# Littérature de jeunesse en anglais : Walter Crane, Le Chat Botté/Présentation du livre

* Le chat ne dormait que d'un œil, Carl Offterdinger.
* Maître chat, Gustave Doré.
* Le fils de meunier échappe à la noyade, A. Gaskin.
* Monument au Jardin des Tuileries, Gabriel Pech, 1908.
Le Maître chat ou le Chat botté est un conte célèbre de Charles Perrault, très apprécié des enfants.
Voici la version anglaise, Puss in Boots, richement illustrée par Walter Crane.
* Tapuscrit de la version anglaise de Walter Crane et traduction en français, déposés en cc-by-sa le 01/01/2012, sur libre.pedagosite.net.
* Les illustrations et le texte d'origine de Walter Crane sont disponibles sur archive.org.
Sept épisodes à lire :
* Le chat savant : 56 mots
* Les pièges : 36 mots
* Le roi : 64 mots
* La ruse : 142 mots
* L'ogre : 160 mots
* Les fiançailles : 104 mots
* Regarder le diaporama en français
* S'informer sur les origines du conte et ses versions sur Vikidia :
   * Charles Perrault,
   * Les livres-jouets,
   * Walter Crane,
   * Le maître chat ou le chat botté.
* Écouter l'histoire en anglais !
* Lire le texte d'origine en anglais :
A MILLER lay dying – he made his last will ; He left his three sons his cat, ass and mill : To the eldest the mill, to the second the ass ; The third had the cat, and he cried out : « Alas ! I must starve now, unless I take Pussy to eat ! » « No, Master, » said Puss, « give me boots to my feet – A pair of top-boots – and please leave me alive, And you shall just see how you'll flourish and thrive. »
So the Puss put on boots, and he started abroad, And caught a fine rabbit just near the high-road, Which he took to the palace, and gave to the King : « This I from the Marquis of Carabas bring. » Again Puss went hunting, and carried the prey To the King, with the Marquis's duty, each day.
One morn, said the Cat to his Master, « I pray
You to go and to bathe in the river to-day ; The Marquis of Carabas, too, you must be, And leave all the rest of the business to me. » Now, while the King down by the river passed by, He heard dismal cries of – « Help ! Help ! Or he'll die ! The Marquis of Carabas drowns ! – O my master ! » The King sent his guards to avert the disaster. The Miller's son finds himself pulled out, and drest In all that his Majesty had of the best ;
And being well dried and well rid of the water, Was then introduced by the King to his daughter, And invited to drive in the King's coach-and-four ; And Puss who had managed all, hurried before And seing men reaping some very fine corn, Said to them : « You will wish that you'd never been born, If you don't tell the King, who is now near at hand, That the Marquis of Carabas owns all this land. » And all whom he met he commanded the same, To magnify further the Marquis's name.
At last he arrived at a castle so grand, Which belonged to an Ogre, as well as the land ; Puss conversed with the Ogre, who said that he could Assume any shape that he chose – bad or good, Great or small – as he'd show ; and the Ogre, so fussy, Turned into a mouse, and was swallowed by Pussy. At this moment his Majesty's carriage was heard ; Puss hurried down stairs, and he shortly appeared At the door, flung wide open befor they could ring : « The Marquis of Carabas welcomes the King ! »
The Miller's son thus became lord of the place, And he feasted the King with much grandeur and grace. After dinner, his Majesty, smiling and bland, Said, « Marquis of Carabas, give us your hand ; And if there is aught that seems goodly of ours – Yes, even our daughter – dear Marquis, 'tis yours. » So the Miller's son married the Princess next day, And Puss was a groomsman in top-boots so gay ; For the Marquis of Carabas owed him his life – His lands and his corn-fields – his castle and wife.