it in time!) So, what kind of story is Cinderella?
This may not be a simple story of a sparrow becoming a phoenix and an ugly duckling becoming a swan. By comparing movies and books, I hope to find the answer.
There are only three books I refer to for the time being:
1. "Grimm's Fairy Tales" by Philip Pullman, Hunan People's Publishing House, published in 2013, pp. 165-182.
2. The Complete Works of Grimm's Fairy Tales translated by Yang Wuneng, Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House, 2007, pp. 70-75.
3. Kinder- und Hausmärchen, Brüder Grimm, Reclam Verlag ( Philipp Reclam jun. GmbH), 2010, Aschenputtel, Seite132-139.
(In view of the high familiarity of the story, only part of the content is quoted below)
[There was once a rich man His wife was seriously ill. When she felt that she had run out of fuel, she called her only daughter to her side.
"My dearest child," she said, "you must live as pure as gold and as tame as a lamb, so that the merciful Lord can always protect you. Not only God, but I will watch from heaven. You, with you."
After saying these words, she closed her eyes and died.
Every day the girl goes to her mother's grave near the dovecote and weeps. She lived as pure as gold and as meek as a lamb. Winter came, and the snow covered my mother's tomb like white fabric. When the spring sun took away the snow, the rich man took another wife. ]
...the
beginning of the paragraph ends. You read that right, when winter comes to spring, my dear father has married his stepmother. After several years, the speed at which time heals scars is really impressive. So what happened next? Before dear daddy died, the girl lived like a slave from morning till night, abused by her sisters, slept by the hearth, and acquired the name Cinderella (Cinderella). This father, fully aware of the abuse of his youngest daughter, did nothing...intriguing.
The story continues.
[One day, their father was going to the city on errands, and he asked his daughters what gifts he hoped he would bring back for them.
"Clothes!" said one of them, "a bunch of beautiful clothes!"
"I want jewelry," said the other, "pearls, gems... all kinds of gorgeous jewelry."
"What do you want, Cinderella? ' he asked.
"Father, just break off the first branch that blocked your hat on the way back and give it to me."
In this way, when the father came back from the city, he brought beautiful clothes for the first daughter and the second one. Priceless jewelry. On his way home, there was a jungle where a hazelnut tree branch happened to brush his hat. He broke off the branch, took it home, and gave it to Cinderella. ]
...
This paragraph is also quite interesting, reminiscent of King Lear asking his three daughters how much they love him, and the youngest daughter's answer is the most simple "I love you like salt, no more and no less". And my dear father, actually calling the little daughter Cinderella, the little daughter's real name doesn't matter anymore, right? But there is still a little doubt, why is it a hazelnut tree? Does the hazelnut tree have any special meaning? I vaguely remember that in another book, the willow tree was mentioned. If anyone knows the answer please let me know.
[After the girl thanked her father, she immediately planted branches in front of her mother's grave. Her tears fell on the branches, and it grew into a very beautiful little tree. Cinderella came over to water it three times a day. It has also become a favorite tree for birds, and pigeons often rest on the hazelnut tree. ]
...
allow me to pause here, as I am currently reading J. G. Fraser's "Golden Bough" gave me a certain reverie. As a study of primitive beliefs and witchcraft activities, the first chapter of "The Golden Bough" discusses an ancient custom. Any fugitive slave who can break a branch from the sacred tree guarded by priests day and night is eligible to be with him. The priest duels and can kill him instead. This embodies an ancient tree worship. Cinderella took the branches of the hazelnut tree and planted them on her mother's cemetery, and her tears fell on the branches, and the whole process sounded like some kind of witchcraft... I'm a little crazy.
[One day, an invitation was sent from the palace. The king is about to hold a grand three-day celebration, inviting all the young girls in the kingdom to participate - and the prince will choose a bride among them. ]
…The
three-day celebration was actually cut down to one day, in order to increase the fantasy effect and highlight love at first sight?
[Cinderella did everything they asked for, but in the end, she burst into tears because she also wanted to go to the dance. She ran and begged her stepmother.
... (the stepmother said a vicious remark, so I won't repeat it)
But Cinderella still persevered and begged hard. Finally, the stepmother lost her patience and threw a bowl of lentils directly into the soot.
"In two hours, pick the beans out of the ashes," she said. "Just pick them out, pick the good from the bad, and when you're done, you can go to the dance."
Cinderella ran from the back of the kitchen into the garden. She stood under the hazelnut tree and confided:
Turtledoves and little pigeons,
all the birds of the sky,
please help me pick the lentils out
of the soot that hides them!
Throw all the good stuff into the jar and enjoy the rest. ]
...
"Pure as gold, docile as lamb", Cinderella actually wanted to attend the prince's ball, which sounded not "pure" at all. Well, ignore the girl's motives. As the most classic part of the story, picking beans and clicking in the movie was deleted. Cinderella, who communicates with Mr. Mouse in the movie, is a bit strange. Isn't the bird bad? The picture of the bird sings on the finger is obviously more beautiful than holding the mouse and talking. And our pure Cinderella has just launched the summoning technique, which is a bit like a witch... The role of the bird in the back, let me sell it, maybe for the good story of the movie version, it really shouldn't be a bird.
Although Cinderella quickly picked the beans, the wicked stepmother threw two more bowls of peas and asked her to pick them out within an hour. So Cinderella launched a higher level of summoning!
[She stood under the hazelnut tree and confided:
All the birds in the sky, no matter what kind of bird is good,
please come here... Let's gather under the shade of this hazelnut tree!
Pecking in the ashes,
help me pick out those lentils,
throw all the good ones into the jar, and
you'll enjoy the rest. ]
...
The descriptions of the following three books are slightly different, but they have one thing in common, that is, the role of "Fairy Godmother" does not appear. Cinderella obtained the dress and dancing shoes by praying to the hazelnut tree.
[Bäumchen, rüttel dich und schüttel dich
wirf Gold und Silber über mich.
Little tree, shake, shake, shake gold and silver on me. ]
This prayer is relatively short in both the German version and the version translated by Yang Lao, and Cinderella obtained a beautiful dress woven with gold and silver threads.
The Pullman version is obviously more gorgeous. Cinderella got "the same dress as the starlight", "the same dress as the moonlight" and "the same dress as the sunshine" three times respectively. The dancing shoes were also made from silk texture, sterling silver texture, and finally turned into pure gold. So where did the crystal slipper go? ? ? Pullman tells us an interesting anecdote in the appendix to the story, that Charlie Perrault (author of "Mother Goose Tales") used the French vair (leather) when writing the story "Cinderella". It was mistakenly written as verre (glass), thus creating the classic fairy tale setting of glass shoes. As for whether Charlie Perot did it by mistake or deliberately, it is up to the readers what we choose to believe.
Because there is no fairy godmother role, so we also do not have pumpkin carriages, mice and white horses, white goose grooms and lizard attendants. In short, Cinderella arrived at the dance scene in such a swish, stunning the audience.
Then here comes a different description. Two kinds of Cinderella appeared, which one is better?
Yang Wuneng's translation: At this time, the prince walked up to her, held her hand and danced with her. The prince didn't want to dance with anyone but her, so he kept holding her hand. Whenever another young man came to invite a girl, he said, "She is my dance partner."
Pullman's version: She did not accept any invitation from the nobles, young, old, rich, handsome. It was only when the prince bowed to her and invited him to dance to a song that she stood up and went to the dance floor with the prince.
Pullman's "Grimm's Fairy Tales" is actually his collection of other fairy tales and literary works, and added his own understanding and re-created works. So this passage made me feel that Cinderella has a strong purpose... In short, I don't understand why a pure-hearted girl would go to the prince's ball. Shouldn't she dedicate her life to God? Although the movie version gave a reasonable explanation, Cinderella wanted to go to the palace to meet a friend, not the prince.
Because there is no fairy godmother, there is no magic disappearing after the 12 o'clock bell, but Cinderella in the story still decides to leave the ball and run away from the prince. So the prince chased, and she fled, chased, fled...
Cinderella fled to her own pigeon loft.
[The prince waited, waited, waited until Cinderella's father came, and told him that he thought that the unknown girl had jumped into his dovecote. The old man thought, could it be Cinderella? They had to get out an axe and a machete and let him split the loft in half, but there was no one inside. 】
Thinking about it, this biological father actually acquiesced in the behavior of his stepmother and two older sisters not taking their little daughter to the ball. He did not consider Cinderella's desire at all, and he is indeed a biological father!
In order to open the pigeon loft, an axe and a machete were used. Are you chasing the girl or killing the girl? The verb also uses entzweischlagen, to break something in half, break something... it's brutal! Are the father and the prince going to join forces to murder? Fortunately, Cinderella escaped quickly and was sitting by the stove in her dirty clothes. There is a sense of seeing and dying... The
next day's dance continues. Cinderella joined again, and fled again, this time to the pear tree in the garden. Wow, he's agile, wearing a dress and dancing shoes, and can climb trees. In short, the prince stood under the tree and waited, and then waited until Cinderella's father came back and explained the situation. My father ordered someone to cut down the pear tree with an axe, but there was still no one.
The axe was used for two nights, why cut it down? A tree that a girl can climb up, Prince, can you climb up and take a look? Not in line with your noble etiquette? In short, this time Cinderella also escaped very quickly.
So the third day dance. The prince used a little trick.
[People covered the stairs with asphalt, and when the girl ran downstairs, her left shoe stuck. The prince picked up the shoe and saw that it was so small, so delicate, and made entirely of gold. 】
Our prince finally got his wits once and didn't destroy anything with his axe. Why the left foot and not the right foot? Does it mean anything?
The following is the shoes trial activities for girls across the country. Then to Cinderella's house.
[The boss picked up the shoes and went back to the room to try them on. His mother stood by to help, but unfortunately her big toes couldn't fit in, the shoes were too small for her. Then her mother handed her a knife and said, "Cut off your thumb. As long as you are queen, you won't need to walk again." The girl really cut off her toes, shoved her feet into her shoes, and gritted her teeth to hold back the pain. , come out to meet the prince. The prince took her on his horse as his fiancée and led her away. But they had to pass by Cinderella's mother's grave. There were two little pigeons squatting on the hazelnut tree on the tomb, and when they came over, they sang: "
Look, look, the
blood has flowed into the shoes; the
shoes are too small, the shoes are too small, the
real fiancee has to be found at home. .
The prince looked down and saw that what the pigeon was singing was the truth, and saw the blood pouring out of the shoes. He turned the horse around and sent the fake fiancee back to her house, saying that this was not the girl he was looking for, and that her sister should try it. So my sister went into the house again to try on the shoes. She was lucky, and the toes were all put in, but the heels were too fat. Helpless, the mother handed over another knife and said, "Cut off a piece of the heel, you no longer need to walk when you become a queen!" The girl cut off a piece of the heel and shoved her foot into the shoe. She resisted the pain and came out to meet the prince. . The prince took her on his horse as his fiancée and led her away. When they passed the hazelnut tree, the two little pigeons squatting on the branches sang again:
Look, look, the
blood has flowed into the shoes; the
shoes are too small, the shoes are too small, the
real fiancee has to stay at home Find.
The prince looked down and saw that blood had poured out of his shoes, staining the socks on top of it red. He immediately turned the horse's head around and sent the fake fiancée back to her home. "This one isn't true either," said the prince, "do you have no other daughters?" "No," the father replied, "there is only a poor little Cinderella left by my ex-wife, she can't be you The fiancée I'm looking for."]
This time, I successfully saw the power of my mother. In order to become queens, the two sisters are really cruel to themselves. Obviously the movie would not show such a bloody and unscrupulous scene. The most amazing thing is that these two pigeons squatted on the hazelnut branches on the cemetery and sang, just like the spokesperson of the dead mother. The prince is also very wonderful. He danced with Cinderella for three days. He held people's hands like a lunatic, and didn't let her dance with others. At night, he chased after them. When he saw that it was not his beloved who was wearing shoes The girl who did not raise any objection, she had to wait for the pigeon to sing and tell herself.
According to the question of probability, people other than the mysterious girl may also wear this shoe. Suppose the prince knew that this golden shoe was conjured by magic and that no one else could wear it, so he could tell the whole country to find his sweetheart in this way. So the whole shoe fitting ceremony was co-designed by him and Cinderella, so is it a clever way for the sisters to chop off their toes and heels? (This is my delusion of course.)
Cinderella put on her shoes of course, and the prince recognized her as the girl who danced at the ball.
[The prince took Cinderella on his horse and took him away. They passed by the hazelnut tree, and the two little white pigeons sang:
Look, look,
no blood has entered the shoes; the
shoes are not small, the shoes are not Little, the
real bride took it home.
After the little white pigeons finished singing, they both flew down and landed on Cinderella's shoulders, one on each side, never leaving again.
The prince and Cinderella held a wedding, and the two false sisters also came to please, wanting to be in the light of Cinderella. As soon as the prince and her bride entered the church, the eldest one squeezed to the bride's right and the second to his left, when two pigeons suddenly flew up, one on each side, each pecked out one of their eyes . After the ceremony, when the couple walked out of the church, the sisters were still beside them, and the pigeon flew back, one on each side, pecked out their remaining eye. 】
The white doves landed on Cinderella's shoulders and never left. Is there a feeling that the left and right guardians are in place? Pigeons also proved at weddings that they were "birds of prey" that could peck people's eyes, a far cry from peace doves. So it's understandable that the movie uses harmless-looking mice instead of birds.
I have to express my "respect" to these two sisters. I have no toes and heels. I have to come to the wedding and squeeze the bride with agility. Even after being pecked out in one eye, he didn't repent, and he still had to stick to Cinderella, so the other eye was gone. The prince waved his hand to the guards to drive them out, but instead of doing so, the sisters were given a more cruel punishment. What an interesting couple~
So, let's enjoy the last sentence of this story.
[Und waren sie also für ihre Bosheit und Falschheit mit Blindheit auf ihr Lebtag gestraft.
They paid the price for their evil and hypocrisy, and had to spend the rest of their time as blind people. 】
I thought the ending would be, from then on Cinderella and the prince lived a happy life. Nein! The pure and docile Cinderella, instead of forgiving her sisters, gave her revenge, which is really a happy ending! Happy Ending! (No
wonder !) I suddenly thought that Guangliang's song "I cried to you and told you that fairy tales are all lies" is quite in line with the overall tone of Grimm's fairy tales. As a child, I had some doubts when I read that Snow White had her iron shoes burnt at her wedding and her vicious stepmother would dance to death in them. Now when I see a fairy tale movie adapted by Disney, I suddenly realize that there are two stories in my mind, a good one and a slightly bad one. Both stories can bring me joy and let me understand that pure and docile people can also do it. something like that or something like that.
In fact, I still have a lot of details that I can't figure out. If I communicate with different people, it should bring me a different perspective on this story.
[According to Bruno Bertheim in "The Use of Magic", the most important theme of "Cinderella" is actually the dispute between siblings, in addition to the anxiety of girls entering puberty, and weddings Symbolization of rituals, etc. 】
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