“There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.”

— Bertrand Russell

Feline One’s Moxie — Answers

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Quizologist

Pursuit of the Trivial

Today’s Answers

Today we are staying with literature: considering questions that involve cats.

One

A yellow tomcat who runs a shop with his business partner Pickles has a name in common with a talking cat from Narnia. This latter cat is eventually punished for his evil by being banished after his ability to speak is removed.

What name do these cats share?
What book features the yellow tomcat, and who is its author?
In what ‘Narnia’ book does this talking cat feature, and who is the author?

Answers

Ginger
The Tale of Ginger and Pickles by Beatrix Potter
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

The Tale of Ginger and Pickles is a 1909 children’s book by Beatrix Potter about two shopkeepers, a tomcat and a terrier, who go out of business after offering unlimited credit to their customers. The Last Battle, the final instalment of the Chronicles of Narnia, is set almost entirely in Narnia about 200 Narnian years after The Silver Chair. The plot involves a false Aslan, a conflict between true and false Narnians, and a war with Calormen, ultimately concluding with the end of the Narnian world.

Two

A familiar in Macbeth who nominally may be familiar with fans of X-Men?

Answer: Graymalkin (aka Greymalkin or Grimalkin).

First Witch: I come, Graymalkin

— Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 1

Graymalkin is a witch’s familiar in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It is also the name of a Young X-Men character.

Three

Luath, a Labrador retriever; Bodger, a bull terrier; and a Siamese cat take on the challenges of a 300-mile trek in the Canadian wilderness in a 1961 novel by Sheila Burnford. What is the name of the Siamese cat, and what is the novel?

Answers: Tao; The Incredible Journey.

A book by Sheila Burnford, often considered a children’s book, which gained widespread fame after being adapted into a 1963 Walt Disney film of the same name and later remade as Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey in 1993. The story was inspired by Burnford’s own pets in Canada: a Bull Terrier, a Siamese cat, and a Labrador Retriever, all of whom shared remarkably close bonds.

Four

Lyra’s friend Will Parry‘s topically titular cat was named what, and in what novel did it make its initial appearance?

Answers: Moxie; The Subtle Knife.

Moxie appeared as Will Parry’s cat in Philip Pullman’s The Subtle Knife. It is ‘typically titular’, as ‘Moxie’ appears in the title of the post.

Five

Alice’s pet kitten in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is an adult in the sequel Through the Looking-Glass and has two kittens of her own. What are the names of all three of these cats?

Answers: Dinah; Kitty and Snowdrop.

Alice’s pet kitten Dinah appears in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In the sequel Through the Looking-Glass, she is an adult with kittens of her own named Kitty and Snowdrop.