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| Puss meets an ogre (Wikipedia) |
Note: As the story continues, we see even more of the cat's cleverness.
Get Ready: Is it okay to get ahead by trickery, if the person you are tricking is a bad person? How about if he is a good person?
Last lesson, we saw how a Cat was helping his poor Master to become successful. As we left the story, the miller's son--now called the "Marquis of Carabas"--had just been invited into the King's coach, where he and the Princess had fallen in love.
As the coach progressed, the Cat went ahead and told some peasants mowing a field, "When the King asks, tell him this field belongs to the Marquis of Carabas, or I will cut you into tiny pieces."
Sure enough, the King called out to the peasants, "Whose land are you working?" "It belongs," they answered, "to our Lord the Marquis of Carabas."
Next, the Cat ran ahead and told some men reaping corn the same thing, and when the King asked, they also said the field was part of the properties of the Marquis of Carabas. Again and again, the King was astonished at the vast estates of the Marquis of Carabas.
Meanwhile, the Cat came to a great castle, belonging to a shape-shifting Ogre. It was through his lands that the King had been riding.
"Is it true," the Cat asked the Ogre, "that you can appear as a lion?"
"Of course," replied the Ogre, and he did.
After he changed back--and the Cat stopped shaking--the Cat said, "But I bet it's impossible for you to become a small thing, like a mouse."
"IMPOSSIBLE?!" roared the Ogre, and when he changed into the tiniest of mice, the Cat leaped on him and devoured him.
When the King, the Princess, and the "Marquis" arrived, the Cat ran out across the drawbridge and announced: "Your Majesty is welcome to this castle of my Lord Marquis of Carabas."
The King was astonished to learn that not only all those lands, but this fine castle as well, belonged to this "Marquis of Carabas."
Now, the Ogre had laid a feast for some friends (who turned away when they learned the King was there). The King was charmed by the good taste of the "Marquis"--as was his daughter--and after five or six glasses of wine, said, "My Lord Marquis, you must consent to be my son-in-law."
The "Marquis" accepted the honor, and that very same day married the Princess.
As for the Cat, he became a great lord, and only chased mice for sport.
--------- Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puss_in_Boots
- Read Dinah Maria Mulock Craik's version of "Puss in Boots" FREE online
Practice: Match the term to its definition below:
- astonished
- consent
- devoured
- mowing
- ogre
- peasants
- reaping
- roared
- shape-shifting
- son-in-law
- a kind of giant, ugly monster in fairy tales
- spoke in a loud, monstrous voice
- ate in a hurry
- poor people, usually farmers
- gathering; harvesting
- agree
- cutting down, as grass
- a daughter's husband
- amazed; shocked
- able to change form
Answers are in the first comment below.
Submitted to the Shenzhen Daily for August 26, 2022
Answers to the Practice: 1. i; 2. f; 3. c; 4. g; 5. a; 6. d; 7. e; 8. b; 9. j; 10. h
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