Eureka

Eureka is a white kitten who is introduced in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908). She is found by Uncle Henry who gives her the name Eureka, which means "I have found it!" Henry then gives the cat to his niece Dorothy making the cat her pet. Dorothy carries Eureka in a small birdcage on a train with her to San Francisco to visit her relatives on Hugson farm. While riding with Bill Hugson's nephew Zeb, an earthquake opens a large chasm in the ground, and Eureka falls with Dorothy, Zeb, and Jim the Cab-Horse into the land of the Mangaboos, people made of vegetable. The strange lights in the Mangaboos' cavern create all sorts of odd colors, and Eureka looks pink there. Eureka is then referred to as a "pink kitten," or sometimes, as in Glinda of Oz (1920), as a "purple kitten." The last third of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz presents her as dishonest, and she is placed on trial for having eaten the smallest of the Nine Tiny Piglets, which was given to Princess Ozma as a pet. Eureka is threatened with execution until the piglet is finally found. Although Eureka ultimately tells them where the piglet is, she is amused at being tried for something that is in her nature to attempt. Eureka returns with Dorothy to Kansas, but is later found living in Oz with no explanation of how she returned. Eureka may be conniving and deceitful, but overall she has a good heart. Eureka plays a significant supporting role in Dick Martin's 1986 novel The Ozmapolitan of Oz, and she is the heroine of Chris Dulabone's The Colorful Kitten of Oz (1990) which, among other things, addresses the inconsistency of Eureka's color. Eureka appears in the 2017 series Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz voiced by Kari Wahlgren. She is a resident of Purrville who becomes friends with the Cowardly Lion.