How A Cat Saved an Infant’s Life, Hundreds of Years Ago, And What It Tells Us

A few years ago, I was in the Netherlands, in Kinderdijk, and I learned the following, which touched me deeply.

In the middle of the night of November 19, 1421, a horrific storm broke the dike and caused one of the worst floods in Dutch history, the Saint-Elizabeth Flood. The sea was no longer contained, villages vanished, families were torn apart, and very little existed of the world people in that area had known.   

Inextricably linked to this disaster in a village in that area is the folk tale about a child floating in a crib in that flood.

At dawn, as the waters began to settle, when survivors dared to go outside again, they saw a cradle floating along the water and heard a child crying from inside it. As the tale goes, a cat, nimble and determined, was leaping back and forth on the sides of the crib, shifting its weight with instinctive precision.  Each movement countered the tilt of the waves, ensuring that the fragile vessel did not capsize. Together, the child and the cat drifted toward salvation and landed on the shore where people were waiting to help, all of them together cradled by fate itself.

A bronze statue, “Beatrice’s Cradle,” depicting this story, can be seen floating near the Wisboom Pumping Station in Kinderdijk. Netherlands. “Kinderdijk” translates to “Children’s Dyke” in English.  The photo was taken by a friend of mine. It was windy and pouring rain when we were there, which made the visit and learning this story all the more meaningful.

What deep learning this tale gives us. As an animal communicator, I can’t connect with a cat that’s part of a folk tale, but I sure wish I could.