Research source

One sign of the witch is that she is accompanied by her cat

Date of account: Second edition published 1896
Source: The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Reference: The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. 2 (of 2) · selected passage 154
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-25

Record summary

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

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!" [734] 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." [735] 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." [736] 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.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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