Papa Gatto by Ruth Sanderson, 1995.
This beautiful picture book, set in a fairy-tale Italy, is based on several folk tales, as the author explains on the page with the publishing information. Among the tales that served as inspiration for this story is The Colony of Cats, which is from Andrew Lang’s The Crimson Fairy Book. In some ways, this story is similar to Cinderella and Mother Holle, with its wicked stepmother and stepsister.
In the distant past, so the story says, it was common for animals to talk, and one of the wisest cats was Papa Gatto, who served as an adviser to the prince. Papa Gatto had a lovely wife and a beautiful mansion, but soon after the birth of their eight kittens, his wife died. Needing someone to help care for the motherless kittens, Papa Gatto decides to advertise for someone to help.
In the town, there is a widow who has a daughter named Sophia and a stepdaughter named Beatrice. As in many fairy tales, the widow favors her own daughter, who is lazy and spoiled, while giving all of the hard work to her stepdaughter, who is much nicer. When they hear about Papa Gatto’s advertisement, Beatrice feels sorry for the young kittens and wants to help. However, the widow, thinking of the generous fee that the wealthy Papa Gatto is offering, decides that she wants it for Sophia. Sophia doesn’t want the job, but at her mother’s urging, she goes to see Papa Gatto anyway.
Papa Gatto gives Sophia the job tending his house and family while he’s away on a trip, but Sophia doesn’t know how to work hard and has no real intention of doing a good job. She simply makes herself at home in Papa Gatto’s lovely mansion, trying on his dead wife’s jeweled collars as bracelets and neglecting the housework and kittens. When Papa Gatto returns home and sees what she’s done, he sends her away in anger.
When Beatrice hears that Papa Gatto is once again looking for help, she goes to see him without telling her stepmother about it. Papa Gatto sees how interested she is in the kittens and how gently she treats them, he gives her the job, reassured that she will do it well.
Sure enough, when he returns from his next journey, he sees that Beatrice has taken good care of the house and kittens and rewards her with the jeweled necklace/bracelet that Sophia had admired. Needless to say, Beatrice’s stepmother and stepsister are angry with Beatrice when she returns home, and Sophia takes the bracelet for herself.
Meanwhile, Papa Gatto has told the prince about Beatrice. The prince has been thinking about marrying, and he says that he would like to meet Beatrice. Papa Gatto tells him that she will probably be at the coming fair in town, and the prince should attend and look for the girl with the bracelet.
At first, the prince mistakes Sophia for Beatrice, a deception that she and her mother encourage. However, when the prince speaks to Papa Gatto again, Papa Gatto realizes the deception and sets things right.
The pictures in this book are beautiful! And, of course, there’s a happy ending.
I liked it that Beatrice didn’t accept the prince’s offer of marriage immediately, saying that she’d like to get to know him first. It’s more sensible than the fairy tales where they get married right away.
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