Once upon a time there was a miller who had three sons. When he was dying he left each of them a legacy. To his eldest son he left his mill; to the second his ass; and to the youngest his cat. The poor boy was very sad when he found that he had nothing belonging to him but a cat; but to his great surprise, puss jumped on the table, and said in a friendly manner: "Do not be sad my dear master. Only buy me a pair of boots and a bag, and I will provide for you and myself." So the miller's son, who had a shilling or two in his pocket, bought a smart little pair of boots and a bag, and gave them to puss, who put some bran and sow-thistles into his bag, opened the mouth of it, and lay down in a rabbit warren. A foolish young rabbit jumped into it; puss drew the string and soon killed it. He went immediately to the palace with it. He found the king and queen sitting on their throne; and bowing low, he laid the rabbit at the king's feet, saying: "Please your majesty, my master, the Marquis de Carrabas, has sent you a rabbit from his warren, as a mark of respect." "I am much obliged to the Marquis," said the king, and he ordered the rabbit to be taken to the cook, and a piece of money to be given to the cat. Puss, much pleased, took a rabbit daily to the king as a gift from his master, till his majesty was well acquainted with the name of the Marquis de Carrabas, and with his wonderful cat. There was a very rich and cruel Ogre living in that country. One day puss went to call on him, and the ogre was quite amazed at hearing a cat talk; it was the first time too he had seen a "Puss in Boots." "Is it true, most wonderful ogre," said Puss, "that you can change yourself into any creature you please?" "Quite true, as you shall see," said the ogre, and he changed himself into a lion, and roared so terribly, that the cat climbed up the wall out of his way. Then the ogre resumed his own ugly shape, and laughed at puss's fear. "It was very surprising," said the cat; "you are of such a grand size that I do not wonder you could become a lion—but could you change yourself into some very small animal?" "You shall see," said the stupid vain ogre, and he turned into a mouse. Directly puss saw him in that shape, he darted at him and eat him up. The ogre quite deserved it, for he had eaten many men himself. Then puss made haste back to his master, and said, "Come and bathe in the river, and when the king comes by, do exactly as I tell you, for I see his carriage." The miller's son obeyed his friend the cat, undressed and jumped into the water, and cunning puss ran away with his clothes and hid them under a large stone. By-and-bye the king drove by with his daughter. Puss began to call very loud "Help, help! or my lord Marquis de Carrabas will be drowned." The king stopped the coach directly, and asked what was the matter. Puss answered, that while his master was bathing, some thieves had stolen his clothes, and that therefore the marquis could not come out of the water. The king luckily had a dress suit with him, so he sent it by a servant to the Marquis, and desired him to accept a seat in the royal coach, and he would drive him home.

The miller's son looked very well in his fine clothes, and the king was pleased with his appearance. Puss directed the coachman to drive to the late ogre's castle, and then he ran on before. Coming to a large field in which reapers were at work, he said, "If the king asks you to whom these fields belong, you must say, to the Marquis de Carrabas, or you shall all be chopped as small as mincemeat." The men were so astonished at hearing a cat talk, that they dared not refuse; so when the king came by and asked, whose fields are these? they said, "they belong to the Marquis de Carrabas." Next puss came to some meadows with shepherds and flocks of sheep, and said the same to them. So when the king asked them, whose flocks are these? they answered, those of the Marquis de Carrabas.

Puss ran on all over the dead ogre's land and said the same thing to the woodmen and the gamekeepers on the road, who all obeyed him, till the king at last said to the miller's son, "You have a fine property, my lord Marquis de Carrabas." When puss came to the ogre's castle, he stood on the steps and waited till the coach drove up.

"Will your majesty honour my lord by taking some refreshment," he said; and the king who had not so fine a castle belonging to himself, alighted from his carriage and entered the house. Now, the ogre was just going to his dinner when puss had called and killed him, so there was a very fine feast upon the table. Puss told the ogre's servants they should be made into mincemeat if they did not consent to take the Marquis de Carrabas for their master, and they were glad to serve him instead of the ogre. The king took such a fancy to the rich Marquis de Carrabas, that he gave him the princess for his wife. They lived in the ogre's fine castle (which puss presented to his master), and the most faithful and the happiest of their servants was "Puss in Boots."