Different countries have their own story about a cute orphan who was rewarded by fate, and in each country she has her own author.
There is no person in the world who would not know this classic story - the fairy tale "Cinderella". Most are convinced that the author of the tale is Charles Perrault. Many have heard of the variant of the brothers Grimm, and someone thinks that this tale is a folk tale.
In fact, the story of a modest hard-working girl finding her prince was known in ancient times and played out many times in various interpretations.
During excavations in ancient Egypt, the text of a fairy tale about a beautiful prostitute with a small foot bathing in a river was found. During the ablutions, the girl's tiny sandal was dragged off by an eagle and brought to the pharaoh's palace. Apparently, the ruler's fantasy at the sight of a small sandal played out in earnest - the pharaoh fell in love in absentia and ordered at all costs to find the owner of an elegant leg. The girl was found - in the ancient Egyptian version, her name was Fodoris. Pharaoh married her, followed by a happy ending.
Later, the fairy tale about the beautiful industrious orphan wandered all over Europe in different versions - it was told in Rome, Venice and Florence, as well as in Spain, Scotland and Ireland, Sweden and Finland ... It was such an antiquity that Cinderella, in a hurry to run away, lost not a glass slipper - fur or wooden shoes acted as its prototypes.
But, despite all the differences, one can easily trace the general trend and similarity of the plot. Take at least the name of the main character: at different times and in different countries she was called Cinderella(Cinderella), Cenerentola, Pepeljuga, Aschenputtel, The Cinder Maid… One way or another, the name comes from ash, ashes. So you can trace the ancient beliefs and rituals - proximity to the fire, the hearth was the privilege of the purest, kindest girl who was trusted to ask for blessings from the gods for the whole tribe.
Depending on the assistants who were next to Cinderella, one can determine in which deities and what powers this or that tribe believed. For example, into some supernatural being - a fairy sorceress, or into the spirit of a deceased ancestor, which was personified by white birds (doves). And in the most ancient versions of Cinderella, not even pigeons, but mice help the poor stepdaughter sort out the grains.
As for the indispensable loss of Cinderella's shoes, there is nothing surprising or strange here: for all peoples, shoes were directly connected with wedding ceremonies, and we still have them today - remember? - It is customary to steal the bride's shoe at weddings. The loss of one shoe meant separation from the betrothed.
pxhere.com Time passed, Europeans discovered new countries and continents. During the travels, it turned out that the story of Cinderella is not at all the prerogative of Europe. The tale of such a diligent and industrious orphan named Khonchi was quite popular in Korea. The girl, day after day, obeying her evil stepmother, sorted out rice and millet, cleaned the house, loosened the hard rocky soil with a chopper and, of course, was very unhappy.
One fine day, a sorceress visited her: she helped her quickly cope with household chores and sent the girl to a fun wedding. Hurrying to the party, Khonchi dropped her slipper into the stream. The "prince" - the head of the province - found her and announced that he would marry a girl with small legs, who had lost her cloth slipper.
There are other versions of the famous fairy tale - there are hundreds of them in total! However, there are a few among the most popular.
Yes, yes, this girl did not humbly endure the bullying of her evil stepmother. She entered into an agreement with the nanny and once slammed the lid of the chest on her stepmother, so successfully that she broke that neck.
This creepy tale Italian Giambattista Basile composed 61 years earlier than Charles Perrault: it was published in 1634 in a collection of fairy tales.
In Basile's interpretation, the stepdaughter bore the name Zezolla. After the death of her stepmother, the girl persuaded her father to marry an accomplice in crime - a nanny. When the king in love chased after her, the rebellious girl began to fight him, and a pianella shoe flew off her foot. And then - everything is familiar: searches throughout the kingdom, fitting pianella and a happy ending.
This tale is perhaps the most suitable to be read to children. No bloody showdowns and vengeful stepdaughters. An unrequited orphan, obedient to fate, was awarded according to her deserts. It is with Perrault that the "glass slipper" first appears.
But not every parent dares to read Cinderella by the Brothers Grimm to their preschool child. Trying on a shoe for everyone, the messengers of the king did not take into account what a girl is capable of doing for the sake of marriage. One of the Cinderella sisters, without thinking twice, chopped off her finger so that her foot would fit into the shoe. And she almost deceived the Prince - it's good that halfway to the palace the guy noticed blood dripping from the bride's shoes, and turned the whole cortege back.
Then, when the misunderstanding was already resolved, and Cinderella and the Prince went to the church, the sisters decided to accompany them, and then pigeons flew at them and pecked out their eyes. This is such a barbaric punishment for greed and malice.
Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm and Eugene Schwartz are incorrect answers. Knowing this, can you then answer who wrote Cinderella?
Of course, it would be easier than ever to answer that Cinderella, known to everyone almost from the cradle, was invented by Charles Perrault. After all, he wrote his fairy tale already in 1697, that is, more than 300 years ago. And everything that is ancient is where we are looking for the author. At least that's how it happened, and people think so. Well, grandmothers told us Cinderella performed either by that same Charles Perrault, or ... well, of course, by the Brothers Grimm.
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were only born in 1785 and 1786 respectively. And they themselves grew up on the fairy tale of Cinderella in the interpretation of Charles Perrault. And when they matured, they collected the most famous folk tales of the German people and released them under the name "Tales of the Brothers Grimm." Hence the second version was born.
And the third walks and wanders among intellectuals who seem to believe that before the 20th century there was nothing at all and fairy tales were “not written”, and Cinderella was invented by Yevgeny Schwartz when he was composing a famous play. But this is, of course, a joke. Schwartz is mentioned more due to the fact that he contributed specifically to the Soviet Cinderella. Let me remind you that when translating, Turgenev called Cinderella (Cendrillon or Cinderella) Zamarashka.
Classic "wandering plot"
Who actually wrote Cinderella? It was not even invented by the German people, as the Grimm brothers believed, describing German folklore. The Cinderella story is a classic "wandering story" of which there are thousands of variants and in the center there is always a beautiful, honest, kind, naive Cinderella, whatever you call her: Cinderella (modern), Cinderella (obsolete original), Sondrien (French), Aschenpute (German) or Cinderella ("Hollywood-Disney" English).
The classic tale of Cinderella, who lost her glass slipper, is known to us thanks to the adaptation of the French writer and poet Charles Perrault and his son Pierre Perrault. It is believed that at first the father wrote a poetic version, and the son had already rewritten the fairy tale in prose.
The work of Charles and Pierre Perrault was first published in 1697 and has been in constant reprint ever since. Based on it, various cartoons and film adaptations appear. However, even before Charles Perrault, many knew the story of a poor girl forced to endure an evil stepmother.
The first story about a poor girl who lost her shoe and married a prince appeared before our era. Scientists, studying ancient Egyptian papyri, have deciphered the story of a girl named Rhodopis. Only her slipper was not crystal, but wooden.
Then, in one version or another, stories about a girl who lost her mother and found herself in the power of an evil stepmother began to appear at different times, in different countries and under different names. So, for example, in China, a hardworking heroine who went to a ball in golden shoes and met a rich groom there was called Ye-shien. A few facts about different versions of the fairy tale "Cinderella":
One of the most famous variations of the fairy tale about Cinderella belongs to the Brothers Grimm. In their retelling, instead of a fairy, the heroine gets magic nuts. But her sister still gets to the prince, she managed to put on a small shoe, as she simply cut off her fingers. But the deception is quickly revealed and the main character finds happiness with the prince.
The second known version belongs to the Italian author Giambattista Basile. In his tale, the poor girl herself deals with the evil stepmother and soon finds happiness with a handsome prince.
In both versions, there is violence that can frighten young children. Therefore, Perrault's fairy tale with a pumpkin carriage, a fairy and a ball received the greatest popularity.
This is one of the most popular "wandering stories", which has over a thousand incarnations in the folklore of different peoples of the world.
The earliest known version of the tale is found on Egyptian papyri. The main character of the tale is a girl named Rhodopis who was born in Greece. She was kidnapped by pirates who brought her to Egypt, where they sold her into slavery. The owner bought her elegant gold-plated leather sandals. While Rhodopis was bathing in the river, a falcon (this falcon was the god Horus) stole her sandal and took it to the pharaoh. The sandal was so small and elegant that the pharaoh immediately announced a national search. When he found Rhodopis - Cinderella - he immediately married her.
The king of a small country, a widower with a daughter from his first marriage, a lovely and kind girl, married an arrogant and evil lady with two daughters who looked like a mother in everything. The father "obeyed his new wife in everything." The stepmother makes her stepdaughter live in the attic, sleep on a straw bed and do the hardest and dirtiest work. After work, the girl usually rests, sitting on a box of ashes near the fireplace, so the sisters called her Cinderella. Cinderella's stepsisters bathe in luxury, and she meekly endures their ridicule.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the fur trade experienced its heyday. It was not easy to get furs then: you had to make long and dangerous journeys to the northern countries; because of this, furs were extremely expensive. In those days, as now, high prices only increased demand: after all, vanity knows no barriers. In France, and likewise in other countries, the wearing of furs was a privilege established by royal decree of the nobility, and this explains why the ermine appears so often on ancient coats of arms; some rare furs, such as the vair, which, without any doubt, is nothing more than royal sable, were only entitled to be worn by kings, dukes and nobles holding certain positions. Distinguished vair, consisting of small, and vair, consisting of large skins; this word has been out of use for a hundred years and has been forgotten by everyone to such an extent that even in countless reprints of Perrault's Tales about Cinderella's famous shoe, which was originally, apparently, from a small vair, it is now said that it is crystal (verre) .
In the future, this version became widespread, but not everyone shared this point of view. For example, in the work of Anatole France "The Book of my friend" (chapter "Talk about fairy tales"), the following dialogue takes place between the characters:
Laura. After all, it is wrong to say that Cinderella had crystal slippers. It is impossible to imagine slippers made of the same material as the decanter. Shoes lined with squirrel fur are more acceptable, but still it is not very smart to take a girl to a ball in such shoes. In fur shoes, Cinderella's legs would look like fluffy pigeon legs. You have to be crazy about dancing to dance in fur shoes. But all girls are like this: if they had lead soles, they would still dance.
Raymond. Cousin, I told you to beware of common sense. Cinderella was shod not in fur, but in crystal shoes, transparent, like the glass of Saint-Gobain, like the waters of a spring, like rock crystal. You know that she had magic shoes, and that says it all)).
It was also pointed out that even if in the folk version of the fairy tale the shoes were not made of glass, then this image could appear in the fairy tale not as a result of an error (of the author or publishers), since Perrault could create the image of glass shoes quite consciously. For example, the writer Claude Metra pointed to the symbolic meaning of glass:
The glass was not chosen by chance. There is something similar to the idea of luminous transparency, which is the opposite of the dirty face at the beginning of the tale. At the same time, glass is created by fire, it is a natural substance that is completely transformed thanks to the ashes ... and to some extent, this glass can be a symbol of the fact that a human being can, like God himself, create a world that is both a world of light and transparency. At the end of the story, Cinderella, Ash's bride, becomes the Sun's bride.
French writer Emile Deschanel also assumed that the image of glass slippers was created by the author not by mistake, but to enhance the "wonderfulness" of the tale:
Go to the ball, dance, shod in glass! It is precisely the fact that this is impossible that is especially striking and seems magical ... And perhaps Perrault went for it deliberately.
Paul Delarue was also a supporter of the version of glass, not fur shoes:
From a symbolic point of view, as opposed to a prosaic approach, glass fits perfectly. Glass is a common symbol of virginity. It is fragile and can only be broken once.
It is also indicated that the heroines of fairy tales, presumably created before the appearance of Perrault's book, wear glass shoes, and in those countries where there are no homonyms, because of which it is possible to confuse fur and glass. For example, in a Scottish tale that seems older than Perrault's version, a magical black lamb presents a girl with glass slippers. Glass slippers are also mentioned in Irish tales.
Based on the French fairy tale, numerous feature and animated films have been released: both direct adaptations and complete rethinking using individual plot elements.
As for the version of the Brothers Grimm, the 1973 adaptation of Three Nuts for Cinderella is considered a classic in Germany. A comic book of the same name was also released, adapting the story with a modern twist, as part of the Grimm Fairy Tales series of reimagined tales.
