1

When the Cat’s Away...

By Harrison Weir

A Victorian artist and avid bird-watcher banished cats from his country cottage, but soon wished he hadn’t.

2

Oh Hame Fain Wad I Be!

From Popular Sketches of British Quadrupeds

A cat moved home from Edinburgh to Glasgow and seemed to settle in nicely, but it turned out she was only biding her time.

3

Dick Whittington and his Cat

By Clay Lane

After Mr Fitzwarren took away Dick’s cat, even the charms of Alice Fitzwarren were not enough to keep him in that house another day.

4

A Kitten’s Jest

By William Cowper

In ‘Familiarity Dangerous,’ poet William Cowper tells a little tale warning that if you join in the game you play by the rules.

5

A Common Duty

By Edith Helen Sichel

From the grateful solitude of his library in the Dordogne, Michel de Montaigne reflects on the companionship of his cat.

6

The Cat, the Mouse and the Banyan Tree

Based on a story in The Kathasaritsagara

A mouse’s delight at seeing his old enemy caught in a trap proves short-lived.