Put those claws away!

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

Reading The Tale of Tinúviel in The Book of Lost Tales II yesterday I realised something quite disturbing: at its earliest extant stage this pivotal tale in the legends of Middle-earth has a clear bias against an already much-maligned minority group.

I refer, of course, to the noble tribe of Cats, celebrated in rhyme by T.S. Eliot; granted immunity from molestation in Lovecraft's city of Ulthar and yet in Tolkien's early writings made servants and allies of Melko under Tevildo, "an evil fay in beastlike shape". Not content with this, Tolkien has Tevildo and his folk fail their dark master, leading to their banishment from his realm.

Consider the following passage:

Indeed afterward Melko heard all and he cursed Tevildo and his folk and banished them, nor have they since that day had lord or master or any friend, and their voices wail and screech for their hearts are very lonely and bitter and full of loss, yet there is only darkness within and no kindliness.

One might consider this a sufficiently dreadful defamation of the feline character, but the Professor's attack doesn't end there. I refer you to the oft-repeated tale of the cat-loving Queen Berúthiel, whose pets all men feared and cursed as they passed. Apparently the cats themselves are not a sufficient target for the Professor's wrath; their owners, it would appear, are also fair targets for his negative stereotyping.

Now I may be stark raving mad, but to me this looks like the lowest form of anti-feline propaganda, which, although dropped from the published work in all but the most fleeting references, appears to betray a vehement dislike of kittens. Can anyone defend Tolkien's apparent disregard for the graceful and inoffensive predators that share the homes, and indeed keyboards of several Downers? In short was Tolkien being catty about cats? Am I justified in using this Forum's bandwidth to shout "Save the moggies"?