“Cinderella”
Just before a girl’s mother dies, she
makes the girl promise to be good. The
next spring, her father remarries. The
new wife had two daughters of her own, who mistreat the young girl. They made
her work in the kitchen, and took to throwing peas and lentils into the ash of
the cooking fire and making the girl dig them out. Because she was usually
covered in cinders, they began calling her Cinderella.
One day, her father went to the fair. He
asked all the girls what they wanted. The two stepsisters asked for clothes and
jewels, but Cinderella just asked for the first twig that hit his hat.
When he returned with the twig, Cinderella
planted it at her mother’s grave where it grew into a fine tree. Birds came to
the tree and would give Cinderella whatever she asked for.
It came to pass that the King held a three
day festival for all the young women in the kingdom so his son could choose a
bride. Cinderella wanted to go, but the stepmother threw some peas and lentils
in the ash and told her she needed to pick out all of them in two hours.
So Cinderella went outside and sang to all
the birds, who came and picked all the peas and lentils out of the ash. But the
stepmother still wouldn’t let her go for she had no fine dresses. And then she threw more lentils in the ashes,
which Cinderella had the birds pick out again.
So Cinderella went to her mother’s grave
and sang for a dress, and the birds brought one to her, along with slippers of
silk and silver. She dressed and went to the festival, and even her stepmother
and stepsisters didn’t recognize her.
The prince fell in love with her and
danced all night with her. The prince wanted to take her home, but before they
went in she slipped away and hid in the pigeon house. The prince waited until
her father came home, and told him of the beautiful maiden hiding in the pigeon
house, so the father had it chopped down.
But Cinderella had jumped out of the
pigeon house, taken off her dress, and put on her old clothes.
The same thing happened the next day. Cinderella
got a new dress and danced with the prince all night. But that night she
climbed a pear tree, which her father later cut down, but she had escaped.
The third day, Cinderella got a new dress
and slippers of gold. But this night, the prince had the steps of the palace
covered in pitch so one of her slippers was left behind.
The prince then went to the house to see
whose foot fit the slipper. So the eldest stepsister tried it on in her room,
but her big toe was too big, so the stepmother told her to cut it off.
At first the prince was fooled, but as he
rode with his “bride” they passed the grave of Cinderella’s mother. A bird in
it called out that there was blood in the shoe. The prince looked, and knew
that he had been deceived. They turned around and the other stepsister tried on
the slipper. But her heel was too big, so her mother had her slice part of it
off. Again when the prince rode off with his “bride” a bird called out that
there was blood in the shoe and they turned around.
So then Cinderella tried the shoe on and
it fit perfectly. When they rode by the grave, the birds there called out it
was the right bride. And for the wedding, when the stepsisters came, the birds
pecked out their eyes.
#
Everybody knows the story of Cinderella.
Right?
What’s up with throwing peas and lentils
into the ashes, and then making someone dig them out? I think that comes up in
a couple of these stories. Was that just something they did in the olden days
to pass the time?
Was the girl’s name Ella to begin with?
Even her father calls her Cinderella.
You know, her father that doesn’t say anything when his step-daughters
mistreat her.
And who cuts down a tree to get someone
out of it?
So, a magic tree with magic birds. Makes
sense.
I guess the glass slippers are just a
different version.
So this prince spends several hours
dancing with this woman over three nights, but doesn’t know what she looks
like? He doesn’t even ask for her name or anything like that?
Just what a kids movie needs, people being
blinded by birds.
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