The Cat Metamorphosed into a Woman

Name: The Cat Metamorphosed into a Woman
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

A bachelor so adores his beautiful, delicate cat that he considers her mewing the sweetest voice he has heard. Through prayers, tears, and magic, he persuades Fate to transform the cat into a woman, who becomes his bride. Completely captivated, he sees only her beauty and regards her as a perfect lady, forgetting every trace of the cat she once was. During the night, mice gnaw at the carpet and disturb the couple. The bride instantly leaps after them. Though the mice flee at first, she springs again when she hears them, and in her new form she succeeds in catching them because they are less frightened of a woman than of a cat. She continues to love mousing throughout her life. The tale declares that outward change cannot overcome ingrained nature. Old habits and former inclinations persist despite effort, discipline, or attempts at reform; what has acquired its fold or scent remains what it is, and what is barred from one entrance will find another.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Moral Literature, Didactic Poetry · 487 words

First lines

A bachelor caress'd his cat, / A darling, fair, and delicate; / So deep in love, he thought her mew / The sweetest voice he ever knew. / By prayers, and tears, and magic art, / The man got Fate to take his part; / And, lo! one morning at his side / His cat, transform'd, became his bride. / In wedded state our man was seen / The fool in courtship he had been. / No lover e'er was so bewitch'd / By any maiden's charms / As was this husband, so enrich'd / By hers within his arms. / He praised her beauties, this and that, / And saw there nothing of the cat. / In short, by passion's aid, he / Thought her a perfect lady.

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Genres

Fable — The poem uses a brief fantastical animal-centered narrative to convey an explicit moral: innate nature and ingrained habits persist despite outward change or attempted reform.
Moral Literature — Its concluding stanzas directly generalize the cat-wife's behavior into a lesson about the enduring force of habit and character.
Didactic Poetry — Written in verse, the work aims not merely to entertain but to instruct readers through an illustrative anecdote and stated maxim.
Animal Tale — A cat remains central to the plot, and her instinct to hunt mice provides the action that demonstrates the poem's lesson.

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The Cat Metamorphosed into a Woman is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1668 CE.

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Work type: Fable
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Date: 1668 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fable, Moral Literature, Didactic Poetry, Animal Tale, Fantasy
Length: 487 words
Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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