Cath Palug: The Cymric mythological cat (Clawing Cat)

The Cath Palug is a rather mysterious creature known from a number of fragmentary descriptions. In the Trioedd Ynys Prydein, the Cath Palug is mentioned it Triad 26 which gives us our most complete acccount of the cat's origins. There are actually two versions of the story, one from the Paniarth 16 MS and the other from the Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch. A summary of the tale is given below:

One of the swine of Dallwyr Dallben of Glyn Dallwyr in Cornwall, who was tended by Coll mab Collfrewy, was pregnant. Henwen was her name and it was prophesied that the Island of Britain would be the worse for her womb-burden. At Penrhyn Awstin in Cornwall she entered the sea and at Aber Tarogi in Gwent-is-Coed she made landfall. And all the while Coll mab Collfrewy had his hand on her bristles wherever she went; whether by land or by sea. And in the wheat field in Gwent she issued a grain of wheat and a bee; and henceforth that place was best for wheat and bees. From there she went to Llonion in Penfro and there she brought forth a grain of barley and a bee; which is why the barley of Llonion is proverbial. At the hill of Cyferthwch in Eryri she birthed a wolf-cub and a young eagle. Coll mab Collfrewy gave the eagle to Brennach the Irishman and the wolf he gave to Menwaedd of Arllechwedd; these being the wolf of Menwaedd and the eagle of Brennach. From there she went to the Black Stone in Llanfair in Arfon where she birthed a kitten. Coll threw the kitten into the Menai but she was recovered and fostered by the sons of Palug and henceforward she was called Palug's Cat and it was one of the three great oppressions of Môn.

The names of the sons of the ponymous 'Palug' is only given in the Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch version of the tale which suggests that it might be a later addition to the tale. Indeed, the name Palu probably derives from the Cymric root pâl (to dig, to claw, to scratch, pierce, wound) and the -uc ending on paluc is the ajectival form (ie to dig, to claw, to scratch) which would be entirely in keeping with a cat's nature. Originally therefore the Cath Palug was the 'clawing cat'. Subsequent transcribers, following the pattern of ownership for the other whelps of the sow Henwen the ajective Palug was converted into an owning family.

The only other definite mention to the Cath Palug comes from the Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin poem, Pa Gur yw y Porthawr (What man is the Porter). The mention is brief, coming right at the very end of the fragmentary poem, in the stanzas below:

Kei win a aeth von
y dilein lleuon
y iscuid oet mynud
erbin cath paluc
Pan gogiueirch tud.
Puy guant cath paluc
Nau uegin kinlluc
a cuytei in y buyd
nau ugein kinran

Fair Cei went to Mô
To destroy lions
His shield was fractured
against the Cath Palug
When people enquire:
'Who killed Cath Palug?'
Nine-score warriors
fell as her food
nine-score champions

Extrapolating from the previous tale it would appear that the Cath Palug's ravaging of Môn (Anglesea) had reached a head and Arthur's chief warror Cei is dispatched to deal with the menace of the giant cat. The tale would originally have echoed the chase for the Twrch Trwyth, though played on a much smaller canvas. Though the end of the poem is missing, it can be surmised that, after the loss of many troops, Cei did eventually overcome and slew the great cat.

The only other reference to such a beast in Cymric mythos comes from the Llyfr Taliesin poem Cywrysed Gwenyd a Deheu:

Ys trabludyo y gath vreith ae hagyfieithion
o ryt ar taradyr hyt ym porth Wygyr y Môn

May the speckled cat and her strangers make an uproar
from the ford of Taradr to Porth Wygyr in Môn

Though the cat is not named, it seems likely that the feline mentioned here is also one and the sam as the Cath Palyg. Certainly the co-localization of the two felines is suggestive. The swimming ability of the Cath Palug (it swam the Menai straits after all) may link the Cymric feline monster with an Irish counterpart, the monstrous sea-cat, murchata. Initially these Irish felines were giant sea monsters (as large as an ox or a horse) who chased boats on the sea. In later folklore, however, they are not particularly associated with the sea, though they do posess sinister connotations and may guard buried treasure. These sea cats can also be humans turned into felines by magic.

The Cath Palug also probably represents the template for the Le Capalou of later French Arthurian romances, which allude to a battle between Arthur and the capalou where either Arthur slays the beast, or is slain by it.

That the Cath Palug was once famed in legend is indicated by the Cymric name for silverweed: Palf y Gath Balug (Literally: the Clawing Cat's Paw). It seems likely, therefore, that a large corpus of legends concerning this feline are now lost to us.

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