“The Cats of Ulthar”

An amusing anecdote: I showed this review series to some of my friends, and one of them who knows about Lovecraft only by reputation was amused that "HP" stood for something as mundane as "Howard Phillips." Naturally, we sat down to think of some better names for his initials to stand for. The winner was Harry Potter.

Anyway, "The Cats of Ulthar" is another fantasy story along the lines of "Sarnath," and could easily take place in the same world. I'm told that in the following years Lovecraft would tie most of these Dunsany-inspired tales together for his coherent Dreamlands setting, so perhaps they are. Its not clear if Lovecraft was already intending for that connection to exist when he wrote "Ulthar," but as long as there's nothing contradictory I have no trouble with accepting them as a natural expansion on each other rather than a retcon.

This story was published in The Tryout. While he still preferred The Vagrant and The United Amateur, Lovecraft seemed to have a better experience with this magazine than he did with some of the others, as he published a couple more stories with Tryout after this.

I should also note that I read "The Cats of Ulthar" shortly before starting this thread, so I'm not going to have the same fresh perspective that I do with the stories that I've never read or only read years ago. I'll try and imagine that this is a blind read as best I can.

“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.”

I hope this entire story isn't going to be written in pseudo Middle English. The "sitteth" sticks out like a sore thumb against the otherwise modern prose.

“For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroë and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle’s lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten.”

While its true that cats are sometimes uncommunicative, are related to lions, and existed long before the Egyptian stonecarvers ever looked at one and thought "duuuude, we should make a giant statue of one of those, but with, like, a woman's face bro," I would hesitate to credit this species with too much lore and wisdom. Don't get me wrong, I love cats as much as the next girl - probably much more than the next girl, honestly - but at the same time...

Well, lets see what makes the cats of Ulthar special.

“In Ulthar, before ever the burgesses forbade the killing of cats, there dwelt an old cotter and his wife who delighted to trap and slay the cats of their neighbours. Why they did this I know not; save that many hate the voice of the cat in the night, and take it ill that cats should run stealthily about yards and gardens at twilight. But whatever the reason, this old man and woman took pleasure in trapping and slaying every cat which came near to their hovel; and from some of the sounds heard after dark, many villagers fancied that the manner of slaying was exceedingly peculiar. But the villagers did not discuss such things with the old man and his wife; because of the habitual expression on the withered faces of the two, and because their cottage was so small and so darkly hidden under spreading oaks at the back of a neglected yard. In truth, much as the owners of cats hated these odd folk, they feared them more; and instead of berating them as brutal assassins, merely took care that no cherished pet or mouser should stray toward the remote hovel under the dark trees. When through some unavoidable oversight a cat was missed, and sounds heard after dark, the loser would lament impotently; or console himself by thanking Fate that it was not one of his children who had thus vanished.”

"Burgess" is a uniquely English class of lawmakers. Interesting that Lovecraft would choose it for a town in a fantasy setting, even given his strong Anglophile tendencies. I imagine Ulthar is meant to look like an English countryside village, based on that word choice, so I'm now picturing it with a sort of pre-Victorian rustic aesthetic.

There's a creepy old carpenter and his creepy old wife who hate cats and torture them to death if they catch any on their property. Sadly, this is somewhat true to life; especially in medieval Europe, torturing cats was known to be a guilty pleasure of some, and every once in a while you hear of it still happening today. This particular pair of cat-murderers clearly don't have the approval of their neighbors though, so I have to wonder why the other Ultharites are putting up with it. Cats aren't just pets in a farming community, they do an important job in keeping the granaries free of mice and other small mammalian thieves, which Lovecraft acknowledges here by mentioning "mousers." At the very least, I'd expect there to be some financial liability if these two are killing other people's verminators.

Maybe its just that they can't prove it. I guess that would make sense.

“For the people of Ulthar were simple, and knew not whence it is all cats first came.”

I'm going to assume that in this setting the answer to that question is something other than "northern Africa."

On a related topic, its interesting to note that the narrator - presumably a native of this world - mentions Egypt, Africa, and the sphinx in his intro. He seems to know an awful lot about Earth. While I haven't read the major Dreamlands stories yet, I know through osmosis that its possible for Earth humans to visit the Dreamlands, and - I would only assume - for Dreamlands natives to visit Earth. In that case, our narrator might have been to Earth or at least met people from there who told him these things, or he could be an earthling himself recounting a story he heard in the Dreamlands.

This is kind of a mindfuck, to be honest, but in a good way.

“One day a caravan of strange wanderers from the South entered the narrow cobbled streets of Ulthar. Dark wanderers they were, and unlike the other roving folk who passed through the village twice every year. In the market-place they told fortunes for silver, and bought gay beads from the merchants. What was the land of these wanderers none could tell; but it was seen that they were given to strange prayers, and that they had painted on the sides of their wagons strange figures with human bodies and the heads of cats, hawks, rams, and lions. And the leader of the caravan wore a head-dress with two horns and a curious disc betwixt the horns.

There was in this singular caravan a little boy with no father or mother, but only a tiny black kitten to cherish. The plague had not been kind to him, yet had left him this small furry thing to mitigate his sorrow; and when one is very young, one can find great relief in the lively antics of a black kitten. So the boy whom the dark people called Menes smiled more often than he wept as he sate playing with his graceful kitten on the steps of an oddly painted wagon.”

Wagon train full of fortune tellers and curiosity merchants sounds a lot like Gypsies, or a fantasy cultural counterpart of theirs. But then, the kid traveling with them has a very Egyptian sounding name, the figures painted on their wagons sound a lot like the gods Bast, Horus, Hathor, and Sekhmet, and the caravanmaster's headdress reminds me of Egyptian religion iconography with its bull horns and solar disc. Add in the references to Egypt during the intro, and it becomes hard to avoid the conclusion that that's what they are.

There's two possibilities I can think of. One is that this is a fictional Dreamlands ethnicity that Lovecraft invented by combining features of two different societies from our world. The other is that these people are Egyptians, or at least had Egyptian ancestors, and since coming to the Dreamlands their society has changed into one of nomadic merchants, with their resemblance to Gypsies being a case of convergent social evolution. The second option is more interesting to me, so I think I'm going to stick with that unless something contradicts it.

Getting back to the events of the story itself, Lovecraft managed to evoke some real pathos with the plague-orphaned Menes and the kitten that makes his life bearable. That kitty was almost certainly the comfort object he latched onto to cope with his parents' deaths. Given that there's a pair of cat-murdering cotters in Ulthar who Menes presumably hasn't been warned about...this story is likely to have a sad ending. 3:

I wonder how much of himself Lovecraft projected into Menes. He lost his father as a small child, and a year before writing this story his mother was taken away to an asylum. Lovecraft was also a famous cat lover.

“On the third morning of the wanderers’ stay in Ulthar, Menes could not find his kitten; and as he sobbed aloud in the market-place certain villagers told him of the old man and his wife, and of sounds heard in the night.”

>:(

“And when he heard these things his sobbing gave place to meditation, and finally to prayer. He stretched out his arms toward the sun and prayed in a tongue no villager could understand; though indeed the villagers did not try very hard to understand, since their attention was mostly taken up by the sky and the odd shapes the clouds were assuming. It was very peculiar, but as the little boy uttered his petition there seemed to form overhead the shadowy, nebulous figures of exotic things; of hybrid creatures crowned with horn-flanked discs. Nature is full of such illusions to impress the imaginative.”

Menes, it seems, is some kind of wizard. Or perhaps he's just trying this spell or prayer or whatever that he once heard of in blind hope, and, in a one-in-a-million chance, the entity on the receiving end decided to listen.

I wonder if the Ultharites have any sort of practical magic of their own, if that's a thing in the Dreamlands? If so, I imagine its not as impressive as what Menes is doing, or the villagers wouldn't be so amazed at the cloud figures. Then again, they might not have put two and two together with the cloud shapes and the meditating Egypsy kid, and just think they're watching an amusing natural phenomenon. The last sentence supports that interpretation.

Hopefully the spell isn't going to fail and bring the kitty back as some tormented zombie. Even if it comes back alive and healthy, its never going to be the same with its memories of being tortured to death by humans. 3:<

“That night the wanderers left Ulthar, and were never seen again. And the householders were troubled when they noticed that in all the village there was not a cat to be found. From each hearth the familiar cat had vanished; cats large and small, black, grey, striped, yellow, and white. Old Kranon, the burgomaster, swore that the dark folk had taken the cats away in revenge for the killing of Menes’ kitten; and cursed the caravan and the little boy. But Nith, the lean notary, declared that the old cotter and his wife were more likely persons to suspect; for their hatred of cats was notorious and increasingly bold. Still, no one durst complain to the sinister couple; even when little Atal, the innkeeper’s son, vowed that he had at twilight seen all the cats of Ulthar in that accursed yard under the trees, pacing very slowly and solemnly in a circle around the cottage, two abreast, as if in performance of some unheard-of rite of beasts. The villagers did not know how much to believe from so small a boy; and though they feared that the evil pair had charmed the cats to their death, they preferred not to chide the old cotter till they met him outside his dark and repellent yard.”

Well that's ominous.

I guess Menes' invocation didn't bring his kitty back to life after all, but instead is doing something else involving the local cats. The innkeeper's kid claims to have seen the cats circling around the cottage of the cat-murdering couple...which is kind of odd, as you'd think plenty of other people would have noticed that too.

It seems Menes brought down some kind of cat-related curse on the heads of the people who killed his pet. I'd also like to point out that the Ultharites are seriously discussing the possibility that the old couple have charmed the cats to their deaths; this implies that its NOT unheard of for local people to use magic. I'm pleased by that. Having the European-inspired society be just like mundane Earth humans while the Egypsies are all supernatural and mysterious would be annoyingly Orientalist.

“So Ulthar went to sleep in vain anger; and when the people awaked at dawn—behold! every cat was back at his accustomed hearth! Large and small, black, grey, striped, yellow, and white, none was missing.”

:3 :3 :3

“Very sleek and fat did the cats appear, and sonorous with purring content.”

Hahahaha, oh I know what happened!

“The citizens talked with one another of the affair, and marvelled not a little. Old Kranon again insisted that it was the dark folk who had taken them, since cats did not return alive from the cottage of the ancient man and his wife. But all agreed on one thing: that the refusal of all the cats to eat their portions of meat or drink their saucers of milk was exceedingly curious. And for two whole days the sleek, lazy cats of Ulthar would touch no food, but only doze by the fire or in the sun.”

Yep. Two days worth of mystery food for the local kitty community.

“It was fully a week before the villagers noticed that no lights were appearing at dusk in the windows of the cottage under the trees. Then the lean Nith remarked that no one had seen the old man or his wife since the night the cats were away. In another week the burgomaster decided to overcome his fears and call at the strangely silent dwelling as a matter of duty, though in so doing he was careful to take with him Shang the blacksmith and Thul the cutter of stone as witnesses. 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.”

Those people are really afraid of the old couple. Why? Torturing cats to death is not the sign of a healthy and well adjusted mind, sure, but there's a huge leap from that to actually attacking a fellow villager. Let alone one who confronts them openly. Are they still seriously considering the possibility that the old couple have magic? The Ultharites seem oddly meek and cowardly.

Upon entering the house, they find exactly what I thought they would find. The "singular beetles" hiding near the skeletons are probably meant to be sexton beetles, which are known for carrying off bits of dead mammal to lay their eggs in. Presumably they played a small part in reducing the corpses to their current, fleshless state.

As for what did the brunt of the flesh-eating, here is a police sketch based on the available evidence by the UPD task force assigned to the case.

I wonder how many cats there are in Ulthar altogether. Two human corpses worth of meat kept all of them satisfied for two days, so it couldn't be THAT many. Still enough to maul a couple of old people to death I guess, though.

I just hope the cats haven't developed a taste for human flesh after this, or babies are likely to be in danger. I prefer to think that the nature of Menes' spell prevented this from happening.

“There was subsequently much talk among the burgesses of Ulthar. Zath, the coroner, disputed at length with Nith, the lean notary; and Kranon and Shang and Thul were overwhelmed with questions. Even little Atal, the innkeeper’s son, was closely questioned and given a sweetmeat as reward. They talked of the old cotter and his wife, of the caravan of dark wanderers, of small Menes and his black kitten, of the prayer of Menes and of the sky during that prayer, of the doings of the cats on the night the caravan left, and of what was later found in the cottage under the dark trees in the repellent yard.

And in the end the burgesses passed that remarkable law which is told of by traders in Hatheg and discussed by travellers in Nir; namely, that in Ulthar no man may kill a cat.”

The end. :3

Definitely one of the most enjoyable tales so far. Its written in the same fairy-tale style omniscient narration as "The Doom that Came to Sarnath," but it has more personality and intimacy to it owing to the small scale of the events and characterization of the players. The framing device of the storyteller watching his cat sleep on the mantelpiece while he tells the story adds an intriguing layer of questions to the story: are we on Earth, or in the world that contains Ulthar? How did this information come to pass between the worlds?

It also makes me wonder how Menes and the Ultharites were both effected by the events. Did Menes ever find out if his prayer worked or not? Was this a growing experience for him, or simply another misfortunate that left him bitter and cynical? Did he ever get another kitten to replace the one he lost, and was he able to develop the same attachment to it after what happened to the last one? For their part, do the Ultharites now fear foreigners because of the power that the Egypsies demonstrated? Are they afraid that the local cats might retain some glimmer of intelligence and united purpose in the wake of the event, or are they sure that the cats have gone back to normal now that the spell is over? The anti cat-killing law implies the former, but that could also be motivated by the desire to avoid pissing off any future merchants who might punish them for such acts rather than a fear of the cats themselves.

For that matter, what DID Menes' invocation do, exactly? Did it make the cats temporarily intelligent and vengeful, or was it something less conscious from the cats' perspectives? Did the cats actually KILL the old couple, or merely eat them after the two were slain by some magical effect or manifested Egypsy deity?

More than anything else, this story makes me very curious to learn more about this fantastical world and the peoples who inhabit it, especially the nature of their connections to disparate times and places in Earth history.

I do have one nitpick with this story though. The detail about the innkeeper's son seeing the cats preparing their attack on the old couple's house gave the game away too early, and took away from the impact when its actually spelled out. The story would have been better without that.


Later in that same November, Lovecraft published one other story, this one in The United Amateur. Its title should mean something to anyone with even a passing familiarity with Lovecraft's work.

"Nyarlathotep."