This book contains tales about various wild animals:
“...the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.”
The Cat walks through the Wet Wild Woods, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone.
L. M. Montgomery knew this story, and it meant a lot to her. Her heroine Emily Starr mentions it after her friend Dean warns her about the pressure to conform at school:
“"...Don't let them make anything of you but yourself, that's all. I don't think they will.’
"No, they won't," said Emily decidedly. "I'm like Kipling's cat--I walk by my wild lone and wave my wild tail where so it pleases me. That's why the Murrays look askance at me. They think I should only run with the pack."”
From Emily Climbs (1925)
Later in the book, Emily gets the chance to go to live in New York. She is very torn, thinking about what she might gain and what she might lose:
“Would the Wind Woman come to her in the crowded city streets? Could she be like Kipling's cat there?”
She decides to remain with her people and the old farm on her beloved Prince Edward Island, even though it means missing many opportunities to broaden her horizons and have a career.
Lucy Maud Montgomery made some very different decisions, and she came to regret them as terrible mistakes.
