Description

This popular version of the Cinderella story comes to us from the Brothers Grimm, the famous fairy-tale authors. Our lovely and devoted heroine is mistreated when her widowed father remarries another woman with two daughters, who call her Ashputtel because she sleeps in the hearth’s ashes. Miserable and grief-stricken over the loss of her mother, Ashputtel visits the grave daily and plants a sprig there. She waters the sprig with her tears and it soon grows into a large tree. When Ashputtel hears about a glamorous ball to be held by the king, she wants desperately to go, but her stepmother gives her an impossible task—to pick a huge amount of peas out of the ashes. With the help of the birds in the tree, Ashputtel fulfills her side of the bargain, but her stepmother still won’t let her attend. Despondent, she visits her mother’s grave, and the magical tree shakes a beautiful, sumptuous ball gown down onto her. At the ball, the prince falls for her but she evades his attempts to learn her identity. When he comes calling at the house with her lost slipper, her stepsisters are go to gruesome lengths to become a royal bride. In this Grimm version, Ashputtel finally gets what her goodness deserves, and her sisters meet with a bloody consequence for their treachery.

About the Author

Jakob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859) Grimm were born into a comfortable German family, enjoying a genteel rural lifestyle in their earliest years. When their father suddenly died, however, the Grimm children and their mother were forced to leave their home and move into a smaller house in the city. Overcoming their family's hardships, the brothers went on to attend the University of Marlburg, where both studied law. It was during this phase of their lives that the Grimms began a project to amass ancient folk legends and stories of Germany. This singular endeavor would become the Grimms' beloved multi-volume set of Fairy Tales. Having established a solid reputation with these collected tales, both brothers became university professors, pursuing work in the field of linguistics. In addition to their most famous work, the brothers Grimm were also well known in their day for their passionate interest in politics and loyal devotion to the German democratic movement.

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Opening Lines (Experimental)

The wife of a rich man fell sick; and when she felt that her end drew nigh, she called her only daughter to her bed-side, and said, 'Always be a good girl, and I will look down from heaven and watch over you.' Soon afterwards she shut her eyes and died, and was buried in the garden; and the little ...