"Puss in Boots." George Cruikshank's Fairy Library, George Cruikshank, London: Routledge and Sons, [1870s], pp. 1-27.

Tale Summary

A miller, upon his retirement, gifts his youngest son Caraba the mouser cat, Tom Puss. Caraba and Tom Puss grow very close, and even more so when Caraba saves Tom from a savage dog. One day, after going to town to sell flour, Caraba lays eyes on the beautiful princess and is overcome with sorrow that he may never have the status to marry her. On his return to the mill, Tom Puss begins to speak and vows that he will make it possible for Caraba to marry the princess. Tom requests boots, fine clothes, and a sack, with which he promptly leaves the miller's estate to hunt rabbits. An ogre had previously restrained all the king's favorite wild rabbits to a single warren that no man could penetrate. Puss enters this warren and traps several rabbits with ease, going promptly to the king's castle to present them as a gift from the "Marquis of Carabas." The king requests to go to the Marquis' castle the next day. In a convoluted plan, Puss plans for Caraba's clothes to be lost while Caraba is bathing in the river that leads to the castle, where Tom intercepts the king and explains to him that the Marquis' clothes had been stolen. The king provides Caraba with court wear and invites him to join him and the princess in their carriage, while Puss leads them along to Caraba's castle. Ahead of the king, Puss convinces the people working on the land surrounding the castle to tell the king that they work for Caraba, which greatly impresses the king and the princess. Before the king and Caraba arrive, Puss runs ahead to confront the ogre in the castle. Puss requests that the ogre transforms into the smallest mouse, which by the terms of his powers, the ogre is required to do. Tom Puss then kills the ogre, immediately lifting the spell that has been tormenting the condition of the Caraba castle, just in time for the king and marquis' arrival. Tom informs the miller and his family of the restoration of Caraba castle which prompts them to move in. After days together, the princess and king agree for her and Caraba to marry, and at their wedding, Tom announces the origins of his strange feline circumstances. He explains that he was transformed into a cat generations ago while working as a gamekeeper for Caraba's grandfather as punishment for ungratefulness. That same night, while dancing in the garden, Tom stumbles into the bushes and reemerges the next day as Thomas, the gamekeeper, in human form.

Fairy Tale Title

Puss in Boots

Fairy Tale Author(s)/Editor(s)

George Cruikshank

Fairy Tale Illustrator(s)

George Cruikshank

Common Tale Type

Puss in Boots

Tale Classification

ATU 545B

Page Range of Tale

pp. 1-27

Full Citation of Tale

"Puss in Boots." George Cruikshank's Fairy Library, George Cruikshank, London: Routledge and Sons, [1870s], pp. 1-27.

Original Source of the Tale

Charles Perrault

Tale Notes

Cruikshank adapts Perrault's tale for an English audience. The miller is placed in London and the main character (Caraba) and his siblings are named; the cat is now called Tom (as in tomcat). The miller also does not die at the beginning; he gives the various inheritances to his children. Caraba and Puss have a much deeper and more developed relationship; Caraba actually saved Puss from a savage dog. The event that sends Puss out in his boots is when Caraba is forlorn about not having enough status to have a chance with the princess. The ogre is developed more as a villain; he has corralled all the rabbits so that the king cannot hunt them, which makes it all the more impressive that Puss was able to catch one. The ogre also owns all the lands and the reapers that the Marquis and the king pass through in his carriage. The ogre has a particularity to his shapeshifting power that renders him unable to attack until he has tranformed three times into the animal of a person's request. Once the ogre was killed by Tom, his castle transformed from dingy to pristine, as if a spell had been lifted. Tom Puss returns to the family mill after Caraba is so graciously accepted by the king, where the siblings and parents react to his extraordinary appearance. The story also goes into detail about Tom Puss' roles at the Marquis' new castle, and even the wedding between Caraba and the princess. One of the most striking differences between this tale and the original Perrault rendition is that in Cruikshank's version, Tom is actually the Marquis' grandfather's gamekeeper who was turned into a cat for being ungrateful for his place in the Caraba estate. In the very end, Tom dances into the bushes and emerges once again as Thomas, the old gamekeeper.