He finally rushes home asking who Tom Tildrum is. While digging a grave, he thinks he fell asleep and woke to a cat’s cry.
He saw nine black cats approaching with a small coffin. Eight carried it, while the largest walked in front. A golden crown lay on its black covering, and the cats cried together every third step. As he describes their cries, Old Tom repeatedly answers with a meow.
The leading cat told the man to tell Tom Tildrum that Tim Toldrum was dead. The man cannot deliver the message because he does not know Tom Tildrum.
Suddenly, Old Tom speaks. Learning of Tim’s death, he declares that he is now the King of the Cats. He rushes up the chimney and is never seen again.
Adapted for Lejrbål from the credited source.
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