Mythological Moggies: Cats in Folklore Quiz

Answer: Lightning

The Ccoa was a cat-like storm spirit in traditional Quechua beliefs from the Peruvian Andes. It was associated with the Apus, the powerful mountain spirits believed to protect the land and its people.

I couldn't help but chuckle when I found out that the creature was said to shoot lightning from its eyes, drop hail from its ears and, would you believe, urinate rain! Farmers made offerings to spirits associated with the mountains and weather in the hope of protecting their crops and ensuring favourable conditions.

Answer: The Yule Cat

Known in Icelandic as Jólakötturinn, the Yule Cat is a huge feline from Icelandic Christmas folklore. According to legend, it roams the countryside around Christmas and is said to devour people who had not received new clothes for the holiday. The story therefore links it with the importance of having enough wool and clothing prepared before winter.

The Yule Cat is part of the darker side of Icelandic Christmas tradition, a companion to the giantess Grıla and her thirteen sons, the Yule Lads. Although details vary between accounts, the cat remains one of the most distinctive creatures in Icelandic folklore.

Answer: Cath Palug

Cath Palug is a monstrous cat from Welsh mythology. According to the Welsh Triads, it was one of three great plagues of the Isle of Anglesey. In one account, it killed 180 warriors before being hunted by Sir Kay. The creature was said to have been born to the legendary sow Henwen and eventually reached Anglesey, where it became a fearsome predator.

Cath Palug also appears in later Arthurian and French romances, where the story takes a different turn. In some versions, it's associated with the death of King Arthur. These later accounts helped turn Cath Palug into one of the best-known monstrous cats of medieval legend.

Answer: China

Li Shou is mentioned in accounts of ancient Chinese mythology. She was connected with cats and their role in protecting crops from pests. Some retellings also preserve a creation story in which the gods appointed cats to oversee the newly created world.

The cats were given the power of speech so that they could report back to the gods, but they were apparently more interested in sleeping beneath the trees and enjoying themselves than in running the world (typical cats!). Eventually, they admitted that they had no interest in the job and suggested that humans should take over instead. The story helps explain the traditional association between cats, pest control and agriculture.

Answer: Tanzania

The Mngwa is usually described as a very large grey or grey-brown cat with dark brindled or tabby-like markings. Its tracks were said to resemble those of a leopard but to be much larger. It comes from Swahili folklore and the coastal regions of Tanzania, and is also called the Nunda.

The Nunda also appears in the Swahili folktale 'Sultan Majnun'. In that story, a cat belonging to a Sultan becomes increasingly dangerous, killing animals and eventually people before being hunted. The Mngwa of later folklore was similarly portrayed as a dangerous man-eating creature, although stories about its appearance and behaviour vary.

Answer: The Wampus Cat

One popular version of the Wampus Cat, which features in Cherokee and Appalachian folklore, tells of a woman who secretly watched a sacred ceremony while hiding beneath the skin of a wild cat. After she was discovered, she was transformed into a strange cat-like creature and condemned to roam the mountains.

The Wampus Cat has taken many different forms in American folklore. Some stories describe it as a supernatural feline, while others give it human or shapeshifting characteristics. The legend has become particularly associated with the Appalachian region, where the creature appears in numerous local versions.

Answer: Freyja

Freyja is described as travelling in a chariot drawn by two cats. This detail appears in Snorri Sturluson's 'Prose Edda', one of the main surviving sources for Norse mythology. Freyja was associated with love, fertility, magic and war, making her one of the most important goddesses in the Norse tradition.

The names Bygul and Trjegul are traditionally associated with Freyja's cats, although these names are not recorded in the surviving medieval Norse texts and appear to be later additions.

Answer: Its tail splits in two.

According to traditional Japanese folklore, cats were believed to gain supernatural abilities as they grew very old. An elderly cat could transform into a Nekomata, and its original single tail was said to split into two as a result of this transformation. The two tails therefore marked the cat's change from an ordinary animal into a supernatural being.

Nekomata have been described as walking on their hind legs, speaking like humans and using magical abilities. Some accounts also give them the power to manipulate the dead. A story recorded in the 1708 Japanese work 'Yamato Kaiiki' tells of an aged cat that was revealed to have two tails after being killed, ending a series of strange disturbances in a samurai household.

Answer: St Kieran

Irusan is a giant feline from Irish folklore. He features in a story involving the poet Senchan Torpeist, who was famous for his powerful and sometimes insulting poetry. After Senchan criticised the cats of Ireland for failing to deal with troublesome vermin, Irusan became furious.

Irusan was described as an enormous cat, large enough to terrify everyone around him. He seized Senchan and attempted to carry him away, but the poet was eventually rescued through the intervention of St Kieran. The story combines Irish storytelling with the traditional image of the cat as a powerful and sometimes dangerous supernatural creature.

Answer: The Cactus Cat

The Cactus Cat was usually described as a bobcat-like animal covered in thorn-like hair, with long spines and a branching tail. It was said to inhabit the desert regions of the American Southwest.

According to the tall tales surrounding it, the Cactus Cat used its sharp spines to cut open cacti and release their juice. It would then return later after the juice had fermented and drink it. The exaggerated story of a drunken, spiny cat roaming the desert is typical of the humorous folklore created around fearsome creatures.