Cyma and the “Procession of the Rats”
Highlights of the Cathedral / Cyma and the “Procession of the Rats”
Near the Epiphany portal, on a cyma or horizontal moulding between a capital and its respective arch, are two scenes from a curious legend with deep roots in the city. There are several versions of the story, one of which goes like this:
"Once upon a time, in the palace of a nobleman from Tarragona, there was a plague of rats that was impossible to contain, to the point that one day, when the nobleman had organised a banquet in honour of the king and his court, the rats burst in, eating the food and frightening the illustrious retinue.
The nobleman, ashamed, sent for the best hunting cat in the country. However, the poor animal couldn't get rid of them because, when he chased them, the vermin hid in their burrows, which the cat couldn't get into. So the cat came up with a plan: one night, he went into the great banqueting hall and stretched himself out on his back, playing dead.
The rats, believing the hoax, decided to celebrate the death of their great enemy with a huge feast, during which they parodied a procession by carrying the feline’s “corpse” on a pole and parading it around. At that moment, with all the rats gathered around it and intoxicated by the feast, the cat rolled over and began to devour them all. The few that survived fled in terror, never to return.
Thus the plague of rats was ended and the nobleman decided to reward the cat by seating him beside the king at the banquet he’d arranged to restore his good name. When the cat died of old age, the nobleman had his famous deeds carved in the cloister, like the deeds of the kings of old".
