Quote:
Originally Posted by Manabi
Yep, that's it.
Here's my memories of the events I referenced:
I don't have issues with this stuff being in there, none of it felt gratuitous, it all serviced the plot. I thought the overall plot was really interesting, and it gave me new perspectives on some of the fairy tales. (Like how Cinderella got her name: Ellie of the ashes = Cinderella.) I'd even rate it at least 4 out of 5★, but it's definitely a book I have no interest in rereading. |
I would agree that none of the content seemed gratuitous which is why I had no issues with it.
As for Cinderella's stepsisters? That was true to the original story as recorded by the Brothers Grimm where both sisters mutilated their feet trying to fit into the glass slipper. The original story has little to do with modernized versions and probably even less to do with the Disney abomination.
As for the name? I seem to remember the Brothers Grimm's title was Áschenputtel which would translate (more or less, I'll be quite happy to have a German speaker correct me) to "Little Ash Girl".
Quote:
The next morning, he went with it to the man, and said to him, "No one shall be my wife except for the one whose foot fits this golden shoe."
The two sisters were happy to hear this, for they had pretty feet. With her mother standing by, the older one took the shoe into her bedroom to try it on. She could not get her big toe into it, for the shoe was too small for her. Then her mother gave her a knife and said, "Cut off your toe. When you are queen you will no longer have to go on foot."
The girl cut off her toe, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. However, they had to ride past the grave, and there, on the hazel tree, sat the two pigeons, crying out:
Rook di goo, rook di goo!
There's blood in the shoe.
The shoe is too tight,
This bride is not right!
Then he looked at her foot and saw how the blood was running from it. He turned his horse around and took the false bride home again, saying that she was not the right one, and that the other sister should try on the shoe. She went into her bedroom, and got her toes into the shoe all right, but her heel was too large.
Then her mother gave her a knife, and said, "Cut a piece off your heel. When you are queen you will no longer have to go on foot."
The girl cut a piece off her heel, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. When they passed the hazel tree, the two pigeons were sitting in it, and they cried out:
Rook di goo, rook di goo!
There's blood in the shoe.
The shoe is too tight,
This bride is not right!
He looked down at her foot and saw how the blood was running out of her shoe, and how it had stained her white stocking all red. Then he turned his horse around and took the false bride home again.
"This is not the right one, either," he said. "Don't you have another daughter?"
"No," said the man. "There is only a deformed little Cinderella from my first wife, but she cannot possibly be the bride."
The prince told him to send her to him, but the mother answered, "Oh, no, she is much too dirty. She cannot be seen."
But the prince insisted on it, and they had to call Cinderella. She first washed her hands and face clean, and then went and bowed down before the prince, who gave her the golden shoe. She sat down on a stool, pulled her foot out of the heavy wooden shoe, and put it into the slipper, and it fitted her perfectly.
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Want to give your children or grandchildren nightmares? Read them the original versions of the Grimm Brothers' tales.