Pull chestnuts out of the fire

There are many fables in many languages, certainly French and English, about a clever monkey or fox using a cat’s paw or foot to pull hot, roasted chestnuts from a fire. In 1655, Molière in L’Etoudi Act III, Scene VI, wrote tirer less marrons du feu avec la patte du chat translated as ‘to pull the chestnuts out of the fire with the cat’s paw’. Over time, ‘cat’s paw’ and ‘pull chestnuts out of the fire’ would evolve into two separate idioms but not before this citation quoted by the OED appeared in 1657, “These he useth as the monkey did the cat’s paw to scrape the nuts from the fire.” A further OED citation in 1754 shows how the two idioms had developed further, “He makes her fight his battles for him; and become herself the cat’s paw to help him to the ready-roasted chestnuts.” By the 19th century, both idioms had become established in separate usage as these citations from the OED prove. “Boswell was merely the cat’s paw of Murray, Morton and Maitland.” (OED 1817) “The Liberal Unionists have, indeed, pulled the chestnuts out of the fire for Lord Salisbury.” (OED 1886.) Therefore, ‘cat’s paw’ meaning a tool was well established by the end of the 18th century and, by the end of the 19th century, pulling someone’s chestnuts out of the fire was well established as an idiom for saving someone’s bacon, which of course is yet another idiom.