THE LUCK OF HAVING A CAT ... THE CAT WITH BOOTS

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Cats populate books, comics and cartoons. We read their stories and met on TV and in the cinema. Cats are described and drawn as protagonists or extras, good or bad, heroes or companions in adventures. These beautiful little creatures lend themselves perfectly to the roles assigned to them.

One of the first was Walt Disney who sensed that the cartoon would mark a new era and introduced animals to this new television and film communication technique. He used this innovative tool to tell real stories. The first cartoons arrived in Italy in 1940 and were in black and white.

Many stories, fairy tales and comics with cat characters have subsequently become animated cartoons and 3D animated films in the present day.

My favorite is the Puss in Boots fairy tale.

It is a European folk tale. It was attested to Giovanni Francesco Straparola, who included it in his Pleasant Nights (published starting from 1550) with the title of Costantino Fortunato. It is not certain whether Straparola wrote the tale in his own hand or whether he reported a story from the oral tradition.

There were other versions of the fairy tale:

- Giambattista Basile.

- Ludwig Tieck.

- Charles Perrault

- Brothers Grimm.

Incisioneottocentesca di Gustave Doré.

It was born as a fairy tale but then became a cartoon and animated film in 2011. The story tells of an old miller who bequeathed a mill, a donkey and a cat to his three children. The latter was not happy to have inherited only a cat because being very poor he would not have helped him, but the cat, very intelligent and protective, told him: "Trust me, get me a hat, a pair of boots and a sack and I'll make a rich man out of you." The young man listened and trusted the words of the little animal and got what he risked from the cat. He put on boots and a hat, went into the woods, caught game and brought it to the king, saying it was a gift from his master, the Marquis of Carabas.

The cat continued to bring gifts to the king until one day he heard about a walk of the king with his daughter, so he ran to his master and told him to undress and jump into the lake. As the king's carriage passed by, the cat started screaming that the Marquis of Carabas had been robbed and needed help.

The king, remembering all the gifts received, stopped the carriage to help the marquis. Puss in Boots forced the peasants to reply to the king that the land they were working on belonged to the Marquis of Carabas.

Then he ran into the palace of a famous ogre, who was said to be able to transform into any animal. Tricking him into deception, the cat convinced him to transform first into a lion and then into a mouse and at that point he devoured him: so he took possession of his wealth which he gave to his master who married the king's daughter and became rich.

The moral I read in the story is that you should never underestimate a gift. That the cat is a very intelligent, cunning, enterprising and independent animal and these qualities are the legacy that provide you with success and the greatest wealth.