In this Appalachian story, the rat loses his tail to the cat in a game of mumblety-peg. Storytellers Tom Bledsoe and Rich Kirby tell the story through the various characters the rat meets as he tries to get his tail back. Leonard Robert collected this version of Cat and Rat from storyteller Dave Couch in Leslie County, Kentucky, in 1952. Roberts published the story in Sang Branch Settlers.
Classroom activities and discussion questions available on PBS LearningMedia.