Cat

Xian Li

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Tradition / Region: Chinese mythology
Alternative names: Fairy Wildcat, Fairy Civet
Category: Cat

The Myth

The Xian Li is a wildcat spirit that, after cultivating its powers for a long time, gains supernatural abilities and transforms into a beautiful man or woman. Rather than referring to domestic cats, the ancient Chinese term li described small wild feline-like animals such as leopard cats, lynxes, or certain civets.

According to Chinese tradition, these wildcats could attain spiritual power through long cultivation. Once transformed into human form, they would seduce people in order to absorb their life essence. Like other shape-shifting spirits, they were believed to be eloquent, persuasive, and capable of both charming and harming humans.

The Xian Li belongs to a broader tradition of Chinese animal spirits that achieve supernatural powers through age and cultivation. Like the fox spirit, it could assume human form and interact freely with people, using its beauty and deception to accomplish its goals.

Sources

“仙狸 (Xiānlí).” Chinese Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed July 28, 2026. https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/仙狸

Santo Gato

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Tradition / Region: French Mythology
Alternative names: Santa Gata
Category: Cat

The Myth

The Santo Gato appears as a cat that is believed to be the manifestation of Saint Agatha of Catania. Rather than being an evil creature, it is a supernatural form assumed by the saint to punish those who violate her feast day.

According to Occitan tradition, Saint Agatha’s cult became deeply rooted in Provence, Languedoc, Gascony, and the Pyrenees, where she was invoked for protection against lightning, storms, fire, and destructive weather. On the eve of her feast, church bells rang throughout the night to drive away the demons believed to cause these disasters.

A widespread folk belief held that women were forbidden to bake bread or wash clothes on Saint Agatha’s feast day, as such work was considered disrespectful to the saint. Those who ignored the prohibition risked her punishment. It was said that every year on 5 February, Saint Agatha appeared in the form of a cat—the Santo Gato—to visit and punish women who had worked on her holy day.

The saint’s blessed breads, baked on the eve of her feast and blessed during Mass, were believed to protect people, homes, and property from fire and lightning. In parts of the Pyrenees, her feast was also associated with seasonal rituals intended to hasten the end of winter and the arrival of spring, reflecting the blending of Christian devotion with older folk traditions.

Sources

“Santo Gato.” Wikipédia, l’encyclopédie libre (French Wikipedia). Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed July 28, 2026. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Gato

Ccoa

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Tradition / Region: Peruvian Mythology
Alternative names: Cacya, Chokkechinchay, Choquechinchay
Category: Cat

The Myth

The Ccoa is a fearsome cat-like mountain spirit about 40 centimeters tall and 60 centimeters long, with a broad tail measuring around 30 centimeters. It has gray fur marked with black stripes, a disproportionately large head, and glowing phosphorescent eyes. Hail is said to pour from its eyes and ears, while some traditions describe it as a cat-like bull with blood-red eyes.

According to Andean belief, the Ccoa belongs to the guardian mountain spirits known as the apus and the agricultural spirits called the aukis. Just as condors are their chickens and vicuñas their llamas, the Ccoa is their cat. Its principal home is Mount Ausangate near Kauri in the Cusco region, and it is closely associated with Choquechinchay, the celestial puma represented by the evening star and a constellation.

During the rainy season, the Ccoa emerges from mountain springs in the form of storm clouds. It is feared as a destructive spirit that sweeps its tail through the clouds to unleash violent storms, hail, and deadly lightning. It often destroys crops before harvest, making it one of the greatest threats to farming communities. Whether it acts on its own or carries out the commands of the mountain spirits is uncertain, but it is always treated with caution.

People traditionally viewed the Ccoa in two different ways. Wealthy landowners were believed to serve and honor it, allowing their fields to escape destruction, while poorer farmers fought against it because their crops were ruined by hail and their families afflicted with disease. Sorcerers especially revered the Ccoa, believing it granted supernatural powers to those struck by its lightning.

To appease the spirit, offerings were burned on high mountain ground. These typically included incense, wine, gold and silver tinsel, llama fat, and grains such as cañihua and huairuro. Sorcerers were expected to make regular offerings in gratitude for the powers the Ccoa bestowed. The spirit was believed to become enraged by inadequate offerings, by attempts to drive away its hailstorms, or by the improper burial of unbaptized children, whose souls it was said to claim as servants beneath Mount Ausangate.

In some later traditions, the Ccoa’s role was replaced by Santiago, a more neutral supernatural figure associated with hail and lightning who could both damage and protect crops. Some scholars also suggest that the Ccoa preserves elements of the ancient feline cults of the Chavín civilization.

Sources

Countess Sica. “Ccoa.” A Book of Creatures. September 27, 2019. Accessed July 28, 2026. https://abookofcreatures.com/2019/09/27/ccoa/

Toverkat

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Tradition / Region: Belgian Mythology
Alternative names: Magic Cat, Bewitched Cat
Category: Cat

The Myth

The Toverkat appears as a beautiful spotted cat with uncanny intelligence and supernatural abilities. It can escape any confinement, move with impossible speed, and seems impossible to capture. Rather than directly attacking people, it torments travelers and leads them into fear and confusion.

According to the legend, about fifty years before the story was recorded, three farmers were driving carts loaded with fat pigs to the market in Leuven on a bright September night. As they passed through the Bollo Woods near Tremelo, a beautiful spotted cat suddenly leapt from a thicket. It ran between the farmers’ legs and beneath the carts, meowing in an eerie and unsettling way.

One of the farmers suggested catching the animal. They seized the cat, tied it securely inside a sack, and continued their journey. Yet before they had gone ten paces, the cat was once again running beside them, despite the sack still being tightly fastened.

The strange cat continued to leap effortlessly through the spokes of the moving wagon wheels without suffering any injury, frightening the three men even more. After following them for another hour, they happened to meet a calf dealer on his way to the Leuven market. His cart was pulled by a large dog, and after hearing the farmers’ story, he confidently declared that his dog hated cats and would quickly deal with it.

The dog was released and charged toward the mysterious feline. In an instant, the cat sprang onto the dog’s back, dug its razor-sharp claws deep into its flesh, and clung to it as the terrified dog howled in pain. With the cat still on its back, the animal fled into the forest, disappearing forever.

The dog was never seen again. Left without his beast of burden, the calf dealer was forced to push his cart carrying the live calves all the way to Leuven himself. The tale endured as one of Flanders’ most famous stories of a supernatural or bewitched cat whose powers surpassed both humans and animals.

Sources

De Cock, Alfons. Vlaamsche sagen uit den volksmond. Amsterdam: Maatschappij voor Goede en Goedkoope Lectuur, 1921, p. 40.

Black Cat of Denderleeuw

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Tradition / Region: Belgian Mythology
Alternative names: None recorded
Category: Cat

The Myth

The Black Cat of Denderleeuw appears as an ordinary black cat whose death brings a powerful curse upon those responsible.

According to the legend, a black cat belonging to the Baetens household killed and ate one of their pigeons. Seeking revenge, the family hanged the cat from a tree. From that day onward, a curse fell upon the farm. For the next ten years, no cat could survive there. Every healthy young cat brought into the house soon began to waste away, weakened for no apparent reason, and died after only a short time. The strange succession of deaths was believed to be vengeance for the unjust killing of the black cat.

Sources

De Cock, Alfons. Vlaamsche sagen uit den volksmond. Amsterdam: Maatschappij voor Goede en Goedkoope Lectuur, 1921, p. 40.

Blonde Cats of Denderleeuw

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Tradition / Region: Belgian Mythology
Alternative names: Three Blonde Cats
Category: Cat

The Myth

The Blonde Cats of Denderleeuw appear as three pale blonde cats that roam country roads at midnight. Although they resemble ordinary cats, they can speak with human voices and possess the supernatural ability to multiply endlessly, surrounding and overwhelming anyone they choose to follow.

According to the legend, a man named Jan Saeys was walking home around midnight after drinking. Along the road he encountered three blonde cats and jokingly greeted them, asking, Where are you going, beautiful little blonde cats?

To his horror, the cats answered him in human speech, repeating, Jan Saeys asks me, little blonde cat, where are you going? As they walked beside him, they continued repeating the same words over and over.

Meanwhile, the number of cats steadily increased. Three became many, and soon countless blonde cats surrounded him so densely that he could barely move his feet. Terrified, Jan instantly sobered and hurried home as fast as he could. With one final leap he threw himself inside his house and shut the door behind him.

No sooner had he entered than three tremendous knocks struck the door with such force that the entire house shook. The mysterious visitors never entered, but the terrifying encounter remained one of the supernatural cat legends of Denderleeuw.

Sources

De Cock, Alfons. Vlaamsche sagen uit den volksmond. Amsterdam: Maatschappij voor Goede en Goedkoope Lectuur, 1921, p. 40.

Black Cat of Keerbergen

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Tradition / Region: Belgian Mythology
Alternative names: None recorded
Category: Cat

The Myth

The Black Cat of Keerbergen appears as an ordinary but sinister black cat that suddenly leaps onto the shoulders of lone travelers at night. Once it has attached itself, it cannot be shaken off no matter how hard the victim struggles.

According to the legend, a farm laborer was walking home on a summer evening after working late at a nearby farm. His journey took him past a small pine wood when, without warning, a black cat sprang from one of the trees onto his shoulder. Terrified, he tried desperately to throw it off, shaking and striking at it, but the cat refused to let go.

Almost mad with fear, the man ran the rest of the way home. Only after he reached his house did the cat calmly jump down from his shoulder and disappear without a trace.

The laborer went straight to bed, deeply shaken by the encounter. Three days later, he died. According to the tradition, he had literally been frightened to death by the mysterious black cat.

Sources

De Cock, Alfons. Vlaamsche sagen uit den volksmond. Amsterdam: Maatschappij voor Goede en Goedkoope Lectuur, 1921, p. 40.

Swengkat

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Tradition / Region: Dutch Mythology
Alternative names: Kat op de Sweng, Swengkat van Slochteren
Category: Cat

The Myth

The Swengkat appeared as a large cat sitting silently on the sweng, the crossbeam above the threshing floor inside a barn. It watched the workers with unusual intelligence, staring as though it understood every word they spoke.

According to a folktale from Slochteren, several men were threshing grain with flails, walking back and forth across the barn floor. Throughout their work, a large cat remained perched on the wooden beam above them. One of the workers remarked that the cat seemed to be listening to everything they said, while another admitted that the animal’s unwavering stare made him uneasy.

When the men passed beneath the beam for the third time, the uneasy worker decided to strike the cat. He swung the wooden head of his flail at the animal, causing it to cry out and flee.

At that exact same moment, elsewhere in the farmhouse, the farmer’s wife was found lying in the front room with a broken leg. The incident was understood as proof that the cat had actually been the woman in the form of a witch, and that the injury inflicted upon the animal had appeared on her real body after she resumed her human shape.

Sources

Ter Laan, K. Groninger volksleven. I. Verhalende folklore. Groningen: J.B. Wolters, 1959. 1st ed.

Stretching Lynx

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Tradition / Region: American Mythology
Alternative names: Lynx of Old Man’s Tale
Category: Cat

The Myth

The Stretching Lynx appears as a large wild lynx whose body already resembles that of a modern lynx, though its final appearance is explained through the actions of Old Man, the Blackfoot trickster and culture hero.

One day Old Man encountered a group of squirrels playing a game in hot ashes. The squirrels would bury one another beneath the hot ashes and quickly dig each other out before they were burned. Although they warned Old Man that he would not understand the game, he tricked them into letting him bury them all at once. Instead of rescuing them, he piled on more hot ashes until nearly all the squirrels were roasted alive, sparing only a pregnant squirrel who had begged for mercy.

Old Man built a scaffold from red willow branches and laid the roasted squirrels upon it to cool before eating them. After satisfying his hunger, he lay down to sleep, leaving his Little Brown-Eye to keep watch. While he slept, a lynx quietly approached and devoured every squirrel on the scaffold. Although Little Brown-Eye tried to warn him, Old Man slept through the alarm. Furious when he awoke to find his meal gone, he blamed Little Brown-Eye and burned it with a burning willow stick, creating the origin of the foul-smelling stinking wood.

Old Man then followed the lynx’s greasy tracks until he found it asleep upon a great flat rock. Seizing the animal, he declared that it deserved punishment for stealing his food. He broke off part of its tail, leaving the lynx with its short tail. Standing the animal upright, he grabbed its forelegs and stretched its body until it became long and lean. He then smashed its snout against a rock until it became broad and flat, tore out a handful of hair and fixed it to the animal’s face to create its whiskers, and finally held it over a fire, scorching its sides. These punishments explained why the lynx has its distinctive short tail, flattened face, whiskers, elongated body, and mottled coat.

Afterward, Old Man rested again, but the burn on Little Brown-Eye caused him such discomfort that he repeatedly called for the wind to blow harder to cool it. The wind grew into a violent storm that carried Old Man tumbling across hills and mountains. He grabbed at bushes and trees until only a sturdy birch held firm. When the storm finally subsided, Old Man angrily blamed the birch for ending his wild ride and slashed its bark repeatedly with his knife. According to the tale, the scars still visible on birch trees are the marks left by Old Man’s blade.

Sources

Wissler, Clark, and D. C. Duvall. Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians. Vol. 2, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History. New York: The Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History, 1908. Accessed July 28, 2026. https://archive.org/details/mythologyblackf01duvagoog

Lyub

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Tradition / Region: Russian Mythology
Alternative names: Nelyub
Category: Cat

The Myth

Lyub appears as a large-eared, shaggy, golden-haired cat carrying a stalk of arrowhead in its teeth. It is the guardian spirit of the marriage bed and protects the relationship between husband and wife. Nelyub, its opposite, appears as a shaggy black cat that brings misfortune to the marriage.

To ensure Lyub’s blessing, newlyweds performed special rituals after their wedding. The marriage bed was sprinkled with incense and dedicated to Lyub. The morning after the wedding, the newlyweds’ bloodstained bed sheet was displayed to relatives and in-laws as part of the ritual. A special loaf called lyubok was also baked from rye dough with a symbolic filling placed inside and then hidden in a secluded place near the couple’s bed as an offering for Lyub. In return, the spirit was believed to protect the marriage and preserve harmony between husband and wife.

Sources

“Люб (Lyub).” New Bestiary (Bestiary.us). Accessed July 28, 2026. https://www.bestiary.us/Lyub