In the city of Naples, there once lived a beggarly old man, who was ragged and thin, and felt that he was fast coming to the end of his life. So he called his two sons, Oraziello and Pippo, to him, and said, "I am soon going to die, my sons, and I would be happy to leave this world of trouble except for one thing, and that is that I have nothing to leave the two of you, not even coats for your backs. I have had bad luck all my life, and for myself I have never minded going without, but I want to leave each of you something when I die, no matter how small, to be a sign of my love. Oraziello, you are my first born; take that sieve you see hanging over there on the wall; you may find some way to use it to help you make a living. You, Pippo, my youngest, take the cat; it is all I have to give you. Remember your father, my sons, by these gifts." Then he began to weep, and his sons wept also. After awhile, he said, "Farewell. It is night," and he died.

Oraziello prepared his father’s body for burial, and had him laid in a pauper’s grave. He then took his sieve and went out sifting to make his fortune, and the more he sifted, the more he got. But the younger son Pippo, who had been left the cat, mourned "What kind of a parting gift is this? Now I have two mouths to feed instead of one. Whoever heard of such a patrimony? It would have been better if he hadn’t left me anything!" The cat, who had to listen to all this complaining, finally said, "All this crying is for nothing; you are far luckier than your brother. You will become rich because you have me." Pippo was astounded at this speech, but he thanked his cat, and petted her and caressed her, telling her that he left his fortune in her hands.

The cat felt very sorry for the downhearted gagliuso, or youngster, so every morning at dawn she went down to the seashore at Chiaja and caught a large fish. This she would carry to the king, and say, "My lord Gagliuso, one of your loyal subjects, sends you this with his greetings, saying, ‘For such a great lord the gift is small." The king, smiling at the gift, would answer, "Tell your master that, though I do not know him, I thank him." Other times the cat would sneak after hunters of ducks or pheasants, and when a bird fell, she would find it before the dogs could, and take it in her mouth to the king, with the same greeting. This went on for some time, until the king finally said, "After all these gifts, I feel I should do something in return for your lord Gagliuso. I would really like to meet him." The cat answered, "It is my master’s wish to obey you in all things. Tomorrow morning, without fail, he will stand in front of your highness to bring you homage."

The next morning, the cat came to the king, and said, "Oh, your highness, my lord Gagliuso sends you greetings, but you must excuse him. He was set upon by robbers last night as he was traveling here, and they have taken everything, even the clothes on his back!" The king, upon hearing this sad tale, immediately told a servant to bring out some of the king’s own clothes, and sent them with the cat.

In two hours Gagliuso stood before the king, and the king thanked him and complimented him, and placed him at his side. Then he took Gagliuso to lunch with him and fed him all sort of wonderful things to eat. While they were eating, the youth turned to his cat, and said, "Oh, Kitty, please look out for my old rags, because I wouldn’t want anything to happen to them." The cat whispered, "Be quiet—don’t let the king hear you talk of such things." Sure enough, the king asked what they were talking about, so the cat said, "My master said he longs for a lemon." The king immediately sent for a basketful.

And so the conversation went on, with the youth often forgetting that he was supposed to be a lord, and the cat covering up for him.

After they had finished eating and had conversed for awhile, Gagliuso asked to be excused, pleading fatigue after his experience with the robbers, but the cat remained with the king for some time, expounding on the greatness of her lord Gagliuso, his wisdom, his good looks, and especially his wealth. Gagliuso’s wealth was uncountable, the cat claimed, and he deserved to marry a princess. The king was interested in the cat’s proposal, but he wanted to find out if Gagliuso was indeed as wealthy as the cat had claimed. He called at once for some of his most trusted advisers, sending them out (with the cat as a guide) to investigate the wealth of her master.

No sooner were they away from the vicinity of the palace, than the cat, claiming to be going ahead to arrange for lodging and food, ran ahead to all the farms and villages they would be passing through, telling the peasants to say, if asked, that the land all belonged to my lord Gagliuso. "For a band of robbers is coming this way," she said, "And Gagliuso is a famous brigand, so if you say your land belongs to Gagliuso, they will leave you alone." She continued to stay just ahead of the king’s advisers, so that wherever they traveled, they were told that the land belonged to my lord Gagliuso. Finally they grew tired of hearing the same song, and they returned to the king, telling him that Gagliuso was most assuredly the wealthiest of men.

The king was delighted with this news, and offered the cat herself great riches if she would arrange a marriage between his daughter and the wealthy Gagliuso. The cat pretended to act as a go-between, and at last concluded a handsome marriage settlement, with a rich dowry to come to her lord. Thus the young couple was married, and there was great joy and feasting. After a month, Gagliuso told the king that he and the princess would be retiring to their country estates, and so they left and traveled into Lombardy, where, on his cat’s advice, Gagliuso used part of the dowry to buy an estate, a palace, and a baronetcy.

For all she had done for him, Gagliuso thanked the cat profusely, saying that he owed her his whole life. He told her she would have all the power she chose over his house and his property as long as he lived, and that when she died he would keep her body in a golden urn in his room to remind him always of how much he owed her. The cat thought this last claim was more boastful and than truthful, so she decided to test her young master. Three days later, she allowed the princess to find her stiff and seemingly dead under a tree in the orchard. The princess was very distressed, and ran to her husband, crying, "Oh my husband, it is a calamity! The cat is dead!" Gagliuso callously replied, "Better the cat than we." "But what shall we do with her?" asked the princess. "Have someone pick her up by the leg and throw her in the garbage heap," was his answer. The cat, hearing of this ingratitude, said "Is this the reward I receive for ridding you of your lice? Of your rags? A curse on all the riches you have gotten, and may you work for your bread by your own sweat, for I am done with you. True is the saying, ‘Whoever goes to bed an ass, gets up an ass.’"