Tabby tale

[Shelley123]

I belong to another forum and someone told me a lovely story about the tabby cat. It has a Christmas theme so sorry it's a bit late, or we could say it's early for 2010 :lol:
In the stable Jesus wouldn't settle, a Tabby jumped into the manger with him and lay down, settling Jesus.
Mary marked the Tabbies head with an M.
When i checked out our two Tabbies i could see an M like marking on their foreheads, next doors also has one.

[Kay]

Yep all tabbies have the M on the forehead although I have never heard that tale. How lovely.

[dandysmom]

That's an old and well loved story about how the tabbys got their M; nice to have it again in case some haven't heard it. Thanks for posting!

[yola]

I'd never heard that. What a charming story.

[Shelley123]

I'd never heard it before and never noticed Tom and Jerries M's

[Kay]

Wonder if there any stories as to how the tabbies got their 'ribbons, oysters and butterflies, necklaces, bracelets and rings'?

[dandysmom]

Can't help with any of the above, but here's a story about the Siamese and how they got the kink in the tail and crossed eyes (before they were bred out!)

The Golden Goblet Once upon a time in the ancient kingdom of Siam (the story goes) there came a period of war when the men of the realm all went off to defend their country. They left behind a pair of male and female Siamese cats to guard a sacred golden goblet that had once been used by the Buddha.
After a romantic few days, doing as cats do when left to their own devices, the male, bored of his guard duties, wandered off to look for further pleasures.
The female, now pregnant, was left alone to guard the goblet. Overwhelmed with this responsibility, she wrapped her tail around its stem and fixed her eyes on it, never to let it out of her sight. She waited and stared, waited and stared, and hoped that the men would return before her kittens were due.
With all the staring her eyes developed a squint, and her tail became permanently bent from holding on to the goblet stem. The men did not return, and eventually, of course, the kittens could wait no longer.
They were finally born …
… and all of them had inherited her crossed eyes and kinked tail.

[Kay]

Awww that is lovely. Typical men though!!!

[Shelley123]

Wonder if there any stories as to how the tabbies got their 'ribbons, oysters and butterflies, necklaces, bracelets and rings'?

what are these Kay

[Shelley123]

love the Golden goblet tale

[Kay]

what are these Kay

They are the markings that Classic Tabbies should have. Oysters are the roundish shape they have on their sides at the back, butterflies are either side of their shoulders, ribbons are the lines that come from the outer corner of their eyes, necklaces are the stripes going down their fronts (like a necklace would hang), bracelets are the the markings on their legs and rings are the markings on their tails.

As I said thes are on the Classic not the Mackeral or Spotted Tabbies.

[Shelley123]

Thanks Kay, will check ours out tomorrow;)
Do makerel tabbies have the black stripe down their back?

[Kay]

Mackerel tabbies have broken stripes all down their sides. This link has some brilliant pics of all the differnet tabby patterns Classic, Mackerel, Spotted and Ticked.
http://www.seregiontica.org/Colors/tabby/tabbies.htm

[dandysmom]

That's a great link, Kay! Here's another good one that Shelley might enjoy:

http://www.messybeast.com/spotted-cats.html

Both Abys and Singapuras have a black spine line and tail tip.

[Shelley123]

Thank you both for the sites, will have to have a good look at tom and jerry in daylight, i'm not sure what they are

[James]

I hadn't heard this account of the tabby M. but there is a similar story of the Prophet Muhammad (I am not Muslim, but some of my friends are). The Prophet loved cats and advised the people to treat their cats as a member of their family. One his cats was named 'Muezza', was Muhammad's favourite cat. As the story goes, the call to prayer was given and when the Prophet Mohammed went to put on one of his robes, he found Muezza sleeping on one of the sleeves. Rather than disturbing the cat, he cut off the sleeve and let him sleep. When he returned, Muezza awoke and rubbed his head on Muhammad. In return Muhammad stroked Muezza's head three times and this left the mark of an 'M' on the cat's head. It is also believed that when Prophet Muhammad gave sermons within his household he would often hold Muezza in his lap. Arabs love cats - the word 'Cat' comes from the Arabic word 'qit'.

[Shelley123]

I love these Cat stories, thanks for that one James

[jandarlo]

Hello all. Yes, Kay, being a new owner of a tabby cat "Possum", I have seen his "M", but his is a very unique shape. (making a joke) I also would like to know what ribbons, oysters, butterflies, necklaces, bracelets, and rings are. I have noticed a lot of very pretty marking on "Possum" and mostly copied on the other side in the same place. Also I have noticed something odd about "Possum" he seems to have a lot of traits of our other cat "Ebony", who we had to put to sleep 2 years ago, due to old age; she was 20! I believe in reincarnation for humans but animals too? Maybe others have had experience of it.

[shimmy]

lol thts sweet

[Shelley123]

jandarlo, in this thread kay explains what ribbons, oysters etc are and there are two good links given by kay and dandysmom.
I still can't decide what type of tabbies mine are they have quite a lot of black along their backs.
I believe in reincarnation and it's a nice thought that maybe there is some essence of Ebony in Possum