Cinderella

CINDERELLA or THE LITTLE GLASS SLIPPER

Author:

First edition:

"Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre", in Contes de ma mère l'Oye, ou Histoires ou contes du temps passé avec des moralités (Mother Goose Tales), Barbin, 1697.

Main illustrators:

Bernadette Boudignon Bour Chrétien Devéria Doré Gigoux Gourlier Hoffmann Innocenti Kelek Lavater Lorioux Marou Millet Vergeaux Viney

In short:

"Once upon a time there was a worthy man who married for his second wife the haughtiest, proudest woman that had ever been seen. She had two daughters, who possessed their mother's temper and resembled her in everything. Her husband, on the other had, had a young daughter, who was of an exceptionally sweet and gentle nature. She got this from her mother, who had been the nicest person in the world."
But when Cinderella's father dies, she is ill-treated by her step-mother and step-sisters. Helped by a Fairy Godmother she manages to go to the Prince's Ball but disappears mysteriously. the prince, in love with her, finds Cinderella thanks to her lost little glass slipper.

Selection of edition:

Contes, illustrated by Achille Devéria, Mame, 1835.
Contes de Perrault, illustrated by Gustave Doré, Hetzel, 1862.
Les Contes de Perrault, illustrated by Félix Lorioux, Hachette, 1927.
Cendrillon, illustrated by Pascin, éd. Trémois, 1929.
Cendrillon, illustrated by Warja Lavater, A. Maeght, 1976.
Contes de Perrault, illustrated by Michel Gourlier, Collection "Rouge et or souveraine", 1977, 19,7/26,7, 28 p.
Cendrillon, illustrated by Michel Gourlier, L'Ecole des Loisirs, collection "Renard Poche", 1978.
Cendrillon, illustrated by Françoise Boudignon, Hatier, 1980.
Cendrillon, by Grimm, illustrated by Bernadette, Nord-Sud, 1981.
Cendrillon, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti, Grasset-Fasquelle, collection "Monsieur Chat", 1983.
Cendrillon, illustrated by Claude et Denise Millet, Fabbri, 1983.
Contes de Perrault, illustrated by Daniel Bour, Grasset, 1984.
Contes de Charles Perrault, illustrated by Kelek, Hatier, collection "Contes de...", 1986.
Cendrillon, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti, Gallimard Jeunesse, 1990.
Cendrillon, illustrated by Ginette Hoffman, Nathan, 1994, 19/22, 24 p.
Cendrillon, illustrated by M. Marou, Mango, 1994.
Cendrillon, illustrated by F. Vergeaux, Hachette, 1996.

Ricochet recommends: "Cendrillon", in Contes de ma mère l'Oye, by Charles Perrault, illustrated by Gustave Doré, Gallimard, coll. Folio Junior, 1988.

More about Cinderella:

Its origins:

This tale is part of European oral tradition and even we can find variants of the tale in Asia.

The heroine:

Young pretty girl who lives in misery is given a nudge in the right direction and becomes Princess. But the help given by Fairy Godmother, which enables her to get the attention of the prince, is only temporary (until midnight!) and she can count on nobody but herself.
No hard feelings! she forgives her step-sisters but, as in other tales by Perrault, she manages to marry her step-sister with upper-class grooms so that their social position is kept.

Even more:

Cinderella is the popular symbol of going up the social hierarchy, usually by means of a marriage (love). The young, pretty yet poor girl who manages to reach higher social spheres thanks to a wand. Cinderella, Cendrillon, cenerentola, Cenicienta, Ashenputtel let many European generations dream and "love literature" is still nowadays basing some novels on a modern Cinderella-like heroine:
The Egyptian Cinderella, by Shirley Climo, illustrated by Ruth Heller. HarperCollins, 1989
The Golden Slipper: a Vietnamese Legend, by Darrell Lum, illustrated by Makiko Nagano. Troll, 1994
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale, by John Steptoe. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1987. (Zimbabwe)
Nomi and the Magic Fish: a Story from Africa, by Phumla, illustrated by Carole Byard. Doubleday, 1972. (Zulu)
Tattercoats, edited by Joseph Jacobs; illustrated by Margot Tomes. Putnam, 1989.
The Turkey Girl: a Zuni Cinderella, retold by Penny Pollock; illustrated by Ed Young. Little, Brown, 1995.
The Egyptian Cinderella, by Shirley Climo, illustrated by Ruth Heller. HarperCollins, 1989.
Billy Beg and his Bull: an Irish Tale, retold by Ellin Greene, illustrated by Kimberly Bulcken Root. Holiday House, 1994.
Boots and the Glass Mountain, by Claire Martin. Dial Books, 1992. (Norway)
Chinye: a West African Folk Tale, retold by Obi Onyefulu; illustrated by Evie Safarewicz, 1994.

Adaptations:

As far as literature is concerned, Grimm Brothers wrote Aschenputtel, in Kinder und Hausmarchen, in 1812.
La suite de Cendrillon, ou le rat et les six lézards, a Cinderella's sequel written by Guillaume Apollinaire.
Cendrillon bleue (Blue Cinderella), by Helena Wronska, La pensée universelle, coll. Poètes du temps présent, 1980.

George Melies released in 1899 the film called Cendrillon.
Walt Disney Productions shot in 1949 their cartoon film Cinderella.
Cinderfella, comedy by Frank Tashlin and Jerry Lewis, 1960.
The glass slipper, musical comedy by Charles Walters, with Leslie Caron, produced by MGM in 1955.