Transformation of Cinderella and Magical Frogs

23 Dec 2002 Transformation of Cinderella and Magical Frogs
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/fairytales_myths_fables_&legends/97230

Commonly recurring themes in Plato are education and the "good". What has this to do with fairy tales? Much. In the Republic, Book II, Socrates is discussing with Glaucon and Adeimantos about children's upbringing to create a better society. Regardless of how many centuries go by, Plato is always modern. Already they have divided the the social classes and discussed the upper and lower crusts, which leads Socrates back into the problem of how some people land in the bottom of society or become corrupted while others are ennobled.In doing he opens the discussion of education as a form of reform or formation. The guardian's role is crucial to the upbringing of the yonger generation so that it is less likely to go astray... or rather so that it has the greatest opportunity to develop virtue. Naturally, this includes whether one is allowed to teach false or untrue tales.

"Now you know the beginning is always the chief thing in every process, especially for whatever is young and tender; for it then the most easily moulded and each takes the shape which you want to impress upon each."

"Exactly."

"Then shall we just carelessly allow the children to hear any chance fables moulded by chance persons, and to receive in their souls opinions which are generally contrary to those which we believe they ought to have when they grow up?"

Most certainly not."

"Then first, as it seems. we must set up a censorship over the fable-makers, and approve any good fable they make, and disapprove the bad; those which are approved we will persuade the mothers and nurses to tell the children, and to mould the souls of the children by the fables even more carefully than the bodies of their hands. most of those they tell now must be thrown away."*

And then in the ensuing dialogue immediately discounts the Greek classics of the time, Hesiod and homer, for being spurous material for children and that children must not be taught about,

"the battles between the gods which Homer describes, we must not admit into our city, whether they are explained as allegory or not. For the young person is not able to judge what is allegory and what is not; but he will keep in his mind indelible and unchangeable whatever opinions he receives at that age. Therefore perhaps we must be specially careful that what they hear first are the noblest things told in the best fables for encouraging virtue. " *

The Supreme Court has been busy ever since the Vatican lost control over banning books. It is not only children who do not recognize and understand fables, but adults. The Grimm brothers originally collected stories as a form of nationalistic rebellion and patriotism. The original versions were never meant for children to read, but were heavily annotated for academic scholarship. Only later were the stories adapted as a literary form. All good writers craft words carefully. Had they been only old wives tales found abandoned in the street, very likely they would have died and not influenced others so greatly. The stories were revised as edification for children in accordance to Plato's precepts. They teach.

Both Cinderella and Frog King are transformation stories. However, they reflect opposite problems of reality and illusion. Cinderella embodies the Platonic ideas of the natural good. She is born the daughter of a wealthy man. She belongs in the upper society and therefore is noble from her birth. The stepmother and step-sisters are gold-diggers. There's nothing much real about their nobility. They act shrewish, have false values, are bulllies and steal what doesn't belong to them. Although rich on the outside, they are poor; whereas Cinderella must be redeemed because she embodies nobility. She is long-suffering, patient, kind...all those virtues that Saint Paul writes about in his Epistles-- the embodiement of Christ. She is redeemed. And although the people around her cannot see her true beauty, the Prince recognizes it immediately at the ball where she truly belongs. Yet at the ball, her connving stepsisters and stepmother do not even recognize her. They are blind to the reality of her goodness and her beauty. This says somehing about love, also. Usually we are blind about the virtues of a person until finally charmed by the personality. Then, we can become blind to the faults.

Frog King presents the opposite dilemma.. The princess with the golden ball is a rude, self-centered brat, playing with golden ball, not golden; rather gold. She is so beautiful, that the sun, stops in the sky to gaze upon her. Accidental wording? Hardly. The brothers knew literature, including Ovid's Metamorphoses. The allusion carries over. Apollo was bedazzled by her beauty, only it is superficial. She is haughty and rude to the frog who retrieves her ball from the bottom of the well, calling him a "garstiger Frosch" a hateful, despicable, repulsive frog. All three words fit easily into the one. Not only does she try buying him off with superficiality, "my pearls, jewels, clothes" routine, but even throws in a crown which is not hers to give. She has no crown. Both the gold ball and crown rightfully belong to her father who has autonomy over his kingdom. And after promising the frog that she will be his mate, she abandons him. Utterly false in her words, she thinks one thing, yet does another. Born the daughter of a King, she is no more than a shrew. What seems good is bad, and what seems ugly and hateful, is good. The frog tolerates her rudeness, acts chivalrously and speaks kindly; yet she is nasty back.

The two stories are mirrors of each other teaching that not all that seems real, is true or good.

*Great Dialogues of Plato, transl by W H D Rouse, edit by Eric H Warmington and Philip G Rouse; Mentor Book, Penguin, UK ISBN: 04516282276 c1984, p174, p175

Sur la Lune Fairytales: The Frog King
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/frogking/index.html
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales
Margaret Hunt, transl, London: George Bell, 1884

Der Froschkoenig
http://www.fln.vcu.edu/grimm/frosch.html
Foreign Languages Dept, Virginia Commonwealth University

The Frog King
http://www.fln.vcu.edu/grimm/frog.html
Foreign Languages Dept, Virginia Commonwealth University

Child Abuse and Cinderella: Social Blindness

16 Dec 2002 Child Abuse and Cinderella: Social Blindness
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/fairytales_myths_fables_&legends/97081

Certainly the Grimm brothers were only collecting folk-tales and didn't mean to insinuate any social comments.

A major controversy in literary criticism is the reflection of the writer within his works, but certainly the brothers were sensitive to deprivation and hardship that surrounded them and the plight of impoverished children. No doubt, they were and are powerful advocates of social reform, competing with Charles Dickens for psychological insight and influence. And although, it's tempting to consider only the kitschy Disney version with it's saccharine treatment of Cinderella's neglect with the happily-ever-after ending, a quick look at contemporary news headlines should be enough to convince anyone that the Grimms were grim. True that duct tape is a recent invention with which some parents restrain their children, inadvertantly starving or killing them; but child abuse and neglect is such an ugly aspect of social history that it looks much prettier in technicolor with pumpkins turning into carriages and mice into footmen.

To shrug off the implications of child neglect and abandonment in the story is to be blind to the grave injustices of society. Very likely, the same people who read the schmaltzy picture books as bedtime stories to lull their children to sleep are the same ones who rail against parental abuse and the horrific stories dominating headlines about a child duct-taped into a high-chair, mummified under 42feet of duct tape:

Nando Times-Nation: Ex-adoption caseworker gets 20 years in child's death
by Clarke Canfield Augusta ME Sept 26,2002 2:47pm EDT
http://www.nandotimes.com/nation/story/551539p-4351671c.html

It's easy to turn away and say, "oh that's Florida or Texas" both infamous for violence and politicians, but when it's across the street, we turn our heads and criticise the drug addicts who have children, excusing ourselves from social responsibility and extenuating the hellish conditions children suffer through neglect or parental abuse. Surely, this is exactly what the Grimm brothers did point at, for the theme of abuse and neglect runs through not only their stories but throughout fairytale and folk literature. The difference is that the better-off members of society read Cinderella as a bedtime story whereas children throughout the world, particularly in the US, live in such conditions without any real justification other than that they are invisible to society. Unwanted as financial or emotional burdens, they are cast aside, abandoned in such horrific conditions that seasoned policemen and reporters are shocked; yet the neighbor next door or the social careworker will glibly say, "I didn't know" or "everything seemed okay". The tragedy is

that the Cinderella's of this world are speechless with grief, isolated by silence and social blindness, frequently not able to speak in self-defense or prevail against the oppressive parents and society that expects them to survive.

The recognition of Cinderella as a member of society only takes place when she is transformed into a beautiful princess at the ball. Only then does she win the attention of the prince and society. A glance at Google News reflects this: Zsa-zsa and Winona dominated the headlines for weeks with their personal dramas attracting public interest and gossip columns internationally; but children everywhere suffer the abuse of Cinderella—go without adequate clothing, proper nutrition and endure hardship within the house of a rich father—the United States, and are told to shut-up, be quiet or go to sleep when really they are very hungry, tired and in great need of love. The headlines, revealing their stories, vanish in a couple days. A fairytale? Hardly. It is just inconvenient to admit to the injustices of society when after all what you want for Christmas is a Sony PlayStation 2. or more trivial: a robotic dog or fur coat or a pretty Walt Disney movie.

Seattle P-I: The Truth Dies with Them: A P-I Special Report Oct 31-Nov 1, 2002
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/family.asp

Seattle P-I: Photos are all she has now of son killed by abusive boyfriend
by Ruth Teichroeb Friday, Nov 1, 2002
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/93653_sara01.shtml
story of Sara Buchanan and 6 yr old Justin. Bremerton police described death as murder by torture

Seattle P-I Special Report: Fatal Neglect: Children in a state of neglect
The orginal report published April 12, 2002
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/fatalneglect/index.asp
a series of p-i investigative reports of child neglect within the state administrative services care

Seattle P-I: A police officer's lament: Dogs are better protected than children by state law
By Teresa Berg, Pierce County Detective Sunday, April 14, 2002
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/64968_bergop.shtml
a personal editorial by a police detectiven regarding a child found on a drug-bust

Seattle P-I: For children, neglect can hurt as much as abuse
By Carol Cummings Sunday, April 14, 2002
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/66018_cummingsop.shtml
personal record of a public official involved with child neglect cases

Nando Times: Nation: Stepfather of girl locked in closet sentenced life in prison
by Susan Parrott, AP Dallas Dec 12, 2002 6:07pm EST
http://www.nandotimes.com/nation/story/672181p-5017705c.h
five years of abuse locked in a closet, deprived of food and toilet facilities

Nando Times: Nation: Mother arrested after twins found in attic with rats
AP Aurora, MO Dec 3, 2002 11:44pm EST
http://www.nandotimes.com/nation/story/658393p-4940085c.html
children fodder for rats?

Nando Times- Nation: Analysis: A National tradgedy that needs a natinal strategy
by Kathy A Gambrell UPI Dec 3, 2002 4:03pm EST
http://www.nandotimes.com/nation/story/657543p-4936937c.html
summaries of cases nationwide of child abuse and neglect
the case of Eric Horridge who lost his son, Collin
absent father who protested the abuse of his children but was ignored by child care authorities

" The steady stream of these abuse horror stories has become a modern fairy tale for the public. It either ends very well or very badly. No matter what, there is a sense of helplessness on the part of those who see the problem as a byproduct of government inefficiency."

Google News Search retrieval on "abused children"
http://www.news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=%22abused+children%22
over 300 hits from around world between Sept 2001-Sept 2002

The Hazelnut Tree in Cinderella

8 Dec 2002 Hazelnut Tree
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/fairytales_myths_fables_&legends/96927

"It happened one day that the father went to the fair, and he asked his two step-daughters what he should bring back for them.

"Fine clothes." said one.

"Pearls and jewels!" said the other.

"But what will you have, Aschenputtel?" said he.

"The first twig, father, that strikes against your hat on the way home; that is wht I should like you to bring me."

(Grimms' Fairy Tales, Woolworth Edition, 1993 p119)

The father is confused in his values. Eager to please, he has placed the step-sisters over his own daughter. They want the things of life that make them look beautiful on the outside, the things that attract attention in society on the gossip pages of Salon or the Tatler: clothes and fine jewels. Never mind that they might happily back up their Jags or Bentley's over pedestrians accidentally getting in the way of their temper-tantrums, or be caught cutting price-tags off designer clothes. For them, appearance, not manners or ethics, is what matters. Make sure the makeup is polished and the clothes immaculate for the sentencing in court to solicit the admiration and sympathy of the papparazzi and the invisible international audience.

Cinderella is a country bumpkin. She asks for a twig off the a tree rather than anything valuable. Obviously, her father is a successful merchant. She has the right to ask for more, but his values are upside-down. He wishes to ingratiate himself with those who hold the social limelight--not those who do the dirty work. The story divides society into the glitterati and street-sweepers. The stepsisters ursurp her position, deriding her, " Is this stupid creature to sit in the same room with us?... those who eat food must earn it." In doing so, they deprive her of self-esteem and social worth. Nazis employed similar arguments to subjugate Jews by the notorious Nurenburg Laws, elevating the Aryan Race.

Deprived of rightful social position and personal possessions, Cinderella asks for a twig. Why a hazelnut tree? The figure of a tree recalls the verses from Psalm 1:

1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night,

3. And he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water, that bringeth forth fruit in his season; his leaf shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. (KJV)

After seven years a hazel can bear fruit if the catkins and branches are uncut. The hazel is not prized for its fruit like the walnut, nor is it a stately tree that is valued for its wood. Hazels are nearly invisible beneath the discarded leaves, frequently embedded in prickly burs nearly impossible to extricate. As a result, hazels are often ignored, left for birds and squirrels, rather than gathered for human consumption. A strong wind blows against the walnut and the nuts fall heavily to the gound, raked up in a few moments. Their hulls pop off easily, leaving the brown nuts conspicuous. Hazels though, remain inside burs that must be gathered and then tediously extracted before the tedium of cracking and picking the kernels from the shells. The hazel has nearly 50% more food value weight per weight as a hen's egg in protein, fat and carbohydrates. The trees are supple and withstand stronger storms than the large walnut.

Perhaps the characteristics reveal something about Cinderella, who not beautiful or lofty, gets passed by and ignored. Supple like the hazel, she endures the hardship she faces and only after years of harsh weather, she bears the fruit of her labor. And like the hazel, her true value is hidden in beneath an outershell that is not beautiful. The hazel is thrice hidden because first it is the bur hidden among the fallen leaves and trodden underfoot; the nut within the prickly bur and finally the kernel within the shell. The true value of Cinderella is unseen by the passerby. Yet like the hazel, she develops and bears fruit, allowing those who desire it to stoop to find it among the discarded leaves of society.

Moreover, the fruit she bears is not immediately apparent, like the apple or pear; nor pleasing to the eye. The apple hangs handsomely with its ruddy cheeks against the green leaves and the pear in its golden beauty attracts the admiration of the bees; but both perish quickly once they have fallen on the ground. It takes some skill to store them for the winter, but the hazel dries easily and has important nutritional value. The psalm continues:

4. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away...

and concludes:

6. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Through the bitterness of her tears, the tree grows, becoming the home to the white bird. And yes, we think it is all a fairytale because we read the morning headlines screaming that a dissatisfied worker returned to his workplace with a gun and shot his co-workers dead; or a student, gun in hand, shot his teacher point blank in retribution of some imaginary wrong. A man, sitting on the backstairs, tired of listening to his girlfriend's voice, shot her through the head. We feel justified to clamor against anything we perceive as infringing on our petty self-indulgent turf. Few want to accept responsibility and culpability for personal decisions and actions. So much better to sue MacDonalds or Phillip Morris for millions than accept responsibility, although plainly marked for years on cigarette packages and years of doctor's warnings. Why accept the consequences when you can blame someone else? Grossly overweight teens can sue the local fast food chains for their own gluttony; but Cinderella is the model of integrity. Enduring grave injustice, she matures to gain her reward.

Psalm 1
The Blue Letter Bible
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Psa/Psa001.html#3
http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/popup/1039356858-3476.html

The Blue Letter Bible
http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/words/1039355255-1310.html
carries a Septaguint, Vulgate, KVJ and nive other translations with lexicons, concordances and commentaries available.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/words/1039355255-1310.html
tree

Psalm 92
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Psa/Psa092.html#12
which is used to welcome Shabbat on Friday night

Proverbs 3: 11-18
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Pro/Pro003.html#18
wisdom is compared to the fruit of a tree

Proverbs 11:30-31
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Pro/Pro011.html#30
fruit of the righteous is the tree of life

Jeremiah 7: 17-18
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Jer/Jer017.html#8
righteous man shall be like a tree planted by a river

Dove
Song of Songs 2: 10-14
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Sgs/Sgs002.html#14

Matthew 3:16
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Mat/Mat003.html#16

dove = holy spirit
Mark 1 :10
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Mar/Mar001.html#10
holy spirit as dove

Luke 3:22
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Luk/Luk003.html#22
baptism of Jesus

John 1:32
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Jhn/Jhn001.html#32
baptism of Jesus, dove as holy spirit

fruit-Ephesians 5:9
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Eph/Eph005.html#9

fruit- Hebrews 12:11
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Hbr/Hbr012.html#11

Cinderella: The Stolen Identity

2 Dec 2002 Cinderella: The Stolen Identity
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/fairytales_myths_fables_&legends/96814

Ask a class of students which is their favorite story, after a few minutes of hand-waving and jabbering, the consensus may be Cinderella. Universally appealing, the name appears frequently in romance novels and the perennial film industry with the boy-meets-girl happily-ever-after ending. Is that all there is?

The frosting on the cake may attract the surreptitious fingers of a passerby or five-year old, but not satisfy the appetite of a mature person without making them ill. How much of the story is actually devoted to the boy-girl meeting? Not much in comparison to the hardship and the trials that she goes through. Looking deeper, there are reasons why the reader identifies and sympathises with Cinderella and why the story is a favorite.

A brief look into the Grimm biography reveals that the boys were members of a large, but impecunious family of six children when their father died unexpectedly in 1796, leaving them with no place to live and no income for survival. The story of Cinderella opens with the deciding crisis that shapes her character and fate. Her mother calls the child to her deathbed with the exhortation:

"Dear child, be pious and good, and God will always take care of you, and I will look down upon you from heaven, and will be with you."

(Grimms' Fairy Tales, Wordsworth Edition, c 1993 ISBN 1-85326-101-7)

Certainly, the Grimm brothers knew of hardships and tests that confronted them as they struggled to assist their mother in keeping their family alive and together, as well as supporting themselves early on. Certainly, they disdained the ways ill-gotten gain and defended the spirit of German nationalism against the invading Napoleonic imperialism. The story is based clearly upon their own personal values and principles, presenting allegory that can be interpreted several ways. Central to the story is the injustice of stolen identity: an ursurped rightful social position by invasive and abusive authoritarian control. Within a short time of the mother's death, winter descends, covering the world in white. A few months later, the father took a new wife. Perfidious behaviour in a world of strict religious observations, for not even a year has passed since his wife's death.

The symbols are clear as Cinderella enters the winter of her young life. Although the daughter of a wealthy man, she lives with deprivation-- her rightful position as heiress is ursurped. A plot good for the newspaper columns of bungled murders as greedy conspirators prey on rich heiresses, but frequently get caught in the mayhem of the legal courts disposing properties of the deceased. The father, a merchant, becomes absent and negligent in his obligations to Cinderella. Turning a blind eye, he appeases the new mistress of his life.

Upon departure to a fair, he inquires of the stepsisters what gifts they desire. Their values are superficial, fine clothes and jewels that decorate the external appearance; but Cinderella requests the first twig of a tree that brushes against his hat upon his return-- which happened to be a hazel-twig.

Thanking her father for the present, Cinderella honors her mother's memory by planting it upon her grave, "weeping so bitterly that the tears fell upon it and watered it, and it flourished ..."

The negligent father and the faithful daughter are contrasted through the tree. Although hyperbole to claim a fine tree flourished from her tears, the figure is allegorical, not literal. Representing the tree of life with its branches reaching up into the heavens toward God and its roots descending into the underworld and the unknown, Cinderella seeks her reward elsewhere in a different sphere, She has no time to be concerned with the worldly things of life for they have been injustly stripped from her. This reflects the Grimm brothers themselves, suddenly deprived of the security of their father's civilian employment. Entering a hostile world of Napoleonic autoritanism, the brothers collected German folklore, engaging in intellectual pursuits to escape the harsh realities of their poverty and political oppression. Dispossessed of physical and financial wealth, the brothers became rich in enlightenment and faithful to their father's memory in caring for their extended family.

Dispossessed, Cinderella turns inward, seeking for internal liberty that comes only in spiritual enlightenment. She endures the dehumanization and debasement of her dominating step-family. We sympathise, having known the abusive boss who makes demands arbitrarily or drops excessive work unpredictably and then later boasts of his efficiency to his other colleagues. He takes the credit where there is none and deliberately shuts out any suggestion that his subordinates have toed the line and saved his neck more than a few times. A universal complaint-- of overworked nurses, covering for the absentee doctors that arrive just an hour too late after the patient has died, or the underseaman, taking the blame when the superior has clearly not checked the periscope depth before making the ultimate decision that splits a trawler in half. The sisters take

reward, hoarding it unjustly; touting a clean house while ridiculing the servant that lives in their midst. Deprived of her rightful position, Cinderella has nowhere but down to go, finding contentment in simple things that remind her of a better existence.

Yet, when we pass the beggar on the street, do we consider his existence ? Hurried, like the father, we dare not look closely, for we might find his misfortune disconcerting. So much easier to judge the person from his social position and clothes, rather than investigate the cause of penury. A famous beggar in Vienna, was once a celebrated cellist seeking asylum in the United States; but with the loss of his position and unfit for other work, he ended on the streets-- dirty, disoriented and dreaming of different times and different worlds when his life was filled with music.

Cinderella Romance Novels
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/cinder/Main.htm
by Erin McCrossan
Undergraduate Research Internship summer project 2002 at University of Rochester. includes essay regarding the Cinderella theme in popular romance novels, popular romance bibliography and cover art displaying Cinderella themes.

Introduction to the Cinderella Project

1 Dec 2002 Introduction to the Cinderella Project
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/fairytales_myths_fables_&legends/96764

Although there are hundreds of Cinderella variants throughout the world, the two most famous versions are from Perrault and Grimm. Even a quick glance at the two reveals great differences in their presentation. In Perrault, we are introduced to a godmother who magically transforms pumpkins into gilded coaches, mice into horses, rats into coachmen and lizards into footmen. Everything happens quickly and painlessly. Cinderella loses a shoe which is discovered on the stairwell and with trumpet and fanfare, the Prince finds her.

Grimm has no magic, but the story is written with rich symbols betraying the structure of allegory, expressing the gross injustices of life, and the pursuit of personal integrity and ethics. The Grimm brothers put very little emphasis on magic and much on personal transformation through integrity and responsibility. It is a tale describing the journey of the soul, perhaps reflecting their own hardships and deprivations in life. Cinderella does not transform magically into the beauty that wins the prince's heart, but maintains personal integrity and pursues the good in the face of grave opposition and adversity, reflecting the Christian values and faith of the brothers.

The story can be easily interpreted through Christian symbols and allusions, and has many different interpretations and threads for unravelling new thoughts. Once, a rabbi informed me that the Perrault version is more likely to be used for Jewish interpretation, but went on to comment on possible Jewish interpretation within the Grimm's because the particular symbols that are used can be foud in both religions. The dove being not only the symbol of Holy Spirit, but also the Shekinah; the tree is universally a symbol of life; but Grimm specifically makes it a nut tree. Why?

Many difficult issues are presented in the Grimm version that are not easily solved in life, yet Cinderella overcomes them through her deep sense of personal integrity. The nut of the entire story is found within the opening lines:

"There once was a rich man whose wife lay sick and when she felt her end drawing near she called to her only daughter to cme near her bed, and said,

"Dear child, be pious and good, and God will always take care of you, and I will look down upon you from heaven, and will be with you."

(Grimm's Fairy Tales, Wordworth Children's Classics, c 1993, ISBN 1-85326-101-7)


How easy is it to remain pious and good under such oppressive and abusive circumstances? Were the words written lightly or with the vice of personal experience and faith? What are some of the issues that Grimms present? Stolen identity? Rags to riches? Reality versus illusion? The beautiful and the ugly? And what are some of the symbols and allusions that can be found in the text.

Links to major Cinderella projects and pages on the net are listed below. Don't be surprised to find that it is a hot intellectual topic and not just glorified by Disney admirers, but reflects problems within philosophy reaching far back into ancient Greece with disturbing questions about what is a "good person" and "good life" or whether "the good" can be taught.

Cinderella Stories
The Children's Literature Web Guide
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/cinderella.html
Kathy Martin
a directory of on and offline materials originally est. by Martin with additions of Jean Rusting and Doris Dale of variant stories, teaching material, reference books, articles and recommended picture books


The Cinderella Bibliography by Russell Peck
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/cinder/cinintr.htm
has links for student pojects at the University of Rochester, educational materials, stories & analogues, Modern Fiction, Modern Poetry, Pantomime-Drama, Drama-Television-Film_Ads, Musical Composition-Dance and a bibliography of literary criticism

18 links for story variations, 12 links for teaching materials, substantial research and bibliography for each catagory.

note:

PRECURSIVE ANALOGS: Apuleius. The Golden Ass of Lucius Apuleius. Second century Greek. The most entertaining English translation is that of William Adlingdon (London, 1566). See The Most Pleasant and Delectable Tale of the Marriage of Cupid and Psyche, done into English by William Adlington of University College in Oxford, with a discourse on the fable by Andrew Lang, late of Merton College in Oxford. London: David Nutt, 1887. [Robert Graves translated Apuleius, Penguin Book, 1950, under the title of Metamorphoses. He considered it "a neat philosophical allegory of the progress of the rational soul towards intellectual love." See also adaptations of the Psyche story by William Morris in The Earthly Paradise, and C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1956): "Love is too young to know what conscience is."]

Sur la Lune: Cinderella
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/index.html
Heidi Anne Heiner
the lovely Sur la Lune pages for Cinderella,. Contains links for history, illustrations, variants, bibliography, modern interpretation and book gallery. About 30 illustrators incluing: Jessie Wilcox Smith, Heath Robinson, George Cruikshank, Edward Burne-Jones, Gustave Dore, Edmund Dulac. A must see site

The Cinderella Project
University of Southern Mississippi
http://www-dept.usm.edu/~engdept/cinderella/cinderella.html
Michael N Salda
a dozen versions of the Cinderella story drawn from the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection from 18^th, 19^th and early 20^th century for text comparison. Illustrations are loaded.

Cinderella - Aarne Thompson Type510A
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0510a.html
D. L. Ashlimann
Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts, University of Pittsburgh
comparative fulltext versions of the Cinderella story from Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Kashmir, Russia and Georgia. Includes both Perrault and Grimm versions. Grimm 1857 German-English version.

Mi'kmaq Indian Cinderella
http://www.kstrom.net/isk/stories/cinder3.html
pages by Paula Giese
19^th century Mik'maq version of the Perrault story collected by Silas Rqnd, found in Algonquin legens, 1884 and reprinted by Dover 1992 . Links for Native American legends, Cinderella versions, book review

Web Quest- Cinderella
http://coe.west.asu.edu/students/lmonson/wquest.htm
Laura Monson
educational site, grades 4-6 teaching materials. gives teaching materials, resources, pictures and links. Includes bibliography of variant stories form different cultures, Cinderella collection on internet, reference book bibliography. Gives an outline for writing a comparative essay for verisons of the story.


Cinderella Around the World http://www.northcanton.sparcc.org/~ptk1nc/cinderella/
P Knox
an interactive children's site for 1-6^th grades. has student projects, variant stories and a small link directory to other pages on internet. good for young students, educational material.

Archana's Cinderella
http://clik.to/Cinderella
a site dedicated to the Disney version, but has a directory of films, books and other links that may be useful. collectibles, and disney memorabilia. Netherlands. 13 awards as a Disney-site.30 + links to other major disney and children's sites.