Pocci rewrote the tale of the Puss in Boots, known in Germany thanks to the comedy Der gestiefelte Kater, written by the Romantic author Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853) and premiered in Berlin in 1844 (the text was already published in 1797 and again in a revised version in 1811). Pocci, as was his habit, dealt very freely with the source material. Through the eponymous character, a scholar turned into a cat, he adds playful allusions to the natural sciences of his time, a theme that he will take on again in Hansel und Grethel in 1861 and especially in Schimpanse, der Darwinaffe (Chimpanzee, the Darwinian monkey) in 1874.

After the death of his father (a miller), Casperl inherits his old cat Muzl, who is no other than a naturalist magician turned into an animal for having questioned creationism: he has been sentenced to live as a cat until he has eaten the giant Lüpel. Muzl introduces Casperl to the local lord by making Casperl bring him rabbits and partridges, for the Lord loves them to the point of not eating anything else. However, Lüpel asks for the hand of Lord Rosalinde’s daughter through the intervention of the chamberlain Gummielastico. Rosalinde refuses and Lüpel turns Gummielastico into a rubber ball. Muzl offers his services to Lüpel and advises him to transform into a mouse to slip inside Rosalinde’s house. The giant transforms and Muzl eats him. Casperl marries the princess.