THE BLACK CAT
By
JOHN G. SUTTON
During my search for stories about the psychic/paranormal powers of animals I interviewed, via the internet, a lady in Russia who told me of her encounter with a strange black cat:
In the tiny Russian village of Tochka, in the district of Rostovskaya there
lives an old lady who owns a mysterious black cat called Murzic. It was in the
summer of the year 1985 and Tamara Habarova was sitting in her front garden
watching the world go by when she saw a rough looking man walking along the
dusty road leading down to the nearby river Don. In his hand the man was
carrying a dirty sackcloth bag, Tamara watched closely as he approached and
noticed that whatever was in that bag was alive and kicking. "Hey Tovarich!" she
called to the man "What's in your bag?". Tamara has always been a little
outspoken and didn't think anything wrong in asking this total stranger what he
was up to. The man swung the filthy sack round and waved it at the old lady.
"It's a crazy cat that smashed all the plates in my house" he said. "I'm off to
the river to end his miserable life". Tamara was deeply shocked, "You'll do no
such thing you ruffian" she said. "Give me the cat, I'll care for the poor
thing" it was a mistake that Tamara was later to regret.
The stranger seemed quite pleased to get rid of his unwanted burden and passed the cat, still inside its bag, to Tamara. "Give me a chance to get out of sight before you let him go" he said "I don't want that little monster following me home".
When the scruffy looking man had disappeared back down the winding road leading out of the village, Tamara opened the bag. There inside was the very blackest cat she had ever seen in her whole life. It seemed to be pure jet, like a moonless winter midnight in the nearby forest. The cat’s eyes sparkled green and mysteriously as it peered out from the top of the bag. "Come on then" said Tamara "what's your name?". The black cat stared into her face and made the weirdest sound 'Murrrzzzkk' it seemed to say. And so Tamara called it Murzic.
Tamara's husband Konstantin was pleased to welcome Murzic, he was a kindly man and loved animals. All his life he had kept a small farm, just enough to support the family, and he was very proud of his produce. The villagers of Tochka all came to the house to buy eggs and butter, or swop their home made Vodka for these healthy foods. Konstantin was sure that Murzic would help round the farm by keeping down the mice that often sought shelter in the hen huts. He was wrong.
Within days the black cat had created havoc, Murzic seemed to hate plates, cups, crockery and anything else that could be broken. He jumped on the kitchen table, pushed over the dishes, stole Konstantin's breakfast bacon and, worst thing of all, attacked the chickens. There was feathers and hen muck everywhere when the mad cat got into the huts. It was one misdeed too many. That very same afternoon Tamara found the ragged old sack the cat came in, grabbed it by the neck and shoved the beast back inside. "Get rid of it" she said to her husband, "Row it across the river Don and dump it on the other side". Despite feeling that Murzic half deserved a worse fate Tamara could not bear the idea of having the cat killed. Better to banish it to the other side of the river Don. From there it would never return, the nearest bridge was over 250 kilometres away.
Later that afternoon Konstatin slung the bag with Murzic inside into his boat and rowed across the river. When he got to the other side he untied the string fasting it and tipped the black cat out. "Now get lost" he shouted to Murzic, then he jumped back into his little boat and rowed home to Tamara and his ham and egg supper.
Over the next few weeks Konstantin repaired all the damage Murzic had done in the hen huts and Tamara bought new crockery to replace that which the black cat had broken. Life had returned back to normal for the happy couple, then, one dark night Tamara woke to hear a strange sound coming from outside the front door of the house. It sounded horribly familiar, she listened closely; "Murrzzzkk!". Could she be dreaming, was it a nightmare. Surely that wild cat could not have returned. "Quick Konstantin!" she said "Go look, I think it's Murzic'.
When her husband opened the front door there he was, the cat looked ill. It's fur was damp and lifeless, bones poked through his tatty looking once gleaming black coat and it was obvious the poor thing had not eaten in days. Out of compassion for the little creature Tamara poured some cream into a saucer and placed it on the floor by the side of the now resting cat. With obvious effort Murzic licked and lapped at the life giving food and Tamara is sure his green eyes sparkled, as if the cat were saying thanks.
From that day onwards Murzic was the best behaved cat in the whole of Rostovskaya district. Never did he go near the hens and the new plates were untouched. Murzic had learned his lesson, though how he had found his way from the other side of the river Don was a total mystery. The journey was at least 500 kilometres over hard ground and he was starting out from a totally strange area.
It was some years later that Tamara was to thank heaven for sending Murzic back to her. In the late summer of the year 1991 Tamara heard a loud banging on her front door. Thinking it might be Konstantin locked out she ran and opened it, there she saw, to her absolute horror, a huge man with a black mask covering his face. Tamara had heard that there were robbers at large in the district but never dreamed they would just knock on her door. Frozen with terror she stared into the wicked eyes of the thief. Despite her terror Tamara tried to close the door but the big man pushed it back wide, then he began to move forwards. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, Murzic the black cat jumped out and landed full on the face of the robber. His sharp claws dug deep right through the mask into the villain's flesh where they gouged out great chunks of skin. With a terrible scream the robber threw his hands up and pulled the cat off his head, then he turned and fled. As he ran down the dusty road out of the village Murzic chased alongside, the rogue never returned. Tamara is certain that if Murzic had not come to her help she would certainly have been robbed and perhaps even killed.
Hope you enjoyed that strange tale of the mysterious black cat. You can read more such stories in my book: Psychic Pets.