The Blue Cat of Castle Town
Encyclopedia
The Blue Cat of Castle Town is a children's novel
by Catherine Coblentz, illustrated by Janice Holland. It tells the story of the kitten born under a blue moon whose destiny was to bring the song of the river, with its message of beauty, peace and contentment, to the inhabitants of Castle Town.
The book, illustrated by Janice Holland, was first published in 1949 and was a Newbery Honor
recipient in 1950. It was based on Coblentz's visit to Castleton, Vt.
, in 1946, with her husband, who was interested in seeing a wind turbine being used to generate electricity there. Librarian Hulda Cole told her of a local girl who had made an embroidered carpet that hung in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
. Among its motifs, inspired by the natural world of its creator, was a blue cat. Coblentz, a Vermont native, drew on real people from the town's history to tell the story of the blue cat's adventures.
The river teaches him the history of the town and gives him much useful advice, only some of which he remembers. He first meets a barn cat, whom he ignores, and a girl who slams the door in his face. He reaches the village green, where he admires his own reflection in a well and falls in, only to be rescued by the pewterer Ebenezer Southmayd. Southmayd is old and has given up making his most beautiful work to turn out cheap, shiny trade items. Singing the river's song, the kitten inspires Ebenezer to make one beautiful, perfect teapot according to the old formula. Alas, the pewterer drops dead when it is finished, and the blue kitten must find a new hearth.
Next he meets a weaver, John Gilroy, who is doing business with two women. They have brought him linen to be woven, from flax they grew and bleached and spun themselves, and though he is contracted to make salt-and-pepper cloth for Arunah Hyde of the Mansion House, he accepts the job, inspired in part by the river's song. The kitten thinks Gilroy will learn his song, but Hyde shows up, angry and in a hurry, and Gilroy returns to the more profitable work and turns the kitten outside. As his stagecoach is tearing off in a hurry, Hyde scoops up the kitten and carries him off to the Mansion House.
There, Hyde is constantly shouting at people to hurry up, make more money, do things faster -- but he also plies the blue kitten with rich cream and delicious salmon, until he grows into a blue cat. Singing the river's song to Hyde, he finds that Hyde has his own song, a dark song of progress and industry and power -- and a plan to decorate the Mansion House's front window with a lovely stuffed blue cat. Fattened up on delicious food, the blue cat barely escapes. Hyde makes one last snatch for him and pulls the three black hairs out of his tail.
The last bowl of cream must have had some poison in it, for the blue cat falls ill and is rescued by the very barn cat he ignored on his first visit. She is a motherly soul and a good mouser, sharing her bowl of milk and her daily catch with him, even after the birth of two yellow kittens. The blue cat recovers physically over the course of the winter, but he has forgotten his song.
Come spring, he sets forth, promising to come back and repay the barn cat and the girl Zeruah, who seems sad and lonely when she brings the cats their milk. He finds the town possessed by Arunah's song, and he searches high and low for the one he has lost. Creeping into the church, he meets the carpenter Thomas Royal Dake, who has it in mind to build a truly beautiful pulpit, but has been told by the building committee to do it more cheaply. He brings the blue cat home to his wife Sally, and talks with her about the financial sacrifices they will have to make if he goes ahead with a more expensive pulpit. Dake, it turns out, knows the river's song, and the cat relearns it from him. Sally agrees that he should build the pulpit of which he dreams, even though it will be difficult for the young family.
The blue cat does not immediately resume his quest, but remains with Dake through the building of the pulpit in white pine and cherry. Then he returns to Zeruah Guernsey, the sad girl on the farm, and to his friend the barn cat, who is very proud of her kittens. Zeruah is lonely and sad, and believes she is ugly. She rebuffs the blue cat at first, then allows him into the house. She listens to the river's song, but makes no move to sing it for some time. Gradually, she begins thinking and talking to the cat. She visits the church and sees Dake's altar, and passes the shop where Southmayd's last teapot still sits in the window.
Finally she begins to put aside her sadness and begins work on an embroidered carpet. Into the carpet she puts flowers from the woods and from her dead mother's garden, her father's favorite white rooster, everything of her world. As she begins to create the carpet, she also tends her house and her garden, and sets a rug by the bare hearth for the blue cat. She embroiders the blue cat into the carpet, and he realizes what he must do to thank his friend the barn cat. One by one, he brings her kittens into the house for Zeruah to add to the carpet.
Zeruah's carpet becomes a legend in the town, and many people stop by to see it in progress. The blue cat sings to them, and gradually Arunah Hyde's song loses its power as the townspeople rediscover the importance of making things with their hands, creating "beauty and peace and content."
"Sing your own song.
"Out of yesterday song comes.
It goes into tomorrow,
Sing your own song.
"With your life fashion beauty,
This too is the song.
Riches will pass and power. Beauty remains.
Sing your own song."
""All that is worth doing, do well, said the river.
Sing your own song.
Certain and round be the measure,
Every line be graceful and true.
Time is the mold, time the weaver, the carver,
Time and the workman together,
Sing your own song.
Sing well, said the river. Sing well."
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
by Catherine Coblentz, illustrated by Janice Holland. It tells the story of the kitten born under a blue moon whose destiny was to bring the song of the river, with its message of beauty, peace and contentment, to the inhabitants of Castle Town.
The book, illustrated by Janice Holland, was first published in 1949 and was a Newbery Honor
Newbery Medal
The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
recipient in 1950. It was based on Coblentz's visit to Castleton, Vt.
Castleton, Vermont
Castleton is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. Castleton is about to the west of Rutland, and about east of the New York/Vermont state border. The town had a population of 4,717 at the 2010 census. Castleton State College is located there, with roots dating to 1787...
, in 1946, with her husband, who was interested in seeing a wind turbine being used to generate electricity there. Librarian Hulda Cole told her of a local girl who had made an embroidered carpet that hung in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
. Among its motifs, inspired by the natural world of its creator, was a blue cat. Coblentz, a Vermont native, drew on real people from the town's history to tell the story of the blue cat's adventures.
Plot Summary
In the early 1830s, in a small town in Vermont, a blue kitten is born. Every kitten must find a hearth, but a blue kitten has the hardest time of all, for he must learn the river's song and then teach it to the keeper of that hearth. His mother is troubled, but notices he has three black hairs on his tail and hopes she can help him evade this quest. She teaches him not to listen to the river, but eventually he cannot help but hear the river talking to him. Irritated, his mother sends him off to learn the river's song and seek his fortune.The river teaches him the history of the town and gives him much useful advice, only some of which he remembers. He first meets a barn cat, whom he ignores, and a girl who slams the door in his face. He reaches the village green, where he admires his own reflection in a well and falls in, only to be rescued by the pewterer Ebenezer Southmayd. Southmayd is old and has given up making his most beautiful work to turn out cheap, shiny trade items. Singing the river's song, the kitten inspires Ebenezer to make one beautiful, perfect teapot according to the old formula. Alas, the pewterer drops dead when it is finished, and the blue kitten must find a new hearth.
Next he meets a weaver, John Gilroy, who is doing business with two women. They have brought him linen to be woven, from flax they grew and bleached and spun themselves, and though he is contracted to make salt-and-pepper cloth for Arunah Hyde of the Mansion House, he accepts the job, inspired in part by the river's song. The kitten thinks Gilroy will learn his song, but Hyde shows up, angry and in a hurry, and Gilroy returns to the more profitable work and turns the kitten outside. As his stagecoach is tearing off in a hurry, Hyde scoops up the kitten and carries him off to the Mansion House.
There, Hyde is constantly shouting at people to hurry up, make more money, do things faster -- but he also plies the blue kitten with rich cream and delicious salmon, until he grows into a blue cat. Singing the river's song to Hyde, he finds that Hyde has his own song, a dark song of progress and industry and power -- and a plan to decorate the Mansion House's front window with a lovely stuffed blue cat. Fattened up on delicious food, the blue cat barely escapes. Hyde makes one last snatch for him and pulls the three black hairs out of his tail.
The last bowl of cream must have had some poison in it, for the blue cat falls ill and is rescued by the very barn cat he ignored on his first visit. She is a motherly soul and a good mouser, sharing her bowl of milk and her daily catch with him, even after the birth of two yellow kittens. The blue cat recovers physically over the course of the winter, but he has forgotten his song.
Come spring, he sets forth, promising to come back and repay the barn cat and the girl Zeruah, who seems sad and lonely when she brings the cats their milk. He finds the town possessed by Arunah's song, and he searches high and low for the one he has lost. Creeping into the church, he meets the carpenter Thomas Royal Dake, who has it in mind to build a truly beautiful pulpit, but has been told by the building committee to do it more cheaply. He brings the blue cat home to his wife Sally, and talks with her about the financial sacrifices they will have to make if he goes ahead with a more expensive pulpit. Dake, it turns out, knows the river's song, and the cat relearns it from him. Sally agrees that he should build the pulpit of which he dreams, even though it will be difficult for the young family.
The blue cat does not immediately resume his quest, but remains with Dake through the building of the pulpit in white pine and cherry. Then he returns to Zeruah Guernsey, the sad girl on the farm, and to his friend the barn cat, who is very proud of her kittens. Zeruah is lonely and sad, and believes she is ugly. She rebuffs the blue cat at first, then allows him into the house. She listens to the river's song, but makes no move to sing it for some time. Gradually, she begins thinking and talking to the cat. She visits the church and sees Dake's altar, and passes the shop where Southmayd's last teapot still sits in the window.
Finally she begins to put aside her sadness and begins work on an embroidered carpet. Into the carpet she puts flowers from the woods and from her dead mother's garden, her father's favorite white rooster, everything of her world. As she begins to create the carpet, she also tends her house and her garden, and sets a rug by the bare hearth for the blue cat. She embroiders the blue cat into the carpet, and he realizes what he must do to thank his friend the barn cat. One by one, he brings her kittens into the house for Zeruah to add to the carpet.
Zeruah's carpet becomes a legend in the town, and many people stop by to see it in progress. The blue cat sings to them, and gradually Arunah Hyde's song loses its power as the townspeople rediscover the importance of making things with their hands, creating "beauty and peace and content."
The River's Song
"Sing your own song, said the river,"Sing your own song.
"Out of yesterday song comes.
It goes into tomorrow,
Sing your own song.
"With your life fashion beauty,
This too is the song.
Riches will pass and power. Beauty remains.
Sing your own song."
""All that is worth doing, do well, said the river.
Sing your own song.
Certain and round be the measure,
Every line be graceful and true.
Time is the mold, time the weaver, the carver,
Time and the workman together,
Sing your own song.
Sing well, said the river. Sing well."