MANX MYTHS 

Many tales of the origin of the Manx are found in cat and mythology books attempting to account for the Manx cats’ origin and its arrival on the Isle of Man.

The Isle of Man is steeped in myth and legend, hand me down fables and facts so legends for the Manx cat's origin are consonant with the spirit of Man.

According to one old myth the cats have a king of their own, he is a house cat by day, but at night he assumes his regal powers and travels the lanes in a fiery carriage. For any person who has treated the cat king poorly that day when the night comes, so too, does the king’s vengeance.

Mother cats would bite off the tails of their young to keep them from being snatched by the invading Irish or Scandinavians who stole kittens to use their tails as good luck charms.

Some myths go all the way back to Noah’s Ark:

‘When Noah was calling the animals into the Ark, there was one cat that was having trouble finding a mouse and she took a notion that she wouldn't go into the Ark without one. So at last, when Noah had all the animals safe inside, and he saw the rain beginning to fall, and no sign of her coming in, he slammed the door as she ran in and caught the tail of a cat, so she got in without it, and that is why Manx cats have no tails to this day”.

		Said the Cat
		"Oh Captain Noah wait!
		I'll catch the mice to give you thanks
		And pay for being late
		So the cat got in,
		but Oh! his tail was a bit too late
		And he became a Manx"

A variation portrays Noah's dog as the culprit responsible for the loss of the cat's tail. When the Ark stopped at Ararat, the shamed cat ran off and swam to, the Calf of Man where it found a home.

“Noah, sailing o’er the seas,
Ran high and dry on Ararat,
His dog then made a spring,
And took the tail from off a pussy cat,
Puss through the window quick did fly,
And bravely through the waters swam,
Nor ever stopped, till, high and dry,
She landed on the Isle of Man.
Thus tailless puss earned Mona’s thanks.
And ever after was called Manx.”

A Welsh myth states that Manx Cats were known in Cornwall at an early date and were sacred animals being the offspring of an ancient goddess. They and went to the Isle of Man from the West of England.

In another tale, Irish or Viking warriors stole kittens to use their tails as good luck charms. In order to save their kittens, the mother cats would bite off the tails of their young.

A commonly told story attributes the origins of the Manx to the Spaniards, a fleet of ships dispatched in 1588 by King Phillip of Spain, who sought to invade England. One of the ships ran aground off Spanish Point near Port Erin forcing the cats to swim ashore. The Isle of Man was the refuge for the tailless cats from this ship. Historical records show no such event.

One story tells how Phoenician sailors brought a tailless cat back from a voyage to Japan. Japanese Bobtail cats have short, kinked tails and a less stocky body than the Manx. There are tailless cats in China, Russia, especially the Crimea and in many other places. Perhaps the Phoenician story has a grain of truth in that the Manx cats may have migrated to the Isle through trading ships and, as with all myths and stories, we are left to discover the truth of the Manx wherever we can find it.