Monthly Archives: June 2008

Back to Basics: Cinderella– a Tuesday Tale

Posted on by

Once there was a delightful little girl whose mother had died.

When her father remarried it was to a woman with two daughters of her own, near his child’s age.

Before long the father, too, died, and the sweet child was left an orphan.

As she grew older and more beautiful her stepmother grew more and more harsh, giving her the hardest chores and making her sleep alone, away from the family.

The girl never complained, even when she had to sleep in the ashes by the kitchen fire to keep warm during the winter.  She would awake covered in cinders, without a chance to wash or even a looking glass to know.

Her two step-sisters took their cue from their mother and looked for every opportunity to belittle their unfortunate comrade.  It was they who came up with the taunt, “Cinderella,” as a way to address her, not even allowing her to keep the dignity of a true name.

~

Eventually the time came when the prince of the land was seeking a bride, and so held a series of balls.  Each night Cinderella’s family refused to take her, but each night she had magical help and was transformed to appear in the eyes of anyone as beautiful as her good spirit.

Her beauty captivated the prince, who would dance with no one else, but always she slipped away before midnight.  By the third night the prince recognized the pattern and was too close behind for her to stop when she lost one of her tiny dancing slippers.

The next day the kingdom received word that the Prince would marry whoever fit the little shoe.

The stepmother, seeking vicariously to advance her own position, cut off a piece of her oldest daughter’s heel, so that her foot would fit the little shoe.

Riding away to the palace with the false bride the prince heard,

Turn back, good prince, turn back.
There is blood in the little shoe.

He looked and seeing the mutilation he returned the girl to her mother.

The mother, however, wasted no time but cut off the toe of her other daughter, allowing the slipper to fit.  The prince placed this girl on his horse and began to ride away, but again he heard,

Turn back, good prince, turn back.
There is blood in the little shoe.

Having seen the proof with his own eyes the prince returned her as well.

Now Cinderella was able to get at the soe and prove it fit.

As they rode on to the palace the now familiar voice sang out,

Ride on, good prince, Ride on.
The slipper has found its home.

The prince was happy to do so, and took her back to the palace where he married her at once and lived in great contentment.

The Canonical Dozen

Posted on by

I’ve used this phrase so many times in the last year and a half, I’ve decided to sit down and make a real list.

The reason for doing it now is at least partly because I’m kicking around the idea of telling stories occasionally in a 4th-6th grade classroom this fall, and I decided I wanted to start with the basics.

It’s inevitable that fewer and fewer people will be hearing these old stories, even those that are referenced continually in literary allusions.   I figured I might do what I can to spread (what I consider) this basic literacy of folk and fairy tales.

For your perusing and debating pleasure (in no particular order):

The Canonical Dozen

  1. Cinderella
  2. Rumpelstiltskin
  3. Rapunzel
  4. Sleeping beauty
  5. Jack and the Beanstalk
  6. Snow White
  7. The Princess and the Pea
  8. Aladdin and his Lamp
  9. The Ugly Duckling
  10. Beauty and the Beast
  11. Hansel and Gretal
  12. Little Red Riding hood
  13. Puss in Boots

This was trickier than I thought, and I slowed to a stop after #6. (Meaning I had to get up and actually look at my shelves.)

To understand why I picked these it helps to look at this list from a literary standpoint, rather than what we’ve personally read/heard the most.

Every one of these 12 I have seen referenced or alluded to (in a way that was supposed to be metaphorical or enlightening) in an utterly unrelated setting (e.g. “breadcrumbs” in a variety of roles).

Without these stories, modern readers could actually be missing the point of anything from a textbook anecdote to an AP article in their local paper.

Perhaps for the next several weeks I will break from my initial goal of Tuesday Tales and review these basics, mentioning at that point my favorite version of each.

New Beginnings

Posted on by

Well, it’s Alaska, so I guess it’s to be expected that the explosion of newness that comes with spring should be delayed…

But just today I was marveling at the number of “beginnings” that have tumbled into my life in the last… chunk of time.  Any of them could be a post of its own, but for my own record-keeping, here they are.

  • The Garden
  • Morning prayer time
  • The Deal with Jay— that he manages kids after Bedtime (letting me write regularly) and I take over in the morning (since I’m already up praying).  The neat thing in all this is how much better and later they’ve been sleeping. ;)  I trust that God has been choosing the length of my prayer-time.
  • The costumes for the coming Faire
    • This really deserves a post of its own, along with my hopeful delight at a Halloween alternative that doesn’t take place on October 31st.
  • A resurgence of interest in storytelling
    • In theory, for now, with solid opportunities for it to become reality if it proves appropriate for the coming season.
  • The beginning of the end of my novel
    • It’s at a place that seems possible now
  • Summer (outdoor) exercise again: Yay for biking!
  • My first attack of allergies (not. cool.).  All in my eyes.
    • Gives me a whole new appreciation for what my husband has gone through every spring I’ve known him.  It takes a lot of heart to function lovingly when you can’t breathe, and your eyes feel encased in fire.  Dear man, he never complains; just moves slower.
  • First non-pregnancy weight-gain in 10 years
  • First conscious choice to cut hot cocoa and eating candy with my kids
    • As a result of the previous.
  • Intriguing new study in Sunday School (women apart from the men)
  • New responsibility in Jr. Church: basically, leading it.
    • This is interesting because there are 5 2-year-olds, and I realized I have no experience doing anything with children on a 2-year-old level.  My kids all jumped pretty quickly to sitting and listening to stories and poetry (probably because that’s most of what they got), which is something you don’t do with a mass of 2s anyway.

I talked with Jay about all this at the playground, today, saying how surprised I was at the number of starts just now, and how I was thankful it came while we were going through such a peaceful time.

His observation was that it seemed a peaceful time because I’ve been (almost) carefully guarding my time with God.  And I think he’s right.

It’s a very encouraing thought.