This phrase arises from the fable (La Fontaine , ii. 2) of the rats who held a council as to how they might best defend themselves from the cat. They resolved to hang a bell round his neck, so that they might hear him coming and run away. But the difficulty was to find a volunteer “to bell the cat.” In Scottish history Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus (1449-1514), was called Bell-the-Cat. James III. used to make favourites of architects and masons. The Scotch nobles held a council in the Church of Lauder for the purpose of putting down these upstarts. Lord Gray asked who would bell the cat. “That will I,” said Douglas, and fearlessly he put the minions to death in the King’s presence. Compare Scott , Marmion, v. 14. The Greek equivalent, Ξυρεῖν λέοντα (= to shave the lion) occurs in Plato, Republic, 341 C. The refrain of Eustace Deschamps’ Ballade 58 is: “Qui pendra la sonnette au chat?”

La Fontaine , Conseil tenu par les rats. For an explanation of the phrase see Grelot.