Narrator and point of view

The short story “The Familiar” by Andre Norton is a first-person narration told by a magical creature named Fossi, who first takes the form of a stuffed toy and later on that of a living magical cat.

The events are told in retrospect, which means that they have already happened and the narrator already knows their resolution. However, the narrator tries to confine itself to the knowledge it had at the time of the events: “Thinking it was fortunate that I knew much more about this merchant-house than the humans living here even suspected, I gathered my true strength and let go a summons.” (p. 55, ll. 21-23)

At the end of the story, however, the narrator implies that the events of the narrative were the beginning of a long relationship between Jeseca and Fossi, and that the narrator has since ...