The Cats of Ulthar

Cat haters beware. This piece by H.P. Lovecraft is largely memoirish, whereby the narrator is compelled to tell the reader about Ulthar after petting his own cat. When a travelling caravan passes through, a young orphan named Menes finds his beloved black kitten has gone missing and fears the worse—that his beloved kitten had suffered a torturous end at the hands of the town cat killers. Annoyed by the lack of action on the part of the townspeople, Menes invokes a prayer that results in the cats of the town rising and slaying the cat-killing couple. This action subsequently brings into effect a law that forbids the killing of cats in Ulthar.