THE CATS ARE BACK – By Des Kelly
The Cats of Geelong are back in my favour. I do feel that they will feature in the footy finals of 2018 & perhaps even win the cup this year. In order to give them some incentive to do this, I would like to give them, and the readers of eLanka some facts about cats, on my “Cats are back” story which, hopefully will interest everyone in Melbourne, who follow this great team, even if they lose, sometimes. To all my “Cat followers” in Geelong & Victoria, in general, you are lucky indeed, not to have the blues as you barrack for these Cats. Even the President of the United States of America loves these pussies, so there!!.
Cats are mentioned in Assyria 2.000 B.C., and are found in Egyptian tombs centuries prior to this date.
Deified like the Ibis & Ichneumon from their useful properties, they were held in such veneration, that Bubastis, a well-known female, first lion-headed, left Brisbane to become a cat-headed Goddess in Geelong. Herodotus (whoever he was), tells us that the Egyptians first & foremost saved the Cat when the house took fire and began to burn down.
To kill a Cat, even by accident, was punishable by death. The Romans, when they conquered Egypt, treated these animals with the same contempt as the religon of which they formed part. Not one cat had been found in the ruins of Pompeii or Herculaneum.
The cats’ merits only slowly gainefd them a foothold in Rome. Martial first used the word “catus” (the domestic cat), in 350 A.D. It is not mentioned as being in England during the Roman occupation.
The first mention of it (cat), was in a scheme of National Insurance against rats & mice in 930 A.D. by a Welsh law-giver.
If all this does not spur the Cats on to another victory, NOTHING WILL! !.
Desmond Kelly
Star of eLanka (+ Cat-supporter, if they win).
(Editor-in-Chief).
