And you were not surprised at one time how Cinderella from a fairy tale planned to walk in crystal shoes? Of course, this is just a fairy tale in which everything is possible. Although not a practical shoe in terms of reliability and convenience, the crystal shoe is firmly entrenched in the text of the fairy tale and in the child's mind. But here not everything just turns out.
In fact, Cinderella's crystal shoes appeared as a result of an incorrect translation.
In some editions of this tale, the French word "fur for edging" (vair) was replaced by a similar sounding word "glass" (verre). This error was reflected in a number of translations into other languages, so we have a slightly different idea of this shoe than the author intended. Another variant of the name is “Squirrel Fur Shoes”.
So in translations of Perrault's fairy tales into a number of languages, including Russian, there appeared an exquisite but incomprehensible image of a "crystal shoe").
A hardworking, kind girl who does all the dirty work around the house is constantly bullied by an evil stepmother and her evil, lazy daughters. But goodness triumphs in the end: the stepmother and sisters are punished, and Cinderella, with whom the prince falls in love, becomes a princess. Cinderella is a girl of "unparalleled meekness and kindness." On the orders of her stepmother, the Cinderella does all the dirty work around the house. She sews dresses and combes her stepmother and her two daughters for the ball given by the king's son. The godmother (sorceress) sees the grief of the Cinderella, who was not taken to the ball, and helps her to go there, turning mice, pumpkin, etc. into a carriage with horses, her wretched dress into a luxurious outfit, giving her shoes trimmed with fur, but by setting the condition to leave the ball before midnight, when the magic ends.
At the end of the 17th century. French writer Charles Perrault (1628-1703) made a literary adaptation of this tale, called it "Cinderella, or Shoes, trimmed with fur" and included it in his collection "Tales of my mother Goose, or Histories and fairy tales of the past with moralizing" …
The error crept into the translation and took hold for a long time. The shoe was not crystal, but fur. But the crystal slipper has become more familiar and, in the opinion of many, more poetic.
Promotional video:
But David Samoilov carefully read the original of the tale:
And here are some more interesting facts about Cinderella:
1. The earliest version was found in Ancient Egypt - there was a tale about a beautiful prostitute who was bathing in a river, and an eagle at that time stole her sandal and brought it to Pharaoh. The sandal was so small that the Pharaoh immediately announced a wanted list. And Fodoris (Cinderella) was found. Moreover, the pharaoh immediately married her.
According to other sources, the Egyptian Cinderella - Fodoris was generally a highly paid "call girl". But on the holiday in Memphis she was not allowed. Left on duty. On the steep bank of the Nile, she washed her feet, when the god Horus, incarnated in a falcon or an eagle, carried away her shoe. Then, as unnecessary, he dropped his shoe in the courtyard of Pharaoh Ahmose I (ruled Egypt in 1550-1525 BC). The fetishist-pharaoh fell in love with the shoe and immediately, after finding Fodoris after a short search, married it properly.
In the Chinese version, the shoe from Ye-xian (that was the name of the Chinese Cinderella) was stolen by the Dragon. Instead of Pharaoh there was a mandarin, but everything else is as usual. Probably, the Chinese parents brutally bandaged the leg from childhood and achieved success - the mandarin was caught. In China, Buddhist monks also helped Cinderella. Shao Lin in action.
2. A fairy tale (in one form or another) was told in Spain, Rome, Venice, Florence, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Finland … Consequently, the tale of the stepdaughter originated in those days when people roamed freely across the European continent, from parking lot to parking lot …
3. Of course, Stone Age Cinderella was in a hurry not to a ball, but to some modest celebration. And the shoe, which she lost, was not crystal, but wooden, cloth, fur … However, the myth that formed the basis of the tale can be traced everywhere - the shoe was associated with sacred rites.
4. The name of the heroine - Cinderella, Aschenputtel, Cenerentola, The Cinder Maid, Pepeljuga, Papialushka, Cinderella - is associated with ash and ash among all peoples. It speaks of belonging to the fire, the priestess of which could only be the kindest and purest representative of the tribe. Hence the nicknames given to Cinderella by her sisters: dirty, dirty.
5. Cinderella's helpers - a direct indication of which patron the tribe believed in. There is a magical creature (fairy), a deceased ancestor (a white bird), and mice helping to sort out grain (the latter are much older than those in which fairies appear).
6. The connection between the lost shoe and the subsequent wedding for the people of antiquity did not contain any novelty, because shoes in wedding ceremonies meant an engagement or the wedding itself. Separation of a pair of shoes indicated separation of lovers or search for a partner.
7. After the great geographical discoveries, when the Europeans began to study the culture of other peoples, it turned out that the story of the girl who lost her shoe is well known on other continents. For example, in a Korean folk tale, Cinderella was a fourteen-year-old girl named Khonchi. The poor stepdaughter, on the orders of her stepmother, sorted out millet and rice, loosened the stony field with a wooden hoe and shed many tears. But one day, a celestial woman appeared in front of her, who helped to cope with business and sent her to someone's wedding. Jumping over the stream, Khonchi dropped a kotsin (cloth shoe embroidered with patterns) into the water, which was found by the kamsa, the head of the province. He ordered to find the owner of this shoe, announcing that he wanted to marry her.
To date, it has been estimated that the tale exists in several hundred variants. The most famous retellings are as follows …
"Cinderella" by the Italian poet and storyteller Giambattista Basile (1575-1632)
He wrote the tale 61 years before Perrault, it was included in the collection "The Tale of Fairy Tales" (1634).
Giambattista Basile called Cinderella Zezolla. In agreement with the nanny, the girl broke her stepmother's neck with the lid of the chest, then persuaded her father to marry the nanny. Once the king saw the girl and fell in love. He sent a servant to find Zezolla, and, while fighting with him, the girl lost her pianella - a stilt-like galoshe with a cork sole (this is the kind of shoe worn by the women of Naples during the Renaissance). The young king sent messengers who traveled around the whole kingdom and tried on the pianella found for each woman. Zezolla, of course, was found.
Cinderella by Charles Perrault (1697)
Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm were familiar with the Pentameron and, apparently, relied on it, creating their collections of fairy tales.
In Perrault's tale there was a crystal slipper and the most gentle story for the child's ear (we all know).
"Cinderella" by the Brothers Grimm
The rich man's wife dies. The stepmother appears with her daughters. The father goes to the fair and asks what to bring his daughter and stepdaughters. The stepdaughters ask for expensive dresses and precious stones, and Cinderella - the branch that will be the first to hook him on the hat. Cinderella planted a hazel branch on her mother's grave and watered her with tears. A beautiful tree has grown. Cinderella came to the tree three times a day, cried and prayed; and every time a white bird flew in. When Cinderella spoke about her desire to go to the ball, the bird threw her a luxurious dress and shoes (three balls and three options for outfits). The prince fell in love with the girl, but she always managed to slip away.
Then horror stories begin
When the messengers tried on the shoe, one of the sisters cut off a finger. The prince took her with him, but it was found that the slipper was covered in blood. The prince turned back. The same thing happened with the other sister, only she cut off the heel. Cinderella's slipper fits, and the prince declares her his bride. When it came time to celebrate the wedding, the sisters decided to be there. The eldest stood on the right hand of the bride, the youngest on the left. So we went to church. On the way, the pigeons pecked each of them in the eye. When they returned from church, the eldest walked to the left, the youngest to the right. Then pigeons again flew on them and pecked out on the eye.
So the sisters were punished for their anger (apparently, the moral is as follows: do not bury yourself on someone else's).