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"Puss in Boots" (German:Der gestiefelte Kater;French:Le Maître chat ou le Chat botté;Italian:Il gatto con gli stivali;Dutch:De Gelaarsde Kat) is a Europeanfairy tale about ananthropomorphiccat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand in marriage of a princess for his penniless and low-born master.
The story begins with a poor miller who, upon his death, leaves his possessions to his three sons. The eldest inherits themill, the second son gets adonkey, and theyoungest son is left with only acat. The youngest son laments his poor inheritance, but the cat, who turns out to be extraordinarily clever and resourceful, assures his master that he can bring him great fortune if provided with a pair ofboots and a simple sack.
Once outfitted with boots, Puss sets out to catch game, such asrabbits andpartridges, by using cunning traps. He presents these animals as gifts to the king, claiming they are from his master, who he names the "Marquis of Carabas." Over time, Puss builds a reputation for his master as a wealthy and generous nobleman, even though his master is actually a poor miller’s son.
One day, knowing the king and his daughter will be riding by the river, Puss instructs his master to bathe in the water. As the king's carriage approaches, Puss pretends that his master has been robbed of his fine clothes and is drowning. The king stops to help and, believing Puss’s story, offers his own fine garments to the miller’s son. Impressed by the supposed Marquis's appearance and the many gifts he had previously received, the king invites him into his carriage. The princess becomes enamored with the young man.
While traveling, Puss races ahead to a grandcastle owned by a powerful and fearsomeogre who has magical powers, including the ability to shapeshift. Puss flatters the ogre and tricks him into transforming into a small mouse, which Puss immediately devours. With the ogre gone, Puss claims the castle and its lands for his master.
When the king arrives at the castle and sees its magnificence, he is further convinced of the Marquis's wealth and status. Delighted, he offers his daughter's hand in marriage to the miller's son. The marriage is celebrated with a grand feast, and the miller's son, now truly the "Marquis of Carabas," lives happily ever after with the princess, thanks to the cleverness and loyalty of Puss in Boots, who himself becomes a lord and never has to hunt mice again—unless he wants to for fun.
Infolkloristics,Puss in Boots is classified asAarne–Thompson–Uther ATU 545B, "Puss in Boots", a subtype of ATU 545, "The Cat as Helper".[5]FolkloristsJoseph Jacobs andStith Thompson point that the Perrault tale is the possible source of the Cat Helper story in later European folkloric traditions.[6][7] Similarly, Frisian professorJurjen van der Kooi noted that variants from oral tradition were only starting to be recorded from the 19th century onwards, and tales fromCentral andWestern Europe follow Perrault's and Grimm's redaction very closely.[8] In the same vein, French folkloristsPaul Delarue andMarie-Louise Ténèze, editors of the French Folktale Catalogue, concur that oral variants where the cat appears as the helper (especially those in which he wears boots) were influenced by Perrault's tale.[9]
According to scholars (e.g., van der Kooi,Hans-Jörg Uther, Stith Thompson andInes Köhler-Zülch), while the cat appears mostly in Europe as the animal helper, variants across cultures replace the cat with a jackal, a fox or another species of animal,[10][11][12][13] like a dog, a rooster, or an ape.[14] German folklorist Köhler-Zulch noted the geographical distribution of the different animal helpers: a fox inEastern andSoutheastern Europe, as well in the Caucasus andCentral Asia; and an ape, a jackal or a gazelle inSouthern Asia[15] and in Africa.[16] For instance, professorDamiana Eugenio remarked that the helpful animal is a monkey "in all Philippine variants".[17]
In the Hungarian National Catalogue of Folktales (MNK), in tale type 545B,A csizmás kandúr ("The (Tom)cat with boots"), the protagonist may be helped either by a cat or a rooster received from his father as his inheritance, or rescues a fox from peril (e.g., starvation or hunters), and the animal promises to help him in return.[18]
French folklorists Paul Delarue and Marie-Louise Ténèze, editors of the French Folktale Catalogue, argued that the existence of variants with a helpful fox instead of a cat indicate an "oral tradition [that is] independent from the printed versions". As such, they locate such variants in, besides some tales in France, peninsular Italy, in Sicily, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Finland, Turkey and Mongolia.[20]
According to the description of the tale type in theEast Slavic Folktale Catalogue (Russian:СУС,romanized: SUS), last updated by scholarLev Barag [ru] in 1979, the hero may be helped either by a cat (Russian:кот), or by a fox (Russian:лиса).[21] Similarly, theBulgarian Folktale Catalogue names type 545B asВоденичарят и лисицата ("The Miller and the Fox").[22][23]
In theTypen türkischer Volksmärchen ("Turkish Folktale Catalogue"), byWolfram Eberhard andPertev Naili Boratav, both scholars listed the variants with the fox as the animal helper under Turkish type TTV 34,Der Müller und der Fuchs ("The Miller and the Fox"), which corresponds in the international classification to tale type ATU 545B.[24]
Hungarian orientalistLászló L. Lőrincz established the classification of theMongolian tale corpus. In his system, the story appears as type 32,Der Dank des schlauen roten Fuchs ("The grateful, slyred fox"), in two variations: the fox replaces the cat as the protagonist's helper; the protagonist either hunts the fox himself and releases it (variation "A"), or he hides the fox from a hunter (variation "B"); in return, the red fox helps the protagonist marry a khan's daughter.[25]
Tales of the Caucasian Region also register the fox in the place of the cat. For example, Georgian scholarship registers tale type ATU 545B inGeorgia, with the name "The Fox and the Peasant", wherein the cat is replaced by the helpful fox.[26] Similarly, in the index ofAdyghe folktale corpus, a fox helps a poor carpenter to marry the daughter of aknyaz (lord),[27] and in theAzerbaijani Folktale Index, in Azeri type 545B,Armudan bəy, the fox helps the miller's son in marrying the padishah's daughter.[28]
The tale has also spread to the Americas, and is known in Asia (India, Indonesia and Philippines).[29] Greek scholar Marianthi Kaplanoglou states that the tale type ATU 545B, "Puss in Boots" (or, locally, "The Helpful Fox"), is an "example" of "widely known stories (...) in the repertoires of Greek refugees from Asia Minor".[30]
The saying "enough to make a cat laugh" dates from the mid-1800s and is associated with the tale of Puss in Boots.[31]
The Bibliothèque de Carabas[32] book series was published byDavid Nutt in London in the late 19th century, in which the front cover of each volume depicts Puss in Boots reading a book.
^W. G. Waters,The Mysterious Giovan Francesco Straparola, inJack Zipes, a c. di,The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm, p 877,ISBN0-393-97636-X
^Cristina Bacchilega; Danielle Marie Roemer (2001).Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale. Wayne State University Press. p. 24.
^Thompson, Stith.The Folktale. University of California Press. 1977. pp. 58-59.ISBN0-520-03537-2
^Thompson, Stith.The Folktale. University of California Press. 1977. p. 58.ISBN0-520-03537-2
^Jacobs, Joseph.European Folk and Fairy Tales. New York, London: G. P. Putnam's sons. 1916. pp. 239-240.
^van der Kooi, Jurjen. "De gelaarsde kat". In:Van Aladdin tot Zwaan kleef aan. Lexicon van sprookjes: ontstaan, ontwikkeling, variaties. 1ste druk. Ton Dekker & Jurjen van der Kooi & Theo Meder. Kritak: Sun. 1997. p. 139.
^Delarue, Paul.Le conte populaire français: catalogue raisonné des versions de France et des pays de langue française d'outre-mer: Canada, Louisiane, îlots français des États-Unis, Antilles françaises, Haïti, Ile Maurice, La Réunion. Volume 2. Érasme, 1957. p. 345.
^Uther, Hans-Jörg (2006). "The Fox in World Literature: Reflections on a 'Fictional Animal'".Asian Folklore Studies.65 (2):133–160.JSTOR30030396.
^Kaplanoglou, Marianthi (January 1999). "AT 545B 'Puss in Boots' and 'The Fox-Matchmaker': From the Central Asian to the European Tradition".Folklore.110 (1–2):57–62.doi:10.1080/0015587X.1999.9715981.JSTOR1261067.
^Thompson, Stith (1977).The Folktale. University of California Press. pp. 58–59.ISBN0-520-03537-2.A difference is also made in the animal helper. Instead of a cat, very frequently there appears a fox, and sometimes even other animals. ... As one gets away from central Europe, the greater variations one finds from the literary version of Perrault.
^Köhler-Zülch, Ines. "Puss in Boots". In:The Greenwood Encyclopedia Of Folktales And Fairy Tales. Westport, Connecticut; London: Greenwood Press, 2008. p. 794.ISBN978-0-313-33441-2.
^van der Kooi, Jurjen. "De gelaarsde kat". In:Van Aladdin tot Zwaan kleef aan. Lexicon van sprookjes: ontstaan, ontwikkeling, variaties. 1ste druk. Ton Dekker & Jurjen van der Kooi & Theo Meder. Kritak: Sun. 1997. p. 139.
^Thompson, Stith; Roberts, Warren Everett (1960).Types of Indic Oral Tales: India, Pakistan, And Ceylon. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. pp. 80–81.
^Köhler-Zülch, Ines. "Puss in Boots". In:The Greenwood Encyclopedia Of Folktales And Fairy Tales. Westport, Connecticut; London: Greenwood Press, 2008. p. 794.ISBN978-0-313-33441-2.
^Eugenio, Damiana L. (1985). "Philippine Folktales: An Introduction".Asian Folklore Studies.44 (2):155–177.doi:10.2307/1178506.JSTOR1178506.
^Dömötör Ákos (szerk.).Magyar népmesekatalógus 2. Budapest, MTA Néprajzi Kutató Csoport, 1988. A magyar tündérmesék katalógusa (AaTh 300-749). p. 312.
^Liungman, Waldemar.Die Schwedischen Volksmärchen: Herkunft und Geschichte. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2022 [1961]. pp. 151-152.https://doi.org/10.1515/9783112618004-004
^Delarue, Paul.Le conte populaire français: catalogue raisonné des versions de France et des pays de langue française d'outre-mer: Canada, Louisiane, îlots français des États-Unis, Antilles françaises, Haïti, Ile Maurice, La Réunion. Volume 2. Érasme, 1957. p. 345.
^Kotseva, Yordanka; Mitseva, Evgeniya; Daskalova, Lilyana; Dobreva, Doroteya (1984)."Каталог на българските фолклорни приказки (Предварителни материали)" [A Catalogue of Bulgarian Folktales (Preliminary Materials)].Български фолклор [Bulgarian Folklore].X (2). Институт за етнология и фолклористика с Етнографски музей при БАН:92–93.
^Kotseva, Yordanka (2002)."Вълшебните приказки в Архива на Института за фолклор. Каталог" [The Fairy-Tales in the Archive of the Institute of Folklore. Catalogue].Български фолклор [Bulgarian Folklore] (in Bulgarian).XXVIII (3–4). Институт за етнология и фолклористика с Етнографски музей при БАН:93–94.
^Eberhard, Wolfram; Boratav, Pertev Nailî.Typen türkischer Volksmärchen. Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1953. pp. 49-51 (tale type), 421 (table of correspondences).
^Lörincz, Laszló.Mongolische Märchentypen. Budapest: Akadémiai kiadó; Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1979. p. 40.
^Thompson, Stith.The Folktale. University of California Press. 1977. p. 59.ISBN0-520-03537-2.
^Kaplanoglou, Marianthi (December 2010). "Two Storytellers from the Greek-Orthodox Communities of Ottoman Asia Minor. Analyzing Some Micro-data in Comparative Folklore".Fabula.51 (3–4):251–265.doi:10.1515/fabl.2010.024.S2CID161511346.
Blair, Graham (2019). "Jack Ships to the Cat".Clever Maids, Fearless Jacks, and a Cat: Fairy Tales from a Living Oral Tradition. University Press of Colorado. pp. 93–103.ISBN978-1-60732-919-0.JSTORj.ctvqc6hwd.11.
Kaplanoglou, Marianthi (January 1999). "AT 545B 'Puss in Boots' and 'The Fox-Matchmaker': From the Central Asian to the European Tradition".Folklore.110 (1–2):57–62.doi:10.1080/0015587X.1999.9715981.JSTOR1261067.
Köhler-Zülch, Ines (1994). "Котаракът в чизми или хитрата лисица" [Puss in Boots or the Clever She-fox].Български фолклор.XX (5):20–32.
Mazzoni, Cristina (2019). "Changing the sex of cats: Considerations on tale type ATU 545, "The cat as helper, or, Puss in Boots" between Italy and France".Quaderni d'Italianistica.40 (2):7–24.doi:10.33137/q.i..v40i2.34876.ISSN0226-8043.S2CID234677738.
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