Cat got your tongue

I know when someone can't or won't speak someone would say: "What's the matter?" "Cat got your tongue"?
Where did this come from!?

"Has the cat got your tongue? Why don't you speak? Your silence is suspicious. The saying originated in the mid-nineteenth century and was used when addressing a child who refused to answer a parent's questions after some mischief..." From Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titleman (Random House, New York, 1996).

The humorous "shorthand" in this phrase encapsulates a chain of reasoning. You're not speaking. Maybe you have no tongue and can't speak. Cat's hunt and eat small bits, like mice, goldfish, and songbirds. Maybe a cat caught and ate your tongue. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"