"Puss in Boots" is a popular European fairy tale that tells the story of an intelligent cat. The cat uses trickery and deceit to help his penniless and low-born master gain power, wealth, and the hand in marriage of a princess. The oldest written version of this fairy tale is called "Costantino Fortunato" by Italian author Giovanni Francesco Straparola. This version is included in The Facetious Nights of Straparola, a collection of stories published between 1550 and 1553. In this version, the cat is a fairy in disguise who assists his owner, a poor boy named Costantino, to win his princess by tricking a king, a lord, and many commoners.
This year, my friends Johan and Irina said they have matching cat costumes, so we went out for a walk one morning. The costumes matches nicely against the backdrops of the medieval city...Obviously, they have come well prepared, with accompanying cat dolls and mouse toys as props...
Usually, this kind of photo shoots need to early in the morning when the light is subtle and the streets are empty...Venice does become extremely busy during the Carnevale period, so we must "hide".
I like this set of photos very much because they are deemed very auspicious this year, at least from a fengshui point of view. Of the 12 zodiac, only the tiger/ cat carries the wealth star this year. And of all the 5 elements this year, again the water element, representing the wealth element is entirely missing this year. So blue cats are deemed extremely lucky this year. What an auspicious start to the Carnevale for me to do this set of photos on my very first day of the event!