KidLit Forum

THE ENCHANTED CAT

The Enchanted Cat is a Hungarian fairy tale written and translated in English by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. It is the strory no.73 from the Collection Old Hungarian Fairy Tales. The first edition appeared in England in 1895.

The action of the tale is set in the Far East, somewhere on the borders of Persia. There is an extensive kingdom, over which ruled the good Sultan Abu Hafiz. The sultan is very sad because his wife died. The Grand Vizier convinces him to re-marry. He tells him about a very beautiful Princess who is widow. The wedding takes place and the Princess and her son, Ben Haroun, move in. After a while, the Sultan feels old and announces he will let the throne to his son. He chooses a young Princess to be his wife and she comes to the kingdom for the wedding. The Sultan’s Princess is very proud and wants her son to have the throne so she goes to a magician; he gives her a magic potion that will transform the prince into a cat. He will only be human when the moon is full.
Right before the wedding and the crowning the Princess puts a drop of the magic potion on prince’s coat and he transforms into a cat. The Princess throws him into a lake but he is saved by the young Princess (who had been betrothed to Al Hafiz) who had been out bathing with her attendants in the lake that night.
Then the Princess tried again to catch the cat because in that night would be full moon. The Princess and her son attracted the cat with a trout and caught it, but before they got to the lake, the thin crescent of the new moon emerged from the clouds and a second later Ben Haroun (who was a man again) was wrestling with his stepbrother Al Hafiz. Al Hafiz was more powerful and made a prisoner of Ben Haroun. The Sultan heard the story of his wife’s and his stepson’s villainy and ordered that both should be expelled his domains, and forbidden to return on penalty of death. The wicked old magician was hanged next morning.
The good old Sultan was happy to have his son back. There was a gorgeous wedding for the young couple and they lived happily ever after.

I think this fairy tale could be part of the 400-459 “Supernatural or Enchanted Wife (Husband) or other Relative” category of ATU system.

From Propp’s sequences I could identify:
1. Villain seeks something: The Princess wants her son to get the throne.
2. Villainy and lack: She realizes she must make prince Al-Hafiz dissapear.
7. Complicity: the magician gives the princess one drop of a magic potion.
6. Trickery: The Princess puts the drop while the Prince is sleeping.
23. Arrival- Hero arrives unrecognized: the prince is a cat, it’s still near the king but he’s not recognized.
16. Struggle: The Prince Al Hafiz fights with Ben Haroun.
18. Vilain is defeated
19. Resolution
29. Transfiguration- Hero is given a new appearance: Prince Al Hafiz is human again
28. Exposure: The Princess and her son are exposed
30. Punishment: The Princess and her son are expelled. The magician is hanged.
31. Wedding: The young Prince and the Princess get married.

From Propp’s typology of characters I could identify:
The hero: the young Prince Al Hafiz
The vilain: the Princess
The princess- the young Princess who is going to be his bride.
The father: the king- will leave the throne to his son
The false hero- the son of the Princess, Ben Haroun who wants the throne for himself.