Story Voice

Puss in Boots Story

Puss in Boots is a classic story from Grimms' Fairy Tales, for children aged 3–7. This page has the English story with a native English narration (about 2 min), plus the Chinese version with Mandarin narration (about 3 min). Free to read and listen, no sign-up.

A miller's son gets only a cat, but the cat asks for boots, wins the king over for the Marquis of Carabas, and tricks an ogre into becoming a mouse. In simple English with narration, plus the Chinese version in Mandarin.

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A narrator, and a voice of its own for each character: the cat, the miller's son, the king, the ogre

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Read Puss in Boots

A miller's youngest son got only a cat; his brothers got the mill and donkey. "What good is a cat?" he sighed.

"Master, give me boots and a bag, and you will be rich," said the cat. The son agreed.

The cat put on his boots and took a fat rabbit to the king. "A gift from my master, the Marquis of Carabas." "Thank him for me!" said the king.

When the king rode by, the cat had his master jump in the river and cried, "Help! The Marquis is drowning!" The king gave him fine clothes. The cat told the farmers to call the fields the Marquis's.

In a castle lived an ogre who could change shape. "Can you turn into a lion?" asked the cat. "Watch!" roared the ogre, and he did. "But you can't become a tiny mouse." He did, and the cat ate him up.

Then the king arrived. The cat bowed him in. The princess married the Marquis, and the cat never chased mice again.

The Chinese version: 穿靴子的猫

老磨坊主把家产分给三个儿子。大儿子得到磨坊，二儿子得到驴子，小儿子只得到一只猫。他叹着气说：“一只猫，能有什么用呢？”

猫跳到他面前说：“主人，给我一双靴子和一只口袋，我保证让你过上好日子。”小儿子半信半疑，还是照做了。

猫穿上靴子，神气极了。它捉了一只肥肥的野兔，送到王宫：“陛下，这是我的主人卡拉巴侯爵送您的礼物。”国王很高兴：“替我谢谢侯爵！”从此猫天天来送礼物。

一天，国王带着公主出游。猫让主人跳进河里，自己在岸边大喊：“救命啊！卡拉巴侯爵掉进河里了！”国王叫人救他上来，还送了他一套漂亮衣服。猫又跑在前面，叫田里的农夫都说这片田是侯爵的。

前面的城堡里住着一个会变身的妖怪。猫对它说：“听说你能变成狮子，我可不信。”“看好了！”妖怪吼了一声，变成了狮子。猫又说：“变大容易，变成小老鼠你就不行了。”妖怪变成小老鼠，猫扑上去，一口吃掉了。

国王的马车正好到了。猫鞠了一躬，请大家进城堡。国王高兴极了，把公主嫁给了侯爵。从此，穿靴子的猫再也不用捉老鼠，只管在太阳底下打盹儿。

Puss in Boots Story: the moral of the story

A clever head is worth more than a rich inheritance. A small cat who uses his wits can get big things done.

Chinese words in Puss in Boots

Play the Chinese narration and listen for these words. The pinyin shows the tones.

  • 猫māo

    cat

  • 靴子xuē zi

    boots

  • 磨坊mò fáng

    mill

  • 侯爵hóu jué

    marquis

  • 国王guó wáng

    king

  • 妖怪yāo guài

    ogre, monster

  • 狮子shī zi

    lion

  • 老鼠lǎo shǔ

    mouse

For families learning Mandarin

Mandarin learning pack

Print the story, read it together, then listen and say it back. Made for heritage families and children learning Mandarin.

  • A printable PDF (3 pages): the Chinese story with pinyin over every character, the words to know, the English version, questions to talk about, and character writing practice.
  • Slow Mandarin audio (5 min): every sentence at a gentler pace, followed by a pause long enough to say it back.

Buy once, download again any time. The story itself stays free to read and hear. Try the free sample pack (The Tortoise and the Hare) first.

Page one of the Puss in Boots learning pack: the Chinese story with pinyin over every character

Bedtime storytelling tips

  • Give the cat a quick, cheeky voice and say "the Marquis of Carabas" grandly every time. Your child will soon be shouting it with you.
  • Roar for the lion, squeak for the mouse, then pounce. It is the liveliest moment of the story.
  • Marquis is said /ˈmɑːkwi/, with a silent s. In Chinese the cat is 穿靴子的猫 (chuān xuē zi de māo), the cat who wears boots.

Things to talk about afterwards

  • What did the cat ask his master for?
  • How did the cat trick the ogre into becoming a mouse?
  • The son thought a cat was useless at first. What do you think matters more than money?

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Puss in Boots Story: common questions

What is the moral of Puss in Boots?
Brains matter more than what you inherit. The youngest son gets only a cat, but the cat uses his wits, step by step, to win the king's trust and beat the ogre.
Is Puss in Boots a Grimm fairy tale or a Perrault fairy tale?
Both. Charles Perrault's version of 1697 is the best known, and the Brothers Grimm included their own in the first edition of their tales in 1812, then dropped it because it was so close to Perrault's. Our retelling follows that plot in our own words.
Who is the Marquis of Carabas?
A name the cat makes up for his master. The young man is only a miller's son, but the cat uses the grand name for his gifts, the rescue in the river and the fields, until the king believes it.
Is there a Chinese version of Puss in Boots?
Yes. In Chinese it is 穿靴子的猫 (chuān xuē zi de māo). This page has our Chinese retelling with Mandarin narration next to the English one.

Source and how we retold it

Puss in Boots was tale 33 of the first edition of Grimms' Fairy Tales (1812), as Der gestiefelte Kater, and was dropped from later editions because it was so close to Charles Perrault's Le Maître chat of 1697. Both are in the public domain. Our retelling follows that plot and does not use any existing Chinese translation. The miller's death at the start becomes simply dividing up what he owns, and the ogre's end as a mouse is told lightly. The rest of the plot and the ending are the same.

The narration on this page is AI-generated: the English is read by our narrator and the Chinese by our narrator. The audio files are labeled as AI-generated.

If you liked Puss in Boots Story, there are more stories in Grimms' Fairy Tales. You can also read this one to your child in your own voice.

More Grimms' Fairy Tales