The Many Faces of Cinderella

Cinderella stories are common around the world.  In most versions the protagonist is a noble young woman who is treated badly by a stepmother.  She recieves help from a mystical being adn then meets a wealthy and prominent young man.  He immediately falls in love with her but she leaves suddenly.  He finds an aricle of clothing that belongs to her and uses it to find her.  They marry and the stepmother gets her just rewards.

There is an Algonquin story called the rough-faced girl.  She is mistreated by her older sisters and her father.  She is forced to sit close to the fire and tend it, which leaves her face and arms scarred with burns.  All the young women hope to marry the Invisible Being but they are all passed over.  They cannot see him because of their hard hearts. Because the rough-faced girl is noble and kind, she is the only one who can see the Invisible Being that lives across the lake. They marry and live happily ever after.

A story from China is similar.  Yeh-hsien is good and kind but is treated badly by her stepmother.  She takes care of a fish and is kind to it, but her stepmother kills and eats the fish.  Yeh-hsien is told where to find the bones and how to make a wish.  She marries a King at the end of this tale.

In the Russian version, called The Wonderful Birch, the heroine is helped repeatedly by elements of nature, such as a birch tree. The stepmother here is also an actual witch, going back to Russia’s rich history of magical fairy tales. With the Scottish tale of Rashin-Coatie, it is a red calf that helps the heroine, in keeping with the tradition of raising cattle for a living in that country. Finally, in the Irish story Fair, Brown, and Trembling, the heroine is actually a princess, and, as with any good Irish tale, there is a nice amount of combat and royal appearances scattered throughout the story.

Cinderella stories give us hope that inner beauty and kindness will be rewarded.  I hope you will find one and read it today!