Rina De Gatos | Goya

Museo del Prado - Madrid

Inscription on a royal tomb at Thebes, Egypt

"Thou art the Great Cat, the avenger of the gods, and the judge of words, and the president of the sovereign chiefs and the governor of the holy Circle; thou art indeed... the Great Cat."

Fernando Botero

Arthur Conan Doyle | The Brazilian Cat

It is hard luck on a young fellow to have expensive tastes, great expectations, aristocratic connections, but no actual money in his pocket, and no profession by which he may earn any. The fact was that my father, a good, sanguine, easy-going man, had such confidence in the wealth and benevolence of his bachelor elder brother, Lord Southerton, that he took it for granted that I, his only son, would never be called upon to earn a living for myself. He imagined that if there were not a vacancy for me on the great Southerton Estates, at least there would be found some post in that diplomatic service which still remains the special preserve of our privileged classes. He died too early to realize how false his calculations had been. Neither my uncle nor the State took the slightest notice of me, or showed any interest in my career. An occasional brace of pheasants, or basket of hares, was all that ever reached me to remind me that I was heir to Otwell House and one of the richest estates in the country. In the meantime, I found myself a bachelor and man about town, living in a suite of apartments in Grosvenor Mansions, with no occupation save that of pigeon-shooting and polo-playing at Hurlingham. Month by month I realized that it was more and more difficult to get the brokers to renew my bills, or to cash any further post-obis upon an unentailed property. Ruin lay right accross my path, and every day, I saw it clearer, nearer, and more absolutely unavoidable.

Continue here.

Wanda Wulz's self-portrait

 Io+gatto (I+cat; 1932)

Franz Kafka | A Little Fable

"Alas," said the mouse, "the whole world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into."

"You only need to change your direction", said the cat, and ate it up.

Franz Kafka

Μικρός μύθος

«Αχ», είπε ο ποντικός,
«μικραίνει ο κόσμος κάθε μέρα.
Μεγάλος ήταν στην αρχή,
κι εγώ τον έτρεμα,
έφευγα κι ήμουν τυχερός,
που έβλεπα από μακριά
τοίχους δεξιά κι αριστερά,
γρήγορα όμως να συναντιούνται,
κι εγώ στο τελευταίο να βρίσκομαι δωμάτιο,
και στη γωνιά μπροστά μου η φάκα».
«Απλά πρέπει να στρίψεις»,
είπε στον ποντικό η γάτα
και τον κατάπιε.


(ποιητική απόδοση)