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"Master Cat; or, The Booted Cat" ((イタリア語:Il gatto con gli stivali); (フランス語:Le Maître Chat, ou Le Chat Botté)), commonly known in English as "Puss in Boots", is a European literary fairy tale about a cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess in marriage for his penniless and low-born master. The oldest record of written history dates from Italian author Giovanni Francesco Straparola, who included it in his ''The Facetious Nights of Straparola'' (c. 1550-53) in XIV-XV. Another version was published in 1634, by Giambattista Basile with the title ''Cagliuso''. The tale was written in French at the close of the seventeenth century by Charles Perrault (1628–1703), a retired civil servant and member of the ''Académie française''. The tale appeared in a handwritten and illustrated manuscript two years before its 1697 publication by Barbin in a collection of eight fairy tales by Perrault called ''Histoires ou contes du temps passé''.〔〔 The book was an instant success and remains popular.〔 Perrault's ''Histoires'' has had considerable impact on world culture. The original Italian title of the first edition was ''Costantino Fortunato'', but was later known as ''Il gatto con gli stivali'' (lit. ''The cat with the boots''); the French title was "Histoires ou contes du temps passé, avec des moralités" with the subtitle "Les Contes de ma mère l'Oye" ("Stories or Fairy Tales from Past Times with Morals", subtitled "Mother Goose Tales"). The frontispiece to the earliest English editions depicts an old woman telling tales to a group of children beneath a placard inscribed "MOTHER GOOSE'S TALES" and is credited with launching the Mother Goose legend in the English-speaking world.〔 "Puss in Boots" has provided inspiration for composers, choreographers, and other artists over the centuries. The cat appears in the third act ''pas de caractère'' of Tchaikovsky's ballet ''The Sleeping Beauty'', for example, and makes appearances in other media. Puss in Boots is a popular pantomime in the UK. ==Plot== The tale opens with the third and youngest son of a miller receiving his inheritance—a cat. At first, the youngest son laments, as the eldest brother gains the mill, and the middle brother gets the mules. The feline is no ordinary cat, however, but one who requests and receives a pair of boots. Determined to make his master's fortune, the cat bags a rabbit in the forest and presents it to the king as a gift from his master, the fictional Marquis of Carabas. The cat continues making gifts of game to the king for several months. One day, the king decides to take a drive with his daughter. The cat persuades his master to remove his clothes and enter the river which their carriage passes. The cat disposes of his master's clothing beneath a rock. As the royal coach nears, the cat begins calling for help in great distress. When the king stops to investigate, the cat tells him that his master the Marquis has been bathing in the river and robbed of his clothing. The king has the young man brought from the river, dressed in a splendid suit of clothes, and seated in the coach with his daughter, who falls in love with him at once. The cat hurries ahead of the coach, ordering the country folk along the road to tell the king that the land belongs to the "Marquis of Carabas", saying that if they do not he will cut them into mincemeat. The cat then happens upon a castle inhabited by an ogre who is capable of transforming himself into a number of creatures. The ogre displays his ability by changing into a lion, frightening the cat, who then tricks the ogre into changing into a mouse. The cat then pounces upon the mouse and devours it. The king arrives at the castle that formerly belonged to the ogre, and, impressed with the bogus Marquis and his estate, gives the lad the princess in marriage. Thereafter, the cat enjoys life as a great lord who runs after mice only for his own amusement. The tale is followed immediately by two morals: "one stresses the importance of possessing ''industrie'' and ''savoir faire'' while the other extols the virtues of dress, countenance, and youth to win the heart of a princess."〔 The Italian translation by Carlo Collodi notes that the tale gives useful advice if you happen to be a cat or a Marquis of Carabas. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Puss in Boots」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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