Once upon a time there was a nobleman who took as his
second wife the proudest and haughtiest woman there ever
was. The husband, by his first wife, had a young daughter
who was exceptionally sweet and gentle. His Second wife
had two daughters who had their mother’s temper and
resembled her in every way. No sooner was the wedding
over than the stepmother began to display her bad temper.

–Charles Perrault

Everyone is familiar with a version of Charles Perrault’s “Cinderella or the Glass
Slipper.” This version of Cinderella where many elements typically associated with
the tale originated. There is the fairy godmother, pumpkin, and the famous glass
slipper.

The story starts out with the girl’s mother already dead, and the father had
already married the stepmother with the bad temper, who brings with her two bad
tempered daughters. They quickly dump the girl into the position of servant, and
have her doing all the meanest work in the house, such as scour the dishes, tables,
cleaning madam’s chamber, and those of her daughters. They dress her in rags,
trying to hide how much more handsome she is than her sisters. And since she has
no bed she chooses to sleep among the ashes next to the hearth to keep warm. For
this she is sometimes called rude names such as Cinderwench, but is mostly called
Cinderella.

Then one day the King’s son decides to throw a ball. The stepsisters were very
excited about going and talked endlessly about what they would wear. Cinderella
gives them advice in these matters, and offers to dress their heads.

While Cinderella would be working at their hair, they would tease and ask:

“Cinderella, would you not be glad to go to the ball?”
“Alas!” said she, “you only jeer me; it is not for such as I am
to go thither.”
“You are right,” they replied. “It would make the people laugh
to see a Cinderwench at a ball.”

Despite their constant teasing Cinderella does their hair perfectly. When they
finally all left for the ball Cinderella watches them go, and as soon as they are out
of sight she starts weeping.

This is when the fairy godmother appears, and tells her that she is there to grant
Cinderella her wish to go to the ball. She then sends Cinderella out to fetch a
pumpkin from the garden, six mice from the trap, a rat, and six lizards.

After scooping out the insides of the pumpkin the fairy godmother turns it into a
golden coach, the six mice into horses, the rat into a coachman, and the six lizards
into footmen.

This done, she turns her attention on Cinderella and transforms her rags into a
gorgeous gown, and on her feet she puts glass slippers.

Before Cinderella heads off for the ball, the fairy godmother warns her to be back
by midnight, for that is when the spell runs out, and everything will turn back to
the way it was.

At the ball the prince pours attention upon her, and she meets her stepsisters,
who don’t recognize her, and gives them oranges and treats them sweetly.

Cinderella has such a grand time with the prince that she forgets about the time
till the clock chimes midnight. She dashes out of the castle, not even stopping to
pick up her slipper when it falls off on the stairs. The prince chases after her but
fails to catch up.

When the stepsisters come home Cinderella pretends to have been sleeping and
asks how the ball had gone. They reply it was the most wonderful ever, and that
there was the most beautiful princess they had ever seen, and she was very good
to them. But she left in such a hurry she lost one of her slippers.

The prince, who wants to marry the mysterious maiden, proclaims that he will
marry whose foot fits the slipper. When it was finally brought to the house where
Cinderella lived, the stepsisters tried it on, but the slipper will not fit either of
them. Cinderella asks to try it on, but the stepsisters laugh at her. But the man
who brought the slipper (the prince in this story has someone else do all the
running around) looks at Cinderella and sees that despite the way she is dressed
that she is very handsome and has her try it on.

To the stepsisters astonishment it fits Cinderella’s foot as if it were made of wax.
Then to further everyone’s amazement she pulls the other slipper out of her
pocket and puts it on her other foot.

The fairy godmother appears and touches Cinderella with her wand, making her
rags once more into beautiful clothes. Now the stepsisters recognize her as
the princess who had treated them so kindly, and throw themselves at her feet
begging her forgiveness at the way they had treated her. Cinderella lifts them up
and embraces them, telling them she forgives them with all her heart and that she
wishes for them to love her always the way sisters should.

Cinderella then marries the prince, and arranges for her sisters to live in the
palace and matches them up with two great lords of the court.

Perrault’s Cinderella, as cute and sweet as it may be, is lacking when compared to
other Cinderella tales, such as the Grimm Brothers. The “good mother” “bad
mother” isn’t touched, at the last minute a fairy godmother shows up and gives
Cinderella everything she needs.

Cinderella’s character is weak, and she is an easy target for abuse, such as when
the stepsisters torment her by asking her if she wished she could go to the ball,
she says that she has no right to go to something like that. She also offers to do
their hair and give them advice, even though she knows they will be mean to her,
and will not even thank her or give her credit for anything she does, no matter how
perfect it is.

The prince, who claims to love her, doesn’t even do any of the searching, but sends
someone else to do all the work, and then he never sees Cinderella in her rags, so
there isn’t the reassurance that she’ll be excepted for who she is instead of what
she looks like when she is “dolled up.”

Then there is the issue that those who did wrong in the story don’t get punished,
but get rewarded. It is a fun story, but it lacks much of the symbolism that most
of its predecessors had.