The Irish have always looked on cats as evil and mysteriously connected
with some demoniacal influence. 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."
It is believed that the devil often assumes the form of these animals. The
familiar of a witch is always a black cat; and it is supposed that black cats
have powers and faculties quite different from all other of the feline tribe.
They are endowed with reason, can understand conversations, and are quite
able to talk if they considered it advisable and judicious to join in the
conversation. Their temperament is exceedingly unamiable, they are artful,
malignant, and skilled in deception, and people should be very cautious in
caressing them, for they have the venomous heart and the evil eye, and are
ever ready to do an injury. Yet the liver of a black cat has the singular power
to excite love when properly administered. If ground to powder and infused
into potion, the recipient is fated to love passionately the person who offers
it and has worked the charm.
An instance of this is narrated as having happened not very long ago. A
farmer's daughter, a pretty coquette, attracted the attention of the young
squire of the place. But though he was willing to carry on a flirtation, the
young gentleman had no idea of debasing his proud lineage by an alliance.
Yet a marriage Was exactly what the girl desired, and which she was
determined to accomplish. So she and a friend, an accomplice, searched the
village till they found a black cat, black as night, with only three white hairs
on the breast. Him they seized, and having tied up the animal in a bag, they
proceeded to throw him from one to the other over a low wall, till the poor
beast was quite dead. Then at midnight they began their unholy work. 'The
liver and heart were extracted in the name of the Evil One, and then boiled
down until they became so dry that they could easily be reduced to a
powder, which was kept for use when opportunity offered. This soon came;
the young squire arrived one evening as usual, to pay a visit to the pretty
Nora, and began to make love to the girl with the ordinary amount of
audacity and hypocrisy. But Nora had other views, so she made the tea by
her little fire in a black teapot, for this was indispensable, and induced her
lover to stay and partake of it with her, along with a fresh griddle cake.
Then cunningly she infused the powder into his cup and watched him as he
drank the tea with feverish anxiety. The result was even beyond her hopes.
A violent and ardent passion seemed suddenly to have seized the young
man, and he not only made earnest love to the pretty Nora, but offered her
his hand in marriage, vowing that he would kill himself if she refused to
become his lawful bride. To avoid such a catastrophe, Nora gently yielded
to his request, and from that evening they were engaged. Daily visits
followed from the young squire, and each time that he came Nora took care
to repeat the charm of the love powder, so that the love was kept at fever
heat, and finally the wedding day was fixed.
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