Puss in Boots is one of the most known fairy tales. It is at least five hundred years old. Most readers know it by Charles Perrault's version from the end of the 17th century. While the same story was printed way before, Perrault gave the boots to the cat, which became the signature sign of this interesting fairy hero. Numerous illustrations portray the scenes from the story of this resourceful cat and his master, who does almost nothing (but spares the cat's life and invests in his footwear) yet becomes extremely rich and marries a princess. We are delighted to present the picture book signed by Sarah Ives Nobles, who probably adapted the text as well. It's hard to find who really collaborated on this picture book, published by McLoughlin Bros., Inc. between 1880 and 1890. This publisher was well-known for recycling different old materials (graphics and text) to maximize profit. We actually got two versions of the same picture book by the same publishing house. We'll explain the noticed differences at the end. Let's focus on the story for now. Once upon a time, there was a miller. He had three sons. When he died, they inherited only three items: a mill, a donkey, and a cat. While the first two obviously possessed some value, the youngest son, who got a cat, had no idea what to do with the animal. In the next three scenes, we'll notice that the order of the pictures in the book doesn't match the story. This was definitely part of the publisher's policy of constantly searching for lower expenses without investing an additional penny in a decent editor or proofreader. We'll still present the images in the original order. Shall we summarize? The cat convinced his master to buy him a pair of boots, then caught some game, gave it to the king, and told him it was a present from Marquis de Carabas. In a few days, he managed to gain a pretty good reputation for Marquis de Carabas without anybody questioning his existence. When the cat estimated the time was right to introduce his master to the king, he arranged to send him bathing in the river when he knew the king would drive past the river bank with his daughter. Then, the cat lied that his master had been robbed. The robbers took his precious clothes, so the king gave him some of his own. The poor miller's son was looking like a real Marquis de Carabas! To complete the trickery, they just had to convince the king of the impressive wealth and power of his master. For that, he ran before the carriage and instructed everybody to lie that everything (fields, livestock, ...) belonged to Marquis de Carabas. All that really belonged to an ogre who could shapeshift. The Puss had a special plan for him as well. First, he pretended that he admired an ogre and then expressed doubt in his shapeshifting powers. An ogre happily demonstrated how he could turn into an elephant or a lion. (We'll see again a picture that should be inserted in the first half of the story and the wrong order of sequences at the ogre's castle.) After that, the cat praises the ogre's skills but adds that a change into a small animal would obviously be too much of a challenge for a so huge man. When the ogre turns into a mouse, the cat eats him and opens the door for his master, who becomes a member of high society in just a few steps - by tricking, lying, threatening, and stealing. Yes, there was a murder as well. As already said, the publisher offered at least one similar edition with a different order of the pictures. They were not in the right order either. Here are two switched color illustrations: Apart from that, two smaller black-and-white illustrations (the one with a puss at the king's guard and the one with the elephant) were omitted. But all in all, it's a beautiful story with very attractive illustrations signed by Miss Noble Ives.
You can compare them with a bit different illustrations by John Hassall, made about a quarter of a century later: This popular story undoubtedly attracts the sympathies of the reader or listener. It claims everything is possible, even if you are born poor and it looks like nothing works in your favor. On the other hand, this story sends a pretty questionable message. The cat's master didn't do anything good. He didn't help anybody. He didn't work hard. He wasn't particularly smart, either. The cat did everything for him, and this was a whole list of immoral acts. If you want to explore the messages in the story of Puss in Boots more thoroughly, follow the next link: https://wizzley.com/puss-in-boots-messages/ If you want to find out more about the illustrator, go here: https://just4fairytales.blogspot.com/2019/01/sarah-noble-ives.html That's all, folks.
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Who Was Charles Perrault?He wrote only eight fairy tales in prose and three in verse, yet he is rightfully called the father of modern fairy tale. Archives
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