announces that to buy food for dinner she has agreed the sale of the cat to the wife of the governor; she is astonished to see a woman in Guido's room. He hastily claims that she is the daughter of an old friend of his father who has just arrived from England. Guido adds, that the governor's son can come and collect the cat – if he can recognize her... During the following ensemble, Minette begins to behave more and more like a cat. Guido is worried by this and begins to regret the change in her, and as he tries to assert himself they quarrel and she pretends to jump from the window – Guido rushes out into the street. Marianne is fed up with the commotion in the house and wants to leave, having since found the real cat shut in a cupboard. Minette now lets her in on the plot, as Guido returns without finding the cat. He asks himself "where is she?" to which Minette replies "here I am" and again moves as if to leave. Guido commands Marianne to prevent Minette from leaving, but she affects to be struck dumb. Dig-Dig enters, but as he is also struck dumb, Guido goes to his box to find the amulet, but a white cat jumps out and runs off. Marianne and Dig-Dig reveal all: Dig-Dig is Guido's wealthy uncle's intendant, while Minette is the cousin whom Guido would not marry. Realising his true feelings, Guido relents and all sing a final chorus and the curtain falls to the words "Miaou!". Minette has an air to Brahma, full of trills, a ‘miaou’ cat song, a love duo and an eating trio. See also Frederick Ashton created a short ballet solo for Merle Park in Vienna, 1985 using a pot-pourri of themes from the opera; orchestrated by Philip Gammon for its later presentation at Covent Garden. The work has subsequently been performed by the Asami Maki Ballet, Tokyo, the State Ballet of Georgia, Ensemble Productions, UK, Sarasota Ballet, Florida and New York Theatre Ballet. Other musical works on this theme include ballets La Chatte metamorphosée en femme by Alexandre Montfort with choreography by Jean Coralli (1837), and Henri Sauguet's one-act La Chatte (1927). The story is related to the original fable The Mouse Turned into a Maid, and to La Fontaine’s fable ‘La Chatte métamorphosée en femme’. References Operas