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

Ill-treated heroine (by step-mother)--Menial heroine--Task, to fill basket with river-water. Heroine enters giantesses' empty house, tidies it, and prepares supper. Hides behind kneading- trough--Animal witness (dog)--Giantesses begift heroine--Step sister goes to get basketful of water disarranges empty house. Dog reveals her hiding-place. Giantesses punish her--Heroine driven from home found in forest by huntsmen, and taken to king's son--Happy marriage.

TABULATION

(1) Widower, with one daughter, marries widow with one daughter. Step-mother ill-treats heroine, who very beautiful, making her do menial work, while she indulges own ugly daughter.-- (2) One day she sends heroine to river to fill a basket with water, and not return till she has done so. heroine weeps, and wanders up river till she reaches a house, which she enters, being cold and hungry. Only a little dog inside.-- (3) House is very untidy; heroine cleans everything, makes beds,, lights fire, and prepares supper. She hears noise, and is terrified to see three giantesses enter, and hides behind kneading-trough. Giantesses see what has been accomplished during their absence. The first says if she knew who had done it she would put a star on her forehead. Second says she would make her words turn to jewels¹ as they fall. Third says she would give her whatever she most wishes. Dog goes barking to trough, and says:

"Clak--clak--clak!
She's hiding here at the trough's back."

Giantesses find heroine, begift her as promised, the third giantess giving her a basketful of water. She goes home, and all are amazed; stepmother very jealous.-- (4) Stepsister takes basket to river, finds house, enters it, disarranges everything, puts out fire, then, hearing noise, hides behind kneading-trough. First giantess says if she knew who had done all this she would make filth grow on her forehead. Second says she would make her words turn to snakes. Third says she should not have what she most wishes. Dog runs barking to trough, and says same words as before. Giantesses find stepsister, and chase her out of the house with insults. When she gets home with empty basket, filth on her forehead, and snakes falling from her mouth, all flee from her in horror.-- (5) Stepmother is still more cruel to heroine, and at last drives her from home. Finding herself alone in wild forest, heroine sits down and weeps bitterly.-- (6) She is found by huntsmen, who take her to their master, the king's son, who makes her tell her story, falls in love with her, and marries her.

NOTES

1: See Note 51.

Note 51

(P. 313.) For jewels or gold from the mouth, cf. Benfey, Pantschatantra, 379-80; Cavallius, No. vii, C; Chambers, p. 105; Cosquin, ii, 118 ff.; Dasent, "Bushy Bride"; Day, Folk-tales of Bengal, No. 5, p. 97; Frere, O. D. D., p. 239, No. 21; Grimm, Nos. 13, 24; Grundtvig, iii, 112; Minaef, No. 33 (a Himalayan tale); Monseur, Folklore Wallon, p. 50; Perrault, "Les Fees"; Portuguese Tales, No. 18, pp. 75-79; Sagas from the Far East, pp. 18, 49; Sastri, Dravidian Nights, p. 129; Stokes, p. 13, No. 2; Temple, Leg. of the Punjab, p. 233.

Roses fall from the mouth in Gonzenbach, No. 34; Hahn, No. 28; Karajich, No. 35; Pentamerone, 4, 7; Pitré, No. 62. Comp. Rivière, Contes Kabyles, p. 51. When the heroine laughs the sun shines, when she weeps, it rains, and roses fall as she walks. This is like the story of the Mussulman in 1001 Nights, Spitta-Bey's No. 11, and the Roumanian story (Das Ausland, 1858, p. 90). Compare Glinski, iii, 97; Schneller, No. 22. The hero laughs roses in Tuti-Nameh (vol. ii, p. 72; Rosen's trans.). In a modern Greek song, when the charming maid laughs, roses fall into her apron ([Greek phrase]), Fauriel, 2, 382. In Heinr. von Neuenstadt's Apollonius of Tyre (composed c. 1400), it is asked, 1. 182, "wâ sach man rosen lachen?"and then follows a tale about a man who laughs roses. The same poem of Apollonius has, at 1. 2370:

"er kuste sie wol dreissig stunt
an iren rosenlachen munt."

Grimm remarks that the myth must have been very popular, as he has frequently found in records, and even at the present day, the names Rosenlacher, Rosenlachler, Blumlacher. (Teut. Myth., 1101.)

And see Nos. 81, 89, 118, of this collection.
Return to place in text.

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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