For my Classic Folk Tals associated with two Multicultural/International variation of it, I chose the story of Cinderella. The original Cinderlla story is about a young girl who's father re-marry's a lady who become a mean step-mother to his daughter. This woman always has at least one child who is equally mean to the daughter. They make her do impossible chores and dress in rags. They despise her and want to make her life as difficult and miserable as possible. After years of this horrible life, the young girl is greeted by something magical that helps her. There is always some kind of large gathering where there will a man of royalty who falls in love with the girl. The girl then loses her something and the man picks it up, demanding to find this girl because he wants to marry her. After searching, the man finally finds the girl and gives back the object she had lost. They get married and live happily ever after.
This is the basic plot that occured in every version of Cinderella that I read. The first book I read was the Walt Disney version of Cinderella. It was retold by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Mary Blair. This was the classic Cinderella story that most children know and love. It is exaclty how the Walt Disney portrays the Cinderella story. The second verious I read was a spanish version titled, Cenicienta. It was written by Loek Koopmans. This story followed the same plot as the Disney version with just a few minor changes (for example in the end, Cinderella and the prince ride into the sky on a horse) The final version of Cinderlla that I read was a Korean version titled, The Korean Cinderlla written by Shirley Climo and illustrated by Ruth Heller. In this story, the same basic plot still applied but it incorporated Korean traditions. The girl was not named Cinderella, she was named Pear Blossum. The step mother, Omoni only had one daughter named Peony. They made Pear Blossum's life miserable but she was kind to them throughout the whole story. Instead of having one fairy godmother to help her, Pear Blossom had various animls come help her with her chores. First it was a frog, the birds then an ox. Towards the end, there was a festival in town, not a ball, and Pear Blossum was not allowed to go until she finished an impossible chose that Omoni gave her. After the magical Ox helped her, Pear Blossum went to the festival and saw the young, handsom nobleman. She accidentally dropped her sandle in the stream and ran off thinking she had caused a disturbance. The nobleman ordered his bearers to fish out her sandle from the stream and take him back to the village so he could find her. Once Omoni and Peony got home, they were yelling at Pear Blossum for stealing food that the magical Ox had given her. Right then the nobleman showed up at her house and her stepmother and stepsister were sure that he was there to arrest her for stealing. To their surprise he pulled out Pear Blossum's other sandle and asked her to marry him. Of course, the stepmother tried to say that her daughter was much better for the nobleman but he did not want to hear it. Pear Blossum and the nobleman lived happily ever after.
Even though there are many different versions of the story, Cinderall they all essentially have the same basic plot of a young girl who is treated horribly but ends up prevailing in the end and marrying or getting together with the prince or desired man.
Climo, Shirley. The Korean Cinderella. China: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993
Koopmans, Loek. Cenicienta. New York: North-South Books Inc., 2002
Rylant, Cynthia. Cinderella. New York: Disney Press, 2007
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