nobody (except in the Zanzibar version) by this
accomplishment, is a notion derived from the old savage condition of the
intellect, in which beasts are on a level with, or superior to,
humanity. But we can all use these _formulae_ now that we possess them.
Could memory of past literature be wholly wiped out, while civilisation
still endured, there would be no talking and friendly beasts in the
children's tales of the next generation, unless the children wrote them
for themselves. As Sainte-Beuve says, 'On n'inventerait plus aujourd'hui
de ces choses, si elles n'avaient ete imaginees des longtemps[56].'

If we are to get any light on the first home of the tale--and we cannot
get very much--it will be necessary to examine its different versions.
There is an extraordinary amount of variety in the incidents subordinate
to the main idea, and occasionally we find a heroine instead of a hero,
a Marquise de Carabas, not a marquis. Perhaps the best plan will be to
start with the stories near home, and to pursue puss, if possible, to
his distant original tree. First, we all know him in English
translations, made as early as 1745, if not earlier, of Perrault's
_Maitre Chat, ou Chat botte_, published in 1696-7. Here his motives are
simple fun and friendliness. His master, who owns no other property,
thinks of killing and skinning puss, but the cat prefers first to make
acquaintance with the king, by aid of presents of game from an imaginary
Marquis de Carabas; then to pretend his master is drowning and has had
his clothes stolen (thereby introducing him to the king in a court suit,
borrowed from the monarch himself); next to frighten people into saying
that the Marquis is their _seigneur_; and, finally, to secure a property
for the Marquis by swallowing an ogre, whom he has induced to assume the
disguise of a mouse. This last trick is as old as Hesiod[57], where Zeus
persuades his wife to become a fly, and swallows her.

The next neighbour of the French _Puss in Boots_ in the north is found
in Sweden[58] and in Norway[59]. In the Swedish, a girl owns the cat.
They wander to a castle gate, where the cat bids the girl strip and hide
in a tree; he then goes to the castle and says that his royal mistress
has been attacked by robbers. The people of the palace attire the girl
splendidly, the prince loses his heart to her, the queen-mother lays
traps for her in vain. Nothing is so fine in the castle as in the girl's
chateau of Cattenburg.