Book dossier

Le chat botté

by Charles Perrault

***A cunning cat wins for his master a castle, a fortune, and the hand of a princess.*** **Charles Perrault first published his collection of classic French folk tales 300 years ago, including "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty," and this entertaining story about a most clever feline.** ***In Puss and Boots, a poor miller dies and leaves his youngest son nothing but a cat.*** The son is none too happy about it, either; " ...once I've eaten my cat and made a muff out of the fur, I'm sure to starve," he says. But what a legacy the bequeathed cat turns out to be! The cat in tall boots creates a new identity for the youngest son--the Marquis of Carabas, complete with fine clothes, fields of wheat, a castle stolen from an ogre, and in the end, the respect of the king and the hand of the king's daughter. ***The story itself is gracefully and humorously told, and the text, set in large gray type, adds an old-fashioned air to the tale.*** ABOUT AUTHOR: Charles Perrault was a French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales, published in his Histoires ou contes du temps passé.***--Wikipedia*** ***Born: Jan 12, 1628, Paris, France Died: May 16, 1703, Paris, France***