Cath Palug
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Cath Palug, also Cath Paluc, Cath Balug, Cath Balwg, Chapalu, Capalu, or Capalus, literally "Palug's cat", or maybe from the Welsh 'palug,' meaning 'clawing,' was a monstrous cat in Welsh legend. (Triads 23). It was said to haunt the Isle of Anglesey, and to have killed and eaten nine score warriors. Another tradition of unknown origin associates it with the Mont du Chat in the Savoie region of France, near Lake Geneva. The Welsh Triads make it the offspring of an enormous pig, Henwen, and claim that at birth it was thrown into the sea to drown. Surviving, it instead swam to Anglesey where the sons of Palug raised it, not realizing its deadly potential. Escaping, it wreaked havoc until slain by Cai (Sir Kay.) In other versions, the victorious hero is King Arthur himself, while still others claim that Arthur was in fact defeated by the Cat in a battle fought in a swamp near the Mont du Chat.
Descriptions of the Cat as ‘speckled’ may indicate that the legend springs from a leopard kept by one of the kings of Anglesey that escaped and terrorized the region.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- Bromwich, Rachel (ed)(1964) Trioedd Ynys Prydain. Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1964.
- The Welsh Triads. Peniarth MS 54, Triad 23 Three Powerful Swineherds of the Islad of Prydain..
