Once upon a time there was a miller who, when he died, had nothing to
leave to his three sons but his mill, his ass, and his cat. The
division was soon made. Neither the notary nor the attorney were sent
for; they would soon have eaten up all the poor patrimony. The eldest
had the mill, the second the ass, and the youngest nothing but the cat.
The youngest was quite downcast at having so poor a share.
“My brothers,” said he, “may get their living handsomely enough by
joining their portions together; but as for me, when I have eaten my
cat and made me a muff of his skin, I must die of hunger.”
The cat, who heard all this without appearing to do so, came up to him
and said with a grave and serious air, “Do not thus afflict yourself,
my good master; you have only to give me a bag, and get a pair of boots
made for me,—that I may scamper through the dirt and the brambles,—and
you shall see that you have not so poor a portion in me as you
imagine.”
Though the cat’s master did not build great hopes on what he said, yet
he had seen him play such cunning tricks to catch rats and mice,—such
as hanging himself by his heels, or hiding himself in the meal to make
believe he was dead,—that he did not altogether despair of his helping
him in his misery. When the cat had what he asked for, he booted
himself very gallantly, and putting his bag about his neck, he took
hold of the two strings with his fore paws, and went into a warren
where there were a great many rabbits. He put bran and parsley into his
bag, and stretching himself out at full length as if he were dead, he
waited for some young rabbits, not yet acquainted with the snares and
tricks of this world, to come and rummage his bag for what he had put
into it.
Scarcely had he lain down before his wish was fulfilled. A rash and
foolish young rabbit jumped headlong into his bag, and Master Puss
immediately drew close the strings, and killed him without mercy. Proud
of his prey, he went with it to the palace and asked to speak with the
King. He was shown upstairs into the King’s apartment, and making a low
bow, said to him: “I have brought you, sire, a rabbit from the warren
of my Lord the Marquis of Carabas [for that was the title which he was
pleased to give his master], which he has commanded me to present to
your Majesty with the assurance of his respect.”
“Tell your master,” said the King, “that I thank him, and that he has
given me great pleasure.”
Another time he went and hid himself among some standing corn, holding
his bag open as before, and when a brace of partridges ran into it, he
drew the strings, and so caught them both. He then went and presented
these to the King, as he had previously done with the rabbit which he
took in the warren. The King in like manner received the partridges
with great pleasure, and ordered his servants to reward him.
In this way the cat continued for two or three months to carry to his
Majesty from time to time game of his master’s taking. One day when he
knew that the King was intending to take the air along the riverside
with his daughter, who was the most beautiful Princess in the world, he
went to his master and said: “If you will follow my advice, your
fortune is made. You have only to go and bathe in the river, just in
the place I shall show you, and leave the rest to me.”
The Marquis of Carabas did what the cat advised, without knowing what
would be the good of doing so. While he was bathing, the King passed
by, and the cat began to cry out with all his might: “Help! help! my
Lord Marquis of Carabas is drowning!”
At this noise the King put his head out of the coach window, and,
seeing it was the cat who had so often brought him presents of game,
commanded his guards to run immediately to the assistance of his
lordship the Marquis of Carabas.
While they were drawing the poor marquis out of the river the cat came
up to the coach and told the King that while his master was bathing
there had come by some rogues who ran off with his clothes, though he
had cried out “Thieves! thieves!” several times as loud as he could.
The cunning cat had hidden them under a great stone.
The King immediately commanded the officers of his wardrobe to run and
fetch one of his best suits for the Lord Marquis of Carabas.
The King loaded the marquis with a thousand attentions, and as the fine
clothes he had given him set off his good looks (for he was well made
and comely), the King’s daughter found him very much to her liking, and
the Marquis of Carabas had no sooner cast two or three respectful and
somewhat tender glances in her direction than she fell in love with him
to distraction. The King insisted on his getting into the coach and
taking the ride with them. The cat, overjoyed at seeing how well his
plan was beginning to succeed, ran on before, and coming upon some
countrymen who were mowing a meadow, he said to them, “Good people, if
you do not tell the King, who will presently pass this way, that the
meadow which you are mowing belongs to my Lord Marquis of Carabas, you
shall be chopped as small as herbs for the pot.”
The King did not fail to ask the mowers to whom the meadow they were
mowing belonged.
“To my Lord Marquis of Carabas,” they answered all together, for the
cat’s threat had frightened them.
“You have here a very fine piece of land, my Lord Marquis,” said the
King.
“Yes, sire,” replied the marquis, “this is a meadow which never fails
to yield a plentiful harvest every year.”
The cat, who still went on before, met some reapers, and said to them,
“Good people, if you do not say to the King, who will presently pass
this way, that all this corn belongs to the Marquis of Carabas, you
shall be chopped as small as herbs for the pot.”
The King, who passed by a moment after, wished to know to whom all that
corn before him belonged.
“To my Lord Marquis of Carabas,” replied the reapers; and the King was
again very well pleased with the marquis.
The cat continued to go before the carriage and say the same words to
every one he met, and the King was astonished at the vast estates of my
Lord Marquis of Carabas.
The cat came at last to a stately castle, the master of which was an
ogre, the richest ever known; for all the lands the King had been
passing through belonged to this castle. The cat, who had taken care to
inform himself who this ogre was, and what he could do, asked to speak
with him, saying he could not pass so near his castle without having
the honor of paying his respects to him.
The ogre received him as civilly as an ogre could, and made him sit
down.
“I have been assured,” said the cat, “that you have the gift of being
able to change yourself into all sorts of animals, if you have a mind
to; that you can, for example, transform yourself into a lion or an
elephant.”
“That is true,” answered the ogre roughly; “and to convince you, you
shall see me now become a lion.”
The cat was so terrified at the sight of a lion so near him that he
sprang away, and climbed up on the roof, but not without much
difficulty and danger, as his boots were of no use at all for walking
upon tiles. A little while after, when he saw that the ogre had quitted
the form of a lion, he came down, and owned that he had been a good
deal frightened.
“I have been further informed (but I know not how to believe it),” said
the cat, “that you have also the power of taking the form of the
smallest animals,—for example, that you can change yourself into a rat
or a mouse; but I must own that I hold this to be impossible.”
“Impossible!” cried the ogre; “you shall see.” And at the same instant
he changed himself into a mouse and began to run about the floor.
The moment the cat saw the ogre in this form he sprang upon him and ate
him up.
Meanwhile the King, who saw, as he passed, this fine castle of the
ogre’s, had a mind to go into it. Master Puss, hearing the noise of his
Majesty’s coach crossing the drawbridge, ran out, and said to the King,
“Your Majesty is welcome to the castle of my Lord Marquis of Carabas.”
“What! my Lord Marquis,” cried the King, “and is this castle yours
also? There can be nothing finer than this court, and all the stately
buildings that surround it; let us see the interior, if you please.”
The marquis gave his hand to the young Princess, and followed the King
who went before. They entered a spacious hall, where they found a
splendid collation which the ogre had prepared for some friends who
were to visit him that very day, but who dared not enter, hearing that
the King was there. The King was so charmed with the good qualities of
my Lord the Marquis of Carabas, and his daughter had fallen so
violently in love with him, that, seeing the vast estate he possessed,
he said to him at the end of the collation, “It depends only on you, my
Lord Marquis, if you are not my son-in-law.”
The marquis, with low bows, accepted the honor which his Majesty
conferred upon him, and forthwith that very same day married the
Princess.
Puss in Boots became a great lord, and never ran after mice any more
except for his amusement.