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It was rather inevitable that witches would need to appear in a collection of cat tales, so there are several in Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World . Witches and devils are almost always evil and need to be destroyed in these stories, so they are not the happiest of tales, but definitely an interesting subgenre of folklore. From my introduction: It would be negligent to not include tales of cats as witches� animal manifestations, familiars or companions since that is one of the most prevalent associations for cats in folklore. While I collected many short anecdotes featuring cats and witches�or devils which are interchangeable with witches in many of these stories�finding full stories to share was challenging. I have enough material and notes for a short book devoted to the topic, but it�s not one that is as interesting to me and has been addressed in greater depth elsewhere. However, I wanted some representative tales of witches and cats to be included here and so...

ATU 560: The Magic Ring is the tale type that I had the least amount of experience with and consequently learned the most about during the research for  Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World . For this reason, it became one of my favorite tale types offered in the book. This is also one of the rare tale types where I was able to find more English translations of Eastern versions than European. And there was sufficient difference between the variants to make them interesting, especially the Eastern Hemisphere ones. From my introduction: Another vast tale type that features a cat as a key player is ATU 560: The Magic Ring which is often conflated with ATU 561: Aladdin�the more recognized tale in popular culture�since there are not many distinguishing factors between these magic object stories. However, a cat usually appears in the tales that fit best into ATU 560: The Magic Ring. There are hundreds of known Magic Ring stories and no single tale is considered the def...

Have you seen the Snow White collection by Lauren Conrad at Kohl's ? It is selling quick because it is cute and/or romantic with most pieces not splattering anything overtly Disney on them. That's okay if you like that, of course, but I prefer subtlety when it comes to every day fairy tale themed clothing. I'm middle aged and was trained by my dad to not pay others to be their walking billboard. Unless I really ADORE something, of course, because clothing is rarely about absolutes. I love florals so some of these pieces are my taste exactly. Same thing happened with the summer line of Alice in Wonderland by Lauren Conrad. And I don't even LIKE Alice in Wonderland but I own some cute pants from that line. Now I am crossing my fingers there will be a Beauty and the Beast line in the spring in conjunction with the movie with more clothes like these. Of course, Hot Topic and Torrid (since they are the same company) will have some, too, but they tend to be more kitschy altho...

So another small section--but one of my favorites--in  Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World  offers Animal Brides. Another famous folktale cat can be traced directly to the French salons and a specific author, �The White Cat,� by Madame la Comtesse d�Aulnoy. While her creation is literary and very long, it is part of a long, rich tradition of women who are rescued from living in animal form in folklore. These tales can be typed as ATU 402: The Animal Bride. Several animal bride stories featuring enchanted cats are included in this collection. Most ATU 402 tales do not feature a cat; many feature an enchanted frog or mouse instead, but cats are more common than most other animals. Animal bride stories can include several variations from other tale types but the overarching plot usually involves a third son who through service and various challenges breaks the enchantment of a princess and thus wins her hand in marriage. He usually doesn�t know that the animal...

Although I could share more about Puss in Boots, I wanted to move on to other tales to be found in  Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World . One of my favorite tale types from this book is ATU 1651: Dick Whittington�s Cat. It's such a simple tale but with a rich history that can be found in many cultures, primarily the seafaring ones for obvious reasons. I cannot think of another animal whose usefulness to humanity is explored so well in folklore. Doesn't mean there isn't, but I've not run into it yet. The crux of this tale type centers around the much needed vermin controlling aspects of cats. They are essentially unknown and thus valuable to the cultures that don't know about them in these tales. There's a subtle humor to it, too, since so many societies with cats find themselves overburdened with a feline population at times, something you realize with a little thought while reading the tale. So an abundant, but skilled animal--one that is co...

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Today I'm sharing more about Puss in Boots since the book,  Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World , got its name from him. I am so tempted to jump ahead to the other tales in the collection because they were more fun with me--I already knew quite a bit about Puss and his cohorts before I started the book. Many of the other tales were very new to my knowledge base. But we may not be here discussing ATU 545B tales at all if not for the genius of Charles Perrault and his version of the cat. So from my introduction: Charles Perrault�s influence on the ATU 545B tale type cannot be overstated. His �Le Ma�tre chat ou le Chat bott�,� commonly known as �Puss in Boots� in English�the �Master Cat� is usually omitted [ 1] �is the most recognized version of the tale in the modern world. While we can only conjecture about which oral and literary versions of ATU 545B stories inspired Perrault and to what degree, there is no doubt he left his literary stamp on the tale when he pu...

The plan for Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World was to always have a sizable section devoted to the most famous of fairy tale cats, Puss in Boots. I say famous, but the cat has waned in recognition over the years even with the boost provided by the Shrek film franchise. There are 25 variants of Puss in Boots offered in  Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World  in addition to two articles--examples of early scholarship--about the tale and two additional translations of two of the earliest versions. That alone was enough to create a sizable book--165 pages are devoted to Puss in Boot stories. Today I am sharing some excerpts from my introduction about the tale type in general and the earliest recorded versions, both Italian. From the book's introduction: The best known tale type featuring cats is ATU 545: The Cat as Helper which includes a cycle of related tales, primarily ATU 545A: The Cat Castle and ATU 545B: Puss in Boots. ATU 545B i...

Amazon's Kindle Daily Deal offers 57 titles in the Kindle Books Kids (and You) Will Love sale. There are several fairy tale and mythology titles--including several of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series. There are also several fairy tale novels by Melanie Dickerson . And Chris Colfer is on the list , too, which his books are generating fairy tale questions to me these days, too. So there's a lot to find there for all ages! Hidden in the list is also Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell , a steampunkish Cinderella. And The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows ... So there's a lot of reading goodness. Best sale I've seen for people like us--folk and fairy tale lovers--so far this holiday season. And I doubt there will be a better one!

Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World (US Link) and Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World (UK Link)  are now available for ordering on Amazon and Amazon UK. The titles will start populating at other booksellers in the coming days. You can see the table of contents on my previous post at New Book: Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World . The first question I am asked when I have mentioned this book in the last few years is, "Do you love cats? Why a cat book?" Well, to be honest, no, I am not a cat lover although I love books and have worked as a librarian, stereotypical cat lover stuff. I am allergic to cats which has given me a very difficult relationship with them over the years. My husband has developed a severe allergy to them even worse than mine that will send him into a migraine if we aren't prepared to take preventative measures. So no cats in our home. But that doesn't mean I don't love the folklore abo...

Hallelujah! By Monday, but probably much sooner, Puss in Boots and Other Cat Tales From Around the World will be listed for ordering on Amazon. It will soon follow on other book seller sites. At the moment, the link is a dead one, but it could change at a moment's notice so I am inserting it. One of the last items I read during my research was The Tiger in the House by Cal Van Vechten , a book published in 1920. I was quite amused, especially near the end of my journey into cat folklore, to read this: There are so many folk-tales about cats that some enterprising young man of the future may fill a large book with these alone. Ha! I may be a middle-aged woman--when did that happen?--but I've certainly filled a large book with cat tales alone. Well, a handful don't feature cats, but there are 271 entries in the book so there's plenty of cats within these pages. Throughout December, I will be posting about the book with more in-depth posts about particular tales, finds, e...