| I'm looking, and have been for a while, for a new member or two of my family...A Somali, or maybe an Abysinnian, or perhaps an American Bobtail or Japanese Bobtail, or Maine Coon cat [although methinks s/he would be not as happy with the enclosure since they tend to be truly large] or another cat that captures my fancy to join me, Gordy, Zach and Olivia. I cam across this story about "the magical, mysterious purr" and thought I'd post it here. Thanks to catz4u/ragdoll:
The Magical, Mysterious Purr "Once upon a time a comely princess faced a seemingly impossible task. To save her true love from death, she had to spin 10,000 skeins of linen in only 30 days. Heartbroken, the princess wept in frustration until her three cats took pity on her and agreed to help. With their rough tongues and swift, clever paws, the cats not only finished in plenty of time, but the linen they spun was the finest and most wondrous ever seen in the kingdom.
The cats' reward?
They were blessed with the ability to purr, so they and their descendants would forever be living manifestations of the mesmerizing whir of the spinning wheel. The purr is more than a feline vocalization, more than a physiological oddity. Even among the cat's remarkable collection of unique attributes, the purr stands alone. It is singular, personal, distinctive true feline performance art. The mysterious, uncannily soothing vibration, sometimes felt but not heard, other times rafter rattling, is at once eminently practical and one of nature's glorious luxuries. A cat purrs to soothe and flatter its human companions; to celebrate and reinforce the familial bond among its own kind; to lull its kittens to sleep or call them to dinner; to reveal its emotional state; to manipulate and cajole; to entreat; to acknowledge friendship or approval; to revel in joy, thanks and contentment; to please its ineffable self. As both quintessentially feline self- expression and an admirably versatile communicative device, the purr is unequaled. Yet the purr remains a mystery. For some experts, this produces a peculiar avoidance: Some books devoted to feline nature and behavior fail to even mention the purr. The cat, whose bond with humanity is both ancient and extraordinarily intimate, seems determined to keep some of its secrets tucked away - probably right behind its purr box. In Paul Gallico's wise classic The Silent Miaow, the narrator cat unequivocally and proudly claims, "No one has ever been able to discover how we make this subtle sound, and what is more, no one ever will. It is a secret that has endured from the very beginning of the time of cats and will never be revealed."
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