Puss in Boots

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Image:Gustave Dore le chat botte.jpg "Puss in Boots" is a European folktale, collected by Charles Perrault in 1697 his Contes de ma mère l'Oye (Mother Goose Tales) as "The Master Cat", and earlier in 1634, by Giambattista Basile as "Gagliuso".

1 Synopsis
2 Analysis
3 Adaptations
4 External links

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Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The division of property after a miller's death left his youngest son with nothing but the granary cat. Disappointed, the son contemplated eating the animal, but the cat bargained with him, promising him riches in return for a bag and a pair of boots. Though dubious, the miller's son went along with him, and provided the items.

Puss-in-Boots then took the bag and caught a succession of items of game – rabbits, partridges, etc. – which he took to the palace and presented to the king as a presents from his master the "Marquis de Carabas". Eventually the cat learnt that the king and his beautiful daughter would be travelling by the river road. Puss-in-Boots went and told the miller's son (who was ignorant of all this) to go and bathe in the river at the time that the royal party was due to pass. The boy did so, and as he bathed the cat stole his clothes, and ran to the road calling for help for his master, the Marquis de Carabas, who was drowning. The boy was "rescued" from the river, and his lack of clothes explained as the work of robbers. He was therefore wrapped in rich robes and driven off in the king's coach.

The cat sped ahead of the king's party to the lands of a powerful ogre. He threatened the people working in its fields that they'd be chopped to bits if they didn't say that the fields belonged to the Marquis of Carabas. He then went to the ogre's palace, and tricked him into changing into a mouse, which the cat ate, claiming the palace and land's in his master's name. As the king's coach reached the ogre's lands, he asked after the ownership of the fields, and was told that they belonged to the Marquis de Carabas. Upon reaching the ogre's palace, the royal party was welcomed by Puss-in-Boots in his master's name.

The result of all this was that the miller's son married the princess, and "Puss became a personage of great importance, and gave up hunting mice, except for amusement".

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Analysis

According to the Aarne and Thompson classification system of folktales, "Puss in Boots" is of the type 545B, The Cat as Helper.

Compared to the rich materials provided in "Sleeping Beauty" or "Bluebeard", "Puss in Boots" is considerably more lighthearted in tone. Perrault was certainly known for his moralist tendencies, but if there is a lesson to be learned from "Puss in Boots" it seems to be that trickery and deceit pays off more rapidly (and handsomely) than do hard work and talent.

To some readers today, an ethically discordant note is struck by the cat threatening the peasants who work for the ogre, bullying them into saying that they work for the Marquis de Carabas. In a modern version, Puss in Boots instead strikes a deal with the peasants that if they call themselves the people of the Marquis de Carabas, then Puss will free them from the tyranny of the cruel ogre.

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Adaptations

Image:Puss-In-Boots.jpeg

Gustave Doré's illustrated version (see above) is well known for capturing the gently satirical tone of the story.

In 1797 German writer Ludwig Tieck published Der gestiefelte Kater, a dramatic satire based on the Puss in Boots tale.

The Russian composer César Cui (of French ancestry) composed a short children's opera on this subject in 1913. Puss in Boots was first performed in Rome in 1915, and has been something of a repertory item in Germany since at least the 1970s.

A live action direct-to-video film adaptation was made in 1988, starring Christopher Walken as Puss and Jason Connery as the miller's son.

Plaza Entertainment released an animated direct-to-video film called Puss in Boots in 1999.

Puss in Boots appeared as a character in the film Shrek 2 (with the voice of Antonio Banderas).

A film called Puss in Boots is scheduled to be released in 2008.[1]

In the furry comic book, Xanadu, the main male hero, Tabbe Le Fauve, is a cat modeled on Puss in Boots with a strong influence of Errol Flynn's typical swashbuckler character.

The webcomic No Rest for the Wicked features several characters adapted from this story, Perrault (Puss), The Marquis de Carabas, and his wife.

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