Witches and Cats.
One sign of the witch is that she is accompanied by her cat. This is an idea which prevails all over the world. Thus, in Ireland, cats are believed to be connected with demons. On entering a house the usual salutation is, “God save all here except the cat!” Even the cake on the griddle may be blessed, but no one says, “God bless the cat!”[26] The negroes in Mussouri say “some cats are real cats and some are devils; you can never tell which is which, so for safety it is well to whip them all soundly.”[27] One explanation of the connection of witches and cats is that “when Galinthis was changed into a cat by the Fates, Hecate took pity on her and made her her priestess, in which office she continues to this day.”[28] We have already seen that it is probably her stealthy ways and habit of going about at night which gave the cat her uncanny character.
The cat, say the jungle people, is aunt of the tiger, and taught him everything but how to climb a tree. The Orâons of Chota Nâgpur say that Chordeva, the birth fiend, comes in the form of a cat and worries the mother.[29] The Thags used to call the caterwauling of cats Kâlî ki Mauj, or the roaring wave of Kâlî, and it was of evil omen. The omen could be obviated only by gargling the mouth in the morning with sour milk and spitting it out. We have already seen the danger of killing a cat. Zâlim Sinh, the famous regent of Kota, thought that cats were associated with witches, and on one occasion when he believed himself exposed to enchantment, ordered that every cat should be expelled from his cantonment.[30]