King of the cats.
Well it was All Hallows Eve
And I was all Hale fellow well met
Flying three sheets to the wind
Scared of neither man nor beast
As brave as a barrel of porter
Whistling, singing to the growing dark
Till passing a graveyard a cat spoke,
Stuck it’s scrawny black head through the railings and said
“Tell Balgeary that Bulgury is dead”
I sobered quick and looked and double looked
But no cat was anywhere to be seen
But the hairs raised upon my neck told me
It had not been a dream
I quickened my pace
To be gone from that place
But I couldn’t shift from my head
The words…
‘Tell Balgeary that Bulgury is dead’
I, now cold to the core, looked repeatedly over my shoulder,
No swig from any bottle on earth
could make my feel bolder,
my pace quickened till I ran
and ran and ran as fast as a man can
till I reached home in wet sweat to the bone
locked in the cold embrace of fear
And no-one was home save for my own dumb puss
Curled up warm upon the hearth
And I looked at Tussy and Tussy looked at me
And my fear melted like an ice cream in the
How foolish I’d been to believe a cat could talk
i poked my timid pet with the toe of my boot,
“Can you talk Tuss , can you talk to me?
I said aloud now brave as a lion, safe
In my own warm bright-lit home,
And like a lion my laughter and relief reared and roared
“Ha ha ha! Tell Balgeary Bulgary is dead ,indeed!”
Nearly creased in laughter was I till
My own humble cat sat up and whipped round on me
hissing , spitting and claws drawn,it's eyes emerald framed slits black as hell, and like a foul feline banshee shrieked
“ You drunken miserable fool! Balgury is dead, now I am King! Did you treat me well? Time will tell!”
And like lightning leapt over my shoulder and through the half door
Never to be seen again.
Yet.
Based on a 'true ' story as told to Eric Cross in 1942 by Mr Buckley The Tailor from Cork and recorded in Irish Folktales edited by Henry Glassie and taken from The Tailor and Antsty by Eric Cross.
19 comments:
A great story and a wonderful poem Peadar. The cat in the picture is so like ours looked when he was younger. Thanks for the lovely comment on my blog.
wow what a tale, full of surprise and suspense, bewitchingly told!!
Ooh what a most excellent tale! I find cats to be kind of scary all year long - I try to avoid them on Halloween if at all possible. :)
Aaarrrgh! Good one, and with the rhythm and the rhyme I never saw it coming!
May have some pronunciation issues with the names - could you do a reading?
Not too fond of cats anyway (that's Kat and NanU alienated...)
Yikes!
Ha! TFE, good finish ending on a `Yet`... A talking tussy with a shakespearen hint of doom. Just the right measure of spookiness ...would a saucer of milk work with the Tuss? Pic perfect.
I really like this - I think you should do more story poems!
x
I honestly believe this could become a Halloween classic. Absolute brilliance from start to finish.
That did it for me. A refreshingly unusual take on the subject - no mean feat considering the way it get done to death - ha, ha ha!
My very best line is "till I reached home in wet sweat to the bone"
What a fantastic story! Knowing that this is based on a tale you've heard or read makes it even better -- adds that question about truth and fiction. Your rhythms here are very good.
Nice to revisit a classic. Also exists as a story by American writer Stephen Vincent Benet, a little earlier than 1942.
Love it, Peadar! Well poeticized, too! Purrrrrfect for Halloween!
This tale reminds of the stories Batt Burnes shared with us at the last conference I attended. Do you know of him?
"And like a lion my laughter and relief reared and roared"
I could SO hear this, Peadar. Actually, would love to hear you read this one. Can you? Please?
The Watercats could record this, perhaps?
Kato
P.S. Got your FB message and will send the address as soon as I can remember it!
Great story.
Is that what the ginger tom was trying to tell me through the window earlier?
Cats win for me paws down
Abso-flippin-lutely brilliant! A smorgasbord of delights from start to finish - and it has cats in it so what's not to like? Deffo more story poems needed if they're anything like this one!
Poor ole Puss getting the boot like that. The Hale fellow well met deserves everything he gets in return.
Excellent story well told!! Especially like the name Tussy!
Quite a cat's tail here! Left me hanging even after the end. I'm still hanging: Were you good to him? Were you?????????? Will he be by to get you by and by?
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