6 - Puss in Boots: The Animal as Helper

Animals appear often in fairy tales and folklore, and the most famous Animal as Helper is perhaps none other than our favorite booted feline, Puss in Boots (or The Master Cat). In this episode, let's start with Charles Perrault's version of "The Master Cat" to examine what this story meant in 17th century France, then we'll hear the story that inspired it, "Costantino Fortunato," and finally, explore the animal-human connection with "The Prince Who Befriended the Beasts."

Stories in this episode:

• Charles Perrault's "The Master Cat" (Puss in Boots) (1:55)
• Giovanni Francesco Straparola's "Costantino Fortunato" (20:33)
• The Prince Who Befriended the Beasts (36:55)

Resources mentioned:

• One Red Paperclip
• The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafes, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour by Joan DeJean
• Boria Sax (2009) The Magic of Animals: English Witch Trials in the Perspective of Folklore, Anthrozoös, 22:4, 317-332, DOI: 10.2752/089279309X12538695316068
• Barringer, S. (2012). Louis XIV’s Use of Fashion to Control the Nobility and Express Power. Primary Source, 3(1), 21-25.
• Georgia Through Its Folktales by Michael P. Berman

More from Christine A. Jones:

• Mother Goose Refigured: A Critical Translation of Charles Perrault's Fairy Tales
• Marvelous Transformations: An Anthology of Fairy Tales and Contemporary Critical Perspectives
• Feathers, Paws, Fins, and Claws
• "Mother Goose’s French Birth (1697) and British Afterlife (1729)"
• "Thoughts on 'Heroinism' in French Fairy Tales"