Siamese Cats

The Siamese Cats are presented as a feared foreign group and, in the episode aboard Growltiger’s vessel, as the disciplined attackers who overwhelm him. Their quiet approach, encirclement by boat, and sudden boarding transform a scene of apparent ease into a reversal: while Growltiger attends to Lady Griddlebone, his sleeping crew is caught unprepared and he is made to walk the plank.

Identity and Background

The account first defines the Siamese Cats through Growltiger’s hostility toward foreign cats. His hatred is said to be especially directed at cats of foreign race and name, to whom he allows no quarter. The Persian cats and the Siamese Cats regard him with fear, and the narrative supplies a particular reason for that fear: a Siamese cat had mauled Growltiger’s missing ear. The group is therefore introduced not simply as an unfamiliar presence, but as one associated with the injury that marks him and with the danger he poses to other cats.

That background sharpens the later confrontation without establishing that the Siamese Cats’ attack is explicitly motivated by revenge for his persecution. The poem connects Growltiger’s hostility to a past encounter with a Siamese cat, then brings the Siamese Cats back as the force that defeats him. The connection is one of striking narrative reversal: the injury that helped define his reputation becomes part of the context for his own vulnerability.

The Approach and Attack

The attack begins while Growltiger is absorbed in Lady Griddlebone. His crew, meanwhile, sleep in barrels and bunks. The contrast between the watchful attackers and the unaware crew leaves the vessel exposed before the assault begins. The Siamese Cats creep in by sampans and junks, approaching under cover of a peaceful summer night rather than announcing themselves with an immediate clash.

Their presence becomes visible as moonlight glints from a thousand bright blue eyes. The image makes the hidden force suddenly legible: what had approached without a sound is now close enough to surround its target. Sampans draw closer and circle the vessel, yet the enemy remains silent. The stillness is not an absence of action but the preparation for it, and it heightens the contrast with Growltiger’s concentration on the duet he sings with Lady Griddlebone.

The danger is immediate. The attackers are armed with toasting forks and cruel carving knives, ordinary implements made threatening in the circumstances of the boarding. At Gilbert’s signal, a burst of fireworks marks the change from silent approach to open assault. The Siamese Cats abandon their boats and swarm aboard. The sequence moves from concealment to encirclement, signal, and attack, while Growltiger’s crew has been asleep and its captain has failed to notice the approach.

Growltiger’s Defeat

Lady Griddlebone disappears during the assault. The account allows that she may have escaped with ease and says the narrator is sure she was not drowned, but it does not establish where she goes or what becomes of her afterward. Her disappearance leaves Growltiger at the center of the scene as the attackers press forward.

The Siamese Cats form a serried ring of flashing steel around him. They advance in stubborn ranks, turning their earlier encirclement into direct pressure. Growltiger, who had driven a hundred victims to the plank, is forced to walk it himself. The reversal is pointed: the feared aggressor becomes the captive, and the method associated with his victims is imposed on him. The evidence confirms the forced walk but does not state his eventual fate beyond that moment.

Narrative Role

The Siamese Cats function as a collective rather than as individually developed characters. The account distinguishes their action through coordinated movement: they approach in boats, circle silently, wait for Gilbert’s signal, and board together. Their bright eyes provide the scene’s first striking sign of the concealed threat; the ring of steel supplies its final image of encirclement and control.

Their role also gives the episode its central contrast. Growltiger’s attention is fixed on Lady Griddlebone, and his crew is asleep, while the attackers act with patience and coordination. The scene makes his confidence and prior violence vulnerable to the very sort of foreign opposition he had feared. The Siamese Cats’ decisive significance lies in that reversal: they turn an apparently peaceful night into a successful boarding and leave Growltiger facing the plank he had sent others toward.