StOrYtEllInG

FAIRY TALES HAVE REMAINDED POPULAR AMONG CHILDREN FOR AGES WITHOUT BEING LOST AND FORGOTTEN THANKS TO PARENTS WHO WERE THE FIRST ONES AND THE MAIN SOURCES FOR CHILDREN TO ENTER THE MARVELLOUS ENCHANTED WORLD OF FAIRY TALES. EVEN BEFORE DIFFERENT WRITERS COLLECTED THESE STORIES THROUGH OUT THEIR COUNTRIES, PARENTS HAD BECOME STORYTELLERS AND MANAGED TO INTRODUCE YOUNG CHILDREN IN A NEW ART OF NARRATIVE.
TRADITIONALLY, FOLK STORIES DEPENDED ON HUMAN’S MEMORY AND THEN PASSED FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION IN ORDER TO BE SHARED IN EVERY CULTURE AS A WAY OT PRESERVING IT AND AS A MEANS OF ENTERTAINMENT, COMMUNICATION, EDUCATION AND TRANSMIT VALUES. NATURALLY, WHILE BEING RE TOLD ONCE AND ONCE AGAIN, THESE STORIES SUFFER A LOT OF CHANGES AND ADAPTATIONS. WITH THE INVENTION OF THE PRINTING PRESS THAT HELPED LITERATURE TO DEVELOP, MORE PEOPLE HAD ACCESS TO BOOKS AND CHILDREN WERE ABLE TO READ THOSE STORIES THAT THEY HAD LISTENED FOR AGES. FROM THAT MOMENT ONWARDS, THERE WAS A NEW PERCEPTION OF FOLK TALES THEMSELVES, SINCE THEY STARTED TO BE CONSIDERED INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTS BECAUSE OF EACH OF THE KNOWN AUTHORS THAT COLLECTED THEM, RATHER THAN A COLLECTIVE WORK.

THERE ARE KEY ELEMENTS CONNECTED TO STORYTELLING THAT INCLUDE THE ESSENTIAL IDEA OF NARRATIVE STRUCTURE, SUCH AS PLOT, CHARACTERS, NARRATIVE POINT OF VIEW, TEMPORARITY AND RESOLUSION. ONE PECULAR FEATURE OF FAIRY TALES IS THE CLASSIC OPENING WORDS ‘ONCE UPON A TIME’ AND THE INEVITABLE HAPPY ENDINGS, AND THE EXPOSITION-DEVELOPMENT-CLIMAX-RESOLUTION-DENOUEMENT, IN BETWEEN.
THE EARLY FORMS OF STORYTELLING WHICH WERE ORAL MAINLY, COMBINED GESTURES AND EXPRESSIONS, AS WELL, AND LATER ON, DRAWINGS, MUSIC AND ART . STORYTELLING WAS A COMMON PAST TIME AND A STORYTELLER WAS INVALUABLE FOR THE COMMUNITY. IT WAS HIM THE ONE IN CHARGED OF PASSING DOWN VALUES AND ENCOURAGE PEOPLE’S IMAGINATION, ESPECIALLY CHILDREN’S ONE AS THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THEIR MAIN PURPOSE. KNOWING IN ADVANDE THAT CHILDREN ARE ENTHUSIASTICALLY ENGAGED BY STORIES, IT IS A GREAT DECISION TO USE THE POWER OR THE STORY FORM ITSELF AND EMPLOY THAT POWER IN TEACHING.
FOR THIS REASON STORYTELLING BASED ON CLASSIC FAIRY TALES IS A GENUINE WAY TO ENGAGE, STIMULATE AND DEVELOP CHILDREN’S IMAGINATION AND COPE WITH THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE LATTER, LEARNING AND EMOTION, TWO ESSENTIAL TOOLS THAT CHILDREN OWN AND MAY CONTRIBUTE TO PROMOTE CREATIVITY IN THE CLASSROOM. IN ADDITION, STORYTELLING IS A NURTURING WAY TEACHERS CAN USE TO ENCOURAGE CHILDREN TO READ, WRITE, CREATE, THINK AND IMAGINE WITHOUT RESTRICTIONS AS WELL AS TO BUILD THEIR SELF-ESTEEM FOR THEY GET TO REALISE HOW POWERFUL THEIR WORDS AND THOUGHTS ARE AND THEY FEEL SAFE AND CONFIDENT TO TALK ABOUT THEMSELVES. BESIDES, IT IS A WAY TO REMIND CHILDREN THAT BOTH LISTENING AND SPEAKING ARE IMPORTANT AND THAT CLEAR COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PEOPLE IS CRUCIAL. ON TOP OF THAT, STORYTELLING CAN HELP STUDENTS TO SOLVE INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT NON VIOLENTLY. BEING ABLE TO EXPRESS THEIR OWN FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS IS INDISPENSABLE FOR THEIR SAFETY AND A WAY OF DEALING WITH NEGOCIATION AND DISCUSSION AS PEACEMAKING SKILLS.
TRADITIONAL EDUCATION USUALLY PREVENTS STUDENTS FROM GENERATING IMAGES FROM WORDS WHICH IS RELEVANT FOR THEIR IMAGINATIVE DEVELOPMENT, BY PROVIDING KIDS WITH STEREOTYPICAL FEATURES AND IMAGES ALL THE TIME INTERRUPTING THEIR FANTASY. STUDENTS ARE USUALLY FORCE TO MEMORIZE LARGE AMOUNTS OF FACTS INSTEAD OF LETTING THEM USE THEIR FANTASY AND IMAGINATION. NOWADAYS WE KNOW THAT STORYTELLING IS ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYBODY, PEOPLE OF ALL AGES AND ABILITIES MAY BECOME STORYTELLERS. NO SPECIAL EQUIPMENT BUT IMAGINATION, CREATIVITY AND THE SKILLS TO LISTEN TO AND SPEAK ARE NEEDED TO CREATE IMAGES. CONSEQUENTLY, IT IS CRUCIAL FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS TO WORK WITH IT.
IN CONCLUSION, FAIRY TALES OFFER A WINDOW INTO A WORLD OF IMAGINATION AND FANTASY AND PROVIDE A BRIDGE TO BE LINKED TO PAST AND FUTURE GENERATIONS. ALL THE SAME, THEY TALK ABOUT CULTURES AND DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS AND GENERATE CURIOSITY TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLES. AND THE BEST WAY TO GET TO KNOW THESE TIMELESS STORIES IS THROUGH STORYTELLING.

Cinderella: analysed using Vladimir Propp taxonomy:

1- Absentation: Cinderella’s mother dies leaving her alone.
2- Prohibition: On one hand, Cinderella’s mother doesn’t allow her to attend to the royal festival. On the other hand, this beautiful girl is warmed to come back before midnight by her fairy godmother since the magic spell could disappear.
3- Transgression: Cinderella spends a magical evening at the ball, she dances with the prince all night long and she forgets about the fairy godmother’s warming. So when she realizes what time it is she hurries and loses her golden shoe on the stairs of the royal palace.
4-Reconnaissance: After Cinderella’s mother dies, her father marries another woman with her own daughter. This is the first time Cinderella meets them. Her wicked stepmother has a strong power over the heroine’s father, so that she can control him easily.
5- Trickery: In the Brothers Grimm’s version the stepmother promises Cinderella to go to the party if she is able to pick up a dish of lentils she had emptied into the ashes for her, in two hours. Cinderella manages to do so with the help of the birds, but when she asks her to go the stepsisters tells she can’t since she doesn’t have anything to wear and everybody would laugh at her. Again the evil woman promises her to attend after doing another difficult task. The heroine trusts her, but one more time it is just a trick and she doesn’t allow her to go because she can’t even dance.
6- Complicity: Cinderella acts in a way that the evil stepmother and the wicked and ugly stepsisters take advantage of her shyness and force her to work hard, do difficult tasks and also lie to the prince when he gets their house to find the owner of the golden slipper.
7- Villain and lack: The stepmother dominate Cinderella’s father and he never protects her or defends her against his wife. She also causes harm over Cinderella because she suffers a lot.
8- Mediation: Cinderella realizes how things really are. She is conscious of her wicked stepsisters and stepmother’s performance.
9- Counter action: Although Cinderella’s stepsisters try to make the prince think they are the only two young women in the house and the golden shoe belongs to them, the heroine appears, puts on the shoe and the slipper fits her perfectly well, then she shows the prince the other slipper.
10- Departure: The heroine leaves the festival before midnight because she is afraid the magic spell can disappear.
11- Test: The fairy godmother (donor) prepares Cinderella to receive her help, not only does she provides her a beautiful dress and glass shoes, but also she gives her a carriage to go to the festival by turning a pumpkin into a coach, a rat into a coachman, lizards into footmen and mice into horses. Besides, she warms her to come back before midnight.
12- Reaction of the hero: Cinderella promises to come back at the right time though she fails and forgets about it so she has to rush.
13- Gift: Cinderella is given a pair of glass shoes which will help her to be recognized by the prince.
14- Trip: There is not a real trip in the story, but Cinderella is sent away when the prince goes to her house to look for his future wife. Her stepmother and stepsisters don’t want him to meet the heroine.
15- Struggle: In this story there is not such a struggle for Cinderella is not strong enough to face her stepmother and she has a strong power over her.
16- Brand: The heroine suffers a lot because of her evil stepmother an d stepsisters who make her sleep in the ashes, work hard all day long and stay at home during the royal festival.
17- Victory: Finally, Cinderella defeats her stepmother and stepsisters since she gets married to the prince and goes away with him. In Basile’s version, both stepsisters die of envy. Cinderella forgives them in the version written by Perrault and the stepsisters marry two lords. On the contrary, in the Brothers Grimm’s story the pigeons peck out the stepsister’s eyes and they become blind.
18- Amendment: But for the fairy godmother’s/the wishing hazelnut tree’s help, misfortune is solved and Cinderella manages to attend to the royal festival, meets the prince and marries him.
19- Return: The heroine comes back home after the ball and nobody suspects about her performance. All the same, she comes back to the ball for it lasts two days in Perrault’s version and three in the Brothers Grimm’s story.
20- Persecution: Nobody tries to kill Cinderella, but her stepmother and stepsisters know how to make her feel really bad. They mistreat her and she suffers a lot, she feels everybody hates her and that she extremely alone in this word.
21- Help: Cinderella is given a beautiful dress and glass shoes to go to the royal festival. Moreover, in the Brothers Grimm’s version the pigeons and the doves (which represent her dead mother) also help the prince to realize that the stepsisters cheat him with the glass slipper.
22- Unrecognized: When Cinderella arrives at the festival nobody is able to recognize her for she looks amazingly beautiful in her delightful dress matching her golden shoes.
23- False hero: Both Cinderella’s stepsisters try to cheat the prince claiming they are the owners of the glass shoe. In the Brothers Grimm’s story they want to trick the prince twice: the first time, one or the sisters, by cutting of her big toe and the second time, the other sister, by cutting off her heel.
24- Deffault task: When Cinderella asks her stepmother to go to the festival, the woman says she will go only if she is able to pick up a dish of lentils into the ashes for her in two hours.
Cinderella goes to the garden and asks the birds to help her with that difficult task and in less than one hour the kitchen is clean and bright. Later the girl takes the dish to her stepmother, but she tells Cinderella that she can’t go because she doesn’t have anything to wear and everybody will laugh at her. The poor girl starts to cry so the woman empties two dishes of lentils amongst the ashes again and tells her to pick them up if she really wants her stepmother to help her with the clothes, sure the girl won’t be able to do that again.
While weeping Cinderella begs the pigeons, the doves and the birds to help her and half an hour later everything look fine. Now Cinderella hopes to go to the festival with her stepsisters. However her stepmother does not allow her go to for she can’t even dance.
25- Compliance: Although the stepmother gives her such a difficult task, Cinderella manages to solve it with the help of the birds and the pigeons.
26- Recognition: Cinderella tries the glass shoe on and it fits her like a glove, when she looks into the king’s son’s eyes and he looks at her face, he recognizes her and says that she is the right bride. He takes Cinderella on his horse and leaves with her.
27- Unmasking: Both stepsisters are exposed and reported by the pigeons and the doves. The prince realizes about the trick, he comes back to the house and finally meets Cinderella.
28- Transfiguration: Cinderella changes her look when attending to the royal festival, so that nobody is able to recognize her, ever her stepmother and stepsisters get astonished because of her beauty but they never consider Cinderella is that pretty woman.
29- Punishment: In Basile’s version both stepsisters die of envy (because of their rivalry). In Perrault’s story, Cinderella forgives them. On the contrary, in the Brothers Grimm’s version both women become blind because of the pigeons’ action, so for them, blindness is their punishment.
30- Wedding triumphant: The prince manages to meet Cinderella again, says she is her right bride, takes her on his horse and leaves with her. Finally they get married and Cinderella is given the throne.
Vladimir Propp also explains there are seven kinds of characters in fairy tales:
1- The villain: The wicked stepmother who mistreats Cinderella all the time, forces her to work hard, sleep in the ashes and doesn’t let her attend to the royal ball.

2- The donor: In Perrault’s version, the fairy godmother who gives Cinderella the dress to go to the ball, the golden shoes, as well as the carriage to get to the palace. In The Brothers Grimm’s version, the donor is represented by the wishing hazelnut tree that grows on the grave of her dead mother.
3- The magical helper: In Perrault’s version, the fairy godmother who appears whenever Cinderella needs her. In the Brothers Grimm’s version, the pigeons and the doves help Cinderella in the quest. Moreover, they are the ones that warm the prince about the stepsisters’ trick.

4- The princess and her father: In this story, Cinderella is the one who marries the prince.

5- The dispatcher: Cinderella’s stepmother lies the prince when he goes to their house looking for the golden shoe’s owner. First, she says that the shoe belongs to her daughters and then she denies that there is another girl in her house to try the shoe on.
6- The hero or victim/seeker hero: Finally, Cinderella weds the prince.
7- False hero: Cinderella’s stepsisters take advantage from the prince’s visit to their house while looking for the golden shoe’s owner. They tell them that their shoe belong to them and try to marry the prince.

SITES FOR TEACHERS: RESOURCES AND GAMES,AND MORE AND MORE.

THE BEST ON THE WEB FOR TEACHERS
...And for kids as well.

LEARNING ENGLISH
You can also click here

There are also lots of English activities for children:

To have plenty of fun why don't you play any of these games for children:

Teachers'websites

INCREDIBLE, AMAZING AND SURPRISING...

Everything is at hand... You just need to choose what you wish to learn.
To find the CLASSIC FAIRY TALES, just click on this site.
You can also find different versions of Literature for Children on these sites:
•Andersen's fairy tales

• Alice in Wonderland
  
• Kidś corner
• The Brothers Grimm:
  ** Cinderella
  **Sleeping Beauty
  **The Frog King
  **Hansel and Gretel
  **Little Red Riding Hood
  **Rapunzel
  **Snow White
  **Rumpelstilzchen



• Charles Perrault's tales
• Classics in English

If you still want to go on surfing the net you can try the following websites:
Poems about fairy tales:

***Fairy Tales: poems and fun for kids
***Little Red Reiding Hood: Amazingly funny!
more about Little Red Riding Hood
*0* Beauty and The Beast Poem
*0* Red Riding Hood had a pretty great time with the wolf
*0* A Cuban Cinderella
*0* Little Cinder
*0* Conversation with the Stepmother, at the Wedding
*0* The Pea Princess
*0* The Princess and The Pea
*0* Gretel in Berkeley
*0* Beauty and The Beast: an Anniversary

*0* Cinderella Poetry
*0* And more and more poems...
*0* More Fairytale poetry

SONGS: THE THREE LITTLE PIGS (TRADITIONAL SONGS)

INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES: games, songs and stories.
On this site you will find funny versions of LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. GOLDILOCKS, JACK AND THE BEANSTALK AND THE GREAT RACE:

ALICE’S ADVENTURE IN WONDERLAND: (audio in English)

THE BROTHERS GRIMM’S FAIRY TALES: (audio version)
Selected Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm in RealAudio

###The Frog Prince

### King Grizzly Beard
### Tom Thumb
### Queen Bee
### THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ (AUDIO)
### THE UGLY DUCKLING (ONLINE VERSION)
### JACK AND THE BEANSTALK: One story, different versions.

### LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: One story, different versions.

lllll ONE STORY: DIFFERENT VERSIONS lllll

Versions on line

• Video: The Frog Prince

• http://www.leapingmatch.com/en/story.php

GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS, LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD and JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

WIERD VERSIONS OF CINDERELLA

Classical versions, the stereotype’s construction:
The story is told in many cultures, which points out the universality of the themes found in the tale. In modern times the meaning of the story has focused on romantic love. All the same, in class societies the prince recognizing Cinderella’s beauty would have implication of social position.
Bibliography:
1634-1636 Basile, "Cendrillon"G. In Dundes 1988.
1696-1697 Madame D’Aulnoy “Finita Cenicienta”. In Aulnoy 1991.
1697 Perrault, C. “Cinderella, or The Glass Slipper” In Dundes 1988.
1812 Grimm, J y W. “Ash Girl”. In Dundes 1988.
1817 Rossini, G. “La Cenerentola”. In Rossini 1971.
1884 Gregor, W. “The Red Calf” (« Rashin Coatie »). In Philip 1995.
1950 Disney, Walt, “Cinderella”. In Disney 1950.
This very famous tale is one of the most popular, and it is considered the best-known story as well as one of the oldest in times.
Cinderella, the young woman oppressed and mistreated by the rivalry of her ugly stepmother and evil stepsisters who have a negative power over her, but at the end of the story she manages to be happy by getting married to the charming prince, has a large number of variations according to the social and cultural backgrounds where they take place, throughout the five continents and different time.
Certain groups have been identified in those versions:
• The protagonist of the story is the suffering heroine, though at the end she is recognized through a shoe and there is a turning point in her life.
• Incest also appeared in the story: the father wishes to marry her daughter and leads her to run away and be trapped in such a dreadful situation.
• King Lear’s theme: the daughter is exiled by her father because he considers her love insufficient.
• Male characters star in some versions.
Cinderella may have originated in classical antiquity:
In the 1st Century BC the Greek historian Strabo recorded what is considered the oldest well- known version of the story: the tale of a Greco-Egyptian girl called Rhodopis: One day her fellow servants left Rhodopis washing clothes in a stream while they all went to a function sponsored by the Pharaoh Amasis. An eagle took the girl's rose-gilded sandal and dropped it at the feet of the Pharaoh in the city of Memphis. Then he asked the women of the kingdom to try that sandal on in order to see which one fitted. Rhodopis succeded and the Pharaoh fell in love with her and they finally got married.
The story later appeared again showing that Cinderella theme remainded popular throughout time. perhaps the origin of the fairy tale figure can be traced back as far as the 6th Century B.C. (Ancient story-teller Aesop).
During the Middle Ages, another version of the story appeared, about in 890 in the famous “One Thousand and One Nights”: stories which dealt with the theme of a younger sibling hated by two jealous elders. In some tales the characters are female and in others they are males. One of the stories has a tragic ending since the younger brother dies after having been poisoned by his elder brothers.
There is another version originated in Japan, which tells the story of a girl who escapes from her evil stepmother with the help of Buddhist nuns and joins their convent.
The earliest European tale “The Cat Cinderella” (“La Gatta Cenerontola”) appeared in the book by the Italian collector Giambattista Basile. in 1635. The story laid the foundations for the future versions published by Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.
In 1697 the most popular version of Cinderella was written by the French Charles Perrault: “Cinderella” or “The Little Glass Slipper”. Although the author added many elements to the original story, like a fairy godmother, a pumpkin, mice and a glass slipper, it became popular everywhere. It is thought that in Perrault’s original version Cinderella wore a pair of fur (pantoufle en vair), but when the story was translated into English vair was mistaken for verre (glass) resulting in glass slipper and the story has remained like that ever since.
Whenever the girl finished the housework , she sat in the cinders which caused her to be called Cinderella.
In 1812 another version of the story was written by the German Brothers Grimm. It was called “Ash Girl”, though this time there is not a fairy godmother but a hazelnut tree that grows on her mother’s grave and granted Cinderella’s wishes.
Apart from that, there is also a Chinese version, “Ye Xian”, in which the fairy Godmother is personified by a fish (instead of the pigeons of the Brothers Grimm story). The fish is the reincarnation of the dead mother who had been killed by the stepmother. In this culture people feel admiration towards little feet.
In the Scottish Celtic myth, there is a story about Gean , Donn and Critheanach. The first ones are the stepsisters and Critheanach is Cinderella.
The following is a brief revision of the patriarchal versions written by Basile, Perrault and Brothers Grimm.
lll“The Cat Cinderella” by G. Basile.
This is the story of a young woman called Zenolla who kills her wicked stepmother following the instructions given by her nursemaid, Carmosine and gets her father gets married to this woman. After reaching her objective Carmosine becomes as an evil woman as her predecessor. That is the moment when she introduces her own daughters who catch all her love and attention. Up to this time the protagonist is called Cat Cinderella. One day her father goes on a trip and asks his daughters what they want him to bring them . The girls ask for expensive and luxury presents, except for Cat Cinderella who wants him to pray the fairies’ dove to send her something special that she does not name. However he forgets so and it is the captain of the ship who reminds him her daughter’s wish. When coming back he meets the fairies and they give him a date for her to be planted and taken care by the girl. T hat is what she does and after four days it has the size of a woman. A fairy appears from the tree and teaches Cat Cinderella a poem to be said whenever she feels sad bur warms her to do so without been discovered by her stepsisters.
A few days later a ball is organized in the kingdom. Cat Cinderella’s stepsisters get ready to go though they don’t allow her to attend there, so that she asks the fairies to help her. When she arrives at the palace the king fell in surrender at her feet. One of the servants wants to know who that gorgeous woman is, so she drops some coins and runs away. The following night something similar happens, she prevents the servant from making questions to her by throwing jewels and precious stones at him. The third night she leaves a slipper on the stairs. The king organizes a new ball where all women attending the party have to try it on. This shoe-test allows the king to meet Zenolla again. They get married and her stepsisters die of envy.
In this version the narrator insists on the protagonist’s beauty which causes passion in the king but envy in her stepsisters.

lll“Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper” by C. Perrault.
There was a widower who had a beautiful and sweet tempered daughter . After some time he married a vain and naughty woman who also had two evil daughters. These girls and her mother forced the pretty girl to work hard all day long. While doing the housework she sat on the cinders which caused her to be called Cinderella. She suffered her stepmother and stepsisters’ jealousness and envy, but she couldn’t tell anything to his father about such a cruel situation because the woman had entire control over her husband.
One day the Prince organized a ball at his kingdom and invited all the young ladies so that he could choose his future wife. When the two stepsisters got the invitation they immediately made Cinderella to prepare them. The poor girl also dreamt of going to the party but her wicked stepsisters told her that a servant never attended a ball.
When everybody left to the royal palace Cinderella started to cry desperately in the kitchen. A fairy Godmother appeared and decided to help her by turning a pumpkin into a coach, a rat into a coachman, lizard into footmen and mice into horses. Though the most important thing was the change she caused on the girl for she turned her rags into a unbelievably beautiful dress which matched with a pair of glass slippers. The Godmother told Cinderella to have fun but she warmed her to come back before midnight since the spell would disappear.
At the ball, the complete audience were fascinated at Cinderella’s beauty, especially the prince who kept by her side during the whole night, even her sisters were not able to recognize her at all. Before the clock stroke twelve, she left the ball and came back home. There she thanked her Godmother for her help.
The next evening there was another ball and Cinderella again managed to go because of her fairy Godmother’s help. When the prince saw him he became even more interested in her. That night she did not take into account her godmother’s advice for she left the palace at the final stroke of midnight. While running she lost one of her glass slippers on the stairs. Outside the palace, the prince asked his guards about that woman, they answered they had only seen a simple country girl passing by. The prince picked up the slipper and kept it but he promised to find the owner of that glass shoe and marry her. In the meantime Cinderella hid the other slipped which remained in a perfect way even after the spell had gone.
The prince himself tried the shoe on all the young women in the land. When he arrived at Cinderella’s her stepsisters tried it on in vain. Then the beautiful girl asked if she could also try, and in spite of her stepsisters taunted her, she did that and of course, it fitted her perfectly well. After that, Cinderella decided to show them the other slipper.
Her stepmother and stepsisters begged Cinderella to forgive them for all their cruelties and this noble woman did so. She got married to the prince and her stepsisters married two lords. They all lived happily ever after.
key elements:
As in Basile’s story, marriage is the most valuable aim for women.
There is a moral and physical contrast between Cinderella and her stepsisters. Beauty is a treasure but goodness is priceless and without this value nothing is possible.

lll"Ash Girl” by the Brothers Grimm.
The story also starts with the suffering heroine whose father had to go on a trip and asked his daughters to choose a present. The stepsisters wanted dresses, pearls and jewels, but Cinderella only asked for something his father touched with his hat when coming back home. That object was a branch of a hazelnut tree. Cinderella thanked her father, planted it on her mother’s grave and watered it with her own tears. After a few days it became a tall tree. Every day Cinderella sat under the hazel nut tree , wept and prayed. There was a little bird which always came there, too and sat on the tallest branches. Whenever the girl expressed a wish the bird threw down to her.
One day the king organized a festival and invited all the beautiful young women to it, he wanted his son to choose a bride. As soon as the stepsisters learned about it they made Cinderella to help them to get dressed and comb their hair. Cinderella did so but she asked her stepmother if she could also attend to the ball. The wicked woman told the suffering girl that she would let her go only if she was able to pick up a dish of lentils she had emptied into the ashes for her in two hours.
Cinderella went to the garden and asked the pigeon and all the birds and doves to help her with that difficult task and in less than one hour the kitchen was clean and bright and the birds disappeared. Later the girl took the dish to her stepmother, but she told Cinderella that she couldn’t go because she didn’t have anything to wear and everybody would laugh at her. The poor girl started to cry so the woman emptied two dishes of lentils amongst the ashes again and told her to pick them up if she really wanted her stepmother to help her with the clothes. The evil woman was sure the girl couldn’t do that again.
While weeping Cinderella begged the pigeons, the doves and the birds to help her and hardly had half an hour passed before they had finished and all flew out. Now Cinderella hoped to go to the festival with her stepsisters. However her
stepmother did not allow her go to for she couldn’t even dance. After that the stepsisters and the stepmother left proudly to the ball.
Alone Cinderella went to her mother’s grave and began to weep under the hazel tree, and prayed for a gold and silver dress. Immediately the bird came to her and gave her a gold and silver dress matching with a pair of slippers. She put on the dress and hurried to the festival.
When she arrived there nobody recognized her and everybody thought she was a foreign princess. The prince walked to her, took her hand and danced with her all night long.
Late in the evening she wanted to go home but the prince said he would go with her. The beautiful girl escaped from him and sprang into the pigeon-house. When the prince told his father what had happened, the king decided to hew the pigeon-house into pieces with an axe, but there was no one inside it. When they went home they found Cinderella sitting in the ashes since one more time the bird had helped her.
The next day when everybody had left home to attend to the festival again, Cinderella came back to the tree and repeated her wish. The bird threw down and gave her a more beautiful dress than on the previous day, and when she appeared in the royal palace everybody was even more astonished at her beauty and the prince took her hand and spent the whole evening dancing with her.
When she got ready to leave the prince told her he wanted to go with her, but again she managed to escaped by climbing a tree from which magnificent pears hung. The prince tried to follow her but he couldn’t. He told his father that he thought she had climbed up the pear-tree and the king thought of Cinderella, took an axe and cut down the tree, though nobody was there. When they got into the house the girl lay among the ashes wearing her grey dress as usual.
On the third day Cinderella was able to go to the ball again after being given a more splendid dress and golden slippers. And again the people at the festival was amazed at her unequalled beauty. The prince danced with no one else but her. When it was time to leave Cinderella escaped so quickly that the prince couldn’t follow her, but this time he had smeared the stairs with pitch so when she ran down one of her shoe got stuck on the steps. The king’s son picked it up and the following day both the king and the prince decided to knock at all the young women’s houses to find the owner of the golden slipper.
One of the two stepsisters wanted to try it on but her toe was so big that she couldn’t put it on. Her stepmother gave her a knife and told her to cut the toe off. She did so and forced her foot into the shoe and came back to the prince who took her as his bride and went away with her. On their way to the kingdom they had to pass the grave and they found two pigeons sitting on the branches of the hazelnut tree. They told the prince that there was blood falling from the shoe, since it was too small to belong to that woman, and that the true bride was still waiting for him. The prince looked at her foot and saw the blood so he decided to come back to the house.
He said that was not the right girl and there should be her sister. Now the second stepsister appeared but as her heel was too large her mother gave her a knife and made her to cut a bit off her heel, the girl obeyed her, put on the shoe swallowing the pain and went to the prince. He took her on his horse as a bride and rode away with her. When they passed by the hazelnut tree they saw the two pigeons crying and saying that there was blood running out of the shoe because it was too small for her, and that the right bride was still waiting for him.
The prince took the false woman home again and asked the father if she had another daughter, but he denied it. Then he added that he had another daughter but it was impossible that she had been to the festival. The prince asked the man to call her and although his wife said she was too dirty to be shown, the king’s son insisted on and Cinderella was called.
The prince gave her the slipper to try it on and it fitted like a glove. When she look into the king’s son’s eyes and he looked at her face, he recognized her and said that she was the right bride. He took Cinderella on his horse and left with her. The stepmother and the stepsisters were horrified with hatred.
When they passed by the tree, the two pigeons flew down and placed on Cinderella’s shoulders.
On the wedding day the stepsisters went to see Cinderella, but the pigeons pecked out their eyes from each so they became blind as a punishment for their behaviour.
Highlighted elements:
Suffering heroine.
Father’s trip and presents: Greed in contrast with unselfishness. Beauty in contrast with ugliness.
Simplicity compensated with the hazel branch.
Heroine tested twice.
Bride-show: different hiding places: the pigeon-tree, the pear-tree and the loss of the golden slipper during the third evening.
Shoe-test : Self mutilation. Heroine’s natural beauty.
Wedding day: punished stepsisters: blood and self mutilation. The pigeons symbolize Cinderella’s mother. The birds’ revenge stresses women rivalry. There is no reconciliation in this tale.