Rapunzel | Brothers Grimm

There were once a man and his wife who had long in vain wished for a child.
Every day they pray to God for a child.
Several months later, their hopes were answered.

One day, when his wife was looking at the her neighbor foliage green, he suddenly wanted to eat the leaves named rapunzel. The leaf color is really tempting, green and fresh. The wife's desire is increasingly strong that the wife fell ill.

The husband was worried about his wife, he promised to reciting the rapunzel leaves despite knowing the dangers into the witch's garden. At sunset, the husband secretly took Rapunzel to his wife and leaves home as soon as possible. That night, his wife can enjoy the delicious leaves Rapunzel. However, the wife still wants to eat the leaves of rapunzel. The husband was forced to return to the garden witch to take leaves of Rapunzel.

"HEY!! Apparently you who stole my Rapunzel foliage! You must be PUNISHED!" the screams of the witch made him fall.

"Sorry! Forgive me .., I am doing this because my wife's pregnancy .. please forgive me .."

"Ooo, your wife is pregnant?" said the witch with her smirk.
"Well, your wife may eat as much as possible my rapunzel leaves, but ... once the baby is born, you should be handed OVER TO ME. I'll take care of them like her own child. "

Because so scared, the husband agrees. Because so scared, the husband agrees. When their baby is born, the witch took her, and named Rapunzel. Rapunzel grew into a beautiful girl, but her beauty made her ill-fated. At the age of twelve years, Rapunzel's tower was moved to a very high so that no young man who saw her and wanted marry her.

The tower was placed in the middle of dense forest, with no door, no stairs, only a window on top of the tower. When the witch come, she will said,

"RAPUNZEL, RAPUNZEL,
Let down thy hair to me."

Hearing that voice, Rapunzel lowers her hair and the witch would climb up with the hair. Rapunzel lived many years in this way with no one to help her.

One day, a prince rode through the forest. He heard a loud and melodious songs, the prince became interested. Prince looking for original sound and ended in Rapunzel's tower. None of the doors looked there, the prince became disappointed. But every evening he was always taking the time to visit the tower and heard Rapunzel singing. When the prince enjoys Rapunzel's voice, the witch comes and says,


"RAPUNZEL, RAPUNZEL,
Let down thy hair to me."


Rapunzel's golden long hair also offered. Viewing witch was climbing, the prince intends to try it tomorrow. Tomorrow, the prince returns and said louder,

"RAPUNZEL, RAPUNZEL,
Let down thy hair to me."

Rapunzel's golden long hair also offered. The prince climbed quickly, Rapunzel was surprised to see other people entering the prison. Though shocked, Rapunzel will be happy prince said a good word, they become a friend. Prince has always come without a known witch, until one day the prince want her to be his wife. Rapunzel very glad and sad hear that, she could not get out of the tower.

Then They think of an idea, the prince would bring silk every visit day and Rapunzel will weave it into a strong rope to be dropped from a tower. That plan was going well until one day, Rapunzel complained of damaged hair to the witch,


"Grandma treat my hair was so rough, not like my Prince!
Hear that, the wicth became angry and cut Rapunzel long hair. With her spell, Rapunzel deported to distant place. And she waited.

"RAPUNZEL, RAPUNZEL,
Let down thy hair to me."

The prince said in a loud, Rapunzel's golden long hair also offered. Prince was shocked by the sight, the witch!

"Hey! Are you looking for your canary? He has eaten a cat, and now the cat will make you blind!!"

Immediately the eyes of the prince became blind and fell down from tower.

The prince fainted in a long time. After woke up and could stand, he was adventurous seeking Rapunzel. He passed the woods, calling the name of Rapunzel. Without food and drink except for dew and tree roots, he kept walking, walking, and walking.

He does not know how many forests,

how many days, and

how much distance he had traveled to find Rapunzel.

Until he arrived in a quiet area, there was a loud and melodious song,

she was Rapunzel!

Rapunzel saw the prince and ran to hug him, his body was thin and unkempt. Seeing the eyes of the blind prince, Rapunzel's tears. Apparently, Rapunzel's tears make the prince's eyes could see again.

Eventually they live happily ever after in the area was deserted with their children.

The Ant and Grasshopper

In a field one autumn's day....
When the is shining calmly,
when there are a lot of food..

a Grasshopper was hopping about,
chirping and singing to its heart's content.

An Ant passed by,
working hard toward his house shouldered food

"Hey my friend! Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper,
"Singing~~playing guitar~~relax with a glass of dew~~"

"Sorry, I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant,
"and recommend you to do the same."

"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper,
"We have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on his way and continued his works.

When the winter came
the Grasshopper had no food

too cold....

too hungry....

the Grasshopper found himself in unfortunate because of winter, he remembers
while saw the ants distributing every day and collect foods for winter. Then the Grasshopper knew, it is best to prepare for days of need.


-Aesop’s classic tales

Ye Xien Tales |Oldest Cinderella Story

Ye Xien is oldest Cinderella story from the Tang Dynasty, about 700 AD. The story appeared in Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang.
In this version, Ye Xien's father, Wu, had two wives, but one of them died, and that was Ye Xien's mother. Ye Xien was raised by Wu's other wife, her stepmother. Ye Xien's stepmother didn't like Ye Xien, because Ye Xien was prettier and kinder than her own daughter, so the stepmother treated Ye Xien badly. Ye Xien had to do all the hardest work while her sister just left their time with their old guzheng. Now she just friend with a fish, a beautiful fish with big gold eyes.

Even thought she was hungry, Ye Xien always shared her food with her friend, a fish. Saw it, the stepmother was not happy. When Ye Xien go to the river to wash clothes, stepmother catch the gold fish and cook it for Ye Xien's dinner. Ye Xien started crying to see her friend was killed. When he would bury his friend in the
garden, an old man appeared and told her to save the fish's bones and ask them for help when she was in
trouble.

Days passed, spring festival is come , Ye Xien wanted to go to the Spring Festival, where everyone met to find husbands and wives, but her stepmother wouldn't let her go.Ye Xien remember about fish bone that her kept, so she make a wish for clothes to wear to the festival. Right away she found herself wearing beautiful clothes: a cape made of feathers, and gold slippers. The bones made her promise not to lose the slippers.

Ye Xien went to the spring festival, but when she saw her stepmother and her sister over there, she scared and run into home, she lost one of her slipper when she running. The man who found her slipper sold it to a merchant, who gave the beautiful slipper to the king. The king wanted to find who owned the slipper, so he put it in a little pavilion by the side of the road where any woman could come try it on.

All of them came, but their feet were too Big for the tiny shoe. One night Yeh-Xien came and tried to take her slipper back, but the king's servants arrested her and took her to the king. Ye Xien feet is match with the tiny slipper, she said that she has the other shoe in her house. They all went to her house and got the other slipper, and when she put both slippers on, her fine clothes appeared again and the king realized he wanted to marry her.

Ye Xien lived happily ever after as a queen in gorgeous palace and she was very grateful to his friend, a beautiful fish with big gold eyes.

The Little Glass Slipper| Origin of Cinderella's Slippers

 Disney's Cinderella| glass slipper

The glass slippers are unique to Perrault. Some have hypothesized the verre (glass) of the title was a mistake for vair (fur). The Encylopaedia Brittanica printed this and many have quoted it since. However, most scholars believe that glass was really intended. It is important that the slippers be rigid and unstretchable, and fur could stretch to fit other feet. Glass would also allow the fit of the shoe to be seen. At the time of Perrault, glass was very rare and valuable, worth even more than gold.

This shoe come from 1600s, left 1660 right 1650, if hypothesized about vair and verre is correct, may be Cinderella's slipper would be like this or squirell fur version.

The Grimm version uses gold slippers, equally inflexible but equally unsuitable for dancing or even walking because of their weight.

Ye Xien tales from China told that slipper made of gold thread and solid gold soles. Ye Xien tales come from Tang Dynasty, and based on the fact that foot binding come from Tang dynasty....may be Ye Xien use this shoes...^^

Scottish Cinderella story use rushes slipper, Egyptian Cinderella( Rosy Rhodopis) has gold slippers. In the German version they’re embroidered with silk and gold thread. In India, it's her nose-ring.

Rosy Rhodopis| Egyptian Cinderella

Long ago in the land of Egypt were the green water of the Nile River flows into the blue water of the Mediterranean Sea lived a young maiden named Rosy Rhodopis. Rhodopis is a stolen servant from Greece. She was stolen by pirates an sold as slave in Egypt.

She looked different from the other Egyptian servants girls.
Their hair was straight and black, while Rhodopis has golden and curly hair.
Their skin was copper tone, while Rodhopis has pale skin that burning in the sun.

No one servant looks around her because she looked differently from them. Ultimately, Rhodopis prefer friends with animals like monkeys, birds, and hippopotamus, sometimes she dance and sing for them.

They also made her work hard shouting at her all day,
"Go to the river and wash the clothes,"
"Mend my robe!"
"Chase the geese from the garden,
"Bake the bread." ........

One evening as she was dancing, twirling around lighter than air with her feet barely touching the ground, the old man woke from his sleep and watched as she danced.

He admired her dancing and felt that one so talented should not be without shoes. He ordered her a special pair of slippers. The slippers were gilded with rose-red gold and the soles were leather. Now the servant girls really disliked her for they were jealous of her beautiful slippers.

Word arrived that the Pharaoh was holding court in Memphis and all in the kingdom were invited. Oh how Rhodopis wanted to go with the servant girls. For she knew there would be dancing, singing, and lots of wonderful food.

As the servant girls prepared to leave in their finest clothes they turned to Rhodopis and gave her more chores to do before they returned. They poled their raft away leaving a sad Rhodopis on the bank.

As she began to wash the clothes in the river she sang a sad little song

"wash the linen, 

 weed the garden, 

 grind the grain." 

The hippopotamus grew tired of this little song and splashed back into the river. The splashing of the water wet Rhodopis's slippers. She quickly grabbed them up, wiped it off and placed them in the sun to dry.

As she was continuing with her chores the sky darkened and as she looked up she saw a falcon sweep down, snatch one of her slippers, and fly away. Rhodopis was in awe for she knew it was the god Horus who had taken her slippers. Rhodopis now with only one slipper put it away in her tunic.

Now the Pharaoh, Amasis, Pharaoh of upper and lower Egypt was sitting on his throne looking out over the people and feeling very bored. He much preferred to be riding across the desert in his chariot. Suddenly the falcon swooped down and dropped the rose-red golden slipper in his lap.

Surprised but knowing this was a sign from the god Horus he sent out a decree that all maidens in Egypt must try on the slipper, and the owner of the slipper would be his queen. By the time the servant girls arrived the celebrations had ended and the Pharaoh had left by chariot in search of the owner of the golden slipper.

After searching on land and not finding the owner he called for his barge and began to travel the Nile pulling into every landing so maidens could try on the slipper. As the barge rounded the bend in front of the home of Rhodopis all heard the sounds of the gong, the trumpets blaring, and saw the purple silk sails.

The servant girls ran to the landing to try on the shoe while Rhodopis hid in the rushes. When the servant girls saw the slipper they recognized it as Rhodopis's slipper but they said nothing and still tried to force their feet into the slipper.

The Pharaoh spied Rhodopis hiding in the rushes and asked her to try on the slipper. She slid her tiny foot into the slipper and then pulled the other from her tunic. The Pharaoh pronounced that she would be his queen.

The servant girls cried out that she was a slave and not even Egyptian. The Pharaoh responded with
"She is the most Egyptian of all...for her eyes are as green as the Nile, her fair hair as feathery as papyrus, and her skin the pink of a lotus flower."

Original Cinderella of the World

Cinderella is one of the most well known stories in the world.

There are more than 1500 versions of the story and almost every culture has one. The earliest recorded tale comes from China in the middle of the ninth century. The story appeared in Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang, a book dating from the Tang dynasty (618-907 A.D.). The author was Tuan Cheng-Shih. Yeh-shen is the heroine and, she doesn't have a fairy godmother, there is a magical fish to help her and a golden slippers identifies her to the prince. Some reference call Chinese Cinderella with Yeh Hsien or Ye Xien.

Perrault's Cinderella (1697) is the popular version. The popularity of his tale was due to his additions to the story including the pumpkin, the fairy-godmother and the introduction of glass slippers. It was widely believed that in Perrault's version, Cinderella wore fur boots ("pantoufle en vair"), and that when the story was translated into English, vair was mistaken for verre (glass), resulting in glass slippers and that the story has remained this way ever since.However, the "fur theory" has since been disproven.

Disney's Cinderella based on Perrault's Cinderella story.

The Brothers Grimm's german version, Ashenputtel or Aschenbrödel(1812), does not have a fairy godmother. The girl plants a tree on the grave of her mother and magical help comes in the form of a dove.

Ashenputtel by Arthur Rackham

The Scottish Cinderella known as Critheanach with het step sister Geal and Donn.

In Korea, Cinderella known as Kongji, who was mistreated by her stepmother and sister. She goes to a feast prepared by the town's "mayor," and meets his son, with predictable results.

Another early story of the Cinderella type came from Japan, involving Chūjō-hime, who runs away from her evil stepmother with the help of Buddhist nuns, and she joins their convent.

There is also Anne de Fernandez, a tale of the medieval Philippines. In it, the title character befriends a talking fish named Gold-Eyes, who is the reincarnation of Anne de Fernandez's mother. Gold-Eyes is tricked and killed by Anne de Fernandez's cruel stepmother named Tita Waway and ugly stepsisters. They eat Gold-Eyes for supper after sending Anne de Fernandez on an errand across the forest, then show Anne Gold-Eyes' bones when she returns. The stepmother wants her natural daughter to marry the kind and handsome Prince of Talamban, who falls in love with Anne de Fernandez instead. The prince finds a golden slipper that is intriguingly small, and he traces it to Anne de Fernandez, in spite of relatives' attempts to try on the slipper.

Italian version is La gatta cenerentola (The Cat Cinderella) with real name Zenzolla.

Egyptian Cinderella version is Rhodopis(the rosy-cheeked), she had been kidnapped by pirates as a child from her home in the north of Greece and sold into slavery. Her rich employer had many slaves, and one of her fellow slaves was a little old man called Aesop, who was kind and told her stories and fables about birds, animals and humans. But her master wished to make more money so he sent her to the rich Naucratis to be sold. for complete story read here.

Shakuntala, is Cinderella from India. Shakuntala based on Sanskrit epic poem the Mahabarata.

And the perfect ending surely lived happily ever after....

Different version from different culture make different attribute fo Cinderella, especially the little glass slipper, the main attribute of Cinderella.

The Little Match Girl |Hans Christian Andersen

Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening- the last evening of the year.
In this cold and darkness there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with naked feet.

When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but what was the good of that?
They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn; so large were they; and
the poor little thing lost them as she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast.

One slipper was nowhere to be found; the other had been laid hold of by an urchin, and off he ran with it; he thought it would do capitally for a cradle when he some day or other should have children himself. So the little maiden walked on with her tiny naked feet, that were quite red and blue from cold.

 

She carried a quantity of matches in an old apron, and she held a bundle of them in her hand.
Nobody had bought anything of her the whole livelong day;
no one had given her a single farthing.

She crept along trembling with cold and hunger - a very picture of sorrow, the poor little thing!
The flakes of snow covered her long fair hair, which fell in beautiful curls around her neck; but of that, of course, she never once now thought. From all the windows the candles were gleaming, and it smelt so deliciously of roast goose, for you know it was New Year’s Eve; yes, of that she thought.

In a corner formed by two houses, of which one advanced more than the other, she seated herself down and cowered together. Her little feet she had drawn close up to her, but she grew colder and colder, and to go home she did not venture, for she had not sold any matches and could not bring a farthing of money: from her father she would certainly get blows, and at home it was cold too, for above her she had only the roof, through which the wind whistled, even though the largest cracks were stopped up with straw and
rags.

Her little hands were almost numbed with cold. Oh! a match might afford her a world of comfort, if she only dared take a single one out of the bundle, draw it against the wall, and warm her fingers by it. She drew one out.

“Rischt!”

how it blazed, how it burnt! It was a warm, bright flame, like a candle, as she held her hands over it: it was a wonderful light. It seemed really to the little maiden as though she were sitting before a large iron stove, with burnished brass feet and a brass ornament at top. The fire burned with such blessed influence; it warmed so delightfully. The little girl had already stretched out her feet to warm them too; but - the small flame went out, the stove vanished: she had only the remains of the burnt-out match in her hand.

She rubbed another against the wall: it burned brightly, and where the light fell on the wall, there the wall became transparent like a veil, so that she could see into the room.
On the table was spread a snow-white tablecloth; upon it was a splendid porcelain service, and the roast goose was steaming famously with its stuffing of apple and dried plums. And what was still more capital to behold was, the goose hopped down from the dish, reeled about on the floor with knife and fork in its breast, till it came up to the poor little girl;
when - the match went out and nothing but the thick, cold, damp wall was left behind. She lighted another match.

Now there she was sitting under the most magnificent Christmas tree: it was still larger, and more decorated than the one which she had seen through the glass door in the rich merchant’s house.
Thousands of lights were burning on the green branches, and gaily-colored pictures, such as she had seen in the shop-windows, looked down upon her. The little maiden stretched out her hands towards them when - the match went out.
The lights of the Christmas tree rose higher and higher, she saw them now as stars in heaven; one fell down and formed a long trail of fire.

“Someone is just dead!” said the little girl; for her old grandmother, the only person who had loved her, and who was now no more, had told her, that when a star falls, a soul ascends to God.
She drew another match against the wall: it was again light, and in the lustre there stood the old grandmother, so bright and radiant, so mild, and with such an expression of love.

“Grandmother!” cried the little one.
“Oh, take me with you! You go away when the match burns out;
you vanish like the warm stove, like the delicious roast goose, and like the magnificent Christmas tree!” And she rubbed the whole bundle of matches quickly against the wall, for she wanted to be quite sure of keeping her

grandmother near her.

And the matches gave such a brilliant light that it
was brighter than at noon-day: never formerly had the grandmother been so beautiful and so tall. She took the little maiden, on her arm, and both flew in brightness and in joy so high, so very high, and then above was neither cold, nor hunger, nor anxiety - they were with God.
But in the corner, at the cold hour of dawn, sat the poor girl, with rosy cheeks and with a smiling mouth, leaning against the wall--frozen to death on the last evening of the old year. Stiff and stark sat the child there with her matches, of which one bundle had been burnt. “She wanted to warm herself,” people
said. No one had the slightest suspicion of what beautiful things she had seen; no one even dreamed of the splendor in which, with her grandmother she had entered on the joys of a new year.