Mr. Pratchett's Cat

 

"'And sen ...' Mr. Foscolo paused and raised his finger, obviously to heighten the dramatic effect. '... Signore Pratchett's cat et bat.'"

 

 

The story Mr. Foscolo tells his enrapt audience at Lady Holland's dinner party refers to an episode in WITCHES ABROAD by Terry Pratchett, whom one critic called "the Dickens of the 20th century" and who happens to be one of my favorite authors. He is most famous for his Discworld novels, a mixture of fantasy, parody and satire and his own unique form of humor.

 

In WITCHES ABROAD three witches -- Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat (her mother had problems with spelling) Garlick -- don't just travel through various countries, but also through different stories -- without noticing it at first. And because Pratchett's characters are all usually very down to earth, the witches don't behave according to their roles in these stories. Thus, when one night a vampire in bat-form creeps up on them, he never gets a chance to bite them, for he's first stunned by "a ballistic garlic sausauge" and then eaten up by Nanny Ogg's devil cat: "Vampires have risen from the dead, the grave and the crypt, but have never managed it from the cat" (WA 83).