An Annotated Bibliography on the Popular Tale of Cinderella
By Jennisen Lucas
Table Of Contents
| Africa | China | Czechoslovakia | Haiti | Hmong | India | Ireland |
| Japan | Korea | Native American | Russia | Philippines | Thailand | Vietnam |
Introduction
Cinderella is probably the best-known and most-researched individual fairy tale in the world. There are more than 700 variations of this story from several cultures around the world. What follows is a bibliography (by no means exclusive) of stories from several cultures, commentaries (criticisms, if you prefer) on Cinderella as an important research tool, and video adaptations of this famous story. In my research, I have attempted to discover why Cinderella is such a popular story. I have discovered that there are many factors involved in classifying a Cinderella story, not all of them present in each story. I have come to a deeper love of this story for the simple reason that it spans many more cultures than I had previously known. Cinderella is loved by people throughout the world, a good way to begin to research the essence of human nature, common history, and different cultures. The purpose of this bibliography is to provide a stepping stone for others who are interested in the same questions. I will refrain from more comment on my opinions here because I think that each person will benefit more from reading these stories for him or herself and puzzling out a conclusion. I hope that this collection of sources can be beneficial for teachers, parents, and students, both young and old, as a stepping stone for falling more deeply in love with a favorite tale and for exploring ways that humankind can link together across cultures, a common denominator from which understanding of cultural differences can begin to form. My stepping stone for locating most of the information included in this bibliography came from two internet cites about Cinderella:
- "Cinderella Stories" (http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/cinderella.html)
-
"In Search of Cinderella" (http://www.shens.com/subjects/In+Search+of+Cinderella.htm)
Also, for the purposes of brevity, I have assumed knowledge of both the Charles Perrault and Brothers Grimm versions of the story.
Variations of Cinderella
Brooke, William J. "The Fitting of the Slipper." A Telling of the Tales. New York: Harper and Row, 1990.
William Brooke changes the original story into a sarcastic "what if" version wherein Cinderella refuses to try on the slipper. Assuming that all of the story before the fitting is understood, he begins with the Prince's arrival at Cinderella's home where he finds her in the kitchen while running from the Chamberlain who is ordering him about by his royal suggestions. She refuses to try on the tiny slipper because she believes the Prince doesn't want it to fit anyone, and she is both afraid it will fit and afraid it won't. She claims it is her shoe and tells him their parting words at the ball, talking to him as if he were just another person. He falls in love with her and proposes before he has her try on the slipper, which doesn't fit anyway.
Compton, Joanne. Ashpet: An Appalachian Tale. Illus. Kenn Compton. New York: Holiday House, 1994. (ISBN 0823411060)
In the hills of the Appalachian Mountains, Ashpet is the servant girl of the Widow Harper and her two daughters. When people came over to visit, they hid Ashpet under the washbasin because she was prettier than the daughters. The familiar Cinderella story is altered by Ashpet's kindness to her old neighbor earning her help in preparation for a church meeting, at which the prince takes the shape of the local doctor's son. The shoe is lost because Ashpet kicks it into a bush and sends the doctor's boy back to find it so that she can get away to run home. The rest of the story should be read to get a full appreciation for it.
Delamare, David. Cinderella. New York: Green Tiger Press, 1993. (ISBN 06671769448)
One of my personal favorites, this story takes place in Venice where Ella sees the Duke's son pass her house on her 16th birthday. Soon after, her mother dies and she is sent to boarding school. A year later, she returns home to meet her stepfamily who turn her into their servant. Her fairy godmother helps her to the ball by changing a fish into a gondola, a pumpkin into a cabin, and a rat into her gondolier. When the prince comes to have maidens try on the slipper, the second stepsister's foot breaks the slipper, but Ella has it's mate. I especially like this one because the pictures are extremely beautiful.
Hayes, Joe. "Little Gold Star." The Day it Snowed Tortillas. Illus. Lucy Jelinek. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Mariposa Publishing, 1982. (ISBN 0933553005)
Arcia convinces her lonely father to marry their widowed neighbor who begins to dislike her after the wedding. The father gives Arcia and her stepsister each a sheep. When Arcia's had grown, she asked for a feast. When she takes the intestines down to wash them, a crow flies off with them, and leaves a gold star on her forehead. When her sister does the same in hope of a gold star, she fights with the crow who fixes a donkey ear to her forehead. Arcia watches the ball through the window, but the Prince sees her and falls in love with her. He searches for the girl with the gold star to be his bride.
Hogrogian, Nonny. Cinderella. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1981. (ISBN 0688802990)
Retold from the story of Aschenputtle by the Brothers Grimm, this story provides three balls, at each of which Cinderella wears a dress given to her by the tree she planted for her mother. The first dress is as silver as the stars, the second all of pearls, and the third is pure gold. Prince recognizes the false brides by turning to look at a bird that flies by; he sees the blood pouring from the shoe since one stepsister cuts off her toe, and another her heel. The stepsisters in this version are "stricken blind" rather than having their eyes pecked out as in the traditional Grimm story.
Jackson, Ellen. Cinder Edna. Illus. Kevin O'Malley. New York: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Books, 1994. (ISBN 0688123228)
Another of my personal favorites, this story compares the well-known Cinderella with her neighbor Edna. Edna has similar circumstances to Cinderella, but she approaches the situation with a very different outlook. Instead of moaning in the ashes, she mows lawns and cleans birdcages for her neighbors at $1.50 an hour. She puts a dress on layaway for the ball, and she takes a bus to the event. She also must leave at midnight, but it is because that is when the buses stop running. She meets and falls in love with the younger prince who runs a recycling center and a home for orphaned kittens. She loses her loafer (comfort above all!) when running to catch the bus at midnight, but Rupert searches for her by looking up all the ladies named Edna. (He had enough sense to ask her name.) The ending of this book is a great moral for all girls who seek their prince: is happiness living in a palace, or running a home for orphaned kittens?
Kroll, Steven. Queen of the May. Illus. Patience Brewster. New York: Holiday House, . (ISBN 0823410048)
Sylvie lives with her stepmother and stepsister, and she has to do all of the chores. She wants to pick a bouquet of wildflowers because whichever girl picks the best bouquet will be crowned Queen of the May at the May Day celebration. When she finally has time to pick her flowers, an old hag catches her in a trap so that her stepsister will be crowned instead. The animals that she had helped along the way, help her get to the celebration where she was crowned Queen of the May.
Minters, Frances. Cinder-Elly. Illus. G. Brian Karas. New York: Viking, 1994. (ISBN 0670844179)
Cinderella in New York City? Prince Charming as a basketball player? A garbage can becoming a bike? A modern version of Cinderella told in poem form will delight many readers. Since this Cinderella is young, her curfew is 10:00, but the basic elements of the story can be found in this lively adaptation.
Montresor, Beni. Cinderella. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1965.
This adaptation (both the story and the pictures) is based on the opera by Gioacchino Rossini. The interesting twist lies in the fact that the father is selfish and raising two selfish daughters. When he loses his fortune, he remarries a rich widow with a kind daughter, whom he turns into a servant upon her mother's death. The prince disguises himself as a valet so that whoever falls in love with him does so because of him, not because of his station. A beggar-magician helps Cinderella go to the ball, and helps the prince find her after the ball. The identity of the beggar at the end is the final surprise.
Morris, Ann. The Cinderella Rebus Book. Illus. Ljiljana Rylands. New York: Orchard Books, 1989. (ISBN 0531057615)
In this version, told in rebus form with a glossary at the end, Cinderella has two stepsisters, but no stepmother. The stepsisters make certain that Cinderella is not invited to the Prince's birthday party, and Cinderella has almost gone to sleep when her godmother arrives to help her get to the ball.
Perlman, Janet. Cinderella Penguin or the Little Glass Flipper. New York: Viking, . (ISBN 0670847534)
Based on animated film The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin by Janet Perlman, this adaptation is a faithful retelling of Charles Perrault's tale, with the notable exception that all of the characters are depicted as penguins. The stepsisters throw Cinderella in the cellar when the Prince arrives with the glass flipper, but her foot gets caught in the door. When the royal footman drops the slipper, it lands perfectly on Cinderella's foot and fits perfectly. This adaptation will capture the imaginations of anyone who reads it.
San Souci, Robert D. The Talking Eggs. Illus. Jerry Pinkney. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1989. (ISBN 0803706197)
This folk tale from the American South was "adapted from a Creole folk tale originally included in a collection of Louisiana stories by folklorist Alice Fortier in the late 19th century." In this story, Blanche is treated as a servant by her mother and sister. They send her into the forest to do chores, and she meets an old witch woman who gives her soup and allows her to take eggs that told her to take them. As she threw each egg over her shoulder, it became some kind of wealth. When her stepsister goes to get riches like these, she comes back with curses because she takes the pretty eggs that said, "Don't take me!" Blanche moves away and lives in the city as a Lady. (Corretta Scott King Award and Caldecott winner)
Smith, Mary Carter. "Cindy Ellie, A Modern Fairy Tale." Talk That Talk: An Anthology of African-American Storytelling. Ed. Linda Goss and Marian E. Barnes. New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1989. (ISBN 0671671677)
Set in East Baltimore, the ball in this adaptation is the Mayor's inaugural ball. The godmother was Ellie's mother's best friend. There are two balls in this adaptation, and for the first one the godmother changes a white onion into a white Cadillac. For the second ball, a yellow onion becomes a solid gold Mercedes Benz. For both balls, Ellie wears golden sandals encrusted with jewels and wins the heart of the mayor's son.
Wegman, William, Carole Kismaric and Marvin Heiferman. Cinderella. New York: Hyperion, 1993. (ISBN 15562823485)
Photographs of dogs dressed as people help tell the story of Cinderella, who cannot go to the ball because, according to her stepmother, her ball gown had accidentally been sent overseas. Cinderella makes a dress for herself, but her shoes are too ragged for a royal ball. After the missing slipper is found to belong to Cinderella, she finds a magnificent wardrobe in her room to take to the castle.
Cap O'Rushes variations
Huck, Charlotte. Princess Furball. Illus. Anita Lobel. New York: Greenwillow Books, . (ISBN 06880078370)
This story takes up the "hated marriage" motif common in several Cinderella stories. It is similar to the English Catskin and Grimms' Many Furs. When her father agrees to give her in marriage to an ogre, this real princess runs away after asking for three dresses (one as golden as the sun, one as silvery as the moon and one as shimmering as the stars) and a coat made of 1000 different furs. She becomes a cook's helper in another king's castle and secretly changes her clothing and attends his balls as a guest. She makes soup for the king, placing trinkets in it each time. The prince falls in love with her, discovers her true identity, and marries her.
Lurie, Alison. "Cap O'Rushes." Clever Gretchen and Other Forgotten Folktales. Illus. Margot Tomes. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1980. (ISBN 0690039433)
This Cinderella story is a possible source for Shakespeare's King Lear. It is also a telling of the English story "Like Meat Loves Salt." The king calls his 3 daughters to him to ask how much they love him. The first two claim to love him more than anything else, but the youngest simply says, "as meat loves salt." The king banishes her, and she takes her three prettiest dresses, hides them in a marsh, makes herself a dress and cap of rushes and works as a cook in another palace. Just as in Princess Furball, she wears her finery to the palace balls where the master of the house falls in love with her. When she sees her father arriving for wedding feast, she insists that all meat dishes be prepared without salt. When he tastes his food, her father realizes his mistake. The meat is terrible without salt.
Charles Perrault versions
Andreas, Evelyn. Cinderella. Illus. Ruth Ives. New York: Wonder Books, 1954.
In this retelling, the prince recognizes Cinderella before he asks her to try on the slipper.
Fowles, John. Cinderella. Illus. Sheilah Beckett. Boston: Little Brown and Company, . (ISBN 0316291013)
In this version, the godmother is drawn as a traditional, Tinkerbell-like fairy. Cinderella's godmother makes her promise to be good forever if she gets to go to the ball. After Cinderella's wedding, the stepsisters learn to be less proud and more pleasant, and thereby find husbands on their own. This version ends with a moral poem which tells girls how to behave to get their prince.
Galdone, Paul. Cinderella. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1978. (ISBN 0070226849)
Gantt, Bernice Misson. Cinderella. Illus. Dirk. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Fideler Company, 1947.
Karlin, Barbara. Cinderella. Illus. James Marshall. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1989. (ISBN 0316546542)
At the end of this retelling of Charles Perrault's tale, the fairy godmother moves to the castle to be sure that everyone lives happily ever after.
Perrault, Charles. Cinderella. Illus. Roberto Innocenti. Mankato, Minnesota: Creative Education, Inc., 1983.
The pictures make this edition interesting. They place the story strictly in time and place: London in the 1920's. The ladies all sport bobbed hair and flapper-style dresses.
Perrault, Charles. Cinderella. Illus. Susan Jeffers. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1985.
Tattercoats variations
Greaves, Margaret. Tattercoats. Illus. Margaret Chamberlain. New York: Clarkson . Potter, Inc., 1990. (ISBN 0517580276)
A young girl lives with her grandfather who does not like her because her mother, his favorite daughter, died during her birth. He vowed never to lay eyes on her, and she is forced to wear rags and beg for her food. Her only friend is the goose boy. When the prince has a ball to choose a bride, Tattercoats and the goose boy walk to the palace to see the procession. On the road a rich gentleman meets them, falls in love with Tattercoats and proposes to her. She refuses, but he asks her to go to the palace at midnight so he may see her again. When she arrives, the traveler (who was the Prince) chooses her as his bride. Her clothes become beautiful and the goose boy becomes a squire. When everyone laughs at her arriving at the palace in tatters, her grandfather's gloom is cured.
Jacobs, Joseph. Tattercoats. Illus. Margot Tomes. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, . (ISBN 0399215840)
Tattercoats is a traditional English tale, as told in brief above. In this version, the song that the goose boy plays upon his pipe entrances the prince when they meet, and helps him to fall in love with Tattercoats. Another important difference is that in this version, the grandfather leaves court because he had vowed never to lay eyes upon her. Laughter couldn't cure him.
Steel, Flora Annie. Tattercoats. Illus. Diane Goode. Scarsdale, New York: Bradbury Press, 1976. (ISBN 0878881093)
This is also a traditional telling of this English tale, but with the notable difference that Steel creates a crippled gooseherd. The pictures in this edition are wonderful watercolor on parchment. The pastel colors give the story a mystical quality.
Cinderella Around the World
AFRICA
Onyefulu, Obi. Chinye: A West African Folk Tale. Illus. Evie Safarewicz. New York: Viking, 1994. (ISBN 0670851159)
Similar to The Talking Eggs mentioned earlier, in this story, Chinye's stepmother sends her through the forest at night for water. The animals help her through the dangers. On her way home, an old lady tells her to go into a hut with gourds on the floor. She was to take the smallest, quietest gourd home with her and break it open on the floor. When she does, treasures spill out. Her stepsister goes out to get a treasure-filled gourd, too, but she chooses the largest one that called "Take me!" Inside of it is a storm which causes them to lose everything they own. Too proud to ask Chinye for help, they move from the village. Chinye uses her wealth to help her village.
Phumla. Nomi and the Magic Fish: A Story From Africa. Illus. Carole Byard. New York: Double Day and Company, 1972.
This story was written by a 15 year old Fingo Zulu girl and submitted as part of a contest. Nomi watches cattle for her stepmother and stepsister, and she meets a fish who feeds her since her stepmother won't. When her stepmother finds out, she kills the fish. The fish knew it was going to happen, and he told Nomi to throw his bones into the Chief's garden. The bones slip through the fingers of everyone who tries to pick them up, and the Chief proclaims he will marry whoever can pick up the bones. The only one who can pick them up is Nomi. After she marries the chief, her stepmother and stepsister run away.
CHINA
Louie, Ai-Ling. Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story From China. Illus. Ed Young. New York: Philomel Books, 1982. (ISBN 039920900X)
Yeh-Shen lives with her stepmother and stepsister when her parents die, and her only friend is a fish with golden eyes that she raised. After her stepmother kills her fish, an old man appears and tells her to gather up the fish bones and ask them for anything she needs, but not to waste their power. Usually, she asks the bones for food because her stepmother feeds her too little, but at the time of the village festival, she asks for clothes to attend. Running from her stepmother at the festival, she loses one of her golden shoes. A villager finds it and sells it to a merchant who gives it to the king. The king takes the slipper to the village and waits until Yeh-Shen claims it. Then he proposes marriage. The stepmother and stepsister are later killed in a shower of stones.
Wilson, Barbara Ker. Wishbones. Illus. Meilo So. New York: Bradbury press, 1993. (ISBN 0027931250)
In another telling of the story of Yeh-Shen, the father is alive, but allows his wife to have control. Yeh-Shen wishes for fine things (gold and jewels and finery) to keep in her corner. When the king finds her as the owner of the shoes, she takes the fish bones with her to the palace where the king wishes for so many things that the bones quit giving.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
deRegniers, Beatrice Schenk. Little Sister and the Month Brothers. Illus. Margot Tomes. New York: Seabury Press, 1976. (ISBN 0816431477)
The Month Brothers are each in charge of a month, according to Slavic tradition. Maruska's stepfamily does not like her, and she is forced into difficult tasks. In January, the stepsister declares that she wants violets, and Maruska is sent out in the snow to find some. She asks the Month Brothers for help, and January hands the staff to March for Maruska to pick violets. The next day, the stepsister sends her out for strawberries. Again, the Month Brothers help. When her stepsister goes looking for more strawberries, however, she gets lost in a storm. The stepmother goes out looking for her and also gets lost in the storm. Maruska keeps up the farm and eventually marries a kind farmer.
Haviland, Virginia. "The Twelve Months." Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Czechoslovakia. Illus. Trina Schart Hyman. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1966.
In this version of Maruska's story, she grows prettier the more she works, while her stepsister grows uglier the lazier she is. This version adds apples to the one described above, and it is after more apples that the step-family gets lost in the storm.
Vojtech, Anna and Philemon Sturges. Maruska and the Month Brothers. New York: North-South Books, 1996. (ISBN 1558586288)
Maruska is described in this story as having a smile that "could thaw a January day." This version also has Maruska going out for violets, strawberries and apples. Holena's (the stepsister) rudeness to Brother January inspires him to cause a storm in which she gets lost. After her stepfamily is lost in the storm, the Month Brothers always take care that Maruska has violets in spring, strawberries in summer, apples in fall, and a house full of friends in the winter.
HAITI
Wolkstein, Diane. "The Magic Orange Tree." The Magic Orange Tree and Other Haitian Folktales. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. (ISBN 0394833902)
According to the background information accompanying this story, it is customary that after a child is born, a fruit pit is buried with the umbilical cord. The tree that grows and the fruit it bears belong to the child. The trees supposedly both protect the child and mirror it. The girl in this story eats her stepmother's oranges because she is so hungry and then runs to her mother's grave in fear. One of the pits falls on the grave and grows into a tree. The girl discovers that her song can cause the tree to grow or to shrink. When the stepmother climbs the tree to eat all of the oranges, the girl sings for the tree to grow and break. The stepmother and the tree breaks into pieces, and the girl plants another pit, nursing it into a tree as well.
HMONG
Coburn, Jewell Reinhart and Tzexa Cherta Lee. Jouanah: A Hmong Cinderella. Illus. Anne Sibley O'Brien. Arcadia, Canada: n. p., 1996. (ISBN 1885008015)
This story is based on Tzexa Cherta Lee's family oral tradition and two other story versions. The mother becomes a cow to help with the harvest, but instead of turning his wife back into a human, the father marries again. The cow spins fine thread for Jouanah, and the stepmother is jealous of both the cow and Jouanah. She insists that all the thread be burned and the cow killed. The father and Jouanah both weep for the loss of the cow, who died of a broken heart before she could be killed. The father dies of despair soon after. Jouanah is not allowed to go to the New Year Festival until she finishes separating rice from pebbles. Then she finds beautiful clothes in her Mother's old sewing basket and went to the festival. The Elder's son plays only for Jouanah, who loses her shoe when running from her stepmother. When the Elder's son arrives with the shoe, Jouanah is not allowed to try it on, but during dinner, he realizes that Jouanah is his true love and they run away together to be married.
INDIA
Mehta, Lila. The Enchanted Anklet. Illus. Neela Chhaniara. Ontario, Canada: Lilmur Publishing, 1985. (ISBN 0969272901)
This Indian-Canadian version of the Cinderella story, portrays Cinduri as the daughter of Cindurnagar's first wife. When she is treated cruelly by her father's second wife, her godfather, a white snake with a jewel on his head, comes to her aid. Instead of losing her shoe, Cinduri loses an anklet at the festival. Because of how they treated Cinduri, the Prince will not allow her stepfamily to move to the palace. They become beggars and are crushed under a tree.
IRELAND
Nimmo, Jenny. The Starlight Cloak. Illus. Justin Todd. New York: Dial Books For Young Readers, 1993. (ISBN 0803715080)
Oona is the youngest daughter of a king who was raised by a foster mother because her real mother had died. At the age of 14, she returns to the palace where her sisters are supposed to treat her well, but they treat her as a servant instead. Oona's sisters go to church to meet the Prince, who is engaged to Oona's eldest sister although he does not love her. Her foster mother helps her get to the church with magic, and the Prince falls in love with her. On her second trip to church, the Prince takes one of Oona's shoes. When he arrives at Palace for the shoe-fitting, the stepsisters hide Oona in a trunk, but he finds her with the help of the foster mother's grandson who is always close to Oona. After the wedding, the eldest sister plans revenge and causes Oona to be swallowed by a whale. Once again, the foster mother's grandson helps to save the day. Oona's father punishes her sister for her crime.
JAPAN
Schroeder, Alan. Lily and the Wooden Bowl. Illus. Yoriko Ito. New York: Doubleday, . (ISBN 0385307926)
This adaptation of a Japanese folktale is an interesting version of Cinderella because Lily's grandmother is afraid of what will happen to her beautiful granddaughter and fixes a bowl to her head that covers her face. She means to protect her from people who would take advantage of her beauty. Lily learns to live with the bowl on her head, and eventually the son of a wealthy field owner falls in love with her. She agrees to marry him, but his mother tests her in such ways that she needs her grandmother's magic rice paddle to help her. The future father-in-law must choose between his wife and Lily as a daughter-in-law and chooses Lily after he sees what has been done to her. After the wedding ceremony, the bowl breaks into pieces and falls as wonderful jewels.
KOREA
Adams, Edward B. Korean Cinderella. Illus. Dong Ho Choi. Seoul, Korea: Seoul International Publishing House, 1982.
Written in Korean and translated into English, this book contains editorial comments on folktales and Korean culture after the story. When her father marries a neighboring widow, Kongjee is called "dirty pig" by her new family members. They keep her busy with many impossible tasks, with which she receives the help of kind animals. When she is on her way to her favorite uncle's wedding, she loses her shoe trying to get off the road for the governor. He finds the shoe and searches for its owner. When he meets Kongjee, he asks her to live with him in his mansion and then marries her.
Climo, Shirley. The Korean Cinderella. Illus. Ruth Heller. New York: HarperCollins, . (ISBN 006020432X)
This version of the Korean story is very similar to he one recorded above, including the addition of notes by both the author and illustrator about the culture behind the story.
NATIVE AMERICAN
Cohlene, Terri. Little Firefly: An Algonquin Legend. Illus. Charles Reasoner. Mahwah, New Jersey: Watermill Press, 1990. (ISBN 0865930058)
Little Firefly's sisters don't want to watch over her, so they make her do all of the chores, often pushing her into the fire. Because her hair is singed and her skin scarred, she was called "Little Burnt One." However, she is the only one in the village who can see the great Invisible Warrior, so she is able to marry him. His sister bathes her in pine water which clears her skin of scars and allows her hair to grow back long.
Cushing, Frank Hamilton. "The Poor Turkey Girl." Zuni Folk Tales. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1988. (ISBN 0816509867)
This is the only Cinderella story I have come across that does not have a happy ending. The girl in the story is an orphan who watches the turkeys for a living. When everyone in the village goes to the Dance of the Sacred Bird, she longs to go too. The turkeys help her go to the dance because she has been kind to them. However, they make a bargain that she must leave the dance before sunset or they will go away never to return. She gets so caught up in the dance that she forgets to return by sunset, and the turkeys decide that she deserves to be poor and leave.
Martin, Rafe. The Rough-Face Girl. Illus. David Shannon. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1992. (ISBN 00399218599)
This version of the Algonquin Indian fairy tale shows the old father giving his elder daughters beads and fine robes, but he only has broken shells and his old, worn out moccasins to give his youngest daughter. She takes them and creates a birch-bark dress to go visit the Invisible One. The difference between this version and The Little Firefly is that in this story, the Invisible One accepts her and sees her beauty despite her burned face. Her transformation comes right before the wedding. Little Firefly's transformation takes place before the Invisible Hunter sees her at all.
San Souci, Robert D. Sootface: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story. Illus. Daniel San Souci. New York: Doubleday, 1994. (ISBN 0385312024)
This story is very similar to the Rough-Face Girl and Little Firefly. The difference in this version is that the Invisible Hunter's sister combs her hair with a magic comb to make it grow and bathes her scars away before the Invisible Hunter sees her. He renames her Dawn-Light because her eyes shine with joy. The sisters are also mentioned as having to do their own chores after their younger sister gets married.
Pollock, Penny. The Turkey Girl: A Zuni Cinderella Story. Illus. Ed Young. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1996. (ISBN 0316713147)
This story is based on the one recorded by Frank Cushing (see above). The pictures in this book are done in brush-strokes that add to the mystery of the story in a fascinating way. At the end of this retelling, the reader is left with the feeling that the girl chooses not to, rather than forgets to, return to the Turkeys.
RUSSIA
Grauer, Rita. Vasalisa and Her Magic Doll. New York: Philomel Books, 1994. (ISBN 0399219862)
Derived from the story of "Vasalisa the Beautiful," this version of the Russian Cinderella is beautifully illustrated by the author with colored pencil drawings. There are two sisters whose widowed mother has passed away leaving the house and its contents to the elder and a magical doll to her beautiful younger child. The older sister, jealous of Vasalisa's beauty, gets angry and accidentally puts out the light. She sends Vasalisa to Baba Yaga's for a light, knowing that Baba Yaga is a witch who ate people. When she meets Baba Yaga, Vasalisa works for her and then trades her doll for the light, and her sister loves her again when she returns.
Haviland, Virginia. "Vasilisa the Beautiful." Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Russia. Illus. Herbert Danska. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1961.
This retelling of the Russian fairy tale is different from the one told above in several ways. For instance, in this version, Vasilisa lives with her stepmother and two stepsisters who are jealous and make her work hard. When her father is away on business, Vasilisa is sent to Baba Yaga's for a light when the one in the house goes out. At Baba Yaga's, Vasilisa's magic doll does the work Baba Yaga assigns. When Baba Yaga finds out that Vasilisa is helped by her mother's blessing (the magic doll having been a present from her late mother), she sends her home with a light in a skull. The light in the skull burns her stepfamily to cinders. Then Vasilisa moves in with an older lady and weaves beautiful cloth which the czar likes so much, he marries Vasilisa.
Mayer, Marianna. Baba Yaga ad Vasilisa the Brave. Illus. K. Y. Craft. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1994. (ISBN 0688085008)
This is a book I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys picture books. The illustrations are richly done with watercolor, gouache and oil. The same story as told by Haviland is recorded here, but the pictures in this version make the story come alive.
PHILIPPINES
la Paz, Myrna J. de. Abadeha: the Philippine Cinderella. Los Angeles: Pazific Queen Communications, 1991. (ISBN 09629255)
In this story, Abadeha has three stepsisters and a stepmother who insists she do impossible tasks such as washing a white handkerchief until it was black and a black one until it was white. She prays to the god of the Earth and the god of the Ancestors, and the Spirit of the Forest comes to her aid. The Spirit gives her a pet chicken, which the stepmother eats. When Abadeha buries the feet, they grow into an enchanted tree covered with treasures. The Chieftan's son finds the tree and takes a ring from it. His finger swells, and no one can get the ring off. He promises to wed whoever can remove the ring. Abadeha is the only one who could because it is from her tree.
THAILAND
Hamada, Cheryl. Kao and the Golden Fish: A Folktale From Thailand. Illus. MonicaLiu. Chicago: Children's Press, 1993. (ISBN 0516051458)
This folktale comes in the form of a picture book with the story written on two pages at the end. It usually comes accompanied by an audiocassette to teach the skill of storytelling. At the beginning of the book is an introduction to storytelling and information about the story's background. The benefactress of Kao in this book is her deceased mother reincarnated. She returns as a fish, then and eggplant, and then two trees. The first two guises are eaten by the stepmother, and the third is the key that allows Kao to move to the palace. She asks the trees to move there, and then the prince proposes to Kao.
VIETNAM
Graham, Gail B. "The Jeweled Slipper." The Beggar in the Blanket and Other Vietnamese Tales. Illus. Brigitte Bryan. New York: Dial Press, 1970.
This Vietnamese tale of Tam and Cam shows the older sister being mean to her younger sister, Cam, by killing her pet fish. The bones of the fish turn into jeweled slippers, one of which a crow steals and drops in the king's garden. The Prince vows to marry the owner of the slipper. After the Prince finds Cam, Tam causes her to get amnesia and loses her in the woods. The Prince searches for her anyway and manages to find her again. Cam tricks Tam into climbing into a boiling vat of water which kills her.
Lum, Darrell. The Golden Slipper: A Vietnamese Legend. Illus. Makiko Nagano. New York: Troll Associates, 1994. (ISBN 0816734054)
In this version of the story retold above, Tam is the younger, mistreated sister. She meets a fairy who insists that she is a princess because she is "strong, kind and has a gentle heart." She finds a golden catfish in her bucket when fishing and she tames it in her pond. When she wants to go the festival, the fish, a flock of birds, and a rooster help her do her chores and find suitable clothes. She loses a slipper on the way to the festival, and the Prince finds it. When Tam claims the slipper, the Prince falls in love with her, and they wed. After the story, this book contains information on the country of Vietnam.
Nguyen Thi Nhuan. Tam Cam: The Vietnamese Cinderella Story. Illus. Nguyen Thi Hop. San Jose, CA: Gioi Publishing, n. d.
This bilingual children's book tells the story of kind Tam and her lazy, mean stepsister Cam. Cam tricks Tam and steals the fish she caught. Yet, there is one left in her bucket which she raises until her stepmother eats it. She buries the bones in her room, and 10 days later they turn into beautiful slippers. While she is working in the rice paddy, a crow steals one of the slippers and drops it is king's garden. The Prince vows to marry the shoe's owner, and he and Tam live happily ever after.
Vuong, Lynette Dyer. "The Brocaded Slipper." The Brocaded Slipper and Other Vietnamese Tales. Illus. Vo-Dinh Mai. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1982. (ISBN 0201080885)
Tam is the Cinderella in this version of Tam and Cam story. The same events occur as in the previous version, but the bones are buried for 100 days in this version. This variation continues the sibling rivalry after Tam marries the Prince. She goes home to visit and her stepsister asks her to pick nuts with her. When Tam is in the tree, Cam chops it down and kills Tam. Cam takes Tam's place at the palace, but Tam returns as an Oriole which Cam eats. The Oriole's bones become two peach trees which Cam chops down and turns into a loom. When the loom talks to her, she burns it and throws the ashes outside city gate. The ashes become a Persimmon Tree. With the help of a kind lady, Tam again becomes human, and the Prince finds her again.
Also in this collection is the story "The Lampstand Princess" which also resembles the riches-to-rags-to-riches story of Cinderella.
Cinderlad variations
Burton, Elizabeth. Cinderfella and the Slam Dunk Contest. Illus. Lynn Offerdahl. Boston: Branden Books, 1994. (ISBN 0828319669)
Cinderfella is not a nice boy. He makes his nice stepbrothers do all of the housework, and he does mean things such as putting frogs in their beds. One day an invitation arrives inviting them to a slam dunk contest at a Chicago Bulls game, but Cinderfella cannot go because he is grounded. In his room, thinking over his bad behavior and feeling sorry for himself, he promises to be good. Right after this promise, his fairy godfather, Michael Jordan, arrives with his magic basketball and helps him get to the game and the contest. He also helps Cinderfella win the contest, but since Cinderfella must get home before midnight, he runs away before accepting his award. However, he loses one of his magical Sparkling Turbo Air Pumps on his way out. The winner of the contest will fit the shoe, win an endless supply of toys, marry a princess and live happily ever after in castle on a hill. The princess, Cinderella, attends to the fitting of the shoe.
Cole, Babette. Prince Cinders. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1987. (ISBN 0399215026)
Prince Cinders is the youngest of four brothers. He is scrawny while his brothers are big and muscular. Cinders wishes he could be like them. On the night of the Palace Disco, a fairy arrives and turns him into an ape in a swimsuit. His adventures at the ball are amusing, including when he loses his pants running away from Princess Lovelypenny out of shyness. She tries his trousers on the Princes in the land and proposes to Cinders when she sees they fit him. Then Princess Lovelypenny had the fairy turn the older brothers into house fairies so that they must clean the palace forever.
Greene, Ellin. Billy Beg and His Bull. Illus. Kimberly Bulcken Root. New York: Holiday House, 1994. (ISBN 0823411001)
The Irish Cinderlad tale, this book also has excellent pictures that capture the imagination as much as the story itself does. As a young lad, Prince Billy Beg's mother gives him a bull. After his mother dies, his stepmother wants the bull killed. The bull, however, kills her instead and runs away with Billy Beg. After three days of fighting other bulls, Billy's bull is killed and Billy takes from the bull the magic handkerchief from one ear, the magic sword-stick from the other, and a strip of hide from his belly and back to make a magic belt. Then he sets off on his adventures, culminating in his rescuing a princess from a dragon. She pulls off one of his shoes as he rides away, and marries him when she finds him again.
Haviland, Virginia. "Billy Beg and the Bull." Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Ireland. Illus. Artur Marokvia. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1961.
This anthologized story is the same as the story retold by Ellin Greene above.
Haviland, Virginia. "The Princess on the Glass Hill." Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Norway. Illus. Leonard Weisgard. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1961.
The youngest son of a farmer was named Cinderlad. Each year for several years something eats all of the hay in the fields. Each year, one son is sent to guard the hay. The two older brothers are so frightened that they run away each year. The youngest son is not afraid, so he waits, captures the horses that are eating the hay, and keeps them in a secret field. The king holds a contest for his daughter's hand: whoever climbs a glass mountain and takes the golden apples from her lap may marry her. Each of three days, everyone tried, Cinderlad in disguise making more progress than anyone. He gets all three apples and the Princess's hand in marriage.
Haviland, Virginia. "Assipattle and the Giant Sea Serpent." Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Scotland. Illus. Adrienne Adams. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1963.
The youngest son is called Assipattle because he likes to lie by the fire. Only his sister is kind to him; his brothers make him work hard. When a sea monster arrives and threatens the kingdom, Assipattle decides to save the kingdom and win the princess in the process. He outsmarts the sea monster and kills it by starting a fire in its liver.
Martin, Claire. Boots and the Glass Mountain. Illus. Gennady Spirin. New York: Dial Books, 1992. (ISBN 0803711107)
This story is a version of "The Princess on the Glass Hill" as described above. However, this version goes into detail about the horses that ate the hay. They are troll horses, and the steel in the tinderbox that Boot's mother gave him allows him to tame them. Each horse brings with it a suit of armor, allowing Boots to appear different on each day of contest. Each horse is more capable than the previous one, which is why he progresses up the mountain each day. The contest in this version is held because the Troll king wants to marry the daughter. If no one can reach her up the glass mountain, the Troll king will win her hand in marriage. The glint from Boots' gold armor turns the Troll king to stone.
Meyers, Bernice. Sidney Rella and the Glass Sneaker. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1985. (ISBN 0027677907)
Sidney wants to play football like his older brothers, but he is left behind to do the housework. On the day of the team tryouts, his fairy godfather arrives and provides him with a uniform and a 6:00 curfew to attend the tryouts. When he makes the team, his fairy godfather gives him a new uniform complete with glass sneakers. The coach goes door-to-door looking for the owner of the glass sneaker. Sidney grows to become one of the country's best football players, then goes to law school and becomes a famous judge. Then he becomes the president of a large corporation that makes football laces.
Yorinks, Arthur. Ugh! Illus. Richard Egielski. New York: Micael di Capua Books, 1990.
This interesting version of the Cinderlad genre places the story in the time of the stereotypical cave-man. Ugh is the child who does most of the housework while the rest of his family has fun. At one of the world meetings, an inventor shows off his wheel, but no one is interested except Ugh, who uses the design to create a bicycle. Everyone likes the bike, but no one can ride it. The World decides that whoever can ride the bike will become king, so Ugh becomes king.
Point Of View Versions
Granowsky, Dr. Alvin. That Awful Cinderella. Illus. Rhonda Childress. Austin, Texas: Steck-Vaughn Co., 1993. (ISBN 0811422046)
Did you ever wonder what the stepsisters have to say about the Cinderella story? Did you ever consider their feelings? According to one of the stepsisters in this telling of the tale, Cinderella is a lazy, spoiled orphan whom the stepsisters tolerate. She claims that Cinderella schemes with her fairy godmother to steal her prince with magic, and that she plants her shoe on the stairs. The original Charles Perrault version is found on one side of this book, but if you flip it over, the reader can read the other side of the story.
Meddaugh, Susan. Cinderella's Rat. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. (ISBN 0395868335)
Many of us have been enamored with the magic in Cinderella, but have we ever stopped to think about the animals that received the tap of the fairy godmother's wand? This story tells what it may be like for the rat who becomes a coachman at the touch of a wand. This easy to read story gives a new slant to a favorite tale, or should I say tail.
Shorto, Russell. Cinderella: The Untold Story. Illus. T. Lewis. New York: Birch Lane Press, 1990. (ISBN 1559720549)
Shorto writes a faithful retelling of the Charles Perrault story, but if you flip the book over and upside down, another version of the story will appear. In this other version, we learn that Cinderella likes to tell stories and is punished for it by standing in the corner by the fireplace. She always has nice clothes, but she makes up the fairy godmother because it sounds fun. She dances with the prince and tells him she is a princess from the clouds and arrived on a moonbeam, but the moonbeam fades at midnight so she must leave. Actually, her curfew is midnight or she will be grounded. When the prince proposes, she tells him the truth. Her honesty inspires him to confess, too. It turns out that he isn't the prince, so he marries her anyway. The two spend their time telling fairy tales.
Novel-Length Versions
Evans, C. S. Cinderella. Illus. Arthur Rackman. New York: Viking Press, 1972. (ISBN 670222550)
With 110 pages, this book tells Charles Perrault's tale, complete with two balls, but it provides the reader more information about Cinderella. For instance, at the opening of this book, Cinderella's mother is still alive for the first chapter. The silhouette pictures also provide the book with a wonderful story-book quality that can be enjoyed by older children, moving from picture books to chapter books.
Farjeon, Eleanor. The Glass Slipper. New York: The Viking Press, 1955. Cinderella's father tries to be kind to Cinderella throughout this 187 page book, but his efforts are thwarted by his dominating wife. He feels bad for Ella, but he lacks the power to help her. The poetic quality of the prose in this book provide a delightful read, especially as Ella transforms the royal ball as the Princess of Nowhere and proposes a game of Hide and Seek.
Levine, Gail Carson. Ella Enchanted. New York: HarperCollins, 1997. (ISBN 0060275103)
When Ella is born, a fairy "blesses" her with the gift of obedience. Whatever anyone commands her to do, she must do. When her father remarries after her mother's death, her new stepfamily, although not knowing the origin of her obedience, takes advantage of it and treats her basely. Ella travels through several adventures in the magical fantasy land of her birth and nurtures a friendship with the Prince, searching for a way to break the curse of obedience. With the help of her fairy godmother, she endures the curse, goes to the Prince's balls incognito, and eventually finds the way to rid herself of her cursed blessing. (232 pages)
Murphy, Shirley Rousseau. Silver Woven in My Hair. Illus. Alan Tiegreen. New York: Atheneum, 1977. (ISBN 0689305583)
One of the best books I have ever read, Murphy spins a wonderful fairy tale in 121 pages. Set in the Middle Ages, the story focuses on the abused daughter of an innkeeper who loves the Cinderella stories that she hears told by travelers when they stop for the night. Having learned to write with the help of a monk (her fairy godfather figure), she keeps a book of the stories she hears. When the royal family returns from the war, she falls in love with the goatherd (Gillie) who also falls in love with her. Gillie helps her go to the royal ball, where she discovers that he isn't who she thinks he is and finds the courage to stand up for herself against her wicked stepmother.
Thomas, Joyce Carol. When the Nightingale Sings. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. (ISBN 0060202947)
Marigold is raised by her aunt and cousins who constantly insult her and make her do most of the work because they are jealous of her beauty and her singing voice. She never knew her mother, and she doesn't know the relation she really is to the people she lives with. When she backs up her cousins at the Gospel Convention, however, her luck changes. She finds out that her cousins are also her half-sisters and she is raised to the status of Nightingale in the choir. (148 pages)
Video Adaptations
Ashpet: An American Cinderella. Dir. Tom Davenport. Davenport Films, n. d., 45 minutes.
This video was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, and places Cinderella in Southern Virginia just as the soldiers are leaving for World War II. Lilly's stepmother is not really mean, but she is ruled by her two unruly daughters. Lilly's godmother is Black Sallie, a neighbor who was her mother's friend, too. Black Sallie makes love sachets, but she doesn't magically send Lilly to the victory dance. Instead, she shares with Lilly the secrets of her house. Lilly wears her mother's dress and jewels to the dance and meets a young soldier who falls in love with her and comes back to her after four years in the war. Her stepmother marries again, but her stepsisters don't.
Cinderella. Dir. Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, and Clyde Geronimi. Walt Disney Company, 1950. 76 minutes, Animated.
Probably the most famous adaptation in America, this retelling of Charles Perrault's story adds a few subplots to flesh out the story. For example, Disney adds mice and birds to be friends with Cinderella and help her when she is in trouble. This animal friendship is found in other versions as well, but Disney gives them troubles of their own: Lucifer. Disney also adds the counterplay between the Duke and the King. The most notable difference is the breaking of the shoe before Cinderella can try it on. She never tries the shoe the prince finds, she tries on the mate that she still has, declaring herself the right person out of her own volition. This is what truly makes Disney's an American adaptation-any girl can be a princess.
Cinder-Elly. Dir. Marc Sacco. Spoken Arts, 1994. 12 minutes, 6 seconds.
Frances Minters' book, Cinder-Elly, is read aloud while the pictures from the book, with minor additions of small animation, are shown in sequence.
Cinderfella. Dir. Frank Tashin. With Jerry Lewis, Ed Wynn, and Judith Anderson. Jerry Lewis Pictures Corp., 1988. 85 minutes.
An American adaptation of the Cinderlad story, this movie is set in Belle-Aire in Los Angeles, California. Jerry Lewis plays Fella, who lives with his stepmother and stepbrothers in his late father's mansion. The fairy godfather (Ed Wynn) is helping Fella marry Princess Charming on behalf of all men who have ever been asked, "Why couldn't you be Prince Charming?" After he offers to give his money to his stepbrothers, Fella's stepmother has a change of heart and refuses to allow her sons to take it.
Cindy Eller. ABC After-school Special. Dir. Lee Grant. Aims Media, n. d. (I remember this being on television in 1985 or 1986.)
When her mother dies, Cynthia Eller moves to New York to live with her father, stepmother, and two stepsisters. As if moving to New York City from the pine forests of Maine were not hard enough, her stepsisters decide to give her a hard time. Although her stepmother tries to be kind to her, Cindy still just doesn't fit in with everyone else. However, her strangeness is what attracts Gregory Prince, the son of the owner of Prince Industries. Even a mishap at the party, where her stepsisters dump punch down the front of her white dress, can't keep Gregory from seeking Cindy's companionship.
The Glass Slipper. Dir. Charles Walters. With Leslie Caron and Michael Wilding. MGM Video, 1955. 1 hour, 35 minutes.
Cinderella (Caron) is very proud , but insecure, and not very kind. She is one who is "rejected because of bad behavior because of being rejected." Her "godmother" is a crazy lady who used to be a lady of fashion. Cinderella meets Prince Charles at her special place in the Dell, and he tells her he is the son of the Duke's cook. He gives her an invitation to the ball and teaches her to dance. When he decides he wants to marry her, his father and his friend help spread the news that he will marry the Egyptian princess who was at the ball. When he finds Cinderella, he explains that she is to be the princess, since a prince must marry a princess.
Pretty Woman. Dir. Gary Marshall. With Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Touchtone Pictures, 1990. 119 minutes.
Vivian Ward (Roberts) lives in Los Angeles as a prostitute, for lack of better-paying employment, when she meets her Prince Charming, Edward Lewis (Gere). With the help of Barney, the manager of Edward's hotel, Vivian gets the proper clothes to accompany Edward during his social/ business gatherings. When he realizes that he loves her, her rescues her from her apartment with the help, again, of Barney. This story is a modern American rags-to-riches fairy tale.
Prince Cinders. Dir. Derek Hayes. Based on book by Babette Cole. First Run Features, . 30 minutes, Animated.
This retelling of Babette Cole's book by the same title makes some changes in the story. For instance, the movie adds a pet cat to which the fairy gives the power of speech when she tries to make him human so that he can help Cinders at the ball. The disco is Princess Lovelypenny's birthday party, and at midnight when the spell wears off, she thinks that Prince Cinders has saved her from the big hairy ape (which was Cinders through a mixup in the fairy's spell). A guard dog causes Cinders to lose his trousers, but he gets them back with a princess in the bargain.
Princess Furball. Dir. Melissa Reilly. Based on book by Charlotte Huck. Iconographic. Weston Woods, 1993. 17 minutes.
Charlotte Huck's story is read while Anita Lobel's pictures are shown.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. Dir. Charles Dubin. With Ginger Rogers, Walter Pidgeon, Celest Holm, Jo Van Fleet, Stuart Damon, and Lesley Ann Warren. (Columbia Braodcasting System, Inc., 1964). Fox Video, 1991. 84 minutes.
This musical version allows us to view Cinderella's experience with the ball through wonderful musical numbers. Such songs as "Impossible," "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?" and "Why Would a Fellow Want a Girl Like Her" bring the magic of Cinderella and her dreams alive in a wonderful viewing experience for the whole family.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. Dir. Robert Iscove. With Brandy, Whitney Houston, Victor Garber, Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Alexander, Bernadette Peters and Paolo Montalban. Wonderful World of Disney, 1997. (Shown as Sunday Night TV movie on ABC November 2, 1997.)
This multicultural version of Cinderella supports and emphasizes the role that this story plays in many cultures around the world. As a retelling of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical directed by Charles Dubin, this made for television adaptation is wonderful. Some of the songs and words are changed, but the effect of magical existence is still spectacular, as only Disney can create.
Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story From China. Dir. Ray Patterson. CBS Storybreak Special, 1995. Hosted by Bob Keeshan. 25 minutes, Animated.
Based on Ai Ling Louie's book, this short video adaptation adds the idea that the slippers must be together so that Gold Eyes, Yeh-Shen's fish, can go to the land of his ancestors. The rest of the story is very true to Louie's telling of the tale.
Anthologies containing several versions
Arbuthnot, May Hill and Mark Taylor. Time for Old Magic. Glenview, Illinois: Scott Foresman and Company, 1970.
- "Little Burnt Face" (the story of Rough-Face Girl)
- "Mother Holle"
- "One Eye, Two Eyes, and Three Eyes"
- "The Goose Girl" (Germany)
- "Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper"
- "Boots and his Brothers" (Norway)
- "Princess on the Glass Hill" (Norway)
Chase, Richard, ed. Grandfather Tales. Illus. Berkeley Williams, Jr. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1948.
A Collection of American-English folktales, including:
- "Catskins" (similar to Princess Furball)
- "Ashpet" and "Like Meat Loves Salt"
Philip, Neil. The Cinderella Story. New York: Penguin Books, 1989.
This reference book contains 24 Cinderella stories with notes on each one. Each story is written in the dialect in which it would be told. Neil Philip also includes information about folk tales in general and Cinderella motifs and story strands in particular. This is an excellent book to begin a study of Cinderella with.
Teaching References
Edinger, Monica. Fantasy Literature in the Elementary Classroom. New York: Scholastic, n. d. (ISBN 0590251104)
Chapter four of Edinger's book in titled, "A Thematic Study of Cinderella." It provides background information on the fairy tale, an explanation on how to set up a learning center, and activities to use for a unit based on the story. She includes a short annotated bibliography of stories children can read, stories which can be read to the students, and videos. The student packet information may be reproduced for class use. She recommends the unit for grades 2-6.
Polette, Nancy. Eight Cinderellas: China, Egypt, Korea, Germany, Native American, Africa, Russia and Great Britain. O'Fallon, Missouri: Book Lures, Inc., 1994. (ISBN 1879287293)
This activity book for teaching different cultures through the use of Cinderella stories contains activities for each version in the title, but the activities can easily be adapted to fit any of the stories. The activities include Readers Theater, poetry writing, sentence formation exercises, using pictures to tell the stories, and behavior lessons (What would you do if.).
Sierra, Judy. Oryx Multicultural Folktale Series: Cinderella. Phoenix, Arizona: Oryx Press, 1992. (ISBN 0897747275)
Judy Sierra has collected several variations of Cinderella from around the world and records them in this book with notes on each story, a glossary, and suggestions and activities for teaching. Following the stories, she provides essays on various aspects of the study of Cinderella.
Research on the Cinderella folk tale
Baring, Anne. "Cinderella: An Interpretation." Psyche's Stories: Modern Jungian Interpretations of Fairy Tales. Ed. Stein, Murray and Lionel Corbett. Wilmette, Illinois: Chiron Publications, 1991: 49-64.
Baring claims that Cinderella is a member of mystical wisdom tradition. (52) In an elaborate comparison of the Cinderella story to many ancient myths, she creates an entomology of the name Cinderella (55), linking it to light, the moon, and fire.
Bartsch, Wilhelm. "Aschenputtel and Cinderella: Brothers Grimm vs. Walt Disney." Annual of Foreign Films and Literature 2 (1996): 31-42.
This article begins with a comparison between Perrault, Grimm and Disney approaches to Cinderella. Then Bartsch focuses on the differences between the Grimm version he is familiar with from childhood and the Disney adaptation of the tale. He comments that the Grimm version offers a moral message, while Disney provides a social one. This, I believe, comes from the Perrault story on which Disney's version is based. Claiming that Disney presents "a modern fairy tale which reflects on everyday American life" (39), he points out that Cinderella never tries on the slipper the prince found. She pulls out her own slipper, declaring herself the Prince's bride by fitting her own shoe.
Chambers, Veronica. "The Myth of Cinderella." Newsweek 3 November 1997: 75-78.
Disney's new version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella tells a new version of the famous tale when they cast Brandy as a black Cinderella, Whitney Houston as her fairy godmother, and Prince Charming as Filipino Paolo Montalban, son to Whoopi Goldberg and Victor Garber (a black queen and white king). This multicultural version adds new questions about the myth of Cinderella, but it also asks questions about multiculturalism and interracial marriage. In the traditional story, Cinderella wants to be treated as a princess. In this version, Cinderella wants to be treated as a person, with respect.
Cowen, Roy C. "Cinderella As a Comedy: Christian Dietrich Grabbe's Aschenbrodel." Thematics Reconsidered. Ed. Frank Trommler. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1995: 177-186. (ISBN 9051837879)
Cowen's article compares Grabbe's 72 page play with other versions of Cinderella's story. Grabbe introduces a Jewish money lender to the story to emphasize the money conflict in the story. Cowen also mentions how, in many stories, Cinderella is ahistorical. She could be anyone because she is rarely supplied with a name of her own.
Cox, Marian Roalfe. Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-Five Variants. 1892. Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint Limited, 1967.
Perhaps the most comprehensive single volume work on Cinderella variations, this collection of information of 345 variants of the folk tale contains story outlines for each variant in addition to notes on each. Cox sorts the stories in an elaborate categorization that allows the researcher to recognize five distinct types of Cinderella story: A) Cinderella: the ill-treated heroine who is recognized by fitting the shoe, B) Cat-skin: the unnatural father who causes the heroine to flee, C) Cap O'Rushes: the King Lear/ outcast daughter variation, D) Indeterminant: containing characterizations of several of the other four categories, and E) Hero tales: usually the cinderlad stories, but also including the Russian Baba Yaga. This is an excellent resource for the serious researcher of Cinderella, but it may be too detailed for a casual researcher.
Dundes, Alan, ed. Cinderella: A Casebook. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982.
Dundes collection begins with a telling of three famous versions of the story: "The Cat Cinderella" by Giambattista Basile, Charles Perrault's "Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper," and Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's "Ash Girl (Aschenputtel)." Following these stories are several essays spanning a century of research on this folk tale. The essays cover such topics as the early theories of the tale's origin, meaning, and structure within the stories. "This volume is dedicated to all those who find in the story of Cinderella one of the time-tested facets of the human spirit." (xi) This casebook is an excellent resource for embarking upon a study of this most famous of fairy tales.
Franklin, Melinda L. "Ellen at the Ball: Ellen Foster as a Cinderella Tale." Alan Review 23 (Fall 1995): 16-17.
Melinda Franklin compares Kay Gibbons' Ellen Foster with the Charles Perrault Cinderella in a motif-by-motif comparison.
Gough, John. "Rivalry, Rejection and Recovery: Variations of the Cinderella Story." Children's Literature in Education 21 (June 1990): 99-107.
John Gough describes the heart of a Cinderella story as "loss of 'fortune,' struggle to survive, and eventual victory and restitution." (103) With this in mind, he examines several other works of children's literature as variations on Cinderella themes. Some of the works he includes are Frances Hodges Burnett's stories, Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous, Judy Blume's It's Not the End of the World, and several others.
Greene, Ellin. "Literary Uses of Traditional Themes: From 'Cinderella' to The Girl Who Sat By the Ashes and The Glass Slipper." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 11 (Fall 1986): 128-132.
In this article, Greene compares Eleanor Farjeon's The Glass Slipper and Padraic Colum's The Girl Who Sat By the Ashes as two different versions of the Cinderella story. She compares each story to Cinderella using the plot and the motifs. Padraic Colum's story uses many different motifs from many of the Cinderella variations: fetching fire, the star on the forehead, Tattercoats, etc.
Jewett, Julia. "Alluleirauh (All-Kinds-of-Fur) A Tale of Father Dominace, Psychological Incest, and Female Emergence." Psyche's Stories: Modern Jungian Interpretations of Fairy Tales. Wilmette, Illinois: Chiron Publications, 1991: 17-26.
Jewett cites the Cinderella variations in which the daughter runs away from an unnatural relationship with her father as showing a positive way to overcome dealing with psychological incest. The character who runs away first denies her family, then experiences a period of "aloneness" before gradually allowing herself to be healed in a healthy heterosexual relationship.
Kelley, Karol. "A Modern Cinderella." Journal of American Culture 17 (Spring 1994): 87-92.
This article attempts to establish the movie Pretty Woman, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, as a Cinderella adaptation by comparing it with Charles Perrault's tale and the Disney adaptation. Kelley claims that Perrault uses the story to define gender roles in a social environment. (88) Both Disney's Cinderella and Pretty Woman follow this idea by presenting situations in which men have power, station and wealth while women work hard, suffer, and endure until a man chooses to save them. In many versions of the story, Cinderella's father is present, but powerless next to his stepmother. Disney's stepmother doesn't show her true nature until after the father's death, allowing us to suppose that he still held power in the relationship. Vivian's dependence on men in Pretty Woman is enhanced by her "fairy godfather" figure, Barney.
Rockey, Denyse. "Three Faces of the Great Goddess: Shulamite, Cinderella, Black Virgin." Annual Review of Women in World Religions 1 (1991): 31-70.
Stepping back into the realm of Cinderella as mythology, Rockey suggests the well-known fairy tale may have early counterparts in Biblical stories. This article contains an interesting comparison between the Bride from The Song of Songs in the Old Testament, the Virgin in the cult of the Black Virgin, and Cinderella. All three are blackened, either with dark skin or covered with ashes, and yet, all three are radiant and transcendant of their status: "Lowly, she is black, but beautiful: redeemed, she is black and beautiful." (51). In all three cases, the woman transcends her early common stage by marriage to a higher power. Shulamite (Song of Songs) weds above her station, the Virgin Mary becomes the bride of God and the Mother of Christ, and Cinderella, too, marries a prince.
Saxby, Maurice. "Six Hundred Cinderellas." Through Folklore to Literature ed. Maurice Saxby. Sydney, Australia: IBBX Publications, 1979: 73-86.
According to Saxby, "literature . is the ordering and interpretation of universal human experience." (77) He identifies six motifs surrounding the various Cinderella variations: 1) Sibling rivalry; 2) Hearth as center of home and symbol of mother; 3) Heroine must flee unnatural love relationship with her father (in older versions); 4) The ball allows the heroine to display her true nature; 5) Stepsisters mutilate their feet attempting to fit the sexual stereotype surrounding small feet; and 6) Only in Charles Perrault variations do the stepsisters go unpunished for their behavior.
Shapiro, Laura. "When the Shoe Fits." Newsweek 3 November 1997: 77.
In an essay sparked by the new Disney version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Shapiro comments on the All-American Girl image of the 1950s Cinderella and her association with June Cleaver. She explores the ideas of why Cinderella is still so popular in a feminist age, concluding that as a story of rescue, it will never be out of date, but Cinderella should no longer be a role model upon which women base their lives.
Trousdale, Ann M. "My Cinderella: An Autobiographical Essay." Sitting at the Feet of the Past: Retelling the North American Folk Tale for Children. Ed. Gary D. Schmidt and Donald R. Hettinga. Westport, CT: Greenwood press, 1992: 33-38.
In the Indian Cinderella, Trousdale finds a Cinderella "who lived in her isolation with what dignity she could muster and who kept her suffering to herself." She "had learned the value of truthfulness and not to compromise the truth.The rejected maiden who yet dared to hope that the great Strong Wind might find her worthy, scarred and ragged as she was." (35) A Caucasian American from the South, Trousdale recognizes the universal truth in the Native American tale and adopts it as her own story based upon these universal truths. This article is her claim to the story based upon a common humanity, if not a common culture.
Wood, Naomi. "Domesticating Dreams in Walt Disney's Cinderella." The Lion and the Unicorn 20 (June 1996): 25-49.
Like it or not, Walt Disney's popular version of Cinderella's story has become the "real" story to most children and adults in the United States. Naomi Wood takes this idea to the academic field in a criticism of Disney's adaptation. She states that "the goal of Disney's animation is 'realism'.that relates implicitly to the vision of dream 'reality' that Cinderella exemplifies." (27) She discusses the way that Disney presents these dreams, domesticity, wish-fulfillment, and purity through the use of the main story and the addition of side stories, such as the cat-and-mice relationship.
Other Resources
Brotherston, Gordon. "Zuni Cinderella." Latin American Indian Literatures Journal 2 (Fall 1986): 110-126.
Harris, Violet J. "Have You Heard About an African Cinderella Story?" Publishing Research Quarterly 7 (Fall 1991): 23-36.
Thomas, Susanne Sara. "Cinderella and the Phallic Foot." Southern Folklore 52 (1995): 19-31.
Warburton, Eileen. "Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down: Ourika, Cinderella, and The French Lieutenant's Woman." Twentieth Century Literature 42 (Spring 1996): 165-86.
Warner, Marina. "The Wronged Daughter: Aspects of Cinderella." Grand Street 7 (Spring 1988): 143-163.
Welch, Dennis M. "Christabel, King Lear, and the Cinderella Folktale." Papers on Language and Literature 32 (Summer 1996): 291-314.
Williams, John R. "Cinderella in the Appalachians: The Creative Use of Traditional Motifs." Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin 51 (Fall 1985): 93-109.
Internet Resources
CINDERELLA
The Cinderella Project
http://www-dept.usm.edu/~engdept/cinderella/cinderella.html
Cinderella Stories
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/cinderella.html
Shen's Books and Supplies-About Cinderella
http://www.shens.com/cinder.htm
Shen's Books and Supplies-Online Catalog-In Search of Cinderella
http://www.shens.com/subjects/In+Search+of+Cinderella.htm