Cinderella
"Impossible things are happening every day..."
The classic rags-to-riches tale of Cinderella has been told in many languages, by storytellers from Walt Disney to Anne Sexton. Her story has been told as a fairy tale, a folk tale, a fable, a poem, even a warning. She has been made into movies, read-along records, board games, and Halloween costumes. Cinderella's fate, beauty, personality type, even family dynamic have been woven into doctoral theses, self-help books, commercials, and classroom exercises. Cinderella is the stuff of childhood imagination, of adolescent fantasy, of grown-up hope.
If you know of a Cinderella story not listed here, please contact me at heidi@heidisandler.com.
There are several versions of
the Cinderella story called Cendrillon: a Caribbean Cinderella story, a Cajun
Cinderella story, a French Cinderella story, etc. This one, by Sheila Hebert
Collins, is set in
The illustrations, while well-done and very
The language geek in me, however, liked the little injection of education in this book: all of the Cajun-French words are spelled phonetically and defined at the bottom of each page. I’d never studied French or anything close to it, so I carefully pronounced each new word like a good student. It took away a bit from the story itself, but I don’t think the book is meant to introduce a reader to the famous rags-to-riches tale – rather to treat someone to a new version of the well-known story, which is exactly what it did.
In this version of the classic story, also called Rhodopis and the Rose-Red Slippers, our Cinderella is not a stepdaughter, but rather a lovely young Greek girl who is stolen by pirates and sold as a slave. Because of her foreign appearance, she is hated by the other servants, but because of her talent as a dancer, she is a favorite of her master. She is given rose-red slippers, which infuriates the other girls even more. When Rhodopis is left behind at the Court of the Pharaoh, a falcon takes the role of Fate and steals one of her slippers, dropping it in the lap of the Pharaoh Amasis. He calls off the festivities in order to find the maiden who is destined to be his bride.
This is one of the oldest of the Cinderella tales, and it is based on the fact that a Greek slave girl did become the Pharaoh's queen. Again, a lovely adaptation by Shirley Climo and Ruth Heller, beautifully told and depicted.
Jouanah is the daughter of a poor farmer who takes advantage of local magic to turn his wife (at her request) into a cow to help their failing farm prosper. After he remarries and allows his new wife and her daughter to take control, Jouanah discovers that her mother (still in the form of a cow) has magical powers as well. In the tradition of Rumplestiltskin, she begins to spin silken thread for Jouanah -- so powerfully magic that even the magic tree in the yard can't destroy it. But soon the cow dies of a broken heart, and the guilty heartbroken father passes away as well. Jouanah finds her mother's elegant clothes in her sewing basket and wears them to the festival, where she is courted by Shee-Nang, the son of the village elder. In true Prince Charming fashion, Shee-Nang finds Jouanah's lost shoe and seeks out his future bride by asking all of the young ladies to try it on. Jouanah is too shy to try it on, but her stepmother's tricks are obvious to Shee-Nang, who recognizes his true love and leads her away to happiness.
This Hmong Cinderella story combines the traditional evil, scheming stepmother theme with plenty of magic, a lovely outfit, a lost shoe, and a festival. Jouanah's father, marrying again while his wife is still alive -- albeit bewitched -- goes against the usual image of Cinderella's father, a good-hearted man who does no wrong. But all of the classic elements are there, and the illustrations are beautiful.
Shirley Climo's adaptation of the story of Cinderella is one of several Korean versions. In The Korean Cinderella, the much-loved Pear Blossom experiences a life change when her mother dies and her ill father leaves her in the care of his new wife and her daughter. Pear Blossom is expected to complete several impossible tasks, such as successfully filling a jar that has an "onion-sized" hole in it. She is aided by Korean spirits or tokgabis, who take the form of various animals, but her stories of the helpful goblins leave her stepmother further infuriated with her. When she is invited, as all villagers are, to the local festival, she loses her sandal trying to get out of the way of a young nobleman's processional. Her shoe is found by the nobleman, who searches the festival for her and, in front of her screeching relatives, asks for her hand in marriage.
This version of the Cinderella story is well-told and beautifully illustrated, but I found it to portray the stepmother as much more cruel than other adaptations I have read.
The turn of events in this version of Cinderella are a bit unusual: Domitila's family is loving and stable, yet poor. The dutiful daughter takes a job cooking for the governor's family and gains the attention of the governor's son, Timoteo. Too soon, though, she is called back home by her grieving father -- her mother has passed on. Timoteo, though, is delighted by Domitila's cooking and by the artistic leatherwork on the sandal (the obligatory footwear) she has left behind, and he sets off to find her. It is only after hearing that the nobleman is searching for Domitila that the neighboring widow begins to scheme her way into the family, and very soon, Domitila finds herself in the classic Cinderella family dynamic -- evil stepmother and her ugly offspring. Timoteo, of course, finds Domitila at long last, and she takes great pleasure in feeding him once again. They live, as you may have guessed, happily ever after.
Though the travels of Timoteo to find his future bride are a bit long and convoluted, and though the sandal plays quite a small role (other than being the tool Timoteo uses to seek Domitila), the Mexican rags-to-riches story is a refreshing twist on the usual plot -- Cinderella finds her prince before her family situation goes bad, and because there are no supernatural powers aiding her, everything that happens to her, both good and bad, are either part of the natural course of life, or are the natural consequences of her own actions.
Bigfoot Cinderrrrrella (A Cinderella story from
northern
California)
by Tony Johnston, illustrated by James
Warhola
This old-growth forest version of the Cinderella story is one of the most fun and enjoyable adaptations I have ever read! The big-footed, smelly, hairy Rrrrrella lives in the forest with her clean, slim, flower-necklaced stepsisters and stepmother who have no respect for hard work and no love for nature. They try to make Rrrrrella more like they are, covering her with petals and bathing her in the creek. But this year, when the prince (also big-footed, smelly, and hairy) throws the annual Fun-Fest, he challenges all of the forest women to compete for the throne -- by throwing him off of a log! Rrrrrella is eager to go, and with the help of her "beary godfather" (in return for her earlier kindness), she does.
Tony Johnston has completely turned around the stereotypical beauty standards of the Cinderella story, and he does it well. The heroine of this story is completely natural, athletic, and full-bodied. While the characteristics of the chosen bride are ones which will ensure longer life, harder work, and more offspring (a la survival of the fittest), what children will see in this story is that lazy does not equal feminine, body-adornment will not attract love, and slim does not mean beautiful. In fact, the most delightful aspect of this story is the prince's search for the woman whose foot is LARGE enough to fit in the clog that Rrrrrella has left behind at the Fun-Fest.
I longed to read the dialogue out loud, from the prince's commands of "No pick flower!" to the godfather's admonition of "No be bugbrain!" And James Warhola's cartoon-like drawings are charming and merry.
One of the hundreds of stories in The Arabian Nights, this version of Cinderella puts the motherless Settareh in the care of several female relatives because her father's work keeps him very busy. Settareh uses her bazaar money to purchase a leaky old pot, which turns out to be magic. One of the wishes it grants her is a beautiful outfit for Prince Mehrad's No Ruz (New Year) festival. She attends the festival against her family's wishes and meets the prince. After she runs off, leaving one of her anklets behind, the princes becomes determined to find her. The queen, on his behalf, searches the land, for the prince, of course, knows very little about women. Settareh's stepsisters attempt to force the anklet on, but truth prevails and Settareh marries the prince. The sisters, however, become more jealous and vengeful, stealing her magic pot and trying to kill her with poison hair pins (reminiscent of the American version of Snow White). Settareh is saved by her prince and resumes ruling the land by his side.
Shirley Climo again pairs up with a wonderful
illustrator to put forth another charming version of the classic tale. The Persian
Cinderella is closer to a "good overcoming evil" fable than a
rags-to-riches tale.
Projects