The Cyprian Cat

The Cyprian Cat is a short story by Dorothy L. Sayers.

"The Cyprian Cat" is a short story by Dorothy L. Sayers, one of her few works with non-realistic elements.

first paragraph:

"It's extraordinarily decent of you to come along and see me like this, Harringay. Believe me, I do appreciate it. It isn't every busy K.C. who'd do as much for such a hopeless sort of client. I only wish I could spin you a more workable kind of story, but honestly, I can only tell you exactly what I told Peabody. Of course, I can see he doesn't believe a word of it, and I don't blame him. He thinks I ought to be able to make up a more plausible tale than that -- and I suppose I could, but what's the use? One's almost bound to fall down somewhere if one tries to swear to a lie. What I'm going to tell you is the absolute truth. I fired one shot and one shot only, and that was at the cat. It's funny that one should be hanged for shooting at a cat."

Editions

• Harper's Bazaar (UK) May 1933
• In the Teeth of the Evidence (1940; Harper Perennial, 1987; collection of Sayers stories)
• Witches' Brew (1984) (anthology)
• Horrifying and Hideous Hauntings, ed. Helen Hoke & Franklin Hoke, Dutton/Lodestar 1986
• The Greatest Cat Stories Ever Told, ed. by Charles Elliott (2001) (introduction: "What is it about cats that suggests the mysterious, even the bizarre? Unlike the open candor of a dog, a cat always seems to be hiding something, presumably something a mere man or woman wouldn't be able to understand anyway. Few stories better catch this essential scariness of cathood (to susceptible humans, at least) than Dorothy Sayers' elegant "The Cyprian Cat," or link it so clearly with evil. With sex, too -- the term "Cyprian" is traditionally associated with Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love." -- p.69)
• Dorothy L. Sayers: The Complete Stories (HarperCollins, 2002. p.783 et seq)