Tradition / Region: Swiss Mythology
Alternative names: Dancing Cats, Witches’ Cats
Category: Cat
The Myth
The Tanzende Katzen appear as four dark-colored cats that gather at night to dance in circles. They are not ordinary felines but witches who have transformed themselves into cats to conceal their true identities.
According to the legend, the people of Zug believed that witches could assume the forms of various animals in order to move about unnoticed and trouble their neighbors. On the Geißweid, below what is now the Capuchin monastery, four dark cats were said to assemble on many moonless nights. There they performed noisy ring dances across the meadow, disturbing everyone living nearby.
Eventually the nightly gatherings became too much for the townspeople. A brave young man hid behind a wall with a musket and waited for the mysterious dancers to appear. When the four cats began their strange dance once again, he fired into the group and struck one of the cats in its hind foot.
The following morning, the wife of the town’s ruling magistrate was suddenly found limping. According to the legend, she had been one of the witch cats dancing on the Geißweid, and the wound she suffered in her feline form had carried over to her human body, revealing her secret identity.
Sources
“Tanzende Katzen.” SAGEN.at – Traditionelle Sagen aus der Schweiz (Kanton Zug). Accessed July 28, 2026. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/schweiz/zug/katzen.html