Surlalune's Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World

I always get excited when another Surlalune collection comes out, and I was especially excited that Heidi Anne Heiner was kind enough to send me a copy of her Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World!

"Puss in Boots" is not a tale I'm especially familiar with-in nearly 7 years of blogging (!!) I've only had three other posts with the tag. It's not a tale that scholars frequently like to discuss or artists depict, so it's a great opportunity to learn more about this iconic character and story through essays as well as several different versions from folklore! And the unique thing about this collection is that, even if Puss in Boots isn't your favorite, the other cat tales fall into different tale types, such as "Cat Bride," "The Kind and Unkind Girls," "The Magic Ring," and Witches and Cats (that will be fun for Halloween some year!). Surlalune has been posting about each of the categories over on her blog so you can hop over there to learn more.

I'm slowly reading about the famous Puss in Boots, but I've also been enjoying reading the tales in the "Bremen Town Musicians" section. When I first spotted the title in my book of Grimm tales, I got excited to read a story about musicians because...I'm a musician! Of course I discovered it really has nothing to do with music, but animals making noise, which initially disappointed me. But over the years I've still had an affection for the tale just because of the name, and after reading more versions I'm really coming to appreciate it! The stories really have a great message about not writing off those who are aged or might otherwise be overlooked/seen as useless by society. The idea of a group of misfits banding together and ending up victorious is a pretty common trope in many of our more modern favorite stories.

In some versions, the way the animals scare off the robbers is more intentional, and other times it's accidental. The former way gives the animals more credit to their intelligence, but the latter is often funnier. One of my favorites is "The Choristers of St. Gudule," in which the donkey who begins the quest believes he has a magnificent voice and should go join the choir in the Cathedral in Brussels. The other animals, a dog, cat, and rooster, are all known for making noise that is unpleasant for humans to hear but each animal is very proud of. When they see the food the robbers are eating, the donkey suggests that they "serenade them, and perhaps they'll throw us something as a reward. Music, you know, has charms to sooth the savage beast." The irony in the tale makes it stand out as being the funniest (in my opinion).

In most of the tales it is robbers that are being scared off, but one of the story notes says that it can sometimes be wolves, therefore making it a story of domestic animals triumphing over wild. But one thing that I find curious these animal is the double standards in animal treatment. In Puss in Boots, the protagonist is rewarded for doing no more than trusting the cat he was given as his inheritance, which was seen as the worst option. This would appear to have the message that, once again, you shouldn't underestimate that which the world may give the least value to. But then the Puss himself keeps going out and killing other animals to present to the King, so not all animal life is given value (maybe...only those that talk, like in Narnia??).

In Bremen Town Musician tales, the old animals who are no longer of use to their masters are the heroes. Yet in the Irish tale "Jack and his Comrades" (sometimes there is a poor boy named Jack in the ragtag group), he asks his mother to kill his rooster for him before he goes out into the world to seek his fortune...only to later save a rooster from a fox that was about to kill him and welcome him into their group! The animals, when they find the robbers, sometimes only see them counting their money, but sometimes see them eating a large meal. Most of the time the food isn't described, but I wonder if those meals would have included meat...in one version from the United States, turkey is listed as one of the delicacies the robbers are eating.

This does highlight the irony that many of us experience who aren't vegetarians and yet sympathize with animal stories, especially those in which they're trying to avoid being eaten. According to this study, only 3.2% of Americans are vegetarians, yet who doesn't root for Babe, or Wilbur in "Charlotte's Web"? There is, of course, a divide between reality and fiction, so it's interesting that the characters within these stories tend to have the same inconsistencies, (which tend to go unnoticed by the readers).

Who's the Bluebird in Sleeping Beauty?

One of the fun things about the Sleeping Beauty ballet for fairy tale fans is the fact that the finale incorporates several fairy tale characters-Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Cinderella, even Bluebeard (I personally wouldn't want him at my wedding...but I guess the characters have learned their lesson about leaving evil people out of celebrations after Carabosse cursed Aurora?). (Although after I wrote that, my source says Bluebeard makes an appearance, but I can't find any other evidence that he's a character in this ballet.)

But one of the most famous dance variations is the Bluebird, above (starts at aobut 3:30). The dance has captivated audiences for generations, as the male dancer leaps and jumps so effortlessly it appears he really can flutter about like a bird. But who is the Bluebird?

Jack Anderson provides an answer in his nytimes article Who's That Bluebird? And Who's That White Cat? (You know you write about fairy tale characters too often when your fingers keep wanting to type "Bluebeard" over "Bluebird"...). Although the ballet was originally created in Russia, the choreographer, Marius Petipa, was French, hence the usage of all the French fairy tales. Many were Charles Perrault's famous stories, including "Sleeping Beauty" itself, but Blue Bird and the White Cat are characters from Madame Catherine d'Aulnoy's tales. Anderson summarizes the Blue Bird tale for us (read the full text here):

In "The Bluebird," a king marries a malicious woman after his wife dies. The new queen persecutes Florine, the king's kindhearted daughter, and promotes her own wicked daughter, Truitonne, whose face resembles that of a trout and whose conduct is decidedly fishy. The queen wishes the young King Charmant, who loves Florine, to marry Truitonne. Because he refuses to do so, Truitonne's wicked fairy godmother condemns him to be a bluebird. Florine is locked in a tower, where she is discovered by Charmant, who visits her nightly. The Bluebird pas de deux presumably shows Charmant happily fluttering in the presence of Florine. 

 When a spy sees the bird caressing Florine with his claw and kissing her with his bill, the queen places sharp swords on every resting place near the tower so Charmant can no longer easily alight. Fortunately, the people of the kingdom rebel against the queen. Florine, released from the tower, searches for her beloved bird and, after terrible hardships, finds him. He regains human form, but the fish-faced Truitonne becomes a pig -- a linguistically appropriate metamorphosis, for her name derives from the French words "truite" (trout) and "truie" (sow).

Also for fun, here's some more fairy tale variations: Red Riding Hood and Wolf, Puss in Boots and White Cat, Cinderella and Prince:
Illustration
Bluebird clip-Bolshoi Ballet, 2011
Fairy Tale clip

The Importance of Fashion in Perrault's Fairy Tales

I found this article, Wikispaces: Louis XIV's Use of Fashion to Control and Express Power, and it has a great section on the importance of fasion in Perrault's fairy tales:

"FAIRY TALES AS PROPAGANDA

“One of the earliest surviving French luxe mules, just the kind of slipper Cinderella wore to the ball, is a study in green and white. Made of white leather with a green leather welt and green embroider, it features the curvy Louis heel” (85). DeJean, Joan. The Essence of Style.

"Louis XIV similarly used propaganda to encourage the nobilities’ dependence on and obsession with fashion. At the time the belief was already in place that one’s outside appearance reflected not only one’s personality but who one was in terms of social status. The more expensive and fashionable, the more important one was.[15] As can be seen in fairy tales of the time, such as Cinderella and Puss in Boots, wearing a gorgeous gown or fashionable boots meant the wearer was important and heroic. [16] Two French Cinderella stories were published in 1697, one written by Charles Perrault and the other by Marie-Catherine de Barneville, Comtesse d’Aulnoy.[17] D’Aulnoy’s story had an especially strong emphasis on the importance of fashion; the dress and shoes were the main characters and Cinderella was only there to carry the clothing. In the story, when Cinderella comes to the ball, she never even meets the prince, but simply shows off her glamorous gown and “red velvet mules completely encrusted with pearls;” a pair of glamorous shoes she would never intended to lose.[18] On the other hand, in Perrault’s story, Cinderella slips out of her shoe in an attempt to lure the prince after her as she knows its beauty will attract him.[19] In D’Aulnoy’s story, she extends the obsession of fashion to men as well, as Prince Charming finds Cinderella’s lost slipper and becomes entranced by its petit size and exquisite craft.[20] He becomes devoted to and enamored by the shoe, not eating or leaving his room for weeks. The doctors his desperate parents send for declare him in love – Prince Charming himself states that it is the shoe with which he is in love.[21] D’Aulnoy’s story centerpieces clothing and the Parisian fashion industry, making it magical and desirable by its fairytale setting.

"Charles Perrault wrote the story of Puss in Boots around the same time. In the story, the youngest son of a miller is presented, as his inheritance, a cat. Puss is not particularly extraordinary until, upon his request, the son presents Puss with a pair of boots and a pouch.[22] Once Puss has these, he is able to perform heroic deeds and impress the king with many gifts. When the king is riding in the woods, the cat tricks him into believing the miller’s son is a Marquis, whereupon the king gives the miller’s son a set of expensive clothes because Puss has told him that the Marquis’s were stolen. Eventually the miller’s son marries the king’s daughter and the cat becomes a grand seigneur.[23] Just as Cinderella transforms into a high-born lady when she wears a gorgeous gown, Puss is transformed into a witty and courageous cat that is able to procure many great privileges for his master when given a pair of boots. The son’s relationship with the king is even firmly established by the king presenting him with the clothes of a courtier to wear. These clothes seem to transform the peasant to a courtier just as Cinderella’s did. Perrault’s story emphasizes “the virtues of dress, countenance, and youth to win the heart of a princess.” [24] Perrault also mentions, briefly, that the truly noble need not strain themselves. When Puss jumps up onto the ogre’s roof in fear, he finds it difficult because his boots are not suited for walking on tiles. Therefore the emphasis is especially strong on how, while wearing such fancy boots, he cannot do hard work because of course Puss’s boots would never be designed for labor because the nobility has no need to work. 

"Perrault wrote many other stories, including Sleeping Beauty, Little Tom Thumb, and Ricky of the Tuft. All of his stories include similar messages. He calls on women to be beautiful, fashionable, and to properly maintain her attire. Any woman of importance or good qualities in Perrault’s story posses beauty or, in the case of Cinderella, are able to swath themselves in beauty.[25] Men in his stories are ambitious and clever, always climbing the social ladder.[26] Puss especially embodies the perfect bourgeois, “who serves his master with complete devotion and diligence” and is ultimately rewarded.[27] Perrault encourages men to be loyal to the king and serve him well in order to gain his favor, just as Louis did through competition. Through his stories, Perrault hoped to portray, either by example or counter-example, the correct mannerisms and personalities of courtiers as well as what material items they required to achieve this.[28] D’Aulnoy’s Finette Cendron and Perrault’s Le Maistre Chat, ou Le Chat Botté loudly proclaim fashion as the most influential and important industry and almost all one needs to become rich and powerful."

(emphasis mine)

It's true that fashion is a huge theme in Perrault's fairy tales, as the topic was so important for his time and culture. However I find it interesting that the author (I can't find the author on the site...?) interpreted all of Perrault's writing on fashion literally. Fairy tale scholars generally see Perrault's writing as being highly satirical. I'll admit I have a difficult time wrapping my head around his writing being actually feminist, since his morals come across as so offensive to us today. But as you readers have pointed out, his morals are just so over the top and ridiculous, and at the time you couldn't outright criticize the King, you had to do it subtley. 

Still, even to me it seems that when Perrault talks about the importance of clothing it seems like he's poking fun of the royal circles and their slavish devotion to fashion. Like this passage when Sleeping Beauty has just awakened after her hundred years' nap: 

"The princess was already fully dressed, and in most magnificent style. As he helped her to rise, the prince refrained from telling her that her clothes, with the straight collar which she wore, were like those to which his grandmother had been accustomed. And in truth, they in no way detracted from her beauty.
"They passed into an apartment hung with mirrors, and were there served with supper by the stewards of the household, while the fiddles and oboes played some old music and played it remarkably well, considering they had not played at all for just upon a hundred years."

Either way, the conclusion is the same, that fashion was incredibly important in France at the time, and this is reflected in French fairy tales.

Illustrations-
Cinderella-Charles Folkard
Puss in Boots-Gustav Dore
Sleeping Beauty-Harry Clarke

Fairy Tale Apps for Kids

StoryToys has a whole series of fairy tale-themed 3-D pop up apps. These seem like a fun way to get younger kids (and possibly bored adults) discovering traditional, non-Disney versions of fairy tales. (Although...many of the characters' wardrobes/hairstyles are definitely influenced by Disney. But sometimes kids can be deterred when they see a character that looks nothing like the one they are familiar with, so it could help draw kids in)

Grimm's Red Riding Hood

Beauty and the Beast

The Little Mermaid

Puss in Boots

Grimm's Snow White

Grimm's Sleeping Beauty

Grimm's Hansel and Gretel

Grimm's Rapunzel

Grimm's Bookshelf (looks like this one allows you to play one game from each book in the fairy tale series)

Thumbelina

Each link will lead you to a video trailer for the app, with story pages and games. The series has gotten good reviews, but keep in mind it does seem geared for pretty young kids. Over the past years, Heidi of Surlalune shared links to a Hans Christian Andersen app and a different Red Riding Hood app; Gypsy from Once Upon a Blog has featured a Goldilocks story app and recently a Maleficent ibook and that seem geared towards slightly older children.

In addition, a simple google search will lead you to many more fairy tale apps-I really had no idea there were so many since I'm usually a good ten years behind when it comes to technology, and besides have no children and therefore am not looking for apps for kids. Here is a post featuring Four Fantastic Fairy Tale Apps (Including one from the StoryToys featured above, and one for Snow Queen!), and here's a list of fairy tale stories available on Itunes, by Lazy Bird, Inc. Any other discoveries or recommendations?