Why would anyone have a website devoted to The Cheshire Cat?
Alice in Wonderland always comes to mind when you mention The Cheshire Cat to people. However, the Cheshire Cat was not a creation of Lewis Carroll, he just developed the character. Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland in 1864. The actual image most people think of when you mention the Cheshire Cat is the one from Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland. This movie came out in 1954. The origin of the Cheshire Cat has been clouded by time somwehat, because the character is based on a figure of speech which was popular in Lewis Carroll's day.
Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat was a play on a popular expression, "to grin like a Cheshire Cat." It is believed to have originated in the 1800's, in Lewis Carroll's birthplace. He was born in the county of Cheshire, England, which is mainly known for two things: Lewis Carroll and Cheshire Cheese.
Cheshire cheese is a dairy product which was created in 1597, (according to Mr. Webster's Dictionary.) A Cheshire dairy in the 1800's had a picture of a grinning cat on their packing label, and it is said that even their cheese was formed into the face of a smiling cat. The phrase, "to grin like a cheshire cat," meant someone was extremely pleased with themselves, just like the cat in the dairy's picture. If one considers the number of mice that a dairy farm would attract, it is logical to conclude that the resident felines were smiling indeed! Lunch anyone? Lewis Carroll was fond of teasing figures of speech into humorous fiction. This was just the way his joyful sense of humor worked.
Here is a silly egg that I adopted from some place called "The Site Fights." Perhaps it will hatch into a Jaberwocky or a Jub Jub bird? Who knows? I adopted Egg #25, not that that means anything.
Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat