The Fat Cat

The Fat Cat: A Danish Folktale
Jack Kent ~ Parent's Magazine Press, 1971

I know Jack Kent week is long gone, but this was the last book I attempted to track down to share. I went to three different library locations in town only to find that all the copies in the San Antonio Library System went missing long ago. I tried to buy one online and they are all very expensive. I finally found a paperback for $12 plus shipping, so I figured it was my last chance and went for it. Only it took a while to get here, so it never got included in the festivities. And since this week the give is another famous book about a fat cat, I thought it apropos. It's been floating around our house getting loved big time and read over and over and I didn't want it to feel left out, so...

My son is all about potty humor at the moment, and while this isn't technically potty humor, it certainly falls in the same gastrointestinal species. So, there's this old woman, see. And she has to go out one day to run an errand and she asks her house cat to watch her gruel, boiling over the fire, while she's gone...

"I'll be glad to," said the cat. But when the old woman had gone, the gruel looked so good that the cat ate it all. And the pot, too. When the old woman came back, she said to the cat, "Now what has happened to the gruel? "Oh," said the cat, "I ate the gruel and I ate the pot, too. And now I am going to also eat YOU." And he ate the old woman.You can imagine where the story goes from here. The cat becomes more and more overweight, gorging himself on Mr. Skohottentot and Mr. Skolinkenlot, a bunch of birds, some little girls, a lady and a priest before a woodcutter shows up, and well, you've heard that song before. Somehow I'd missed this folktale in my youth (I know it has other children's book incarnations), so the first read was a total (delightful) surprise to me, and the boy thinks it's hysterical. Once he gets going with the giggles, it's hard to stop him. That said... I promise, no more Jack Kent for a while. (Fingers crossed silently, offline.)

Also by:
Jack Kent's Twelve Days of Christmas
I Was Walking Down the Road
The Grown-Up Day
The Fox and the Crow
The Biggest Shadow in the Zoo
The Animobile Book
Jack Kent's Book of Nursery Tales
Dooly and the Snortsnoot
Mr. Meebles
Cindy Lou and the Witch's Dog
Clotilda
The Blah
Jack Kent's Valentine Sticker Book
The Bremen-town Musicians
Round Robin
Just Only John
Fly Away Home
Piggy Bank Gonzales
Socks for Supper

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