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1、Old Possums Book of Practical CatsBy Thomas Stearns Eliot (1886-1965)Nobel Prize Winner for Literature - 1948The Naming of CatsThe Naming of Cats is a difficult matter, It isnt just one of your holiday games;You may think at first Im as mad as a hatterWhen I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT
2、 NAMES.First of all, theres the name that the family use daily,Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey-All of them sensible everyday names.There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:Such as Pla
3、to, Admetus, Electra, Demeter-But all of them sensible everyday names.But I tell you, a cat needs a name thats particular,A name thats peculiar, and more dignified,Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?Of names of this kind, I can give you a
4、quorum,Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-Names that never belong to more than one cat.But above and beyond theres still one name left over,And that is the name that you never will guess;The name that no human research can discover-But THE CAT HIMSELF KNO
5、WS, and will never confess.When you notice a cat in profound meditation,The reason, I tell you, is always the same:His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplationOf the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:His ineffable effableEffanineffableDeep and inscrutable singular Name.The Old Gumbi
6、e CatI have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;Her coat is of the tabby kind, with tiger stripes and leopard spots.All day she sits upon the stair or on the steps or on the mat;She sits and sits and sits and sits-and thats what makes a Gumbie Cat!But when the days hustle and bustle is do
7、ne,Then the Gumbie Cats work is but hardly begun.And when all the familys in bed and asleep,She tucks up her skirts to the basement to creep.She is deeply concerned with the ways of the mice-Their behaviours not good and their manners not nice;So when she has got them lined up on the matting,She tea
8、chs them music, crocheting and tatting.I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;Her equal would be hard to find, she likes the warm and sunny spots.All day she sits beside the hearth or on the bed or on my hat:She sits and sits and sits and sits-and thats what makes a Gumbie Cat!But whe
9、n the days hustle and bustle is done,Then the Gumbie Cats work is but hardly begun.As she finds that the mice will not ever keep quiet,She is sure it is due to irregular diet;And believing that nothing is done without trying,She sets right to work with her baking and frying.She makes them a mouse-ca
10、ke of bread and dried peas,And a beautiful fry of lean bacon and cheese.I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;The curtain-cord she likes to wind, and tie it into sailor-knots.She sits upon the window-sill, or anything thats smooth and flat:She sits and sits and sits and sits-and that
11、s what makes a Gumbie Cat!But when the days hustle and bustle is done,Then the Gumbie Cats work is but hardly begun.She thinks that the cockroaches just need employmentTo prevent them from idle and wanton destroyment.So shes formed, from that lot of disorderly louts,A troop of well-disciplined helpf
12、ul boy-scouts,With a purpose in life and a good deed to do-And shes even created a Beetles Tattoo.So for Old Gumbie Cats let us now give three cheers-On whom well-ordered households depend, it appears.Growltigers Last StandGROWLTIGER was a Bravo Cat, who lived upon a barge;In fact he was the roughes
13、t cat that ever roamed at large.From Gravesend up to Oxford he pursued his evil aims,Rejoicing in his title of The Terror of the Thames.His manners and appearance did not calculate to please;His coat was torn and seedy, he was baggy at the knees;One ear was somewhat missing, no need to tell you why,
14、And he scowled upon a hostile world from one forbidding eye.The cottagers of Rotherhithe knew something of his fame,At Hammersmith and Putney people shuddered at his name.They would fortify the hen-house, lock up the silly goose,When the rumour ran along the shore: GROWLTIGERS ON THE LOOSE!Woe to th
15、e weak canary, that fluttered from its cage;Woe to the pampered Pekinese, that faced Growltigers rage.Woe to the bristly Bandicoot, that lurks on foreign ships,And woe to any Cat with whom Growltiger came to grips!But most to Cats of foreign race his hatred had been vowed;To Cats of foreign name and race no quarter was allowed.The Persian and the Siamese regarded him with fear-Because it was a Siamese had mauled his missing ear.Now on a peaceful summer night, all nature seemed at play,The tender moon was shining bright, the barge at Molesey lay
