P-r-r-r, you could feel Tibbie’s fur rising.
“I’ll try to remember,” she said in a rather thick voice. “It seems that we cats used to be worshipped by the ancient Egyptians. The cat deity was named Elurus, and we were also venerated as a symbol of the moon—”
I couldn’t help it. Even Bob coughed, and then pretended to be chewing hay. But, because I laughed, Minkie clouted my ear.
“The Romans always placed a cat at the feet of the Goddess of Liberty; they realized that no animal resists the loss of its freedom so furiously as a cat,” continued Tibbie in her best purr. “That is why you never see a cat wearing a collar, the badge of servitude, like a dog.”
Wow! I’ll give her “servitude” next time I have a chance. “Like a dog!” indeed.
“What has all this got to do with a ju-ju?” asked Minkie.
“I am coming to that. The Egyptians were a very wise people, obviously, and their ways were sure to be copied by the black men who lived near them. They thought so much of cats that whoever killed one, even accidentally, was punished by death. This cat-headed god, Elurus, had a human body, and his image brought luck and good fortune to those who carried it about with them. Now, there are no cats where the black men live, but there are plenty of monkeys, so I am just guessing.”
“I see,” said Minkie, quite seriously.
“Regarding that fish and liver?” cried Tibbie, trying to talk in an off-hand way.
“I am going to interview Cookie now,” was the reply.