HP

Pong Crafts. The Cats of Ols are.

The Cats of Ols are by H.P. Lovecraft. It is said that an Altar which lies beyond the river sky, no man may kill a cat, and this I can verily believe as I gaze upon him who siteth purring

before the fire.

For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see.

He is the soul of antique Agibdis and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Merri-Ano-Wea-Ano-Fear.

He is the kin of the jungle's lords and heir to the secrets of Horry 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. In Ulthar, before ever the Burgesses forbade the killing of cats, there dwelt an old cotter in his wife who

delighted to trap and slay the cats of their neighbors.

Why they did this I know not, save that many hate the voice of the cat and the night, and take it ill that

cat 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 oddfolk, 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.

Went 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.

...