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Freya's Day, Friday

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Katie-Ellen

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Here is Freya, travelling in style as she does, in her chariot drawn by cats.


Freyas cats.jpg



SOURCE An Animated History of Cats: How Over 10,000 Years the Cat Went from Wild Predator to Sofa Sidekick

Felis silvestris lybica
, a subspecies of wildcat that can be traced to the Fertile Crescent some 12,000 years ago, emerges as the true star.


In a Neolithic spin of "The Farmer in the Dell," the troughs and urns in which ancient farmers stored surplus grain attracted mice and rats, who in turn attracted these muscular, predatory cats.

They got the job done.

Human and cats’ mutually beneficial relationship spelled bad news for the rodent population, but survival for today’s 600-million-some domestic cats, whose DNA is shockingly similar to that of its prehistoric ancestors.

Having proved their value to the human population in terms of pest control, cats quickly found themselves elevated to welcome companions of soldiers and sailors, celebrated for their ability to knock out rope-destroying vermin, as well as dangerous animals on the order of snakes and scorpions.

Thus did cats’ influence spread.

Bastet, the Egyptian goddess of domesticity, women's secrets, fertility, and childbirth is unmistakably feline.

Cats draw the chariot of Freya, the Norse goddess of love.

Their popularity dipped briefly in the Late Middle Ages, when humankind mistakenly credited cats as the source of the plague. In truth, that scourge was spread by rodents, who ran unchecked after men rounded up their feline predators for a gruesome slaughter.
 
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Very true. You can't live in the country without cats; you will find cockroaches, lizards, snakes, beetles, spiders; in, on, under and over your bed without them. Once, years ago, when I didn't have a cat, a rodent ate up the tubes and insides of my brand new washing machine. :mad:
 
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6 mice the other night. Puss woke me up every time to show me each and everyone of them. It started at 2 AM. I have to say I got a bit fed up cleaning up after him.

I didn't know cats were temporarily and mistakenly blamed for spreading the plague. That's interesting.

Cats rule. Or at least mine thinks he does. Well, actually he does. He wouldn't pull me around in a chariot. I'm pulling him around in a chariot.
 
My old cat Pushkin (named after the Russian writer) used to bring me presents of live mice and birds, which he'd release to go and eat some Brekkies, leaving me to capture them! This usually meant moving large items of furniture—impossible with the weighty bookcase, so I used a bamboo cane to probe them out. I also acquired a large butterfly net, which helped to catch fluttering starlings and scurrying rodents.
 
I also acquired a large butterfly net
That's a great idea. Must get one. At times I have all sorts of creatures sharing my home after having escaped the claws.

A friend of mine once heard a commotion at the back door. So she checked. It was her cat, wrestling a joint of beef through the cat flap. Cooked. Medium rare. On X-mas eve.
 
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