content: once upon a time there lived a king who was deeply in love with a princess , but she could not marry anyone , because she was under an enchantment . so the king set out to seek a fairy , and asked what he could do to win the princess 's love . the fairy said to him : " you know that the princess has a great cat which she is very fond of . whoever is clever enough to tread on that cat 's tail is the man she is destined to marry . " the king said to himself that this would not be very difficult , and he left the fairy , determined to grind the cat 's tail to powder rather than not tread on it at all . you may imagine that it was not long before he went to see the princess , and puss , as usual , marched in before him , arching his back . the king took a long step , and quite thought he had the tail under his foot , but the cat turned round so sharply that he only trod on air . and so it went on for eight days , till the king began to think that this fatal tail must be full of quicksilver - it was never still for a moment . at last , however , he was lucky enough to come upon puss fast asleep and with his tail conveniently spread out . so the king , without losing a moment , set his foot upon it heavily . with one terrific yell the cat sprang up and instantly changed into a tall man , who , fixing his angry eyes upon the king , said : " you shall marry the princess because you have been able to break the enchantment , but i will have my revenge . you shall have a son , who will never be happy until he finds out that his nose is too long , and if you ever tell anyone what i have just said to you , you shall vanish away instantly , and no one shall ever see you or hear of you again . " though the king was horribly afraid of the enchanter , he could not help laughing at this threat . " if my son has such a long nose as that , " he said to himself , " he must always see it or feel it ; at least , if he is not blind or without hands . " 
answer: he wanted to break the princess 's enchantment .
question: why did the king set his foot upon the cat's tail heavily even though it was fast asleep ?
target: why did the king set his foot upon the cat's tail heavily even though it was fast asleep ?
references: why did the king set his foot upon the cat's tail heavily even though it was fast asleep ?