Главная страница «Первого сентября»Главная страница журнала «Английский язык»Содержание №13/2009

Puss in Boots

Once upon a time, there was a miller who had three sons. After a long and happy life, he died, leaving to his eldest son his red-roofed windmill, to the second son his gray donkey, and to the youngest son nothing but a cat.

The eldest son soon had the sails of the windmill turning to grind wheat. The second son stayed with his brother, so that his donkey could carry sacks of flour from the mill. But with only a cat as his inheritance, the youngest brother really had no way to make himself useful. He therefore made a bundle of his belongings and set off one fine morning to seek his fortune, with his faithful cat running briskly at his side.

After a few miles, the young man sat down on a stone to rest. His cat rubbed up against his legs and said, "Master, if you will but give me a bag and a pair of boots, so that I may scamper through the dirt and the brambles, you will see that I am not as useless as you think."

Surprised at hearing the cat speak, the young man began to see that this animal was no ordinary cat. He realized that it would be well to follow the cat's advice and so the bag and the pair of boots were furnished.

Puss put the boots on with a grand air and then, slinging the bag over his shoulder, he strode into a nearby forest. In less time than it takes to tell, he caught some wild game in the bag. But instead of returning to his young master, Puss ran on until he came to the castle of the king, which stood on the other side of the forest.

"Here is a present for you," said Puss, bowing low before the king. "It comes to you, Sire, with the compliments of my noble lord, the Marquis of Carabas."

"You may tell your master," replied the king, politely, "that I accept his fine present, and am very much obliged to him." Then he ordered the cat to be taken down into the kitchen and given something to eat and drink. The cat also received some money as a token of favor from the king.

Returning to the place where his young master still awaited him, Puss gave him the money he had received, saying, "Tonight you need not go supperless to bed, nor sleep upon the ground. And I have something else to give you."

"What?" asked the amazed young man.

"A new name. From now on you are to be the Marquis of Carabas."

The young man thought this very amusing and burst out laughing.

"It is a better joke than you know yet," said Puss.

Next day, and for a long time after that, Puss continued to catch wild game and carry it to the king, saying always that it was a gift from his master, the Marquis of Carabas. Each time, the king received the wild game with great pleasure, and ordered money given to Puss.

One day, the king decided to take his daughter, who was the most beautiful princess in the world, for a ride in his carriage. Puss in Boots heard about it ahead of time and ran to his master.

"Today, the king and the princess will be riding along the river road," said Puss breathlessly. "Now follow my advice and your fortune is made. Go and bathe in the river, at a place which I shall show you, and leave all the rest to me. Only remember that you are no longer yourself, but the Marquis of Carabas."

The Marquis of Carabas did what the cat advised him to do. No sooner had he plunged into the river than the royal carriage passed by. Puss ran up to it, shouting, "Help, Help! Thieves have robbed my master, the Marquis of Carabas. They have thrown him into the river and he is drowning!"

At this the king put his head out of the carriage window, and saw the cat who had so often brought him presents of game. Quickly, he ordered his guards to assist his lordship, the Marquis of Carabas, who was splashing about in the water. They pulled him out of the river and gave him an elegant spare suit of clothes to wear. When he was dressed, he looked quite handsome, and he was invited to sit in the carriage beside the lovely princess.

The king received him courteously, saying how fortunate it was that he had happened to be passing when help was needed, and how delighted he was to meet at last the famed and generous Marquis of Carabas. The princess admired him very much. Indeed, after the young man and the king's daughter had exchanged some tender glances, it might be said that they showed signs of being very much in love with each other.

"You must have wide lands and rich forests, Marquis," remarked the king. "How many acres do your estates cover in all?"

"It would be most difficult to say," answered the marquis, with a smile.

"He must be very rich, indeed," thought the king.

The carriage continued on its way, but Puss, meanwhile, ran well ahead of it. He met some farmers in a wheat field. "The king's carriage is coming this way," he announced. "If he asks you whose fields these are, answer that they belong to the Marquis of Carabas." The farmers agreed to do so.

Soon the king's carriage passed by. Sure enough, the king stopped the carriage long enough to ask the farmers to whom the fields belonged. "To the Marquis of Carabas," was the reply.

"What magnificent land – and such a rich harvest!" thought the king as the carriage continued on its way. "The Marquis of Carabas must be a very rich lord!"

Puss in Boots, still going on ahead of the carriage, came at last to a stately castle, owned by an ogre. More than that, all the lands which the king had then gone over also belonged to this ogre.

"I have heard," said Puss, standing at a safe distance away from the ogre, "that you can change yourself into all kinds of animals. But I cannot believe it until I see you do it. Can you possibly do it now?"

"Now – or any other time you please!" roared the ogre. He promptly turned himself into a tremendous lion and roared again. It was the loudest lion's roar that Puss had ever heard.

"Wonderful! Marvelous!" exclaimed Puss, nearly jumping out of his boots. "But it must have been quite easy for someone as large as you to change himself into a large animal. I don't think you could become, say, a mouse."

"And why not?" cried the ogre, who had come back to his natural form. "You shall see!" Instantly, in the place of the giant ogre stood a tiny gray mouse. But not for long. With one quick pounce, Puss sprang upon the mouse and gobbled it up. And that was the end of the ogre.

By this time the king's carriage was in front of the castle. The cat, hearing the noise of the carriage wheels, ran out to the gate and, bowing low, said in a loud voice, "Welcome, Your Majesty, to the castle of my master, the Marquis of Carabas!"

"What!" cried the king in great surprise, turning to the young man at his side. "Does this castle also belong to you? Indeed, I have never seen anything finer than this courtyard and these battlements."

They all entered the castle and found that a great feast had been prepared. The cat invited them to be seated and to dine to their stomach's content, which they did. After the meal, Puss took his young master aside and told him that the castle was really his. "When your grandfather lived," said Puss, "he was the true Marquis of Carabas. He was driven from his lands and his castle by the ogre, but I am happy to say that the ogre will never harm anyone again. Now it is no more than right that you take back the name and the property of the Marquis of Carabas."

Needless to say, the young man received this unexpected news with joy. It was not long afterward that the Marquis of Carabas asked for the hand of the princess in marriage, and was accepted. The king, himself, gave his wholehearted blessing, and they all lived happily ever after – including Puss in Boots, who never had to run after mice any more, except for his own amusement.

From Read-Aloud Fairy Tales