Conkiajgharuna, the Little Rag Girl

I read an Georgian version for my Cinderella version called Conkiajgharuna, the Little Rag Girl. It basically had the same story line as the conventional Cinderella that we are all very familiar with. The characters are similar as well, with a widowed father who lived with his biological daughter. He takes another wife that already had a daughter of her own, whom she loved dearly. And she comes to view the other daughter as something to hate and wanted to get rid of her. She lavished her own daughter and treated her stepdaughter, Little Rag Girl, miserably and tried to starve her. The fairy godmother from the conventional fairy tales is now instead a talking cow. Although the person in the position as the fairy god mother is different, they both still encompass that aspect of magic that helps to grant Cinderella/Little Rag Girl’s wishes. In this version, there is another pseudo fairy godmother, the old woman devi. Little Rag Girl is very much like Cinderella for she was filled with goodness in her heart. Just in like the Perrault’s version where Cinderella forgives her evil sisters and offers them lodging at the palace and even marries them off to great lords of the courts. Little Rag Girl helps the old woman devi clean her head of the worms- the conduct pleased her so she tells Little Rag Girl to washed her hair and her hands. In doing so, her hair and hands became golden. There is a more religious aspect to Little Rag Girl, as they are going to a church instead of a ball at a palace. But she still drops a golden slipper that becomes the standard and way of choosing a wife. Two very different aspects of this version of Cinderella is that it mentions race- the evil step sister becomes dark and African in ethnicity when she is tricked to washed in the black river and Little Rag Girl is more proactive and takes matters into her own hands by pricking the king with the needle- she didn’t just hide in the corner while her step sister tried on the slipper. She made herself known and went for what she wanted.

Kashmirella

Wow...this was a popular one!  I just picked it because I love Zeppelin's "Kashmir"...and it was short.

Instead of repeating what the others have said, I thought I'd hit one element I found particularly striking.  Was there any purpose to the stepmother, mother, brother, stepsister, father, or starvation at all?  Couldn't the girl have just gone to the river from the beginning and won the love of the king without all the drama with the goat?  There is no indication that she had to go to the river because of her hunger, her sadness over the loss of her mother, or chores her stepmother is forcing her to do.  Also, the luck with the fish was in no way associated with the mother's promise that they'd be fed; it seems that going to the river was an act completely independent of the rest of the story.

"The Wicked Stepmother"

The version that I decided to read was “The Wicked Stepmother,” which is a version from Kashmir that was published in 1893. What brought my attention to this tale was the fact that it focused on the evil stepmother over the good, innocent, abused daughter. I found it really interesting that the story of Cinderella as I think of it (a girl who is not allowed to go to the ball but goes anyway and meets the prince and looses a slipper, then gets married and becomes Queen) does not play a large part. In fact it isn’t even brought up until the very last paragraph. The good mother is still very much alive in this version and serves as the magical helper. She provides her children with food since the wicked stepmother does not give them much to eat. Even after the good mother, who had been turned into a goat, is killed, she continues to help them. Like in the story of Yeh-hsien, the bones of the deceased creature provide the good child/children with what they need. While magic is present, it is not emphasized. It is not the fairy-like magic that we see in Disney’s version. It is simply there to keep the children from starving to death, but does not play a part in the girl becoming queen aspect of the story.

In the end of the tale, one of the daughters loses her nose ring in the river while washing her face and it is found by a cook who gives it to the king. Then the girl’s brother goes to the king to claim it as her nose ring. When the king sees her, he is so attracted to her that they get married. This is similar to the version I have grown up knowing in that some accessory is lost by the girl and found by a prince/king who then marries her. However, there is no ball or questioning of identity of the mysterious woman. I found it really interesting that the stepmother is the center of attention throughout this tale.

This Sounds Familiar

For my version of Cinderella I chose to read Indian Cinderella. I thought the title sounded familiar, and hoping for a Native American type, rather than a subcontinental type, I was correct! I have actually read this story before, in perhaps late middle school or early high school when I was babysitting a little boy and girl in my hometown, Coppell, TX. This is apparently a Canadian story written in 1920. The version I read a long time ago was a picture book. I remember when I read it long ago to those kids that I thought it was pretty horrible that they scarred the girl's face with coal. I think it's interesting that even though its title refers to the 'cinderella' character, the Chief's Youngest Daughter, no one has a name except for the 'prince-like' character, Strong Wind. His version of the perfect fit is being able to see him, which honestly, I dunno. The whole tale is a reasoning behind why aspen trees tremble when it's windy. I love tales that explain phenomena, but for that one, I think it's pretty self explanatory. This version can stick with you, but I wouldn't buy the picture book... rent it from the library.

Assignment: 24 February 2009

Look through the sites below and choose either an illustration(s) or a version of the Cinderella story which we have not read for class and respond to it.

• D. L. Ashliman’s folktale site
• Sur La Lune
• The Cinderella Project at the University of Mississippi