| Eureka the Kitten | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Eureka |
|
First Appearance |
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908) |
|
Original Publisher |
Reilly & Britton |
|
Created by |
L. Frank Baum |
Origin[]
Eureka is a white kitten which Dorothy Gale acquired either in Australia or in San Francisco. Dorothy named her Eureka because she found the kitten, and her Uncle Henry told her that "Eureka" means "I have found it."
Dorothy kept the kitten in a bird cage covered in newspaper when she traveled by train from San Francisco to Hugson's Ranch. Eureka, along with Dorothy, Zeb Hugson, and Jim the Cab-Horse fell through a crack in the earth created by an earthquake and landed in the Land of the Mangaboos. It was in this kingdom that the kitten first began to talk.
She traveled with Dorothy through the Valley of Voe, the Land of Naught, and the Den of the Dragonettes before eventually being taken with her to the Emerald City of the Land of Oz.
A few days after they had arrived, one of the Wizard's Nine Tiny Piglets went missing. Since Eureka had frequently asked permission to eat one of them, she became the prime suspect and was put on trial. The accusations were proven false however, when Eureka revealed the location of the lost piglet, safe and sound.
Public Domain Appearances[]
Book:
- Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
- The Patchwork Girl of Oz
- The Scarecrow of Oz
- The Magic of Oz
- Glinda of Oz
Film:
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Notes[]
- Eureka, as noted above, is a "white kitten" on her first appearance. By the time of The Patchwork Girl of Oz, though, she has become a pink kitten (Chapter 11). She is mentioned again in The Scarecrow of Oz as "Eureka the Pink Kitten" (Chapter 24). Dorothy has a "Pink Kitten" again in The Magic of Oz (Chapter 20), and a "purple kitten" in Glinda of Oz (Chapter 5); but Dorothy is not known to have had any pet kitten other than Eureka. Several authors have offered explanations for the kitten's color change.
- How Eureka got to Oz is also a mystery. At the end of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, Eureka was put on trial for eating one of the Nine Tiny Piglets. Finding herself in disgrace after the trial, she asks Dorothy to bring her back to Kansas (Chapter 20). When the Shaggy Man mentions Eureka three books later (in The Patchwork Girl of Oz), there is no explanation for how she ended up back in the Land of Oz.