Cinderella

For other uses, see Cinderella (disambiguation).
Cinderella

Folk tale
Name Cinderella
Also known as French: Cendrillon, Italian: Cenerentola, German: Aschenputtel
Data
Aarne-Thompson grouping AT 510 A ("the persecuted heroine")
Region Eurasia

Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper, (French: Cendrillon, ou La petite Pantoufle de Verre, Italian: Cenerentola, German: Aschenputtel) is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world.[1][2] The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances, that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune. The oldest documented version comes from China, and the oldest European version from Italy. The most popular version was first published by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé in 1697,[3] and later by the Brothers Grimm in their folk tale collection Grimms' Fairy Tales.

Although the story's title and main character's name change in different languages, in English-language folklore "Cinderella" is the archetypal name. The word "Cinderella" has, by analogy, come to mean one whose attributes were unrecognized, or one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect. The still-popular story of "Cinderella" continues to influence popular culture internationally, lending plot elements, allusions, and tropes to a wide variety of media.

The Aarne–Thompson system classifies Cinderella as "the persecuted heroine". The story of Rhodopis, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt, is considered the earliest known variant of the "Cinderella" story (published 7 BC), and many variants are known throughout the world.[1][2][4]

Ancient and international versions

China

Another version of the story, Ye Xian, appeared in Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang by Duan Chengshi around 860. Here, the hardworking and lovely girl befriends a fish, the reincarnation of her mother, who was killed by her stepmother and sister. Ye Xian saves the bones, which are magic, and they help her dress appropriately for the New Year Festival. When she loses her slipper after being recognized by her stepfamily, the king finds her slipper and falls in love with her (eventually rescuing her from her cruel stepmother).

Indonesia and Malaysia

The Indonesian and Malaysian story Bawang Merah Bawang Putih, are about two girls named Bawang Putih (literally "White Onion", meaning "garlic") and Bawang Merah ("Red Onion"). While the two country's respective versions differ in the exact relationship of the girls and the identity of the protagonist, they have highly similar plot elements. Both have a magical fish as the "fairy godmother" to her daughter, which the antagonist cooks. The heroine then finds the bones and buries them, and over the grave a magical swing appears. The protagonist sits on the swing and sings to make it sway, her song reaching the ears of a passing Prince. The swing is akin to the slipper test, which distinguishes the heroine from her evil sister, and the Prince weds her in the end.

In Indonesia, Bawang Putih is the kind-hearted girl, who suffers at the hands of her evil stepmother and stepsister, Bawang Merah, who is the one that cooks the fish-mother. When the Prince enquires after the singer on the swing, Bawang Merah lies, but is proven false when cannot make the magical swing move. The angry prince forces Bawang Merah and her mother to tell the truth. They then admit that there is another daughter in the house. Bawang Putih comes out and moves the magical swing by her singing. In the end, she and her prince marry and live happily ever after.

In the Malaysian version, it is Bawang Merah and her mother Mak Labu ("Mother Gourd") who are good, while her half sister Bawang Putih and her mother Mak Kundur ("Mother Wintermelon") are evil. Both mothers were the wives of a poor man, and upon his death Mak Kundur seized control of the household and forced Mak Labu and Bawang Merah to do all the chores around the house. One day as Mak Labu was fetching water at the well, Mak Kundur pushed her into it, and Mak Labu turns into a gourami. In this version, Mak Kundur killed the fish and fed it to Bawang Merah who learns of her mother's fishbones in a dream and finds them with the aid of some ants. Bawang Merah gathers the fish bones and buries them in a small grave underneath a tree. When she visits the grave the next day, she is surprised to see that a beautiful swing has appeared from one of the tree's branches. When Bawang Merah sits in the swing and sings an old lullaby, it magically swings back and forth. In this version, Mak Kundur knows the Prince, and lies when a royal guard enquires after the girl on the swing. Bawang Merah sings and it is she whom the Prince marries at the end of the story.

Philippines

Another version similar to the Chinese, Malay, and Middle Eastern versions, also exists in the Philippines, known as Mariang Alimango ("Mary the Crab"). María is ill-treated by her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, and she is aided by the spirit of her dead mother that reincarnates as a crab, hence the title. The stepmother discovers the crab and after cooking and eating it, María buries the shell and remains, and her mother's spirit again returns to serve as her "fairy godmother". The slipper-test is also present, and María wins the heart of the prince during his coming-of-age celebration.

Vietnam

In the Vietnamese version Tam Cam, Tam is mistreated by both her father's co-wife and half-sister, who stole her birthright by winning a wager of fishing unjustly proposed by the stepmother. The only fish that was left to her was killed and eaten by her step-family, but its bones served as her protector and guardian, eventually leading her to be the king's bride during a festival. The protagonist however, turns into the antagonist in part two of the story, by boiling her stepsister alive and then fooling her stepmother into cannibalism by feeding her her own daughter's flesh.

Korea

There is a Korean version named Kongjwi and Patjwi. It deals a story about a kind girl Kongjwi who was constantly abused by her stepmother and stepsister Patjwi. The step-family forces Kongjwi to stay at home while they attend the king's festival, by asking her to repair a leaking jar. A toad assists with the jar, and an ox brings her clothes for the festival. The motif is same, concerning also a king falling in love with her. But some minor details have changed because this fictional story is taking place in Korea. That includes the slipper's details and the usual festivals that happen in the Cinderella stories.

West and South Asia

Several different variants of the story appear in the medieval One Thousand and One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights, including "The Second Shaykh's Story", "The Eldest Lady's Tale" and "Abdallah ibn Fadil and His Brothers", all dealing with the theme of a younger sibling harassed by two jealous elders. In some of these, the siblings are female, while in others, they are male. One of the tales, "Judar and His Brethren", departs from the happy endings of previous variants and reworks the plot to give it a tragic ending instead, with the younger brother being poisoned by his elder brothers.[5]

Britain

Aspects of Cinderella may be derived from the story of Cordelia in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae. Cordelia is the youngest and most virtuous of King Leir of Britain's three daughters, however her virtue is such that it will not allow her to lie in flattering her father when he asks, so that he divides up the kingdom between the elder daughters and leaves Cordelia with nothing. Cordelia marries her love, Aganippus, King of the Franks, and flees to Gaul where she and her husband raise an army and depose her wicked sisters who have been misusing their father. Cordelia is finally crowned Queen of Britain. However her reign only lasts five years. The story is famously retold in Shakespeare's King Lear, but given a tragic ending.

Early written versions

The first written European version of the story was published in Napoli (Naples) by Giambattista Basile, in his Pentamerone (1634). The story itself was based in the Kingdom of Naples, at that time the most important political and cultural center of Southern Italy and among the most influential capitals in Europe, and written in the Neapolitan dialect. It was later retold, along with other Basile tales, by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé (1697),[3] and by the Brothers Grimm in their folk tale collection Grimms' Fairy Tales (1812).

The name "Cenerentola" comes from the Italian word "cenere" – tchenere (ash – cinder). It has to do with the fact that servants and scullions were usually soiled with ash at that time, because of their cleaning work and also because they had to live in cold basements so they usually tried to get warm by sitting close to the fireplace.

Plot

Cenerentola, by Basile

Giambattista Basile, a Neapolitan soldier and government official, assembled a set of oral folk tales into a written collection titled Lo cunto de li cunti (The Story of Stories), or Pentamerone. It included the tale of Cenerentola, which features a wicked stepmother and evil stepsisters, magical transformations, a missing slipper, and a hunt by a monarch for the owner of the slipper. It was published posthumously in 1634.

Plot:

A widowed prince has a daughter, Zezolla (tonnie) (the Cinderella figure), who is tended by a beloved governess. The governess, with Zezolla's help, persuades the prince to marry her. The governess then brings forward six daughters of her own, who abuse Zezolla (tonnie), and send her into the kitchen to work as a servant. The prince goes to the island of Sinia, meets a fairy who gives presents to his daughter, and brings back for her: a golden spade, a golden bucket, a silken napkin, and a date seedling. The girl cultivates the tree, and when the king hosts a ball, Zezolla appears dressed richly by a fairy living in the date tree. The king falls in love with her, but Zezolla runs away before he can find out who she is. Twice Zezolla escapes the king and his servants. The third time, the king's servant captures one of her slippers. The king invites all of the maidens in the land to a feast with a shoe-test, identifies Zezolla (tonnie) after the shoe jumps from his hand to her foot, and eventually marries her.[6]

Cendrillon, by Perrault

Oliver Herford illustrated Cinderella with the Fairy Godmother, inspired by Perrault's version.
Charles Robinson illustrated Cinderella in the kitchen (1900), from "Tales of Passed Times" with stories by Charles Perrault.

One of the most popular versions of Cinderella was written in French by Charles Perrault in 1697, under the name Cendrillon. The popularity of his tale was due to his additions to the story, including the pumpkin, the fairy-godmother and the introduction of "glass" (a translation error must have occurred when the story was translated from French into English, as it is argued that in the earliest printed French version it was a "pantoufle de vair", which is the old name for grey squirrel fur and not a "pantoufle de verre" which would be glass) slippers.[7]

Plot:

Once upon a time, there was a wealthy widower who married a proud, widowed and haughty woman as his second wife. She had two daughters, who were equally vain and selfish. By his first wife, he'd had a beautiful young daughter, a girl of unparalleled goodness and sweet temper. The stepmother and her daughters forced the first daughter into servitude, where she was made to work day and night doing menial chores. After the girl's chores were done for the day, she would retire to the barren and cold room given to her, and would curl up near the fireplace in an effort to stay warm. She would often arise covered in cinders, giving rise to the mocking nickname "Cinderella" by her stepsisters. Cinderella bore the abuse patiently and dared not tell her father, since his 2nd wife controlled him entirely.
One day, the Prince invited all the young ladies in the land to a ball, planning to choose a wife from amongst them. The two stepsisters gleefully planned their wardrobes for the ball, and taunted Cinderella by telling her that maids were not invited to the ball.
As the sisters departed to the ball, Cinderella cried in despair. Her Fairy Godmother magically appeared and immediately began to transform Cinderella from house servant to the young lady she was by birth, all in the effort to get Cinderella to the ball. She turned a pumpkin into a golden carriage, mice into horses, a rat into a coachman, and lizards into footmen. She then turned Cinderella's rags into a beautiful jeweled gown, complete with a delicate pair of glass slippers. The Godmother told her to enjoy the ball, but warned that she had to return before midnight, when the spells would be broken.
At the ball, the entire court was entranced by Cinderella, especially the Prince. At this first ball, Cinderella remembers to leave before midnight. Back home, Cinderella graciously thanked her Godmother. She then greeted the stepsisters, who had not recognized her earlier and talked of nothing but the beautiful girl at the ball.
Another ball was held the next evening, and Cinderella again attended with her Godmother's help. The Prince had become even more infatuated, and Cinderella in turn became so enchanted by him she lost track of time and left only at the final stroke of midnight, losing one of her glass slippers on the steps of the palace in her haste. The Prince chased her, but outside the palace, the guards saw only a simple country girl leave. The Prince pocketed the slipper and vowed to find and marry the girl to whom it belonged. Meanwhile, Cinderella kept the other slipper, which did not disappear when the spell was broken.
The Prince tried the slipper on all the women in the kingdom. When the Prince arrives at Cinderella's villa, the stepsisters tried in vain to win over the prince as they wanted the prince. Cinderella asked if she might try, while the stepsisters taunted her. Naturally, the slipper fit perfectly, and Cinderella produced the other slipper for good measure. Cinderella's stepfamily pleaded for forgiveness, and Cinderella agreed to let bygones be bygones.
Cinderella married the Prince as she lets her stepsisters married two lords.

The first moral of the story is that beauty is a treasure, but graciousness is priceless. Without it, nothing is possible; with it, one can do anything.[8]

However, the second moral of the story mitigates the first one and reveals the criticism that Perrault is aiming at: That "without doubt it is a great advantage to have intelligence, courage, good breeding, and common sense. These, and similar talents come only from heaven, and it is good to have them. However, even these may fail to bring you success, without the blessing of a godfather or a godmother."[8]

Aschenputtel, by the Brothers Grimm

Alexander Zick illustrated Cinderella with the doves, inspired by the Grimms' version.

Another well-known version was recorded by the German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century. The tale is called "Aschenputtel" ("Cinderella" in English translations). This version is much more intense than that of Perrault and Disney, in that Cinderella's father did not die and the step sisters cut off their own toes to fit in the golden slipper. In addition, there is no fairy godmother, but rather help comes from a wishing tree that she planted on her mother's grave.

Plot:

A wealthy gentleman's wife lay on her deathbed, and called her only daughter to her bedside. She asked her to remain good and kind, and told her that God would protect her. She then died and was buried. A year went by and the widower married another woman, who had two daughters of her own. They had beautiful faces and fair skin, but their hearts were cruel and wicked. The stepsisters stole the girl's fine clothes and jewels and forced her to wear rags. They banished her into the kitchen to do the worst chores, and gave her the nickname "Aschenputtel" ("Ashfool"). She was forced to do the work from dawn to dusk. The cruel sisters would do nothing but mock her and make her chores harder by creating messes. However, despite all of it, the girl remained good and kind, and would always go to her mother's grave to cry and pray to God that she would see her circumstances improve.
One day, the gentleman visited a fair, promising his stepdaughters gifts of luxury. The eldest asked for beautiful dresses, while the younger for pearls and diamonds. His own daughter merely asked for the first twig to knock his hat off on the way. The gentleman went on his way, and acquires presents for his stepdaughters. While passing a forest he got a hazel twig, and gave it to his daughter. She planted the twig over her mother's grave, watered it with her tears and over the years, it grew into a glowing hazel tree. The girl would pray under it three times a day, and a white bird would always come to her. She would tell her wishes to the bird, and every time the bird would throw down to her what she had wished for.
The king decided to give a festival that would last for three days and invited all the beautiful maidens in the land to attend so that the prince could select one of them as his bride. The two sisters were also invited, but when Aschenputtel begged them to allow her to go with them into the celebration, the stepmother refused because she had no dress nor shoes to wear. When the girl insisted, the woman threw a dish of lentils into the ashes for her to pick up, guaranteeing her permission to attend the festival, if she could clean up the lentils in two hours. When the girl accomplished the task in less than an hour with the help of a flock of white doves that came when she sang, the stepmother only redoubled the task and threw down even a greater quantity of lentils. When Aschenputtel was able to accomplish it in a greater speed, not wanting to spoil her daughters' chances, the stepmother hastened away with them to the celebration and left the crying stepdaughter behind.
The girl retreated to the graveyard to ask for help. The white bird dropped a gold and silver gown and silk shoes. She went to the feast. The prince danced with her, and when sunset came she asked to leave. The prince escorted her home, but she eluded him and jumped inside the pigeon- coop. The merchant went home and the prince asks him to chop the pigeon coop down, but Aschenputtel had already escaped. The next day, the girl appeared in a much grander gown. The prince fell in love with her and danced with her for the whole day, and when sunset came, the prince tried to accompany her home. However, she climbed a pear tree to escape him. The Prince called her father who chopped down the tree, wondering if it could be Aschenputtel, but Aschenputtel had disappeared. The third day, she appeared dressed in the grandest with slippers of gold. Now the prince was determined to keep her, and had the entire stairway smeared with pitch. Aschenputtel lost track of time, and when she ran away one of her golden slippers got stuck on that pitch. The prince proclaimed that he would marry the maiden whose foot would fit the golden slipper.
The next morning, the prince went to Aschenputtel's house and tried the slipper on the eldest stepsister. The sister was advised by her mother to cut off her toes in order to fit the slipper. While riding with the stepsister, the two doves from Heaven told the Prince that blood dripped from her foot. Appalled by her treachery, he went back again and tried the slipper on the other stepsister. She cut off part of her heel in order to get her foot in the slipper, and again the prince was fooled. While riding with her to the king's castle, the doves alerted him again about the blood on her foot. He came back to inquire about another girl. The gentleman told him that they kept a kitchen-maid in the house – omitting to mention that she was his own daughter – and the prince asked him to let her try on the slipper. The girl appeared after washing herself, and when she put on the slipper, the prince recognized her as the stranger with whom he had danced at the ball.
In the end, during Aschenputtel's wedding, as she was walking down the aisle with her stepsisters as her bridesmaids, (they had hoped to worm their way into her favour), the doves flew down and struck the two stepsisters' eyes, one in the left and the other in the right. When the wedding came to an end, and Aschenputtel and her prince marched out of the church, the doves flew again, striking the remaining eyes of the two evil sisters blind, a punishment they had to endure for the rest of their lives.[9]

Aschenputtel's relationship with her father in this version is ambiguous; Perrault's version states that the absent father is dominated by his second wife, explaining why he does not prevent the abuse of his daughter. However, the father in this tale plays an active role in several scenes, and it is not explained why he tolerates the mistreatment of his child. He also describes Aschenputtel as his "first wife's child" and not his own.

Plot variations and alternative tellings

Villains: In some versions, her father plays an active role in the humiliation of his daughter; in others, he is secondary to his new wife; in some versions, especially the popular Disney film, the father has died.

Although many variants of Cinderella feature the wicked stepmother, the defining trait of type 510A is a female persecutor: in Fair, Brown and Trembling and Finette Cendron, the stepmother does not appear at all, and it is the older sisters who confine her to the kitchen. In other fairy tales featuring the ball, she was driven from home by the persecutions of her father, usually because he wished to marry her. Of this type (510B) are Cap O' Rushes, Catskin, All-Kinds-of-Fur, and Allerleirauh, and she slaves in the kitchen because she found a job there.[10] In Katie Woodencloak, the stepmother drives her from home, and she likewise finds such a job.

In La Cenerentola, Gioachino Rossini inverted the sex roles: Cenerentola is oppressed by her stepfather. (This makes the opera Aarne-Thompson type 510B.) He also made the economic basis for such hostility unusually clear, in that Don Magnifico wishes to make his own daughters' dowries larger, to attract a grander match, which is impossible if he must provide a third dowry. Folklorists often interpret the hostility between the stepmother and stepdaughter as just such a competition for resources, but seldom does the tale make it clear.[11]

Ball, Ballgown, and Curfew: The number of balls varies, sometimes one, sometimes two, and sometimes three. The fairy godmother is Perrault's own addition to the tale.[12] The person who aided Cinderella (Aschenputtel) in the Grimms's version is her dead mother. Aschenputtel requests her aid by praying at her grave, on which a tree is growing. Helpful doves roosting in the tree shake down the clothing she needs for the ball. This motif is found in other variants of the tale as well, such as The Cinder Maid, collected by Joseph Jacobs, and the Finnish The Wonderful Birch. Playwright James Lapine incorporated this motif into the Cinderella plotline of the musical Into the Woods. Giambattista Basile's Cenerentola combined them; the Cinderella figure, Zezolla, asks her father to commend her to the Dove of Fairies and ask her to send her something, and she receives a tree that will provide her clothing. Other variants have her helped by talking animals, as in Katie Woodencloak, Rushen Coatie, Bawang Putih Bawang Merah, The Story of Tam and Cam, or The Sharp Grey Sheep—these animals often having some connection with her dead mother; in The Golden Slipper, a fish aids her after she puts it in water. In "The Anklet", it's a magical alabaster pot the girl purchased with her own money that brings her the gowns and the anklets she wears to the ball. Gioachino Rossini, having agreed to do an opera based on Cinderella if he could omit all magical elements, wrote La Cenerentola, in which she was aided by Alidoro, a philosopher and formerly the Prince's tutor.

The midnight curfew is also absent in many versions; Cinderella leaves the ball to get home before her stepmother and stepsisters, or she is simply tired. In the Grimms' version, Aschenputtel slips away when she is tired, hiding on her father's estate in a tree, and then the pigeon coop, to elude her pursuers; her father tries to catch her by chopping them down, but she escapes.[13]

Furthermore, the gathering need not be a ball; several variants on Cinderella, such as Katie Woodencloak and The Golden Slipper have her attend church.

In the three-ball version, Cinderella keeps a close watch on the time the first two nights and is able to leave without difficulty. However, on the third (or only) night, she loses track of the time and must flee the castle before her disguise vanishes. In her haste, she loses a glass slipper which the prince finds—or else the prince has carefully had her exit tarred, so as to catch her, and the slipper is caught in it.

The identifying item: The glass slipper is unique to Charles Perrault's version and its derivatives; in other versions of the tale it may be made of other materials (in the version recorded by the Brothers Grimm, German: Aschenbroedel and Aschenputtel, for instance, it is gold) and in still other tellings, it is not a slipper but an anklet, a ring, or a bracelet that gives the prince the key to Cinderella's identity. In Rossini's opera "La Cenerentola" ("Cinderella"), the slipper is replaced by twin bracelets to prove her identity. In the Finnish variant The Wonderful Birch the prince uses tar to gain something every ball, and so has a ring, a circlet, and a pair of slippers. Interpreters unaware of the value attached to glass in 17th century France and perhaps troubled by sartorial impracticalities, have suggested that Perrault's "glass slipper" (pantoufle de verre) had been a "squirrel fur slipper" (pantoufle de vair) in some unidentified earlier version of the tale, and that Perrault or one of his sources confused the words; however, most scholars believe the glass slipper was a deliberate piece of poetic invention on Perrault's part.[14] The 1950 Disney adaptation takes advantage of the slipper being made of glass to add a twist whereby the slipper is shattered just before Cinderella has the chance to try it on, leaving her with only the matching slipper with which to prove her identity.

Another interpretation of verre/vair (glass/fur) suggested a sexual element—the Prince was 'trying on' the 'fur slipper' (vagina) of the maidens in the kingdom, as a 'Droit du seigneur' right of sexual possession of his subjects. The disguised Cinderella's 'fur slipper' was of unique appeal to the Prince who sought her thereafter through sexual congress (a variety of sources including Joan Gould).

The translation of the story into cultures with different standards of beauty has left the significance of Cinderella's shoe size unclear, and resulted in the implausibility of Cinderella's feet being of a unique size for no particular reason. Humorous retellings of the story sometimes use the twist of having the shoes turn out to also fit somebody completely unsuitable, such as an amorous old crone. In Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad, the witches accuse another witch of manipulating the events because it was a common shoe size, and she could only ensure that the right woman put it on if she already knew where she was and went straight to her. In "When the Clock Strikes" (from Red As Blood), Tanith Lee had the sorcerous shoe alter shape whenever a woman tried to put it on, so it would not fit.

Cinderella tries on the slipper

The Revelation: Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters (in some versions just the stepsisters and, in some other versions, a stepfather and stepsisters) conspire to win the prince's hand for one of them. In the German telling, the first stepsister fits into the slipper by cutting off a toe, but the doves in the hazel tree alert the prince to the blood dripping from the slipper, and he returns the false bride to her mother. The second stepsister fits into the slipper by cutting off her heel, but the same doves give her away.

In many variants of the tale, the prince is told that Cinderella can not possibly be the one, as she is too dirty and ragged. Often, this is said by the stepmother or stepsisters. In the Grimms' version, both the stepmother and the father urge it.[15] The prince nevertheless insists on her trying. Cinderella arrives and proves her identity by fitting into the slipper or other item (in some cases she has kept the other).

The Conclusion: In the German version of the story, the evil stepsisters are punished for their deception by having their eyes pecked out by birds. In other versions, they are forgiven, and made ladies-in-waiting with marriages to lesser lords.

In The Thousand Nights and A Night, in a tale called "The Anklet",[16] the stepsisters make a comeback by using twelve magical hairpins to turn the bride into a dove on her wedding night. In The Wonderful Birch, the stepmother, a witch, manages to substitute her daughter for the true bride after she has given birth. Such tales continue the fairy tale into what is in effect a second episode.

In an episode of Jim Henson's The Storyteller, writer Anthony Minghella merged the old folk tale Donkeyskin (also written by Perrault) with Cinderella to tell the tale of Sapsorrow, a girl both cursed and blessed by destiny.

Many popular new works based on the story feature one step-sister who is not as cruel to Cinderella as the other. Examples are the film Ever After, Cinderella 3 and the Broadway revival.

Revisionist retellings

Ever After (known in promotional material as Ever After: A Cinderella Story) is a 1998 American romantic comedy-drama film inspired by the fairy tale Cinderella, directed by Andy Tennant and starring Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston, and Dougray Scott. The usual pantomime and comic/supernatural elements are removed and the story is instead treated as historical fiction, set in Renaissance-era France. It is often seen as a modern, post-feminism interpretation of the Cinderella myth.

There is also Gregory Maguire's novel Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, which gives the classic story from the view of one of the ugly stepsisters. In this version, the Cinderella character is unusually beautiful, but also a shy enigma. Her stepsister, though plain, is charming and intelligent. The novel has themes much more adult than the traditional story.

Likewise there is a Marissa Meyer novel "Cinder", which is set in a futuristic Beijing. The Cinderella character, named Cinder, is a cyborg mechanic, who meets Prince Kaito.

Gail Carson Levine wrote Ella Enchanted, a story about how "Ella" is under a fairy curse of obedience (she does whatever someone tells her to). A movie also has been made based on this book.

In 1982, Roald Dahl rewrote the story in a more modern and gruesome way in his book Revolting Rhymes.

In his book "Dr. Gardner's Fairy Tales for Today's Children," Dr. Richard A. Gardener's story "Cinderelma" has the heroine Cinderelma and the prince re-unite, then mutually decide to separate. Cinderelma then gets a job as a seamstress, later opens her own dress shop, and marries a young printer who owns the shop next door to hers.

In 1995, Richard Conlon's play "Anastasia and Drizella" was produced at Chicago's Temporary Theatre. In it, Cinderella's step sister Anastasia gets a master's degree in finance, and her step sister Drizella gets a master's degree in chemical engineering. When the prince tries to have Cinderella's step family beheaded, Anastasia buys the kingdom. The prince and Cinderella get married, and spend the rest of their lives working as servants for Cinderella's step family, while the step sisters live happily ever after.[17]

In the 2005 Ella's Big Chance by Shirley Hughes, Ella is a dressmaker in her father's shop, and when the stepsisters arrive they appoint themselves as models. Ella eventually chooses to marry Buttons, and employee in the shop, instead of the prince.

In 2014, Bad Wolf Press published a musical version called Cinderella: A Modern Makeover, a fractured interpretation of the story featuring a more positive "blended family" home life as well as a heroine trying to get her dream job at the palace instead of a marriage proposal.

Anne Sexton wrote an adaptation as a poem called "Cinderella" in her collection Transformations (1971), a book in which she re-envisions sixteen of the Grimm's Fairy tales.[18]

The Throne of Glass series, written by Sarah J. Maas, is inspired by the story of Cinderella.

Folkloristics

Cinderella or Cendrillon in French. Detail from Gustave Doré's illustration for Cendrillon

Folklorists have long studied variants on this tale across cultures.[19] In 1893, Marian Roalfe Cox, commissioned by the Folklore Society of Britain, produced Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-Five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin and, Cap o'Rushes, Abstracted and Tabulated with a Discussion of Medieval Analogues and Notes.[19]

Further morphology studies have continued on this seminal work.[19]

The Aarne–Thompson system classifies Cinderella as type 510A, "the persecuted heroine". Others of this type include The Sharp Grey Sheep; The Golden Slipper; The Story of Tam and Cam; Rushen Coatie; The Wonderful Birch; Fair, Brown and Trembling; and Katie Woodencloak.[20]

Adaptations

Massenet's opera Cendrillon
Pantomime at the Adelphi

The story of Cinderella has formed the basis of many notable works:

Opera and ballet

Theatre

Films and television

Cinderella (1911)

Over the decades, hundreds of films have been made that are either direct adaptations from Cinderella or have plots loosely based on the story.

Songs

Others

Translations

LanguageNameRomanisation
Afrikaans Aspoestertjie
Albanian Hirushja
Arabic سندريلا Sinderella
Armenian Մոխրոտիկ Mokhrotik
Azerbaijani Zoluşka
Basque Mari Errauskin
Belarusian Папялушка Papyalushka
Bulgarian Пепеляшка Pepelyashka
Argentina La Cenicienta
Catalan Ventafocs
Burmese စင္ဒရဲလား
Chinese 灰姑娘 Huīgūniang
Croatian Pepeljuga
Czech Popelka
Danish Askepot
Dutch Assepoester
Estonian Tuhkatriinu
Filipino Cinderella
Finnish Tuhkimo
French Cendrillon
Georgian კონკია Konkia
German Aschenputtel (or Aschenbrödel)
Greek Σταχτοπούτα Stachtopoúta
Hebrew סינדרלה\לכלוכית Sinderelaa/Lichluchit
Hindi सिंडिरेल्ला Sindirēllā
Hungarian Hamupipőke
Icelandic Öskubuska
Indonesian Cinderella/Upik Abu
Irish Luaithríona
Italian Cenerentola
Japanese シンデレラ Shinderera
Kannada ಸಿಂಡರೆಲ್ಲಾ Siṇḍarellā
Korean 신데렐라 Sinderella
Lao ຊັງດຣີຢົງ or ຊັງດີຢົງ Sangdriyong
Latvian Pelnrušķīte
Lithuanian Pelenė
Macedonian Пепелашка Pepelashka
Malay Bawang merah
Mongolian Үнсгэлжин Unsgeljin
Norwegian (bokmål) Askepott (originally the name of Askeladden)
Norwegian (nynorsk) Oskepott (originally the name of Oskeladden)
Persian سیندرلا Sinderela
Polish Kopciuszek
Portuguese Cinderela
Romanian Cenușăreasa
Russian Золушка Zolushka
Serbian Пепeљуга Pepeljuga
Slovak Popoluška
Slovenian Pepelka
Soqotri Meḥazelo
Spanish Cenicienta
Swedish Askungen
Tamil சின்டெரெல்லா Ciṉṭerellā
Thai ซินเดอเรลล่า Cinderella
Turkish Külkedisi
Ukrainian Попелюшка Popelyushka
Vietnamese Lọ Lem
West Frisian Jiskepûster

Cinderella theme

Cinderella by Edward Burne-Jones, 1863, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The Aarne–Thompson system classifies Cinderella as type 510A, "the persecuted heroine". Variants of the theme are known throughout the world.

The Cinderella motif may well have originated in classical antiquity. The Greek geographer Strabo recorded in the 1st century BC in his Geographica (book 17, 33) the tale of the Greek slave girl Rhodopis, "Rosey-Eyes", who lived in the colony of Naucratis in Ancient Egypt. It is often considered the oldest known version of the story:

They tell the fabulous story that, when she was bathing, an eagle snatched one of her sandals from her maid and carried it to Memphis; and while the king was administering justice in the open air, the eagle, when it arrived above his head, flung the sandal into his lap; and the king, stirred both by the beautiful shape of the sandal and by the strangeness of the occurrence, sent men in all directions into the country in quest of the woman who wore the sandal; and when she was found in the city of Naucratis, she was brought up to Memphis, became the wife of the king ...[29]

Herodotus, some five centuries before Strabo, supplied information about the real-life Rhodopis in his Histories. He wrote that Rhodopis came from Thrace, and was the slave of Iadmon of Samos, and a fellow-slave of the story-teller Aesop. She was taken to Egypt in the time of Pharaoh Amasis, and freed there for a large sum by Charaxus of Mytilene, brother of Sappho the lyric poet.[30][31]

Another synopsis is given by the Roman author Aelian (ca. 175–ca. 235),[32] showing that the Cinderella theme remained popular throughout antiquity.

Aspects of Cinderella may be derived from the story of Cordelia in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae. Cordelia is the youngest and most virtuous of King Leir of Britain's three daughters, however her virtue is such that it will not allow her to lie in flattering her father when he asks, so that he divides up the kingdom between the elder daughters and leaves Cordelia with nothing. Cordelia marries her love, Aganippus, King of the Franks, and flees to Gaul where she and her husband raise an army and depose her wicked sisters who have been misusing their father. Cordelia is finally crowned Queen of Britain. However her reign only lasts five years. The story is famously retold in Shakespeare's King Lear, but given a tragic ending.

Another version of the story, Ye Xian, appeared in Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang by Duan Chengshi around 860. Here, the hardworking and lovely girl befriends a fish, the reincarnation of her mother, who was killed by her stepmother and sister. Ye Xian saves the bones, which are magic, and they help her dress appropriately for a festival. When she loses her slipper after being recognized by her stepfamily, the king finds her slipper and makes her his first wife (eventually rescuing her from her cruel stepmother).

The Indonesian and Malaysian story Bawang Merah Bawang Putih, are about two girls named Bawang Putih (literally "White Onion", meaning "garlic") and Bawang Merah ("Red Onion"). While the two country's respective versions differ in the exact relationship of the girls and the identity of the protagonist, they have highly similar plot elements. Both have a magical fish as the "fairy godmother" to her daughter, which the antagonist cooks. The heroine then finds the bones and buries them, and over the grave a magical swing appears. The protagonist sits on the swing and sings to make it sway, her song reaching the ears of a passing Prince. The swing is akin to the slipper test, which distinguishes the heroine from her evil sister, and the Prince weds her in the end.

In the Vietnamese version Tam Cam, Tam is mistreated by both her father's co-wife and half-sister, who stole her birthright by winning a wager of fishing unjustly proposed by the stepmother. The only fish that was left to her was killed and eaten by her step-family, but its bones served as her protector and guardian, eventually leading her to be the king's bride during a festival. The protagonist however, turns into the antagonist in part two of the story, by boiling her stepsister alive and then fooling her stepmother into cannibalism by feeding her her own daughter's flesh.

There is a Korean version named Kongji and Patzzi. It tells a story about a kind girl Kongji who was constantly abused by her stepmother and stepsister Patzzi. The step-family forces Kongji to stay at home while they attend the king's ball, but a fairy appears and gives her an attire more beautiful than everyone else. The motif is the same as in Perrault, concerning a king falling in love with her. However, the story goes on with Patzzi drowning Kongji in a river and disguising herself as Kongji to live with the King. After the king finds out he puts Patzzi to death and feeds her to the unknowing stepmother.

Several variants of the story appear in the medieval One Thousand and One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights, including "The Second Shaykh's Story", "The Eldest Lady's Tale" and "Abdallah ibn Fadil and His Brothers", all dealing with the theme of a younger sibling harassed by two jealous elders. In some of these, the siblings are female, while in others, they are male. One of the tales, "Judar and His Brethren", departs from the happy endings of previous variants and reworks the plot to give it a tragic ending instead, with the younger brother being poisoned by his elder brothers.[5]

The Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield also shares similarities with Cinderella but is gender reversed (David has a passive mother who remarries with a cruel man after her husband passes).

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Zipes, Jack (2001). The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm. W. W. Norton & Co. p. 444. ISBN 978-0-393-97636-6.
  2. 1 2 Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988.
  3. 1 2 Bottigheimer, Ruth. (2008). "Before Contes du temps passe (1697): Charles Perrault's Griselidis, Souhaits and Peau". The Romantic Review, Volume 99, Number 3. pp. 175–89
  4. ↑ Roger Lancelyn Green: Tales of Ancient Egypt, Penguin UK, 2011, ISBN 978-0-14-133822-4, chapter The Land of Egypt
  5. 1 2 Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf (2004). The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 4. ISBN 1-57607-204-5.
  6. ↑ Basile, Giambattista (1911). Stories from Pentamerone, London: Macmillan & Co., translated by John Edward Taylor. Chapter 6. See also "Il Pentamerone: Cenerentola"
  7. ↑ A modern edition of the original French text by Perrault is found in Charles Perrault, Contes, ed. Marc Soriano (Paris: Flammarion, 1989), pp. 274–79.
  8. 1 2 "Perrault: Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper". Pitt.edu. 2003-10-08. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  9. ↑ Aschenputtel, included in Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane, at Project Gutenberg
  10. ↑ Heidi Anne Heiner, "Tales Similar to Donkeyskin"
  11. ↑ Marina Warner, From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales And Their Tellers, p 213-4 ISBN 0-374-15901-7
  12. ↑ Jane Yolen, p 23, Touch Magic ISBN 0-87483-591-7
  13. ↑ Maria Tatar, The Annotated Brothers Grimm, p 116 W. W. Norton & company, London, New York, 2004 ISBN 0-393-05848-4
  14. ↑ Maria Tatar, p 28, The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales, ISBN 0-393-05163-3
  15. ↑ Maria Tatar, The Annotated Brothers Grimm, p 126-8 W. W. Norton & company, London, New York, 2004 ISBN 0-393-05848-4
  16. ↑ Mardrus, Joseph-Charles; Powys Mathers (June 1987). The book of the Thousand Nights and One Night 4. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 191–194. ISBN 0-415-04543-6.
  17. ↑ http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-03-19/features/9503190364_1_grimm-brothers-tales-fairy-tales-fairy-godmother
  18. ↑ "Transformations by Anne Sexton"
  19. 1 2 3 "If The Shoe Fits: Folklorists' criteria for #510"
  20. ↑ Heidi Anne Heiner, "Tales Similar to Cinderella"
  21. ↑ Cinderella, a full-length opera by Alma Deutscher. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  22. ↑ http://www.mtishows.com/show_detail.asp?showid=000020
  23. ↑ Off Broadway Musicals 1910-2007, by Dan Dietz
  24. ↑ "Aschenputtel". YouTube.com.
  25. ↑ "YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
  26. ↑ "Three wishes for Cinderella (1973)". Imdb.com.
  27. ↑ "Aschenputtel". Imdb.com.
  28. ↑ "If the Shoe Fits". Imdb.com.
  29. ↑ Strabo: "The Geography", book 17, 33
  30. ↑ Anderson, Graham (2000). Fairytale in the ancient world. Routledge. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-415-23702-4. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  31. ↑ Herodot, "The Histories", book 2, chapters 134-135
  32. ↑ Aelian: "Various History", book 13, chapter 33

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