The Ballad of Lost C'Mell

The Ballad of Lost C'Mell is a short story by Cordwainer Smith (a pseudonym for American author Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger) that first appeared in Galaxy Magazine in October 1962. It was reprinted in The Best of Cordwainer Smith, edited by J. J. Pierce, published by Ballantine in 1975 and in The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories edited by Tom Shippey, published in 1992.

The central character, C'Mell, is an anthropomorphic cat-woman. The plot largely follows her attempts to strengthen a rebellion against the central government of humanity, the Instrumentality of Mankind.