Cats can surprise you.
On Saturday we rolled up at a friend’s to see a legendary cat: a creature whose portly girth is noteworthy.
She is a very big tortoiseshell cat. A vast acreage of cat. When Felix first set eyes on this luxuriant lover of life he chortled uncontrollably for several minutes. Scurry the cat does anything but Scurry.
She is a ponderous dowager who appears punctually at four for her tea. She has a coat as soft as sable, so that one has an uncontrollable urge to knead her as she passes; and she takes life at a slow pace. Her owners wonder if there is anything between her ears: but I think she is like a vast deep pool, fathomless and serene.
Imagine my surprise, then, when, on a lazy Summer’s afternoon, she spotted something living on the far side of the lawn.
Suddenly this cat-mountain became a fleet-footed living hummock. A tortoiseshell molehill travelling across the lawn in the twinkle of an eye. What had seemed, just instants earlier, to be an animal who did stationary very well indeed was flying across a well-trimmed English lawn much as if they were a lion on the Serengeti.
Cats can surprise you.
Of course, they can surprise some people more than others.
Bond Street, London, 1795. And a snatch of intelligence about one of the most notorious gamblers of the time.
The notorious gambler was the Prince of Wales: a dandy of the first degree, always fashionably attired. And he loved a flutter. In fact the story goes that he once laid a considerable sum on which of two raindrops would reach the bottom of a window.
A snatch of an anecdote appeared in a magazine of the time – The Mirror of Literature, Amusement and Instruction. What the sources of its reporter, The Gatherer, were, I could not say. But it proves that the Prince Regent didn’t know cats very well at all.
The Prince Regent was returning from a club along one of London’s most fashionable streets with Charles James Fox, that great champion of American Independence.
As they walked along on a wonderful sunny morning, Fox spied a cat lounging luxuriously in a shop doorway. And he hit on the idea for fleecing the Prince.
Lets bet, he said. Each of us can take a side of the street and we’ll count how many cats we see on our side. The one with the most cats wins the wager.
The Prince agreed; and then, in a master stroke, they each chose their side of the street.
They proceeded and Mr Fox managed to count thirteen cats while the Prince did not managed to count one.
It’s a miracle, the great royal figurehead pronounced. Or a fix. And he demanded of Fox: how the devil did he do it?
Mr Fox, clever and wily like his name, smiled wolfishly. “Your Royal Highness took, of course,” he said, “the shady side as most agreeable; but I knew that the sunny side would be left for me, and cats love sunshine.”
Kate Shrewsday 
they do indeed!
They like their creature comforts, don’t they, Sidey?
ah yes, masters at it
That cat ran as fast as a dog who thinks she’s a cat who is suppposed to get a trim 😉 I don’t mind a fat cat – your descriptions are wonderful Kate (and I never knew cats liked it on the sunny side.)
They love a warm spot, Gabrielle. So glad the dog who thinks she’s a cat is safely home now. You heart must have been in your mouth.
So funny – I visited a friend the other day who has 7 cats!
I hope she has a very sunny garden, Julie!
Few people know that whilst Fox was serving as Foreign Secretary in the Ministry of all the Talents he wrote that catchy little song – “On the Sunny Side of the Street”.
😀 Dorothy Fields has much to thank him for, Roger…
Hmmm – The Prince Regent would have won on a 40Cº summer’s day here!
That’s a thought, WP – do cats seek out the cool there? I suppose they just want to be supremely comfortable, much like the rest of us…
Cats are indeed sly creatures, lulling us into a false sense of proper order and then springing into action that they alone know the reason for.
I would give a great deal to be able to find out what a cat is thinking, Lou. Brings us back here again: http://www.kittycams.uga.edu/photovideo.html
They are indeed strange and wonderful creatures.
Goes to show that the cat is very cunning indeed 🙂
It is, in its own interests, Tandy 😀
“Always look on the bright side of life” . . . ?
Wondrous post, Kate
Thanks, Penny…
Scurry is built very much like one of my cats, who takes her own sweet time unless she hears cans opening. Then she runs like a bat out of hell. And I love that story about the Prince of Wales. Clearly he never saw a cat try to squeeze itself into a 2-square-inch patch of sun!
😀 Clearly not! Good to hear you have a cat full of surprises as well, Weebles…
Scurry is a beautiful cat, but I’m probably partial to tortoise shell coloring! 🙂 Cats are bold enough to seek the sunshine and not worry about hiding! They are wonderfully complex creatures and so fun to observe. Mr. Fox had obviously spent more time observing and a little less preoccupation with his own comforts. I hope he was well paid for his keen insight! 🙂 D
Judging by the debts the Prince had built up by the time parliament bailed him out, Debra, the Prince was always generous with his wagers 😉
Okay, Elvira and I will give one for the cat. This time.
Extremely generous of Elvira, Hudson 🙂 Pass on my thanks!
As soon as I clicked on your post and saw that picture of Scurry, I was chortling with Felix. You said it best, “A vast acreage of cat.” Yet I’m not surprised that even though she is an animal of significant girth, she has the capacity to become fleet-footed. Have you seen James Corden on stage in the hilarious “One Man, Two Guvnors”? He’s a big fella and he moves almost as fast as Usain Bolt. Maybe on some level rotund Scurry and portly JC are related?
It’s possible, LameAdventures – I’m off to YouTube Cordon immediately…
He’s from your side of the pond.
😀 You’re right. I know him as ‘Smithy’. Amazing bloke. And you’re right: the two are definitely connected at some level.
My guess is that the level is around their invisible waistlines. 😀
Cats rule! We are hoping that Tigger will surprise us still . . . by regaining some of the ground he’s lost in the past few months.
I do hope so, Nancy. Hopefully he’s stabilising a little and finding his feet now?
My neighbour’s Siamese cats love our old metal coalbunker – heats up very quickly in the morning sun 🙂
Oooh, yes, black and matt: I can see that would be an extremely attractive proposition on a Sunny day, Martin.
I would have lost that bet for sure 🙂
That was one smart fox. I would never have thought of the sunshine and its so true – cats just love the heat!
They do 🙂 A great way to fleece a prince, Ellie…
Clever! I’m not a betting person. My folks lived in Las Vegas after all. But I’ll wager the cat has a grin wider than a Cheshire … that one might mistake his measured pace for that of an elderly cat that can be taken advantage of. Pity the prey that thinks that.
Again, Kate, I just love the imager you create.
Thanks, Judy 🙂 And Scampy does have a very wide grin..