King o' the Cats - A Feline Folktale — RAE ROSE ILLUSTRATION

King o’ the Cats - pencil on paper, and key motif for the pattern collection

King o' the Cats is a folktale from the British Isles that expresses the story of the hidden lives of our cats outside the home, and is a powerful metaphor for rebirth and renewal.

Appearing in different forms by numerous writers from at least the 16th Century, versions of The King o’ the Cats folktale appear in both the British Isles, and across Europe. The basic gist of the story is that a man travelling alone sees a cat (or just hears a voice) that speaks to him, saying to tell someone (with a strange name or 'Tom Tildrum') that someone else (also with a strange name or 'Tim Toidrum') has died.

In some versions of the story, the man also sees a group of nine black cats with a white spot on their chest and vivid green glowing eyes carrying a small coffin, covered with a black velvet pall and a small gold coronet. On each third step the cats all cry out 'miaou' together. Some versions describe a heavy mountain mist, a strange light, and the funeral taking place in the area of a great old hollow oak tree.

On returning home the man relayed the story of what he had experienced to his wife, noticing that their cat 'Old Tom' was also listening intently. After a while, their cat interrupts the man shrieking out 'What, old Tom dead! then I'm the King o' the Cats!', before rushing up the chimney to never be seen again.⁠

King o’ the cats in ireland

In some other countries such as Ireland, the King of the Cats is a much darker tale, suggesting that harming a cat may be the best way to find out if it has claim to royalty. Many versions of the Irish folktale thankfully end with a stern warning; that bringing harm to a house cat was sure to lead to hearing some very unpleasant truths, or even death to the person that inflicted the injury.

king o’ the cats folktale Toile du Jouy surface pattern - collection inspiration

The hero pattern in this collection features the King o’ the cats in a midnight garden, and is in a reversed Toile du Jouy inspired pastoral style scene. Reversed Toile du Jouy featured in a 2021 trend collection by Dior, and traditionally is a decorative pattern consisting of a white or off-white background containing a repeated motif which depicts a complex scene, generally of a pastoral or nature theme.

This hand drawn illustrative pattern is available to buy in my Patternbank store, as a commercial art license to create 2022 Toile du Jouy trend apparel, homeware, maximalist interiors, gift and stationary.