Scotland’s Cat-sìth: Where Folklore, Language, and Night Vision Collide
I wanted to write a story about a heroine who could see and move in the dark like a cat. A woman who belonged to the shadows, who could slip through darkness with feline grace. And when I stumbled across the Cat-sìth—pronounced “caught shee”—I knew I’d found a myth I needed to include.
The Cat-sìth is a creature from Highland legend: a fairy cat said to prowl the shadows of Scotland, as large as a dog and marked by a single white patch on its chest. Some believed it could steal a soul before it reached the afterlife. Highland communities developed elaborate rituals to keep the Cat-sìth away from their dead—constant vigils, avoiding loud noises, and refusing to light fires that might draw its attention. They’d distract the creature with games, music, and riddles through the night.
Some thought it a guardian that moved between worlds, a creature that walked the liminal spaces. Was it a witch who could transform into a cat nine times? A fairy in feline form? The stories change depending on who’s telling them and where in Scotland you’re standing.
Stories of the Cat-sìth might have originated from sightings of the Kellas cat, a striking black hybrid of wildcat and domestic feline that haunts the Scottish Highlands even today? As with most folklore, truth and imagination blur beautifully together.
The Language of LegendsWhen I first started researching details for my character, I assumed the Highlands spoke primarily Scottish Gaelic. And while Gaelic certainly influenced the region, I discovered that Scots—a Germanic language distinct from both English and Gaelic—was more widely spoken across much of Scotland, including Aberdeenshire where Colleen’s family has roots.
The word “Cat-sìth” itself is Scottish Gaelic: “cat” meaning cat and “sìth” meaning fairy or supernatural being. This is the same “sìth” you’ll find in banshee (bean-sìth, or “fairy woman”). But the everyday language of many Scots—the tongue Colleen speaks to her Cat-sìth companion—is Scots itself, with its own rich vocabulary and cadence.
Scots isn’t a dialect of English, though many assume it is. It’s a sister language with roots in Old English and Norse, shaped by centuries of Scottish history. Words like “braw” (fine), “wee” (small), and “ken” (know) are distinctly Scots. When Colleen murmurs to her black cat in the shadows, she’s using the language of her heritage, the tongue that feels most natural when speaking to a creature that shares her otherness.
The linguistic landscape of Scotland has always been complex—Gaelic in the Highlands and Western Isles, Scots in the Lowlands and much of the east and northeast, with countless local variations and borrowings between them. This layering of languages mirrors the Cat-sìth itself: a creature caught between worlds, belonging fully to neither yet recognized by both.
From Legend to Lady ColleenWhen I began writing A Reflection of Shadows, I couldn’t resist weaving this legend into Colleen Stewart’s story. My heroine isn’t entirely ordinary—her golden eyes gleam in the dark, and she moves through shadows with the silent grace of a predator. Her black Cat-sìth companion mirrors her own nature: half seen, half suspected, both feared and misunderstood.
Here’s where science steps in. The tapetum lucidum—a reflective layer behind the retina that helps nocturnal animals see in low light—offered the perfect bridge between myth and biology. What if that shimmer in Colleen’s eyes isn’t just poetic metaphor? What if it’s the echo of something ancient, something that hints her Scottish bloodline carries more than just family stories?
I’ve always loved blending the fantastical with the plausible—where folklore meets physiology, where a bit of Victorian science can make the impossible feel just within reach. The Cat-sìth became my symbol of the outsider, that creature caught between worlds—neither tame nor wild, mortal nor fae. Much like Colleen herself, a woman who refuses to apologize for being different.
An Invitation Into ShadowSo if you’re drawn to stories where Scottish legend tangles with steampunk invention, where a heroine speaks Scots to her Cat-sìth companion in the darkness, where ancient bloodlines meet Victorian science, I invite you to step into A REFLECTION OF SHADOWS.
Join Lady Colleen Stewart as she races across London’s rooftops with golden eyes gleaming and shadows bending to her will. Discover what happens when a thief with a Cat-sìth’s nature falls for a Queen’s agent, when folklore runs through in gaslit streets, and when being different becomes the ultimate advantage.
