rse
_Lord Peter_ told by Dasent in _Norse Tales_. Here the helpful Cat
does not use a bag, but in true Norse fashion catches game in the wood
by sitting on the head of the reindeer and threatening, "If you don't
go straight to the King's palace, I'll claw your eyes out!" The Norse
tale omits the bathing episode. The King wants to visit Lord Peter but
the Cat manages that Lord Peter shall visit the King. The Cat promises
to supply coach, horses and clothes, not by craft--their source is not
given--but they are furnished on the condition that Peter must obey to
say always, when he sees fine things in the Castle, that he has far
finer things of his own. In the Norse tale Peter and the Cat work
together, Peter is in the secret; while in the Perrault tale Puss does
all the managing, Carabas is simply being entertained by the King. In
the Norse tale, on the way home the coach meets a flock of sheep, a
herd of fine kine, and a drove of horses. The Cat does not threaten
that the caretakers shall be "chopped as fine as herbs for the pot,"
if they do not say all belongs to Lord Peter, but he cunningly bribes
the shepherd with a silver spoon, the neat-herd with a silver ladle,
and the drover with a silver stoop. In place of the Ogre's Castle,
there is a Troll's Castle with three gates--one of tin, one of silver,
and one of gold. The Norse Cat wins the victory by craftily playing
upon the troll-nature. He gains the Troll's attention by meeting him
at the gate and telling him about the secrets of agriculture, one of
the secrets of men the trolls wanted to learn. Then at the height of
interest, he plays upon his curiosity by getting him to look round.
Whereupon, the Troll, meeting the glare of the full sun, burst; for
trolls cannot bear the sight of the sun, and live. In the Norse tale,
the Cat, after Lord Peter at her request cuts off her head, becomes
the Princess and marries Lord Peter. In Perrault's tale, the King,
with French etiquette and diplomacy, invites the Marquis to be his
son-in-law.

The _Story of Puss-in-Boots_ appeared in _Straparola_, 11, 1, and in
_Basile_, 2, 4. Laboulaye, in his _Last Fairy Tales_, has retold the
Pentamerone tale, _Gagliuso_, in which the Cat is a crafty advocate of
his Master's interests, but the Master is ungrateful and forgets the
Cat. The effect of the tale is not pleasing, it is a satire on
gratitude.

The _Story of Puss-in-Boots_ is also told by Ludwig Tieck, with twelve
etchings by Otto