Motifs in Traditional Literature
From Fairy Godmothers to Fish Bones:
Cinderella
Stuttering Gus Gus and the "Bibbity Bobbity Boo" of the pumpkin bouncing into the form of a silver carriage are images that we gravitate towards when we think of "Cinderella." Our collective unconscious pulls from the classic Disney film. However, confining one's self to such a narrow view of the fairy tale neglects the myriad international adaptations and versions of the tale. With glass slippers as golden rings and fairy godmothers as magical fish bones, the East Asian twists add to the beloved tale, injecting rich international culture to the story while staying true to the beloved, archetypal characters that we're eager to cheer on and that we love to hate.
Abadeha: The Philippine Cinderella
De La Paz, Myrna J. (2001). Abadeha: The Philippine Cinderella. California: Shen's Books. The Filipino version of Cinderella provides ample detail about life in the Philippines while portraying the importance of working hard, relationships and respect. Abadeha's father is a fisherman and is often away from him. This allows plenty of time for Abadeha's stepmother and stepsisters to place copious amounts of work on her to complete and makes her life miserable. Instead of a fairy godmother, Abadeha relies on a kind spirit to guide her. She finds a tree full of precious jewels and rings and loses one. The son of the island's chieftan finds it and it becomes stuck on his finger. Eventually, Abadeha is able to remove it and this is where their relationship forms. De La Paz includes a lot of details in her writing and provides illustrations that are somewhat generic, yet telling. It is worth a read to learn about the beautiful Filipino culture! |
Wishbones: A Folk Tale from ChinaWilson, Barbara K. (1993). Wishbones: A Folk Tale from China. Great Britain: Frances Lincoln Limited.
Wilson's retelling of the Chinese version of the Cinderella tale features motherless maiden Yeh Hsien and her magic fish. The stepmother secretly kills and eats it, but a spirit tells Yeh Hsien where to find the bones, which turn out to be magic, laying the groundwork for the happy ending. Wilson's retelling is clever, as is her chosen title, and reads aloud well. The free, folksy style draws on Chinese and non-Han motifs, being influenced as well by modern Chinese masters, notably Qi Bai-shi. Children will delight in this clever retelling and be dazzled by the truly splendid illustrations. |
Angkat: The Cambodian Cinderella
Coburn, Jewell R. (1998). Angkat: The Cambodian Cinderella. California: Shen's Books. Angkat, the obedient daughter of a fisherman, finds her position threatened when her widowed father marries a woman with a daughter of her own. To decide which girl will be Number One in the family, Stepmother arranges a fishing contest. Kantok wins by cheating, relegating Angkat to a servant's role. Her only friend is a magic fish she caught and freed. When Kantok sees the fish, she kills it. Suddenly the Spirit of Virtue appears; this radiant presence gives Angkat a pair of dainty golden slippers that eventually lead her to her prince and a royal wedding. The story takes an unexpected turn when Angkat's jealous family lures her back home to murder her, but the Spirit of Virtue raises her from the dead, the family is punished, and Angkat and her prince live happily ever after. |
The Gift of the Crocodile
Sierra, Judy (2000). The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Story. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Mistreated by her stepfamily due to their brewing envy of her beauty, Damura seeks aid from nature when she can no longer tolerate sleeping on the floor and rising before daybreak. In this Indonesian fairy tale, a crocodile uncharacteristically assumes the role of a fairy godmother. Endowing her with a gold gown and gold slippers, Damura dances for the prince and is swooped up by the royal son through marriage. However, the “happily ever after” one would expect falls short with the unexpected reappearance of the two-faced Grandmother Crocodile. With boxy, sharp drawings that invigorate the text, Judy Sierra’s The Gift of the Crocodile puts a tragic spin on the classic Cinderella story. |
Jouanah: A Hmong Cinderella
Coburn, Jewell R. (1996). Jouanah: A Hmong Cinderella. California: Shen’s Books. Being a mountain-dwelling, Asian ethnic group indigenous to parts of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, the Hmong provide their rendition of Cinderella in Jouanah through Jewell R. Coburn and a stated credible source for the story. With her biological mother’s selflessness leading to her father’s corrupt remarriage to a malevolent mother and daughter, Jouanah suffers. However, the spirit of her mother acts as her fairy godmother, blessing her with new attire so she can join the village’s festivities. The typical Cinderella story unfolds in its traditional plotline thereafter, but will the stepmother’s interventions in the love prevail in this Hmong version? Read to find out. |
The Brocaded Slipper
Vuong, Lynette Dyer (1992). The Brocaded Slipper. HarperCollins Publishers.
Living in Vietnam for thirteen years, Lynette Dyer Vuong now recounts the traditional Vietnamese Cinderella story she grew up with in The Brocaded Slipper. Following the classic Cinderella story since Tam is abused by her stepfamily and finds salvation in a fairy, the text culminates to a sudden deviance from the Western version. With a missing “happily-ever-after,” The Brocaded Slipper presents readers with an impressive take on the well-known story. |
Kongi and Potgi:
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Yeh-Shen: A Chinese Cinderella Story
Louie, Ai-Ling (1996). Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China. London: Puffin.
Based on ancient Chinese manuscripts from the T’ang Dynasty that were written one thousand years before the European version of Cinderella surfaced, Louie Ai-Ling’s “Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China,” begins with a orphaned girl left in the care of a jealous stepmother who murders her pet fish. However, Yeh-Shen confiscates the fish’s bones after being informed of their magical powers. Wishing to go to the spring festival despite her stepmother’s forbiddance, Yeh-Shen asks the fish bones for a dress in which to attend. Given a gown and golden slippers, the girl impresses many but is forced to run off and lose a slipper. The slipper is sold to the king of T’o Han. Marveling at the slipper’s beauty, he searches for its owner, but the shoe is unusually small. The king, however, has a scheme to entice its original owner to reclaim her lost possession. With simple, but vibrant drawings, the story unfolds into a happy and morbid ending. |
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