The Cat King
Long ago, in the remote wilderness of Scotland, there lived two brothers. They resided in a very secluded place, many miles from the nearest village, and were served by an old cook. Besides the three of them, there was no one else in the house, except for the old woman's cat and the hunting dogs.One autumn day, the elder brother, Elshender, decided to stay home, and the younger brother, Fergus, went hunting alone. He ventured far into the mountains, to the place where he and his brother had hunted the day before, and promised to return home before sunset.
But the day ended, and it was long past time for dinner, yet Fergus had not returned. Elshender grew worried—he had never had to wait for his brother so long before.
Finally, Fergus returned, pensive, soaked, and exhausted, and he did not want to explain why he was so late. But after dinner, as the brothers sat by the fireplace with their pipes, the peat crackling merrily in the hearth, the dogs lying at their feet, and the old cook's black cat, half-closing its eyes, resting on the rug between them, Fergus seemed to come to his senses and told his brother what had happened to him.
"You must be wondering why I returned so late," he said. "Well, listen! Today I saw such wonders that I don't even know how to tell you about them. I walked, as planned, along the same path we took yesterday. But when it was time to return home, the mountains were shrouded in such a thick fog that I lost my way. I wandered for a long time, not knowing where I was, when suddenly I saw a light. I hurried toward it. But as soon as I approached it, I lost sight of it and found myself near a thick old oak tree. I climbed the tree to get a better view and find the light again, and suddenly I saw a hollow in the trunk below me. Inside the hollow was something like a church, and someone was being buried there. I heard singing, saw a coffin, and torches. And do you know who was carrying the torches? But no, you wouldn't believe me anyway!"
Elshender urged his brother to continue. He even added more peat to the fire to make it burn brighter, and the younger brother cheered up. The dogs were peacefully dozing, and the black cat lifted its head, seeming to listen as attentively as Elshender himself. The brothers even glanced at it involuntarily.
"Believe me," Fergus continued, "everything I say is the absolute truth. The coffin and the torches were carried by cats, and on the lid of the coffin were painted a crown and a scepter!"
He didn't get a chance to say more, for the black cat leaped up and cried:
"O heavens! Old Peter has passed away, and now I am the Cat King!"
With that, the cat jumped into the fireplace and disappeared forever...
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