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International Folktales Collection

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Story No. 3783


The Spoilt Wedding

Book Name:

The Flying Dutchman and Other Folktales from the Netherlands

Tradition: Dutch, Hollander

Copyright © 2008 by Theo Meder

In the province of Gelderland, a wedding was celebrated in a home. Pieces of pie were handed around and everybody took some. At a certain moment, granddad entered the kitchen and saw the cat gorging itself on some pie. He shooed the cat away and fumbled a bit with the pie so that the cat's nibblings could no longer be seen. He decided to keep silent about it.

One hour later, granddad went outside and saw the cat lying there. Dead.

Oh no, the pie was bad, granddad thought. He went back inside and felt obliged to tell the guests what had happened.

Panic all over. All the guests decided to go to hospital to have their stomachs pumped. And so it happened. The party was over.

That evening, the front door bell rang. The neighbour came in and asked: "Did you find the cat?"

"Yes, why?" granddad asks.

"Well, I hit it with my car and I saw it was dead, but I thought, I'll tell them some other time, 'cause there was a wedding party going on here."

Comments:

This urban legend is a version of BRUN 02110, The Poisoned Pussycat at the Party. The story was sent to the Meertens Institute in October 1998 by Mrs. E. C. W. Rutjes from Krommenie (North Holland). The translation is based on T. Meder, De magische vlucht (Amsterdam, 2000), pp. 170-171.

Abstract:

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