One of the oldest games there is, cat’s cradle. Even the Eskimos know it.

— Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat's Cradle.

The novel title “Cat’s Cradle” is actually a string trick that we have played as kids. Grownups would create various string figures between their hands. "Cat's Cradle" is one of the string figures. However, there is neither a cat nor a cradle in the figure, only emptiness. This, in fact, is nothing but a trick. In this novel, the “Cat’s cradle” becomes the general symbol of all tricks and emptiness.

— Qiu Huadong, “A Frightening Burlesque”, foreword for Cat’s Cradle (Chinese Edition) written by Kurt Vonnegut and translated by Liu Zhuhuan.

He clutches in his hands a bundle of braided cords whose knots he unravels between his fingers while speaking. This braid," Seglen writes, "was called ‘Origin-of-the-Word,’ for it seemed to give birth to words."

—Agamben, Giorgio. The Power of Thought.