Notes and Queries/Series 2/Volume 11/Doldrum, King of the Cats

Doldrum, King of the Cats (1^st S. vi. 70.; 2^nd S. x. 463.) — This tale is told in Ireland also, "with a difference" which makes it somewhat more poetical. [By the bye, Doldrum, not Dildrum, was the Lancashire cat-king: in these days of dynastic vicissitude, "N. & Q." should be especially correct about royal matters; posterity might be puzzled else.] A county-of-Meath farmer was riding home at nightfall, when, in hastening past a suspicious-looking churchyard, a cat jumped from the wall on his horse's back, clawed up his shoulder, and whispered in his ear: "Go home, and tell Maud that Maudlin is dead." Home he sped; and taking off his boots at the kitchen fire, where his own cat gravely superintended the operation—"I have just had a beautiful fright, my woman," says he; "I was bid to go home and tell you, Maud, that Maudlin is dead." Into the middle of the room jumps she; sets up her back and likewise a terrible howl, dashes through the window, and was never seen or heard of from that hour. Maudlin, I suppose, was the Irish Queen of the Cats, or at least the Lady-Lieutenant; and Maud was, perhaps, one of her Maids of Honour. Any how, the story is religiously believed in Ireland by every truePusseyite.

This is a Scandinavian legend, probably, like some others, brought in by the Danes. Its more complete form will be found in the legend of "The Troll turned Cat," one of the Scandinavian legends in the Fairy Mythology.K.