French fairy tales - Illustrated edition of world children's literature

Author: Charles Perrault (France)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: After that, the cat came to a beautiful castle. The owner of the castle was an extremely wealthy fairy. It turned out that all the places the king passed through belonged to her. The cat carefully inquired who the fairy was and what powers she had, then asked to meet her, saying that since she had come to the castle gate, it would be very rude not to pay a visit to the owner. The fairy did her best to greet the cat with the elegance she could muster. She invited the cat to sit down.
"I was told," the cat said, "that you have the ability to transform into various animals, such as a lion or an elephant."
"Indeed," the fairy replied rudely, "I can prove it to you: now, I will transform into a lion." The cat saw a lion suddenly appear before him and was terrified, quickly jumping onto the roof. Because he was wearing boots, he found it difficult and dangerous to jump, and it was also inconvenient to walk on the tiles. After a while, the cat saw the fairy return to her original form and dared to come down from the roof. He admitted that he had been terrified.
"Others told me," the cat said, "but I don’t believe it, that you can also transform into very small animals, such as a mouse or a field mouse. To be honest, I think that’s impossible."
"Impossible? Watch!" the fairy said, immediately transforming into a mouse and scurrying across the floor. The cat saw the mouse and immediately pounced on it, devouring it in one bite.
At that moment, the king passed by. Seeing the beautiful castle, he wanted to take a look inside. The cat heard the sound of carriages rumbling on the drawbridge and ran forward to greet the king, shouting loudly, "Welcome, Your Majesty, to the castle of Count Carabas!"
"What? Count, this castle is yours too?" the king exclaimed. "Ah, this tower and the buildings around it are truly magnificent! Let’s go inside and have a look." The count, holding the princess’s hand, followed the king into a hall where a lavish banquet had already been set up. This was originally prepared by the fairy for the friends she was expecting. Hearing that the king was inside, the friends were too frightened to enter.
The king greatly admired the count’s character and saw that he was immensely wealthy. Knowing that his daughter was very fond of him, after drinking five or six cups of wine, the king said to the count, "Count, would you like to be my son-in-law? Of course, this is entirely up to you."
The count bowed deeply to the king and accepted the honor. That very evening, he married the princess. From then on, the cat became a great hero. He no longer caught mice, and even when he did, it was just for fun.