Luxembourg Cat Mythology

Katzenkönig

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourgish Mythology
Alternative names: King of the Cats
Category: Cat

The Myth

The Katzenkönig appears as an ordinary tomcat that is secretly the ruler of all cats. Upon learning that the reigning Cat King has died, it immediately assumes the throne and vanishes from the human world.

According to the legend, a man was passing a house in a village when he heard a cat calling up toward the attic hatch, announcing that Ame is dead. Later, after returning home, he repeated the strange incident to his family. As soon as the household tomcat heard the words, it cried out, If Ame is dead, then I am the King of the Cats. With that, it leapt up the chimney and disappeared forever, having gone to claim its new royal place among the cats.

Sources

De la Fontaine, Edmond. Luxemburger Sagen und Legenden. Luxembourg: Jos. Beffort, 1882. Accessed July 28, 2026. https://viewer.eluxemburgensia.lu/ark:70795/rvks9k

Katzengespann

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourgish Mythology
Alternative names: Cat Team
Category: Cat

The Myth

The Katzengespann consists of three cats harnessed together to pull a wagon. They serve as the supernatural draft animals of a witch.

According to the legend, near the village of Nittel stood a high hill topped by a chapel. One evening, after finishing his prayers there, the local pastor was walking down the steep path when he encountered an elderly woman from his parish. To his astonishment, she was hauling a wagonload of buttermilk up the mountain, not with horses, but with three cats pulling the cart.

Although shocked by the sight, the pastor concealed his surprise and calmly remarked that she seemed to have a very heavy load. The old woman, who was in fact a witch, replied, Just look how my horses are stretching out their tails.

Realizing he had encountered witchcraft, the pastor immediately made the sign of the cross and hurried home without another word.

Sources

De la Fontaine, Edmond. Luxemburger Sagen und Legenden. Luxembourg: Jos. Beffort, 1882. Accessed July 28, 2026. https://viewer.eluxemburgensia.lu/ark:70795/rvks9k

Zudringliche Katze

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourgish Mythology
Alternative names: The Intrusive Cat
Category: Cat

The Myth

The Zudringliche Katze appears as an ordinary cat that visits people at night, speaks with a human voice, and is believed to be a witch in animal form.

According to the legend, a young woman from Bons entered service at a farm in Hamm. After she had lived there for a few weeks, a mysterious cat began visiting her bedroom door at night. The animal softly scratched at the door and repeatedly called in a strange voice, Margaret, open the door.

The servant refused to let it in. Eventually, she grew tired of the nightly disturbance. One night she leapt from her bed, flung the door open, and hurled one of her shoes at the cat with all her strength. The cat immediately disappeared, and everything fell silent.

The next morning, the young woman searched for her shoe, but it had completely vanished without a trace. According to the tradition, this proved that the mysterious cat had been a witch in disguise.

Sources

De la Fontaine, Edmond. Luxemburger Sagen und Legenden. Luxembourg: Jos. Beffort, 1882. Accessed July 28, 2026. https://viewer.eluxemburgensia.lu/ark:70795/rvks9k

White Cat of the Alzette Bridge

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternate Names: New Year’s Water Spirit, Alzette Bridge Cat
Category: Cat

The Myth

Each year on New Year’s Eve, the water spirit of the Alzette River is said to appear in Ettelbrück in the form of a white cat on the bridge.

One year, a man crossing the bridge that night encountered the animal, which followed him through the deep snow. He hurried home, but the strange creature followed him into the house. No matter how often he tried to drive it out, it kept reappearing in the room.

At last he went to bed and tried to sleep, but the cat sat before him and cried out in a pitiful voice. When the clock struck one, the animal suddenly vanished. In the morning, however, the man discovered that his face had been badly scratched.

People said that the water spirit itself had visited him in the form of the white cat.

Sources

sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Die weiße Katze auf der Teichbrücke zu Ettelbrück. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Katze_Ettelbrueck.html

The White Cat of Budersberg

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternate Names: Budersberg White Cat
Category: Cat, Swamp dweller

The Myth

In the meadowlands below the village of Budersberg, a snow-white cat is said to appear on certain nights.

It is sometimes seen where the stream called the Gessel flows into the Brüllchen, but most often it shows itself in the middle of the marsh known as the Fäschtemsmoore. There it moves silently through the darkness and then vanishes again, leaving no trace behind.

Thus the people spoke of the white cat that haunted the meadows and marshes below Budersberg.

Sources

sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Die weiße Katze bei Budersberg. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Katze_Budersberg.html