The Cat
protagonist · cat
The worst third of a very small inheritance. He asks for a bag and a pair of boots, and turns them into a castle in under four months without once explaining himself.
What they are like
- Kind
- 4/10
- Brave
- 7/10
- Clever
- 10/10
- Honest
- 1/10
- Curious
- 8/10
- Patient
- 9/10
How we meet them
Being valued at less than a donkey, and listening to his new owner work out aloud how many mittens he would make. He does not argue. He makes a counter offer.
Personality
Unhurried and entirely without shame. He does not boast, does not gloat and never raises his voice, which is what makes him alarming. He treats each lie as an ordinary step in a piece of admin.
What they want
Never stated. He is offered nothing, asks for two objects, and takes it from there. The tale gives him no reason and he offers none.
How they change
Begins as the least valuable item in a will and ends as a lord with an income. He does not change at any point, which is the strange part. The world rearranges itself around him instead.
How they speak
As little as possible, and always in the same tone, whether he is greeting a king or threatening nine men with scythes. He never once tells his master the truth, and he is never once asked for it.
How the story treats them
The king takes him for a well trained servant. The mowers take him seriously enough to lie for him. The ogre takes him for an admirer. His master takes him for a cat and never revises the estimate.
One surprising thing
The boots are useless. He cannot walk on roof tiles in them and they are no help at all with rabbits. The story never explains them, and neither does he.
If they were real today
He would be the quiet one in the meeting who has already spoken to everybody separately, so the decision has been made before anybody sits down.
Things they say
- “You could.”
- “Or you could get me a bag, and a pair of boots.”
- “A gift, from my master, the Marquis de Carabas.”
Key moments
The counter offer
Told he is about to become dinner and a pair of mittens, the cat says two words, waits, and then asks for a bag and a pair of boots. He gives no reason.
“You could.”
Nine men with scythes
He runs ahead of the carriage and tells a field of mowers what they will say to the king, and what will happen to them if they say anything else. They say it.
“If you say anything else you will be chopped as fine as mincemeat.”
Of course, a lion is the easy one
Having been frightened onto the roof by a lion, he comes back down, compliments the ogre, and then suggests that anyone large can manage large.
“You are large already.”
Who they know
The Miller's Sonservant
An animal who does everything and explains nothing, and a young man who stops asking on the first morning and is rewarded with a castle for it.
The Kingacquaintance
Three months of free rabbits and one repeated sentence, delivered by a cat in boots to a king who never thinks to check.
The Ogrerival
A very small visitor and a very large host, in which the small one wins by admiring the large one slightly less than he expected.
Characters like The Cat
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