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208

Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni popolari. Palermo, 1882, etc. ii, pp. 49-54. "La Cenerentola a Parma e a Camerino", by Caterina Pigorini-Beri. (From Parma; given in dialect, with Italian translation.)

"LA SENDRAROEULA."

ABSTRACT

King has three thrones, white, red, black, which he occupies according to mood. Youngest daughter is the favourite; he is angry with elder daughters and sits on black throne--King Lear judgment--Loving like salt--Outcast heroine (= youngest) -- Servant spares heroine's life; deludes king with sheep's heart and heroine's clothes -- Heroine disguise (ass-skin) --Witch aid -- Magic wand and nut given to heroine-- King ( father) hunts in forest; his dog discovers heroine and takes her daily whatever he catches--King tracks dog to hollow tree, finds heroine in ass-skin, takes her to palace as kitchen-maid--Menial heroine--Magic dresses--Meeting place (ball)--Threefold flight--Confetti and flowers scattered to hinder pursuit--Lost shoe--Heroine has stayed beyond midnight. In her haste to undress she omits to remove gold stockings--Shoe marriage test--Sisters for fun insist on trying shoe on kitchen maid, who tries to hide gold stockings-- Happy marriage--King rejoices to recover daughter. Sisters are jealous.

TABULATION

(1) A king has three daughters. Elder daughters are jealous of the youngest, because she is more beautiful, and king loves her best. They fear him, and every morning go to wish him good day and ask if he has slept well. King has three thrones, a white, a red, and a black. When feeling contented he occupies the white; when only so-so, the red; when cross, the black. One day he is so angry with elder daughters that he sits on black throne. Eldest seeing him there, asks if he is angry with her. He says yes, because she does not care for him. Daughter replies: "I like you as much as I like eating chicken." Second daughter asks same question, and says she likes him as much as a piece of bread. Youngest daughter says to sisters, "Leave it to me to put him in a good temper." She goes and asks same question as others, then tells king she loves him as much as a grain of salt.-- (2) Then king is angry in earnest, calls his servant, and bids him take youngest daughter to the forest, kill her, and bring him back her heart (Note 1) and her clothes. Away they go to the forest, but servant is so touched by her distress that instead of slaying her he buys a sheep from a passing shepherd, kills it, and takes out its heart. Then he strips heroine, puts an ass's skin over her, finds a hollow willow-tree in which she may take shelter from the cold, and returns to give heart and clothes to king, who is already penitent and very melancholy. Elder sisters are well pleased.-- (3) At midnight some witches passing through forest find heroine, and ask why she is in tree. She tells them everything, and one of them gives her a wand and a little nut, and tells her to strike the nut with the wand when she wants anything, and she will have it.-- (4) The king hunts daily in the forest. His dog has discovered heroine, and every day takes whatever he catches to her. King notices that dog always goes to same hollow tree, follows one day behind him, and finds heroine in the ass-skin, who, not to betray the servant, tells him she has lost her way in the forest, and is without house or home. King takes pity on her, and offers to take her to court to be kitchen-maid (cenerentola) in the place of one he has just discharged. She is kindly treated at palace, and most of all the king wishes her well, for he cannot forget his daughter, whom she resembles.-- (5) It is Carnival time, and sisters are going to the ball. Father, to divert his thoughts, accompanies them. Left alone, heroine uses nut and wand to procure dress like the stars, and a carriage-and-four in which she goes to ball. Everyone wants to dance with her and to see her home, but at midnight she insists on leaving alone. Next morning sisters tell her of lovely stranger at ball. Heroine murmurs to herself, "That was I." They ask what she said: "Only that I much preferred staying by the hearth."-- (6) Second night she goes in dress like the sun. Prince falls in love with her, and sets guards at the door to stop her leaving; but she throws so many confetti that they are blinded and do not see her go. Next morning she makes same answer to sisters.-- (7) Third night she wears dress like the moon, and dances so much that midnight passes before she knows it: and that was the hour at which she ought to be home by the hearth or the charm would work no more. She hastens away and the prince follows. She throws a quantity of flowers and escapes as before; only in getting into the carriage she loses one gold shoe unawares, and this is taken to the prince. Undressing in haste, she forgets to take off her gold stockings. Sisters return and tell her what has happened; she mutters the same as before.-- (8) Next day prince proclaims that he will wed whomsoever shoe fits, and it is tried throughout the whole city. At last it is brought to king's palace. Two sisters try in vain, and say for fun, "Let us try it on Cinderella," who, not wishing to show gold stockings, makes excuses. King for amusement forces her to comply, and the truth is revealed, He is overjoyed at recovering his daughter, and she is married to the prince and taken in triumph through the city. In course of time she becomes queen, and the sisters are very furious.

NOTES

1: See Note 3.

Note 3

(P. 138.) In Cosquin's No. LXXVIII (Contes lorrains, ii, 323), the daughter of a merchant of Lyons is hated by her mother, who tells servant to kill her and bring back her heart "tout vif". The servant takes a dog's heart to his mistress, and the girl hides in a hollow oak-tree, where she is found by the count, who is out hunting. Similarly, in the "Histoire de la file vertueuse" (Spitta-Bey, Contes Arabes Modernes, story No. VI, p. 87), the heroine is calumniated to father during his absence from home, and he sends her brother to slay her, and bring a flask of her blood in proof of her death. Brother spares her life, leaving her in the desert, kills a gazelle, and takes its blood to father. Heroine climbs a tree to be safe from wild beasts, and is discovered by king's son, who is out gazelle-huning. He promises to protect her if she will descend, and he carries her on horseback behind him to the palace. He marries her; and, after subsequent dangers and escape from treachery during his absence, heroine changes clothes with a shepherd lad, and gets engaged at a coffee house to wash the cups. Here she is afterwards found by her father and husband. The usual Nemesis overtakes the villains, who are burnt to death.

Grimm says (Teut. Myth., 57) that it is probable that certain nobler parts of a sacrificed animal--the head, liver, heart, tongue--were assigned to the gods [Greek name], Plutarch, Phoc. 1. [Greek name], Od. 3, 332, 341. Cf. "De linguae usu in Sacrificiis," Nitzsch ad Hom.. Od. I, 207); and that the slayer in folk-tales is told to bring the tongue or heart of the man or beast, as being eminent portions. They would certainly be useless in identifying the victim.

For the incident of substituting an animal's heart or tongue for that of the intended victim, or soaking the clothes in the blood of some slain animal, cf. Arnason, Icelandic Tales (P. and M.), p. 413; Clouston, ii, 464 (for story in the Kathá Kosa); Comparetti, i, 242, No. 56; Fleury, Litt.orale, etc., p.123; Folk-lore Journal, ii, 136 (a Malagasy tale); vi, 42 (Aino tale), "The Wicked Stepmother"; Gesta Romanorum (Swan), ch. 20; Gonzenbach, No. 4; Grimm, Nos. 31, 33; Gipsy-lore Journal, iii, 202; De Gubernatis, Sto. Stefano, No. 13; Zool. Myth. i, 139 (citing from Radloff, Proben der Volkslitteratur der turkischen Stämme Sud-Sibiriens); Karajich, No. 33; Legrand, p. 24; Melusine, i, col. 300; Nerucci, Sessanta Nov., No. 51; Pedroso, Port. Folk-tales, No. 1; Romero, p. 12, No. 3; Sagas from Ear East, p. 73; Schneller. No. 50; Spitta-Bey, No. 6; Visentini, Fiabe Mantovane, p. 121, No. 23; Webster, p. 137.

Compare the story of Ferdinando, who orders the murder of his wife Genoveva, in the legend of that saint. Joseph's coat was dipped in kid's blood (Gen. xxxvii, 31).

See also Nos. 58, 209, 210, 211, 226, 286, 304, 312, 315, 316 (317, 318) and the hero-tale, No. 330, of this collection. In No. 204 the dog spares heroine, and takes back to his master the heart of a hare.
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Cox, Marian Roalfe. Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O' Rushes, abstracted and tabulated. London: David Nutt for the Folklore Society, 1893.

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