Did you ever think why we call the cat “puss?” A great many years ago
the people of Egypt, who have many idol gods, worshiped the cat. They
thought she was like the moon, because she was more active at night, and
because her eyes changed, just as the moon changes, which is sometimes
full and sometimes only a little bright crescent, or half moon, as we
say. Did you ever notice your pussy’s eyes to see how they change? So
these people made an idol with the cat’s head, and named it Pasht, the
same name they gave to the moon; for the word means “the face of the
moon.” That word has been changed to “pas,” or “pus,” and has come at
last to be “puss,” the name which almost everyone gives to the cat. Puss
and pussycat are pet names for kitty everywhere. Whoever thought of it
as given to her thousands of years ago, and that then people bowed down
and prayed to her?
[Illustration]