SurLaLune Fairy Tales: Marian Roalfe Cox: Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O' Rushes, abstracted and tabulated

King Lear judgment--Lo like salt--Outcast heroine-- Old woman aid--Magic box given to heroine, which, placed in hollow of a certain tree, will produce Magic dresses--Menial heroine; nicknamed, because of her dirty work, Vuil-Velleken, or Velleken-Vuil-Meeting-place (ball)--Heroine must leave at midnight, or Magic dresses will turn to rags; tells prince she comes "from the land of Cadzand, where folk strike the palm of the hand with a wooden stick till out rushes blood", repeating her mistress's words. (Token objects named)--Flight--Lost shoe-- Shoe marriage test--Happy marriage--Father attends wedding; is reconciled to heroine.

TABULATION

(1) King has three daughters whom he loves exceedingly. Before journeying afar, he asks each how much she likes him, and what therefore she would like him to bring her. The first, loving him like gold, chooses a golden spinning-wheel; the second, loving him like silver, a silver gown; the third, loving him like salt, a lumpof salt.-- (2) The king is furious with the youngest, and turns her out, for she shall no more be called his child.-- (3) Heroine comes to Antwerp, where an old wife meets her and says, "I know you seek employment. Go, therefore, to Lange State, and offer your services at No. 18, Anna Street, where they want a maid," Then she puts a box into heroine's hand, saying, "When you want to enjoy yourself, put this box into the hollow tree that stands on the fortification-wall, and say, 'Clothe me, lovely robes away, dirty rags!' and you shall be clad like a princess."-- (4) Heroine gets the place, but has to do all manner of dirty work, and whenever she fails her mistress strikes her over the hands with a flat piece of wood, saying, "We are here in the land of Cadzand (or Pashant), where they smite the palm of the hand with a wooden stick till the blood gushes out!" Heroine gets as black as a moor over her dirty work, and is always called Vuilvelleken or Vellekenvuil.-- (5) A prince arrives and gives a ball, which the mistress and her two daughters attend. Heroine goes to the hollow tree and puts in her box. Immediately she is clad in a most beautiful dress, but a voice says:

"At twelve o'clock, when hoots the owl,
Your beautiful clothes will be ugly and foul."

She goes to the ball. The prince cannot keep her when the clock nears twelve, so he asks whence she comes. "I come from the land of Cadzand, where they smite the palm of the hand with a wooden stick till the blood gushes out." But she is further delayed, and only rushes from the room as the clock is striking, and she loses her shoe, which is found by the prince.-- (6) The next day, whilst Vuilvelleken is scouring and polishing, the prince's messenger comes walking along the street holding up a little shoe, and crying, "Whoever can wear this shoe, may have the prince, my master, for her husband! Whoever can wear this shoe, let her put it on!" "All right," says Vuilvelleken, "let me try; perhaps it may fit my foot!" The mistress and her daughters burst out laughing.-- (7) Nevertheless, Vuilvelleken puts on the shoe and marries the prince, and her father is invited to the wedding, and forgives her everything.

[Note.-- A variant is given (on p. 211, ibid.) in which the stepdaughter is called "Asschepoester". An old wife befriends her, makes her fetch mouse-trap from the loft, and changes it into a carriage. Two mice she changes to horses, and two lucifer-matches to footmen. Then she breathes on A.'s clothes, and A. stands arrayed in velvet and silk, with crystal shoes on her feet.]

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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