Cinderella (Grimm's Fairy Tales) detailed information

Cinderella is a character in a fairy tale. It was originally widely circulated among European people and was later popularized by the French writer Charles Perrault (1697) and the German Brothers Grimm (Jacob et Wilhelm). Grimm, 1812) were collected and compiled. There are different versions of similar stories in many languages, including French, German, Italian, Swedish, and even Chinese (Yehian), Slavic, and Celtic. Basic introduction Chinese name: Cinderella Foreign name: Cinderella Other names: Cinderella Dubbing: Bai Xuecen (Chinese) Appearance: "Cinderella"

"Cinderella" Gender: Female Origin and Popularity, Origin, popular version, popularity, story outline, historical background, character evaluation, story controversy, origin of name, Cinderella's shoes, Chinese plot, origin and popular origin The image of Cinderella can be traced back to a very early period. The Greek historian Strabo ("Geographica" 17, 1.33) once recorded the story of Rhodopis, a Greek girl married to Egypt in the 1st century BC. This is considered the earliest version of the "Cinderella" story. Version. Rhodopis was washing clothes by the stream when an eagle flew by and snatched her shoe away, causing it to fall at the feet of the Pharaoh in Memphis. The Pharaoh then asked all the women in the country to try on the shoe to see if it fit, and finally found Rhodopis. The Pharaoh fell in love with Rhodopis and married her. This story is also later found in Claudius Aelianus's Various Historia. Illustrations by Gustave Dole Another version of "Cinderella" is that of China's Ye Xian, found in Duan Chengshi's novel "Youyang Zazu" around 860 AD. In the story, the diligent and lovely Ye Xian keeps a goldfish. The goldfish has a close relationship with Ye Xian, and it only floats to the surface and sticks out its head every time Ye Xian walks to the edge of the pool. Later, the goldfish was killed by Ye Xian's stepmother. Ye Xian raised the fish bones according to the instructions of the gods, and was able to secretly attend a festival wearing decent clothes. While rushing home, Ye Xian left behind a shoe. The king of the island country "Tuohan" found the shoes, fell in love with Ye Xian and married her. In addition, similar stories are recorded in many medieval works such as "One Thousand and One Nights". In Europe, the earliest version of "Cinderella" was called "La Gatta Cenerentola", also known as "The Hearth Cat", which was found in "Pentamerone" (Five Days Talk) in 1635 by the Italian fairy tale collector Gimbaldista Basile. ) book. This version laid the foundation for later versions by French writer Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. Popular Version One of the most popular versions of "Cinderella" comes from the French writer Charles Perrault. New pumpkins, fairies and glass slippers are added to this version. It was once believed that Cinderella in Perrault's version originally wore shoes made of squirrel fur ("pantoufle en vair"), but after the story was translated into English, the shoes were mistaken for being made of crystal, leading to the phenomenon of crystal. The emergence of shoes. This version of Cinderella finally forgives her two sisters. Another famous version is from the Brothers Grimm. In this version, it is not the fairy who helps Cinderella attend the ball but the wishing tree on her mother's grave. It was the golden shoe that brought Cinderella good luck, and at the same time, the two sisters wanted to trick the prince by cutting off a small part of the foot to fit into the shoe. The two little birds reminded the prince, and at the end of the story they pecked out the eyes of the two sisters. ***The heroine who is sexually unfairly treated meets the male protagonist with the help of supernatural powers. The heroine identifies her identity through something and combines the male and female protagonists. Synopsis of the story Charles Perrault version Once upon a time, there was a very beautiful girl. A vicious stepmother and two ill-intentioned sisters. She was often bullied by her stepmother and two sisters, and was forced to do heavy work. She was often covered in dust, so she was nicknamed "Cinderella". One day, the prince in the city held a ball and invited all the girls in the city to attend. However, her stepmother and two sisters did not allow Cinderella to attend and asked her to do a lot of work, which made her disappointed and sad. At this time, a fairy appeared and helped her transform into a noble daughter. She also turned the mouse into a groom, the pumpkin into a carriage, and also changed a set of beautiful clothes and a pair of crystal (glass) shoes for Cinderella to wear. . Cinderella was very happy and hurried to the palace to attend the ball. The fairy reminded her before she set off that she could not stay until midnight, as the magic would be automatically lifted after twelve o'clock. Cinderella agreed and she attended the ball. The prince was fascinated by her as soon as he saw her and immediately invited her to dance. The happy time passed quickly, and it was almost midnight. Cinderella had no choice but to leave immediately, leaving a glass slipper in her haste. The prince was very sad, so he sent a minister to visit the country to find a girl who could wear the glass slipper. Despite the obstacles of his stepmother and sister, the minister successfully found Cinderella. The prince was very happy and proposed to Cinderella. Cinderella agreed, and the two lived happily ever after.

Cinderella trying on the glass slipper (painting by Gustave Doré) Historical background This story type usually contains the following elements: a kind but unfortunate heroine, the death of the heroine's mother, bullying of the heroine by new family members, The magical power that helps the heroine overcome difficulties and ultimately brings her happiness is used to identify the heroine's one thing - shoes. Therefore, Stith Thompson classified the "Cinderella" story into the Arnel-Thompson story type in the Motif-Index of Folk Literature. Pantomime "Cinderella" The story "Ye Xian" recorded by Duan Chengshi of the Tang Dynasty in my country in his sequel "Zhinuo Gao" to "Youyang Zazu" is the earliest record of the "Cinderella" folk tale in the world ( About mid-9th century AD). In this story, what helps the heroine is a fish bone, and what brings her happiness is a gold shoe. However, because the record date of "Ye Xian" is more accurate and longer, and the tone of the text implies that people at that time had often heard about this story, the "Ye Xian" story seems to be closer to the true nature of this type of story. Therefore, some scholars believe that this type of story originated in China. In 1697, Charles Perrault's "Histoires ou contes du temps passé, avec des moralités: Contes de ma mère l'Oye" ("Tales of Mother Goose") was published in Paris. For a long time, people have believed that the story "Cinderella" included in this collection of stories is the earliest record of such a story in Europe. Of course, some earlier versions of the story have been found in Europe, but Perrault's "Cinderella" story is the one that has had the greatest impact. Among the three variations, only Perrault's story contains the well-known "Cinderella" elements such as fairies, pumpkin carriages and glass slippers. There are no less than 1,500 similar variations of the "Cinderella"-style fairy tale in myths and legends spread around the world. There are many similar legends among China's 56 ethnic groups and some extinct and integrated ethnic groups. There are 72 different stories that have been recorded and preserved to this day, which is an astonishing number. It can be seen that for thousands of years, people have had a difficult to let go of the phenomenon of "Cinderella". Character evaluation is positive. It is generally believed that the story of Cinderella conveys to us such a life experience process - under any ridicule, difficulties and bullying, we must endure hardships and live humiliatingly. Even if it is extremely difficult and difficult, as long as we have the hope for a better future. Have unlimited hope, maintain a kind and positive attitude, and you will eventually have a happy life. These principles can be seen from people's cultivation of the "Cinderella" phenomenon for thousands of years. However, just as there are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people, from the fairy tale of Cinderella, we can also see more things: the importance of punctuality, personal appearance, maternal love, friendship, and self-love. Negatives: Sociological experts point out that some classic fairy tales passed down from generation to generation, such as "Cinderella", "Snow White" and "Sleeping Beauty", promote the wrong concept of judging people by their appearance and are suspected of misleading the majority of children. Experts from Purdue University in Indiana, USA, studied 168 fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm and found that most fairy tales are suspected of judging people by their appearance, and use beauty as the only evaluation criterion in daily life. 94% of them mentioned appearance, and on average, each fairy tale 13.6 times, one article mentioned women's beauty 114 times, 17% of the articles related ugliness with evil, and in many stories, ugly women met a tragic end. "Girls grow up hearing fairy tales about princesses who are successful simply because their beauty sets them apart," said Liz Grauerholz, associate professor of sociology. She said that despite these fairy tales, It may cause girls to ignore education, not pursue career success, and only think about "smelly beauty", but this does not mean that parents should throw away these fairy tales or avoid telling them. The correct approach is to communicate with them. Children discuss the plot and characters of the story together. Grauerholtz praised the Hollywood cartoon "Shrek" as a rare fairy tale that does not judge books by their appearance. Perhaps, in the future, when telling stories to children, we should no longer say: "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess...", but should start like this: "Once upon a time, there was a plain-looking princess..." Alternative evaluation of the story Is there any other story about this story? What's unreasonable? After 12 o'clock at midnight, everything will change back to its original state, but Cinderella's glass slipper has not changed back. Even great writers make mistakes sometimes. What we want is the ending where the princess and the prince live happily together. This story has triggered a trend in contemporary times, and many contemporary "girlless girls" want to become Cinderella. At the same time, this story is told to children after all, so it is too one-sided. Cinderella was abused by her stepmother and her stepmother's daughter, which misled the children into thinking that their stepmothers were witch-level figures. Cinderella only knew how to endure it and did not know. Resistance and lack of modern inspirational spirit. Story controversy Origin of the name Cendrillon is Cinderella's French name, but it is not actually the character's real name, but a nickname. The word Cendrillon is a compound of the two French words cendre and souillon.

The "cendre" that makes up the first part of Cendrillon means "ash" in French. It was named this because Cinderella lay on the charcoal ashes to rest after working and was always dirty; souiillon is "*** "" means the two sisters' disparaging name for Cinderella. Cinderella also has another nickname, Cucendron (cu means cul, which means "***" in Chinese; cendron means the same as the above-mentioned cendre, which means "ash"), which is also given by her tacky sister. . As for Cinderella's real name, we have no way of knowing. Both nicknames for Cinderella come from the word cendre, which has always symbolized humiliation and penance: it was used in the Bible, the Odyssey, and the church fathers. Cinderella's Shoes The description of the last shoe that Cinderella falls on varies in each version. In the Brothers Grimm version, the shoe is made of gold; in Charles Perrault's version, Cinderella wears a glass slipper. Cinderella left a shoe behind in her haste. There is some controversy surrounding the idea of ??a glass slipper. According to several versions, Cinderella's shoes at that time were not actually made of verre (glass), but vair (squirrel fur), but the pronunciation of the two words happened to be exactly the same. Charles Perrault's version of 1697 mentions "la pantoufle de verre" (the glass slipper), which seems to be true, as it often appears in Scottish, Catalan and Irish customs. Shoes made of glass or crystal. Honoré de Balzac and Mile Littré once suggested using squirrel fur vair instead of glass verre, but this was not unanimously recognized because no one had ever used squirrel fur to make shoes. Wearing squirrel fur shoes to a ball is not appropriate. In the seventeenth century, the time of Charles Perrault, glass was a rare and precious substance for ordinary people. Moreover, if you want to wear glass shoes, the size of the shoes must completely match your feet, which further shows their specialness. Therefore, it is more reasonable to choose "glass shoes" instead of "squirrel fur shoes". Chinese plot There are dozens of girls online called Cinderella. Every girl hopes that one day, a prince will fish her out of the crowd, get on the pumpkin carriage, and become a princess. In fact, China also has its own Cinderella, named Ye Xian. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, there was a Peach Blossom Spring with a cave inside. The owner of the cave had a daughter named Ye Xian. Her father married a step-wife. Later, after his father died, the step-mother began to abuse Ye Xian, often making the little girl go to fetch water in places with high mountains, long rivers and long roads. According to legend, those who suffer are always blessed. Ye Xian happily caught a carp with golden eyes, kept it quietly in a pond, and fed it every day. The stepmother found out, secretly put on Ye Xian's old clothes, walked to the pond, and killed the fish. This fish is more than ten feet long and tastes great. After the stepmother finished eating the fish, she licked her mouth and buried the fish bones. The next day, Ye Xian came to the pond and saw the golden carp missing. She burst into tears. Suddenly, someone with disheveled hair descended from the sky and comforted her and said, "Don't cry, little girl. Just put the fish bones in the house. You can have whatever you want." Ye Xian did as he was told, and as expected, there were gold, silver and jewelry at his disposal. arrive. The festival is here, and Ye Xian’s stepmother takes Ye Xian’s half-sister out to attend a carnival party in all her glory, leaving Ye Xian to look after the house. Ye Xian had beautiful clothes, jewelry, and designer handbags. While his stepmother was out, he quickly put on a long emerald green chiffon dress and hand-beaded gold shoes and rushed to the party. However, the half-sister had sharp eyes and recognized Ye Xian, so Ye Xian had to sneak away quickly, and in a hurry, a golden shoe was left behind. The one who got the shoes was the king of a small seaside country. He searched everywhere, but no woman from all over the world could fit into the clothes, and finally found Ye Xian's home. Of course, the stepmother's daughter can't fit into this golden shoe either. Ye Xian appeared in that emerald green chiffon dress, and then put on these gold shoes, which just fit her feet. When the king saw Ye Xian, he was so shocked that he married her home as his queen. Then kill the cruel stepmother and daughter. From then on, the king of this small country and Ye Xian lived a prosperous and happy life. It should be noted that when Duan Chengshi of the Tang Dynasty wrote the notebook novel "Youyang Zazu", the Brothers Grimm would not be born until 900 years later. Of course, because Green's knowledge of ancient Chinese prose is not that good, I can only say on Green's behalf that any similarity is purely God's will. Everyone sincerely believes that daughters from poor families must be kind-hearted and stunningly beautiful; stepmothers must be vicious; and half-sisters must be stupid and ugly. This is the case at all times and in all countries. Moreover, in the end of the fairy tale, beauty and kindness must win love, money, status, and the world.