History Main / ChariotPulledByCats

* Margaretha Geertruida Zelle (UsefulNotes/MataHari) went to school in a carriage drawn by goats. At only 6 years old, she became the talk of the town when she travelled in a goat-drawn carriage that her father had given her.

* ''Series/Doctor Who'': In the [[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol 2010 Christmas Special]] the Doctor rides in a carriage pulled by a flying shark.

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': Traders on the [[https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/wielder-of-names-3-39/ King's Road]] PortalNetwork use {{Robot}}s, animalistic [[OurDemonsAreDifferent bound devils]], or {{necroman|cer}}tically transformed shades to pull their vehicles. {{Justified|Trope}} because animal [[OurSoulsAreDifferent souls]] are too weak to survive the VoidBetweenTheWorlds.

** Goddess Freyja, goddess of love, drives a chariot pulled by two black or grey cats. Per the trope, this was generally taken as a sign of her being crazy but awesome. [[http://www.germanicmythology.com/works/FREYJACATCARART.html This webpages]] has collected many images of Freya and her cats.

** And Freyr rode a chariot pulled by Gullinbursti, a golden boar built by dwarves.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS25E8WhiteChristmasBlues White Christmas Blues]]":

* ''Film/{{Hop}}'': The Easter Bunny's sleigh is pulled by a team of tiny, downy chicks that can fly somehow. And later also by Carlos [[spoiler:who has been mutated into a bunny-chick abomination]].

* Creator/HansChristianAndersen:
** In the fairy tale "Ole-Luk-Oie", Hjalmar dreams that he rides in a boat pulled by swans.
** "Literature/{{Thumbelina}}": When Thumbelina escapes the toad and her son, she floats on LeafBoat down the stream. A lovely white butterfly starts fluttering around her. Thumbelina undoes her sash and she then ties one end to the butterfly and the other end to the leaf. She keeps sailing on a butterfly-powered little Leaf Boat.

* In Creator/DaveBarry's ''Year in Review'' (2000), there is a joke about the president driving a chariot pulled by lions.
-->[...] there is tension at the Democratic convention in Los Angeles, where the Gore camp suspects that Bill Clinton is trying to hog the limelight. A Clinton staffer denies this, claiming that "security considerations" led to the decision to have the president enter the convention hall riding a chariot drawn by lions.

* Creator/{{Filmation}} produced the cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/TarzanLordOfTheJungle'' in 1976:
** The lost City of Gold has Queen Nemone riding in a chariot drawn by a pair of lions because she's royalty and an AlphaBitch.
** Queen Nemone's royal guards use paired lion chariots, most especially Phobeg, the queen's most badass guard.

* In ''Videogame/WarlordsBattlecry'', TheEmpire's Titan unit is The Lion Throne, a war chariot pulled by lions.

[[quoteright:350: [[Film/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chariot_pulled_by_cats.png]]]]
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%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1574082943026921000&page=1

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* ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'':
** King Triton makes his entrance into the concert hall riding on a giant oyster shell pulled by two seahorses. ''Inside'' the concert hall, though Triton can swim just fine with his own fishtail. Mer-kings be wack.
** He is followed by Sebastian, who rides a normal-sized seashell pulled by a normal-sized seahorse, which Sebastian has a little trouble controlling.
* In the final battle of ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'', Emmet's CrazyCatLady neighbor can be seen driving a chariot pulled by her herd of cats.

* ''Disney/TheRescuers'': The Rescuers get an express ride to Madame Medusa's derelict steamboat in the bayou courtesy of a leaf-boat powered by the dragonfly Evinrude. It is taxing on this insect to go any meaningful distance, but he diligently does his job. It is charming to hear Miss Bianca call him "Even-rude".
* ''WesternAnimation/DisneyFairies'': The fairies have races using special carriages drawn by a pair of frogs. Not two frogs in the front, however, but one before and one behind with the seats in the middle. They move thanks to the back frog ''jumping'' above the carriage (which rotates along the two poles connecting the frogs to stay horizontal), thus the frogs switching place. Rinse and repeat.

* The Easter Bunny's sleigh, as seen in ''Film/{{Hop}}'' is pulled by a team of tiny, downy chicks that can fly somehow. And later also by Carlos [[spoiler:who has been mutated into a bunny-chick abomination]].

* In several of the ''Literature/LandOfOz'' books, Princess Ozma's chariot is pulled by the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger. This is often the extent of their participation in the books.
* According to ''Literature/TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas'', SantaClaus flies around on a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, an image that has endured in the Santa Claus mythos.
* In ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'', the humans of Arianus use a species of enormous flightless birds known as tiers as beasts of burden.
* In ''Literature/{{Leviathan}}'', the Darwinists use a large variety of bio-engineered creatures as chariot-pullers and beasts of burden. Among those seen are elephantines and mammothines (presumably modified elephants and mammoths) as well as a cart pulled by a pair of wolf-tiger hybrid creatures.
* In ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', Jadis the White Witch rides a chariot pulled by a pair of polar bears in battle.
* The cover of ''Literature/TheSilverWarriors'' features a man in a sled being pulled by (weirdly tiny) polar bears.

* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'': Great-worms and lesser-worms are used in teams to pull a chariot.
* Creator/HansChristianAndersen:
** In his fairy tale "Ole-Luk-Oie", Hjalmar dreams that he rides in a boat pulled by swans.
** "Literature/{{Thumbelina}}": When Thumbelina escapes the toad and her son, she floats on LeafBoat down the stream. A lovely white butterfly starts fluttering around her. Thumbelina undoes her sash and she then ties one end to the butterfly and the other end to the leaf. She keeps sailing on a butterfly-powered little Leaf Boat.
* In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', when the Teleri (Sea Elves) of the Lonely Isle Eressea wanted to emigrate to Valinor, they travelled in ships pulled by large swans.
* ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'': After the peach falls into the sea, it's attacked by sharks biting holes that could sink it. To escape, the heroes lure seagulls close with Earthworm as bait ([[TheBait he's very unhappy about this]]) then catch and tie them to the peach with silk from Miss Spider and the Silkworm. With an entire flock of seagulls towing them, the peach rises out of the sea and into the clouds.

* In the ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics", Star-Burns tries to develop the world's first cat-powered vehicle. He's seen trying to escape on a prototype. In a BrickJoke, there appears a crowd-funding video in which Star-Burns asks for donations for his cat car idea.

** The [[CatFolk Tigran]] Sabertooth Chariot are pulled by sabertooth tigers.
** The Frostling Ice Queen are pulled by polar bears.

* ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'': The Nyakuza DLC adds in a sprawling metro complex where the subway trains are all pulled by [[MegaNeko giant cats]].

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The world of ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'' has [[CanisMajor giant dogs]] in place of horses; some breeds are used to pull carriages, while others are suitable as mounts.
* In Creator/AGnosis' webcomics on [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek myth]], Demeter's [[https://www.deviantart.com/a-gnosis/art/The-Family-Party-45-552991271 carriage]] is pulled by giant snakes: they're friendly, but still a nasty shock for the stablehands on Olympus. Demeter's dislike of horses becomes a FunnyAneurysmMoment later.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "Kiss Me Cat" (a sequel to "WesternAnimation/FeedTheKitty"), Marc Anthony tries to get Pussyfoot to catch the mouse that has been raiding the kitchen. Instead, the mouse hitches Pussyfoot to a wagon and uses him to get more food.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS25E8WhiteChristmasBlues White Christmas Blues]]":
** Crazy cat lady is seen in the intro driving a sleigh pulled by several of her cats.

** Marge and Maggie look like Christmas elves in the intro and they ride in a sleigh pulled by several greyhounds which is Santa's Little Helper's breed.

** The Royal Stagecoach is [[https://starvstheforcesofevil.fandom.com/wiki/Royal_stagecoach?file=S1e1_royal_stagecoach.png pulled by Manticores]], which highlights Mewni's magical nature.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', one episode features Finn and Jake making a movie and they try to make it look like Princess Bubblegum is driving a chariot drawn by a frog. Throughout the show we see carriages and carts pulled by all kinds of strange creatures, which fit the Land of Ooo nicely.

Cats and PantheraAwesome are an extremely popular choice, so much so they form an Administrivia/InternalSubtrope. Mostly because cats are [[CuteKitten cute]], [[CoolCat cool]], [[CatsAreSuperior superior]] and [[CatsAreMagic connected to magic]]. They're domesticated and therefore very familiar, but they're still somewhat wild and untamed. They're notoriously disobedient and known to do only what pleases them.

Usually seen in myths, fairy-tales or fantasy. These vehicles and animals will signify prestige transportation in areas where other mechanical transport is cheap and easy. Occasionally it is [[PlayedForLaughs employed for comedy]] when a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} or somebody truly insane attempts to pull this in a fictional work that is fairly realistic.

** Goddess Freyja, goddess of love, drives a chariot pulled by two black or grey cats. Per the trope, this was generally taken as a sign of her being crazy but awesome.

** In the intro, Mr Burns is driving a sleigh drawn by his signature hounds. (Dogs are sometimes used to pull sleigh in real life, but it's PlayedForLaughs here as Mr Burns signature hounds are usually sent to chase away unwanted guests.)
** Marge and Maggie look like Christmas elves in the intro and they ride in a sleigh pulled by several greyhounds which is Santa's Little Helper breed.
** Homer's romantic carriage ride through the snow, advertised as a horse-drawn carriage, is actually Homer sitting in a small cart pulled by Snowball the cat and Santa's Little Helper the dog. He puts pictures of a mouse and a cat in front of them to power the cart by AnimalJingoism. There's no place for the tourists to sit and they are supposed to just watch him drive.

* ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'': The Nyakuza DLC adds in a sprawling metro complex where the subway trains are all pulled by [[MegaNeko giant cats]].

* ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' :

* In ''Literature/{{Dune}}'': Great-worms and lesser-worms are used in teams to pull a chariot.

* In ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics", Star-Burns tries to develop the world's first cat-powered vehicle. He's seen trying to escape on a prototype. In a BrickJoke, there appears a crowd-funding video in which Star-Burns asks for donations for his cat car idea.

* Creator/{{Filmation}} produced the cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/TarzanLordOfTheJungle'' in 1976. The lost City of Gold has Queen Nemone riding in a chariot drawn by a pair of lions because she's an AlphaBitch. Her royal guards also use paired lion chariots, most especially Phobeg, the queen's most badass guard.

* Crazy cat lady of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is seen in the intro to "White Christmas Blues" driving a sleigh pulled by several of her cats.

** Goddess Freyja, goddess of love, drives a chariot pulled by two black or grey cats. Per the trope, this was generally taken as a sign of her being CrazyAwesome.

%% Image picking discussion in progress https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1574082943026921000&page=1

* In ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'': Great-worms and lesser-worms are used in teams to pull a chariot.

* The Franchise/{{Discworld}}'s SantaClaus equivalent is the Discworld/{{Hogfather}}, who goes around bringing gifts to good children in an elegant sleigh drawn by cute little pink pigs. Or at least the sanitized modern version does, when Death covers the Hogfather's shift, he does it with a massive crude sled built out of logs and drawn by equally huge, hairy and non-housebroken boars.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
* King Triton from Disney's ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' makes his entrance into the concert hall riding on a giant oyster shell pulled by two seahorses. ''Inside'' the concert hall, though Triton can swim just fine with his own fishtail. Mer-kings be wack.

* In the final battle of ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'' Emmet's CrazyCatLady neighbor can be seen driving a chariot pulled by her herd of cats.

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* In ''Film/TheHobbit'', Radagast the Brown's sleigh is pulled by giant rabbits (Radagast calls them "Rhosgobel rabbits").

* The Easter Bunny's sleigh, as seen in ''Film/{{Hop}}'' is pulled by a team of tiny, downy chicks that can fly somehow. And later also by Carlos [[spoiler: who has been mutated into a bunny-chick abomination]].

--> [...] there is tension at the Democratic convention in Los Angeles, where the Gore camp suspects that Bill Clinton is trying to hog the limelight. A Clinton staffer denies this, claiming that "security considerations" led to the decision to have the president enter the convention hall riding a chariot drawn by lions.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder:Mythology]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

* There is a web video of the Chicken Chariot. [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p5IMke8IV9M&t=2s It is a thing to behold.]]

* In the ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' cartoon short "Seasin's Greetinks", Bluto is introduced being drawn on a sled driven by a small dog.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'': Dr. Finkelstein creates skeletal reindeer for Jack Skellington. They pull Jack's sleigh when he travels around the world to deliver gifts for Christmas instead of Santa Claus.

** Goddess Freyja, goddess of love, drives a chariot pulled by two black or grey cats.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': The game has a desert-going seals used for a chariot-style race.

* From Creator/DaveBarry's ''Year in Review'' (2000):

* ''Disney/TheRescuers'' get an express ride to Madame Medusa's derelict steamboat in the bayou courtesy of a leaf-boat powered by the dragonfly Evinrude. It is taxing on this insect to go any meaningful distance, but he diligently does his job. It is charming to hear Miss Bianca call him "Even-rude".

* ''Film/{{Barbarella}}'' is rescued from the feral children of Planet 16, and gets a ride to the city of [=SoGo=] on a sled pulled by something like a stingray. The ground is presumed to be dry ice, as there's a constant mist six inches deep. How this critter gets traction enough to pull Barbarella around, and see where its going amid the fog [[BellisariosMaxim goes unexplained]].

** The planet Roshar's unique ecology leans heavily towards crustaceans, so the primary draught animal is a huge, docile, crab-like creature called a chull. They're fairly slow-moving, but actual horses are far too rare and expensive to waste on draft work.

** The planet Roshar's unique ecology leans heavily towards crustaceans, so the primary draught animal is a huge, docile, crab-like creature called a chull. They're fairly slow-moving, but actual horses are far too rare and expensive to waste on draught work.

* The giant dogs characters ride instead of horses in ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'' are also used to pull carriages.
* In Creator/AGnosis' webcomics on [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek myth]], Demeter's [[https://www.deviantart.com/a-gnosis/art/The-Family-Party-45-552991271 carriage]] is pulled by giant snakes: they're friendly, but still a nasty shock for the stablehands on Olympus. Demeter's dislike of horses [[spoiler:becomes a FunnyAneurysmMoment later]].

[[folder:Comicbooks]]