Greetings Humans! It’s a lazy Saturday afternoon and my Mommy just feels like lying on the couch, reading her book. Me, on the other hand, are as awake as a kitten who were up half the night chasing imaginary mice, can be. And I want to take part in The Classics Club Classic Meme 2.0. The latest question they gave us to ponder about is:
Who is your favorite Classic Character? Why?
Technically, that’s two questions. But let’s not split hairs about it. My Mommy says one should always be polite and being a nosy wise-ass isn’t polite at all. She didn’t particularly wanted to answer this question, but she gladly passed it on to me. I wonder if you will be able to guess my favorite classic character? Not difficult at all. I’ll give you 10 more seconds.
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I have enough faith in the human race to believe some of you did guess correctly. Of course my favorite Classic Character is
Just to clarify – my favorite character is the cat, not Dick. I’m sure the story/folklore of Dick Whittington and his Cat, will need not introduction on this platform. This is a rags to riches/Cinderella tail tale where a cat saves the day and end up being both the fairy god-cat and the prince in shining fur. Seeing that all his doings resulted in Dick Whittington becoming mayor of London, I do hope that he spend the remainder of his fruitful life eating only salmon and drinking full cream milk. Once again, the cat. Not Dick Whittington. I’m quite sure he dined on salmon and full cream milk due to the cleverness of his cat until his dying day.
There are a number of different versions of the story. In some, Dick buys a cat after he did some shoe shining. In others, he found a parrot in a tree and after the rightful owners (of the parrot, not of Dick. He was nothing but a poor orphan boy) rewarded him a tenpence, he bought himself a cat to catch the mice in the attic he slept in.
When Mr. Fitzwaren’s, that’s the rich merchant in whose attic Dick and his cat slept, ships set sail on a trade mission, each servant in the household sent something with the ship which could be sold and the profit would be his/hers. Poor Dick only had his cat. In some versions of the tail tale, he gave his cat to the merchant and stayed behind in London. In another version, the one we prefer, Dick decided to go with the ship as he couldn’t bare to part with his beloved cat. Of course he had to contemplate about this for way to long and as he was sitting on a stone, wondering if he made the right decision, the church bells started ringing and in his own later-day tall-tail retellings – the bells called out to him:
“Go Whittington, go! You will come back to be the mayor of London!”
Between you and me, I am convinced the cat actually just purred in his ears and would do anything to get him to move his blooming ass and get on that ship. Today there is a monument to his cat near the Whittington Stone pub at the foot of Highgate Hill where Dick sat down and heard the famous bells/purrs.
So Dick and his cat sailed away with the ship and they visited many countries where the cat dined on various species of mice and rats. He got so proficient in this (the cat, not Dick. Mice and rats gave him an upset stomach) that when they reached a foreign island that was plagued with rats, Dick was so confident in his cat’s rat-killing abilities, that he made an agreement with the king to pay him in gold for every rat that his cat could catch on the island. The cat caught so many rats, that the king rewarded Dick with a ton of gold. Since Dick’s cat had made him a very rich man, they decided to go home.
Upon their return, Dick who was now called Mr. Richard Whittington, married Alice Fitzwaren and his cat had a place of honour at the wedding feast. And a nice, pink salmon. A whole one. Okay, I made that up. But it could be true.
In 1396, Richard Whittington was appointed magistrate of London and in the next year, he became mayor of the city. Just as the bells and the purrs had promised him years before. Sir Richard had an image of his cat put on his coat or arms.
The final part of the question asked by Classics Club, is why is our chosen classic character your favorite?
Well, beside the obvious similarities between myself and my chosen character, this story proofs that having a cat in your life, will turn your life from rags to riches. You also won’t need a fairy godmother or a handsome prince to rescue you from whatever dismal situation you find yourself in. Just catch a parrot or shine some shoes and buy yourself a cat. Your life will never be the same.
Who is your favorite Classic Character? Do you know any interesting tidbits about Dick Whittington or his cat?
I’m going to go and curl up with my Mommy and make her life even better now. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Lots of Love,
Share the Meows
Oh, my goodness! Dick Whittington and his Cat! I'd forgotten all about that lovely story. I think I was 8 years old when I read it. So much <3
~ Lex (lexlingua.co)
I have never read Dick Whittington but I did know there was a cat involved!
Thank you! I did not know all this about Dick Whittington and his (wonderful) Cat! Excellent choice! Definitely the funnest post I've read in a while. =^..^=
Hi there Michelle! I am so glad to hear you've enjoyed our post and that you know the story of Dick Whittington and his wonderful cat. I'm quite surprised to see how many people actually don't. I thought everyone around the world will know this story.
Thanks for stopping by!
fabulous post. thanks for the chuckles
sherry @ fundinmental
Hi there Sherry! Spur of the moment post and we had lots of fun doing it!
I've never read this story; in fact, I've never even known the gist of it. I can certainly see why Elsa is enamored of it, though.
Hi there Deb! Now I find that hard to believe. I would have thought you know just about every folktale ever out there!
So glad I could teach you something new for a change.
I don't remember reading this specific story, but seeing the top cover of the Ladybird book slammed me back to childhood, so thank you! My parents are British so most of our treasured childhood books were from the Ladybird collection. I loved those books!
Hi Helen! We also grew up with the Ladybird series and we have so many Ladybird books in the library. The kids still love it to this day and we even have a number of them in Afrikaans translations.
Glad you could stop by!
Dick Whittington who ? OK, ok, I read your post so now I know 😉 My favourite is Jane Eyre because she's awesome ^^
Hi there IzaBzh! Good grief, I truly thought everyone on the planet knew this story! I'm amazed to realize it's not the case.
Oh yes, Jane Eyre is a wonderful character and one can write blogpost upon blogpost about her.
Glad I could introduce you to Dick Whittington and his lovely cat.
I guess I need a cat! I’ve never had one before. 🙂
Aj @ Read All The Things!
Hi AJ! Good Grief! How did you get through life this far? Oh you need to get a kitty cat….
Well of course!
So glad you got it. It doesn't appear as if this story is as popular as I believed it to be!