Short Fiction · Chapter
The Cats of Ulthar explained
In the town of Ulthar, an old couple traps and kills cats, prompting a caravan of strange wanderers to seek revenge after their kitten is taken.
What happens
In the town of Ulthar, an old couple traps and kills cats, prompting a caravan of strange wanderers to seek revenge after their kitten is taken. The wanderers' young boy, Menes, prays to the sun, and that night all the cats vanish, only to return sleek and fat. The old couple are later found dead, their skeletons picked clean, leading the townspeople to pass a law forbidding the killing of cats.
Themes in this chapter
Forbidden Knowledge and Occultism
The caravan's strange prayers and symbols, along with the cats' ritualistic behavior, suggest hidden, ancient rites.
Horror of the Unknown
The mysterious disappearance and return of the cats, the strange sounds at night, and the unexplained deaths of the old couple evoke fear of the unknown.
Characters to notice
- Menes
A young boy from a caravan of strange wanderers who prays for justice after his black kitten is killed by the old couple.
- Little Atal
The innkeeper's son who claims to have seen the cats of Ulthar circling the old couple's cottage in a ritualistic manner.
- The Servants
The old cotter and his wife who trap and kill cats, later found as skeletons in their cottage.
Key passages
“It is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no man may kill a cat; and this I can verily believe as I gaze upon him who sitteth purring before the fire.”
In the town of Ulthar, across the Skai River, it is forbidden to kill a cat, a fact I believe as I watch my own cat purring by the fire.
Opening lines establishing the central law of Ulthar.
“For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men can not see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroë and Ophir.”
Cats are mysterious and connected to unseen forces, embodying the spirit of ancient Egypt and carrying stories from lost cities.
Describes the cat's mystical and ancient nature.
“And when they had broken down the frail door they found only this: two cleanly picked human skeletons on the earthen floor, and a number of singular beetles crawling in the shadowy corners.”
Upon breaking the door, they discovered two human skeletons, completely stripped of flesh, with unusual beetles in the dark corners.
The grim discovery of the old couple's fate.