Cinderella

A detailed Summary of Cinderella

Here's the story: The girl gets her prince. She leaves her family, who treated her horribly behind in her past. She lives happily ever after. Everyone has heard of Cinderella, but people are unaware that there are many different versions of this legend. One is written by the Grimm Brothers and is titled "Aschenputtel." In this story the girl is treated as if she were a servant. Her stepfamily hates her and wants nothing to do with her unless she is doing their dirty laundry. Yet, she somehow manages to leave her family behind, and live happily ever after with her Prince. Another version of the story is the Native American tale called "The Algonquin Cinderella." In this one the girl's own family treats her awfully. Yet she is also lucky and, as they say, "the slipper fits." She marries the most sought after man in her village. Although both of these stories present the same morals, they vary in specific details such as characters, settings, and the use of magic.

The most opponent difference between these two stories is the characters. Even the name of the main character is different. It is not Cinderella in either story. In Grimm's Fairytale the girl's name is Aschenputtel, whereas she was named Oochigeaskw in the Na

When there is no logical explanation for and incident many fairytales turn to magic for the explanation and while Grimm's version of this tale employs magic several times the Algonquin version does not rely on it so much. When Aschenputtel wants to go to the festival, she has to pick peas out of the ashes of her fireplace. She knows that there is no way she could do this, so she talks to the birds, and they do it for her. This happens two times, leaving her stepfamily in disbelief. Then the real magic comes into play. Her stepfamily goes to the party without her, so Aschenputtel goes to her mother's grave and cries. She asks the tree above her to cover her with silver and gold, "Then the bird threw down a dress of gold and silver, and a pair of slippers embroidered with silk and silver"(211). Since the festival is three days long, she does this three times. Each time she goes to the tree, she finds herself in a more and more beautiful dress. Another example of magic is when the stepsisters are all trying on the shoes. The birds know that the evil stepsisters are not the real girl the prince is looking for, and they tell him. In "The Algonquin Cinderella" there is no such magic. There are no talking birds and no special dresses or shoes that trees make. The only example of magic, which is more an example of mystery, is that of the invisible boy. He cannot be seen by anyone but his sister and the woman whom he is supposed to marry, Oochigeaskw.

On the other hand, in the Native American version, Oochigeaskw has no stepfamily. Her father is a widower and has three daughters who all live together. Oochigeaskw is the youngest and is small, delicate, and often sick. One of the sisters, the eldest, treats Oochigeaskw dreadfully. " ...the wicked sister would burn her hands and feet with hot cinders, an

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1219
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English