En Garde! For Puss in Boots

A swash buckling Puss in Boots stole the show in the hit computer animated movie, Shrek 2, but did you know that the character of Puss in Boots was first created many years before that? The most famous of the tales was written in the year 1697, to be purrr-cise.

French author, Charles Perrault published The Master CatPuss in Boots in his Histoires ou Contes du temps passé but the story has been found in all parts of Europe, across Siberia, onward to India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It also moved with colonists and travelers from Europe to Africa and the American Indians but it was first believed to have been written down in Italy during the 1500s.

The Perrault tale of Puss in Boots is as follows: a poor miller passes away and leaves his three sons all of his worldly possessions, including his mill to the oldest boy, his donkey to the second born, and his cat to the youngest son. The youngest boy was disappointed in his inheritance but consoled himself by saying that he could always just eat the cat. The cat, in an effort to save himself, speaks to the young man, and offers him an ultimatum. If the man would give him a bag and a pair of boots, he would in turn make the young man rich. The man agrees and the cat put on his boots, grabbed his bag, and set out to catch a rabbit. Carrying it in the bag, the cat brings the rabbit to the King as an offering from his master, the Marquis de Carabas. The King accepts, and the cat catches many more animals, each claiming they are from the Marquis de Carabas.

On a beautiful summer’s day, the King decided to take a ride in his coach with his daughter the Princess near the river. Knowing this, Puss in Boots tells the young man to take a dip in the river. While he was in the water, the cat hides his clothes, runs to the King and tells him that his master, the Marquis de Carabas was swimming in the river when a group of thieves stole away with all of his clothes. The King wrapped the man in a rich robe, took him into his magnificent coach and sat him next to his beautiful daughter.

From here Puss in Boots sprang into action by running ahead and threatening all of the farmers and field help he encountered that if they did not tell the King that all the fields belonged to the Marquis de Carabas, that they would be chopped into tiny pieces. Hearing of all land the Marquis owned, the King naturally thought he was a very wealthy man.

However, the fields were actually owned by a fierce ogre (in some versions a wizard), who Puss in Boots encounters at the Ogre’s castle and challenges him on the rumors that that he can turn himself into any animal he chooses. Unable to resist showing off, the ogre changes himself into several different creatures. When he turned into a mouse, Puss in Boots pounced upon him and ate him. As the King’s coach rolled onto the castle grounds, Puss in Boots greeted the royal party, presenting the ogre’s castle and all of his land as that of the miller’s son. The King was so impressed that he offered the young man the hand of the princess in marriage. And so, they were married and lived happily ever after. As for Puss in Boots, according to Perrault, he “became a personage of great importance, and gave up hunting mice, except for amusement.”

What about the Puss in Boots from Shrek 2 we all fell in love with? Antonio Banderas returned as the adorable feline in not only Shrek the Fourth but also voiced Puss in his own Shrek spin-off movie that was released in 2011.