The father pressed the boy's clasped hands against his sides to make sure of his hold and urged the horse to speed. The cats sprang and fastened on the boy. Campbell notes a similar legend from Wexford said to be at least as old as 1584.
The Tiree incident has no names and no date, and no record of a real death. I have tagged it dubious as a legend of the cat-witch type, not a report of a death. Campbell gives other Tiree cat tales, among them seven cats that frightened a courting man near Balefetrish Hill, who lost his sweetheart as a result.
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