Gatto Mammone

Gatto Mammone, meaning Mammon cat, is one of the creatures of myth in Italy. Long time ago there was a woman who had two daughters, one is ugly and one is very beautiful. Surprisingly, the woman loved the ugly daughter more and they were jealous of another daughters’s beauty. One day they decided to sent the beautiful daughter to a curse fairy to ask for a sieve. On her way to the castle of the fairy, she met a man who helped her and told her how to behave to find the object she sough after. In the castle, she must help the cats to do housework. The Gatto Mammone, who lives in the castle, is thankful and gives her what she asked for, along with a warning: on her way back home, she must not turn at the call of the donkey, but only when she hears a rooster. As she does so, a beautiful star is magically embedded in her forehead. After she came back, her sister also wanted to get the beautiful star so she went to the castle as well. However, she was shunned away by the cats. On her way back, she turns at the bray of the ass, and a donkey’s tail is magically embedded in her forehead.