A miller had three sons. The eldest got the mill. The second got the donkey. Tom, the youngest, got the cat. "A cat," said Tom. "Leave it to me," said Puss. "But I'll need boots."
Tom spent his last coin on a small pair of red boots. Puss pulled them on, stood up on two legs, and bowed. Then he caught a fat rabbit in a sack and marched off to see the King.
"A gift from my master, the Marquis of Carabas," said Puss. There was no such marquis. There was only Tom, asleep in a haystack. But the King was very fond of rabbit.
Next day the King's coach came along the river, with Princess Rosa inside. "Jump in the water," said Puss. "I can't swim very well," said Tom. "Leave it to me," said Puss.
"Help! Robbers have taken my master's clothes!" cried Puss. The King sent for a suit of blue velvet. Tom climbed into the coach, dripping. Princess Rosa passed him her handkerchief.
Puss ran ahead to the reapers in the fields. "The Ogre who owns these fields is no friend of yours," he said. "Tell the King they belong to the Marquis of Carabas. And leave the Ogre to me."
At the end of the road stood the Ogre's castle. "They say you can turn into anything," said Puss. The Ogre became a lion, and Puss shot up the curtains, boots and all.
"Very good," said Puss from the curtain rail. "But something small? A mouse? Nobody could do that." "Nobody?" roared the Ogre. And there on the floor sat a mouse.
Puss put one paw on its tail. "The castle, please," he said. The mouse squeaked yes, ran out through a crack in the wall, and was never an Ogre again. The King's coach rolled up to the door.
"I'm not a marquis," Tom told Princess Rosa. "I'm a miller's son." "I know," she said. "Your cat talks too much." They married in spring. Years later, when Puss was old and slow, Tom carried him up the stairs. "Leave it to me," said Tom.
