Folktales Across Cultures (from http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html)
Conflict
Setting
Characters
Story
Cinderella - Charles Perrault
Pepelyouga - Petrovitch
French (Europe)
Serbia (Europe)
- Cinderella or "Cinderwench"
- step-sisters actually play a larger
role than the step-mother
- godmother who doesn't seem to
be introduced in any way--just
pops up out of nowhere as
though she was already part of
the story
- France - reference to Madam de
la Poche-->no specific region it
seems
- happens over a few days (not
just one ball)
- a lot happens in the home
- a ball
- Pepelyouga/Marra/Cinderella
- her mother who turns into a
cow, helps her out, and is then
slaughtered, god-mother figure if
we are going to be Cinderellacentric
- step-mother plays a larger role
- Person vs. person: Cinderella vs.
step-sisters
- Person vs. society: Cinderella is
judged and held down based only
on her class (or the class that her
step family forces her into
-->graciousness wins out in the
end which is perhaps slightly
subversive?
- Person vs. Supernatural: at
midnight
- evil step-mother vs. the
daughter Marra. It's about
beauty--the fact that Pepelyouga
is more beautiful--but it's also
about the love of the father
- this one and the next seem to
be less afraid of violence being
included in the story
- starts out in rugged terrain:
cliff's edge--reflective of local
geography and concerns(?)
- in Serbia
- rural setting
- church instead of a ball
The Wicked Stepmother Knowles
The Turkey Herd - Parsons
Zuni (Native American)
Kashmir (India)
- wife becomes goat--a deal
about not eating apart from each
other-->it's interesting that this is
closer to the Serbian myth
- Brahman
- children
- one-eyed half-sister who is a
minion of the step-mother
- Kashmir, I'd presume
- over a long amount of time
- between step-mother and the
children. Also, I suppose,
between the Brahman and his
first wife as far as that challenge
goes
- between one-eyed sibling and
the rest
- violent compared to Perrault
- turkey-loving girls
- her human sisters
- the turkeys that are also
referred to as her sisters
- the dance director
- Western New Mexico
apparently--details like the wild
turkeys (as an explanation to
listeners about why turkeys are
in that location)
- most of the story takes place
on one day with a lot of time
encompassed in the introduction
and the conclusion
- sisters vs. turkey-loving girl
- person vs. supernatural
- person vs. society: "thus it was
long ago" + a social class sort of
thing in a way because she is too
dirty to go to the dance(?)
Motifs
Resolution
Folktales Across Cultures (from http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html)
Other Motifs:
- a seer of sorts
- Cinderella marries the Prince
and we are left with a couple of
morals
- it's interesting that the stepsisters are still given a reward.
Cinderella sort of turns the other
cheek. Note: in Brothers Grimm,
the doves peck out the eyes of
the step-sisters as they take part
in the wedding ceremony
- ends in marriage for the woman
- the moral re: graciousness >
beauty doesn't really ring true. Is
that really why the prince fell for
her? I don't think so
- Supernatural Helpers
- Magical Powers
- Magical Objects
- Beautiful Princess
- Importance of Threes (three
sisters, three rats, six mice)
- Magical transformations
- Extraordinary animals? - the
mice and rats are transformed,
but perhaps the godmother gets
credit for the magic
- ends in marriage for the
woman-->that's the end of her
story
- too short a conclusion to find
out whether or not there is a
reconciliation with the stepfamily or punishment for the
step-mother
- Supernatural Helpers
- Magical Powers - her mother as
a cow, the ability of the man at
the beginning to see into the
future
- Magical Objects - bones
- Beautiful Princess - she does
marry a prince
- Magical transformations
- Importance of Threes: three
types of dresses, three trips to
the church
- Extraordinary Animals: cock who
lets everyone know she's there,
the doves, the mother/cow
- ends in marriage for the woman
even though in this version it
seems to be a bit tacked on in
the end with the nose ring thing-tacked on because she is not
necessarily even the main
character
- no punishment for the stepmother
- like Pepelyouga, the
mother/farm animal is actually
more powerful after death (the
bones are important as well)
- notice that the magic doesn't
give things, but food
- Supernatural Helpers
- Magical Powers
- Magical Objects
- Beautiful Princess-ish
- Magical Transformations- but
not for the Cinderella figure
- Extraordinary animals
- things don't work out for the
protagonist because she stays
until a little after sundown and
her turkeys take off
- not really a reconciliation with
the family, just more of the
same, though I suppose she does
now do the work (opposite to
the resolution in the other tales)
- does not end in her marriage to
the dance director or anyone
else
- Importance of Threes: dancing
for the third time
- extraordinary animals: the
turkeys eating lice out of her hair
- the importance of threes:
during the third dance
- Supernatural Helpers - gifts as
with the rest of them, but not
good in this case
- Magical Powers
- Magical transformations
Folktales Across Cultures (from http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html)
- life after death
- happy ending doesn't always seem to be there
- pushover husbands
- a challenge that seems impossible but is basically always completed
- luck
-->why is it interesting that Cinderella shows up in 1000 different ways
across the world? (LEADING QUESTION!)