Rather than pasting the whole story here (though short, it is still too lengthy to place the whole thing in a blog post), I will give a brief summary of the tale, with a few lines from the actual story presented here.
Story takes place in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai - here, no man may kill a cat. The cat is cryptic, he is the soul of Aegyptus, bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroe and Ophir. Kin of the jungles lords, cousin of the Sphinx and he speaks her language - but he is more ancient still.
An old man and a woman, for no known reason, slew cats that wandered at night. Nobody confronted them for fear of both their faces and their dark and dreary cottage. Villagers simply prevented their cats from leaving the house at night.
A caravan of strange wanderers from the South came to Ulthar. They were dark, and unlike any wanderers the villagers had seen before. Their wagons had strange figures with human bodies and the heads of cats, hawks, rams and lions painted on the sides. The leader wore a headdress with two horns and a disk between them.
An orphan named Menes traveled with the wanderers, the plague taking both his parents and leaving him alone with a tiny black kitten. He smiled often, playing with his kitten on the steps of one of the strange wagons.
On the third day of their stay, Menes lost his kitten, and whilst he sobbed and searched for him, the villagers told him of the old couple. He stopped crying and began to meditate, then pray. He turned to the sky, stretching out his arms and prayed in a foreign tongue whilst the clouds began to form odd shapes. Hybrid creatures with headdresses similar to the travelers' leaders' began to form in the sky.
That night the wanderers disappeared for good from the village. All cats within the village also disappeared. Old Kranon, the burgomaster, swore that the wanderers had taken the cats away in revenge of the killing of Menes' kitten. No one still bothered the old couple, even when Atal, the innkeepers son, told of his sights of all the cats of Ulthar in the couples' yard under trees, pacing very slowly around the cottage, two abreast, as if in performance of some unheard-of rite of beasts.
On the fourth day, the villagers awoke to find their cats back in their houses. All of the cats were bloated, purring with content. They refused, for two days straight, to touch their meals or milk.
It was a week before the villagers noted the lack of activity in the dark cottage. Neither man nor his wife had been seen since the night the cats vanished. After another week, the burgomaster (accompanied by the blacksmith and stonecutter) broke down the cottage door. They found the couple, cleanly picked of flesh, skeletons on the floor with beetles lingering in the corners. It was for this that the law of no man may kill a cat was passed.
Again, before planning the final illustrations, it is important to look at the points in the story that could make for a good illustrating opportunity.
Following is a list of possible illustrations:
Set the scene: create an image of the small village past the river, give the audience a place to picture.
The cat is cryptic, the soul of Aegyptus, bearer of tales....(etc.): show the cats in a position of graceful power, make the viewers wonder why deaths within the felines are happening.
The wandering caravans: the strange figures painted on the side and the appearance of the leader make for an interesting image. Picture (maybe in the centre) Menes playing with his small kitten.
Menes sobbing and questioning the villagers - immediately followed by his chants to the sky - could make for a dynamic scene with some interesting lighting and angles.
Picture the scene that the innkeeper's son described - the cats seemingly in ritual in the shade around the cottage.
Maybe the bloated cats by the fireplace? It would be interesting to place some of the beetles later found in the cottage in these earlier images.
The villagers surrounding the inactive house, immediately followed by the three men breaking down the door to find the skeletons with beetles scattered about. Perhaps include Menes' kitten as a subtle feature of this image.
The villagers discussing amongst themselves what was seen, and agreeing to outlaw killing cats.
I feel I could gather
at most 10 illustrations from this tale - giving me a total of 15 pieces to plan. This gives me a lot of leeway, as if I feel some of the pieces will not work as finals, I can strike them out safely whilst still meeting the minimum.
