Puss in boots is a well-known story by Charles Perrault, about the third and the youngest son who gets the worse part of the inheritance, almost nothing. That son got a cat for which was believed to be useless.
In this fairytale, the main character, Cat, presents the qualities of a younger son which are intelligence, bravery, and wittiness. The moral of the story is that a man should always rely on his abilities and that it is important to believe in yourself and be the creator of your luck.
Genre: fairytale
Time: one upon a time
Place: woods, carriage, river, castle, mill
Book Summary
Once upon a time, there was a miller who left his three sons everything he had, and it was a cat, a mill, and a donkey. It didn’t take long for them to split the inheritance. The oldest one got the mill, and the middle one got the donkey, and the youngest one got the cat. But it wasn't just a regular cat. This one could talk. He told his master to give him a pair of boots, a bag and lets him go into the boscage for what he won’t be sorry. Soon he caught a rabbit and brought him to the king.
When he brought the rabbit to the king, he said that it was sent to him by his master, better known as the Marquis of Carabas. The king loved the gift, gave Cat a tip and told him to say hello to his master. Almost three months passed by, and the Cat brought the King some gifts saying they were from Marquis of Carabas.
One day the king decided to take a walk down the shore with his daughter, the lovely princess. When the Cat found out about that, he told his master to go and take a bath in the river and that he’ll take care of the rest. The master listened to him and when he found himself in the river Cat started shouting: "Marquis of Carabas is drowning."
The king looked out of his carriage and when he recognized the Cat he sent his men to help them. While they were pulling the Marquis of Carabas out of the river, Cat told the king that his masters’ clothes were stolen while he was bathing. The king gave an order that his men bring the finest clothes for Marquis of Carabas. The king was kind towards the young master, and when the princess saw him, she immediately fell in love and invited him to the carriage.
While they were driving in the carriage, Cat moved forward and told the reapers that they should say that the land belongs to the Marquis of Carabas and if they won’t obey him he threatened to grind them like pate. They got scared and told the king what Cat ordered. The same thing was done by many people, and the king could not believe that the Marquis of Carabas owned such a fortune.
Cat went to a castle where the wealthiest sorcerer lived who owned all of the fields that the king believed were in possession of Marquis of Carabas. The wise cat already knew everything about the sorcerer, and that’s why he paid him a visit. The sorcerer was kind enough to let him in and Cat, pretending to admire his art, convinced the sorcerer to show him some skills he was known for. First, he convinced him to turn into a lion but when he did Cat got so scared that he jumped to the ceiling and almost lost him boots. Then he asked him to turn into a mouse, and when he did it, Cat ate him.
The carriage got near the castle and Cat got out saying hello to the guest and telling them that they are in front of Marquis of Carabases castle. The king was thrilled that in his kingdom lived such a rich Marquis and the princess was even more in love when she saw how rich he was. The same day the king gave permission for the two of them to get married after what Cat became a real gentleman who chased mice for fun.
Characters: Cat, Miller and his sons, the king and the princess
Characters Analysis
The cat is the main character. He is talkative and did not get afraid when the master wanted to eat him. Despite everything, he made him the richest man in the kingdom. He invented the Marquis of Carabas, tricked the king and out wised a sorcerer.
Marquis of Carabas is the youngest brother who was believed to receive almost nothing of the inheritance. Even though he was afraid for his life he believed the Cat and at the end, he married a princess.
Charles Perrault Biography
Charles Perrault (1628. - 1703.) was born in Paris to a wealthy family as the seventh child. His father was very strict and imposed a particular kind of education upon him, so he decided to study law. When he finished school, he got a job in the public service.
Many consider him to be the founder of the most popular genre between children, and those are the fairytales. He took his inspiration out of folks tales. Some of them were carried mouth to mouth, and the Grimm brothers told some of them. The fairytales that Charles made famous: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, and Puss in Boots.
This famous writer from France published another interesting book and it is Tales of Mother Goose. It consisted out of 8 fairytales.
Charles published this work under the name of his son. His fairytales were so popular that they were screen and TV adapted. The first fairytale The Sleeping Beauty was published in 1969.
Charles was considered to be one of the most influential people in the 17th century and a fighter for the younger generations. A conflict was going on back then between the old who believed that people should stick to the traditional way of writing and the young who were fighting for a new, fresh way of writing.
Book reports from Charles Perrault
- Bluebeard
- Cinderella
- Donkeyskin
- Griselda
- Little Red Riding Hood
- Little Thumb
- Puss in Boots
- Ricky of the Tuft
- The Fairies
- The Ridiculous Wishes
- The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods
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