Some time ago I wrote about how Hobbes the Ginger Tom filled the role in the pride of Headmaster. He taught Grrr and the Swede how to behave and their place in the Pride, an amazing thing to watch. It sounds like anthropomorphism on my part, but I did photograph some of the events as they unfolded.

As kittens, Grrr and the Swede started out in a single room closed off from the rest of the house so they could get the notion it was a safe place to run to and from which to sally forth to explore. Each morning, Hobbes would wait at the door until it was opened, go in, usher them out, and make sure they learnt decorum while being their protector if one of the adults got overly angry with them.

I've been transferring photos from CD storage over onto a couple 2 terabyte external drives and came across that crop, so a couple now offered into evidence that their culture is indeed that complex.

Here is Hobbes giving a young Grrr a talking-to. He had just intervened after Grrr had swatted around the corner at Poppet (if you remember Poppet as Queen of the Pride before her passing) while she was eating.



They became very close in those days, why they still are now. That's the Swede with Hobbes in my old comfy-chair.