We are well on our way through the weird and twisted original fairy tales that may well sit much more comfortably within the horror section of a library than the children’s section. We continue now with the original Cinderella story, which too had a sinister ending, and several variations.
The tale as we mostly know it has poor Cinderella serving as a slave to to her wicked step mother and sisters. She goes to a ball in a magic pumpkin coach and loses a glass slipper when leaving. She reunites with her prince after fitting the shoe and she marries him and her wicked sisters marry Lords and they all live happily ever after.
The original Cinderella story has ancient origins
The original Cinderella story dates way back to the 1st century BC. It is mostly the same as the story we all know, except for a few major differences. In the original Cinderella story there is no slipper or pumpkin coach. That can be adequately described as a major difference, although the premise of the story is basically the same.
Fast forward to the version by the Grimm brothers who also put a wicked twist into their tale. The tale as told by the brothers is based very much upon the story from centuries before, and that of Charles Perrault, but has some of its own claims as being the original Cinderella story. Certainly it is the most popular version that we all know today. Lets talk about their adaption shall we?
In the original Cinderella story as told by the Grimm brothers there is some form of, how can we put it mildly? Grotesque body modification. Towards the end of the tale, when the step sisters try the shoe on they don’t fit. To accommodate a small shoe, and a potential life of royal luxury they simply cut their feet down to fit. The prince learns of their trick from two doves who peck out the sisters eyes for their trickery. The sisters then spend the rest of their lives as blind beggars. But Cinderella lives happily ever after.
Want to know something else about the original Cinderella story? It appears as though the ancient story was not the only one that had no glass slippers either. The story as written by Charles Perrault in 1697 didn’t have glass slippers. The glass slippers were introduced by a mistranslation of the word vair (fur). The word vair was misread as being verre meaning glass.
If you ask me these stories are certainly much more entertaining, although they may induce moments of fear or nightmares in younger children.
If you liked this fact we recommend that you read:
- Pinocchio kills Jiminy Cricket in the original story
- The Pied Piper drowns the children in the original story
- Peter Pan kills lost boys in the original story
- Batwoman was introduced to stop people thinking Batman was gay
