Animal Stories

An inquisitive monk spied on a guest’s night-time walks.

Coldingham (today just across the Scottish border) was at one time home to a monastery for men and women. The Abbess was Ebbe, who as it happens was also a princess – a real historical fact. She invited Cuthbert to stay there for a few days.

Read

(That’s cat-tails, obviously.) And who ever said cats were unpredictable?

Charles Fox was a Whig politician who served briefly as Foreign Secretary. A staunch opponent of King George III, he once dressed himself in the colours of the American revolutionary army. But he was also friends with Prince George, the King’s son.

Read

Mrs Tabby White thought she’d try some of the clever things her humans did.

Mrs White does everything she can for her kittens, but she can’t do what her humans do, and she starts to wonder if she’s a failure as a mother.

Read

Ruth Lorimer’s strangely comfortless life changes when she finds a scruffy little cat on the stairs, but not everyone is pleased.

Little Ruth Lorimer has nice toys and a nice house, but she is dreadfully lonely. Then one day a scruffy little cat brings some warmth into her life.

Read

A tortoiseshell laments his hard life among heartless humans.

A tortoiseshell cat is chatting with a rather skinny grey cat. It is so difficult, he says plaintively, for a cat to find a proper home.

Read

Cats do have a conscience: it tells them when to look innocent.

According to Jerome’s friend Jephson, alongside Nonconformists cats are the only creatures in this world with a functioning conscience. ‘You might almost think they had a soul.’

Read