Cinderella
Cinderella or Aschenputtel or Little Glass Slipper is the most popular fairy tale of all time. It's hard to find anybody who is unfamiliar with the plot. Less known is the fact that (among more than one thousand written and classified variations!) the majority of books in the last two centuries rely on Perrault's or Grimms' versions.
Here are the major differences:
- Grimms' has a magical tree, golden slippers, and a bloody ending with blinded stepsisters,
- Perrault's has a fairy godmother, glass slippers, and a happy ending with Cinderella forgiving her stepsisters.
While Offterdinger mostly illustrated fairy tales based on the collection by the brothers Grimm, in this case, he used the story written by Charles Perrault.
It starts with the marriage of the widower who has one daughter with a widow who has two daughters. The stepmother and her daughters immediately start to despise and exploit the widower's daughter who has to work hard and sleep in the kitchen, at the hearth, in dirty ragged clothes.
She got the nickname Cinderella. Cinder is a partly burnt coal, mostly covered by ashes.
Despite her hard life, Cinderella stays optimistic and helpful. When the king announces that his son will throw a ball where he will try to find a wife, all the girls are invited. Cinderella's stepsisters want to go and Cinderella helps them to look as pretty as possible.
Cinderella wants to go to the ball too, but her stepmother doesn't allow that. She mocks her and tells her that she is too dirty and she doesn't have an appropriate attire anyway.
When Cinderella stays alone a fairy godmother pops up.
She offers to help her. Cinderella needs a beautiful dress, splendid shoes, and a carriage with a driver and servants.
Cinderella needs to participate a bit. She finds lizards in the garden where she takes a large pumpkin as well. She empties the traps and gets some mice and a rat.
Mice will be transformed into horses, the rat a coachman, the lizards the servants, and the pumpkin a luxurious coach.
The fairy godmother then takes care of Cinderella's attire too.
She is ready to go!
Cinderella's appearance at the king's ball is astonishing. The prince has eyes only for her. They dance till midnight when Cinderella must leave because the magic will lose its power at the end of the day.
The prince is disappointed. He doesn't even know the name of his dancing partner. So he throws another ball and the sequence of events in Cinderella's home is repeated.
She shines again at the royal ball and the prince wants to know more about her.
Yet she manages to evade all the questions and escapes for one more time.
But this time she loses one of her beautiful glass slippers.
Now the prince has at least a clue. He knows that his beloved one can put this shoe on and other girls probably not.
So the king announces that every girl in the kingdom shall try the glass slipper. If it fits, she will be proposed by the prince.
Many girls tried but none succeeded. The slipper is too tiny.
Finally, a delegation with the glass shoe comes to Cinderella's home. Her stepsisters try the slipper and it doesn't go on.
But when Cinderella puts it on, it fits perfectly. And she also has another glass slipper to match it.
Cinderella's troubles are gone. She marries the prince and they live happily ever after.
Maybe it's interesting to note how the illustrator portrayed Cinderella. She has red hair which was not only very popular among the artists in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century but symbolically makes her stand out (natural redheads are rare) and a rebel.
Classic fairy tales are all about growing up. Breaking the rules (going to the ball despite the forbiddance) is typical for teenagers and a sign that she is ready to take responsibility for her own life.
She is ready to leave home and be an adult.