Fairy tale: Puss in Boots - Germany / German Democratic Republic 1968 - 25 Pfennig

German Fairy Tales, Edition 1968 The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the German Democratic Republic publishes six multicolored special postage stamps with representations from the German fairy tale "The Puss in Boots". The six stamps are printed on a miniature sheet. The Puss in Boots The Puss in Boots is an old folk tale. For centuries it has not only been part of the German narrative treasure, but the smart, helpful cat, the poor fellow's booted advisor, is known to all the peoples of Europe. (The international type catalog of Aarne and Thompson leads the puss in boots "The Cat as Helper" (No. 545). In a native tint the fairy tale was recited everywhere: in Ukraine and in England, in Scandinavia and in the Balkans, in Italy and in Spain. Like all folk tales, it has no individual poet, but generations of narrators have worked on its design and lore. This tradition had to be limited to oral transmission, to narration, because the broad masses had not gained access to reading and writing, were left in illiteracy. Nevertheless, the popularity of the fairy tale probably also that of the comic hangover hero gave him an early inclusion in the literature. For the first time, though still meagerly told, is the fairy tale of the Puss in Boots in the Italian Novella collection of Giovanni Straparola (mid-16th century), who strives in his stories, mostly from the oral tradition, for real popularity. For this reason Giambattista Basile also took on the puss in his boots, here "Gagliuso", in his great baroque narrative, the "Pentamerone" (printed in 1637). In 1697, the French poet Charles Perrault recorded the puss in his "Contes de ma mere l'Oye" (Stories of my mother Goose), and with the Perrault version the cat gained the sympathy of a broad, predominantly bourgeois reading audience - also in Germany , At the beginning of the 19th century, when the Brothers Grimm set about collecting and recording the German folktales, they also met - in Hesse - the puss in boots. Thus, the fairy tale (No. 33) is in the first edition of the "Children's and Household Tales" (1812), in the other editions of the hangover, however, no longer appears. The Grimms wanted to respect Perrault's collection, and in fact this version was widely used in Germany. Now for the stamp series that captures the main episodes of the fairy tale: The 5 Pfennig value shows the third and youngest miller's son, who inherited a hangover from his father, while the older sons received mill and donkey. Gloomy thoughts, to make fur from the cat's fur gloves, the clever cat comes before: He offers to help the young lad, if he receives boots himself. The young lad fulfills his cat's wish, has his boots measured, and then the cat takes a sack and pulls partridges, because he knows that the king has a penchant for partridges and builds his plan. Thus, the cat - 10 penny value - received joyfully in the royal palace, as he approached with the caught partridges. The cat presents the tasty game in the name of his master, whom he attests to with his pompous, invented title of count. The king, who for a long time could not eat partridges, rewards the cat with gold, which he carries to his master, the miller's son. The clever and helpful cat is not satisfied with the success, he continues to hunt partridges and becomes a welcome messenger in the royal castle. He hears, by coincidence, of a planned exit of the king, which is to bring him and the princess to the lake. The cat is now persuading - 15 penny worth - to bathe his master, the poor miller's boy, naked in the lake. As the carriage of the king rolls up, the cat raises a loud clamor: his master, the count, had his clothes stolen. Since the king knows the hangover and feels obliged to his master, the "count", he lets the car stop, equips the allegedly robbed with rich clothes and lets him sit down in his coach. Since the miller's lad looks good and friendly, he also likes the princess. While the journey continues over land, the cat rushes ahead to bring his plan to a happy ending. All those he encounters on the way, farmers and woodcutters, must assure the king, who follows in his vale, that they work in the meadows, fields and in the woods of the count. The king does not come out in astonishment in this way, but the cat goes to the castle of a great magician, to whom all the land belongs, and asks for an audience - 20 penny worth. The clever cat knows how to please the magician. The magician boasts of his transformational skills. First he transforms into an elephant, then into a lion and finally - at the request of the cat - into a mouse. And this mouse - 25 penny value - the hangover quickly catches - the land is redeemed, it belongs to the cat and his master. Thus, when the king's carriage rolls into the courtyard, the cat can mate the miller's boy with the princess. In the end, the able and faithful tomcat becomes the first minister in the land and kingdom inherited by the miller's ladder - thirty pfennig worth. With the comedy of the action, the hangover hero, the partisanship for the youngest, backstabbing, the friendship between man and animal, the fairy tale of the booted cat has received a privileged place in our narrative treasures and in the hearts of our children, and so we can do the good and clever tomcat in fairytale collections, in the theater, yes everywhere meet and gain from the encounter joy and joy.