Trickster in Children’s Literature: Between Justification and Condemnation. The Case of the “Puss in Boots” Tale in Poland

The article discusses the treatment of the trickster figure in the Polish tradition of the “Puss in Boots” tale addressed to children. The analysis of the texts by Antoni Józef Gliński (1853), an anonymous author (1912), Ewa Szelburg-Zarembina (1954), Hanna Januszewska (1968), Milena Kusztelska (2009), and Robert Jarosz (2015) shows that the tale is often inscribed within the value system meant for the moral education and socialization of children. Depending on the emphasis put on this didactic intention, the ambivalent character of the cat can be either justified and absorbed by the established moral order, or excluded from it and condemned.