When reading “ The Wicked Stepmother,” I came across a lot of unfamiliar aspects in the story. Usually any regular Cinderella story would have a girl that just lives with her father because her mother has passed and the father usually gets married to the stepmother who is usually wicked. The the father passes and leaves the daughter with the stepmother and Wicked step sisters. The daughter basically is being mistreated the whole time growing up until she finds happiness. This Indian version is completely different from what I know and grew up watching. In the story the mother and father make a promise to each other to never each without being in each other presence. If this prom is was broken then the mother would turn into a goat and the father would turn into a tiger. The mother one day was feeding her child and took a little taste of the food and she turned into a goat. When the dad returned home he came to the realization that she had broke her promise. Something that was different compared to any other Cinderella story is that the mother was actually there in the story. After the incident eventually the father remarried which wasn’t a surprised. The children weren’t being fed as they were suppose to so they went to their mother, the goat, to get food and the stepmother wondered why they were getting so strong when they were barley fed. This was familiar because usually the stepmother mistreats the fathers child. Eventually the stepmother finds out the children’s were getting fed by the mother so she ordered the husband to bring her some goat meat and he didn’t have enough money to buy a goat so he had to kill his wife which was the goat in the backyard. Towards the end of the story one of the siblings ends up marrying a king so the story has a happy ending which is usually how Cinderella story ends.

I really did enjoy this Cinderella adaptation, it definitely fulfilled many of the aspects of what makes a story uniquely a Cinderella tale. The Cinderella character, Chinye, was inherently good, what I liked about this version is that Chinye’s only physical description was that she looked like her mother, usually her character is described as being extremely beautiful instigating jealousy from her stepmother. Another aspect of a Cinderella story that this one had was the abusive stepmother and step sister who would torment the protagonist. However, something that stood out in this version was that unlike in many Cinderella stories Chinye’s father was still alive while her stepmother abused her. The only mention of her father though was at the beginning when he is described as marrying the stepmother and at the end when he is chasing after her when she is bombarded with hornets. This could be telling that men in these kinds of households do not actually have much involvement with the raising of children. There is also an animal that serves to help the protagonist in this version of Cinderella, instead of rats being transformed into horses it is a single flamingo that just happens to talk. There was no ball or prince charming or magical outfit change in this version. But there is the fairy god mother character who was the woman who lived in a hut in this story, there is a greater theme that can be taken from this adaptation beyond the usual Cinderella stories of “what goes around comes around”. But also to respect and listen to your elders, Chinye helped clean the elderly womans home and listened to her advise, to only pick up the tiniest gourds and to break them when she got home. Chinye followed the directions and was pleasantly rewarded when she cracked open the gourds to receive pearls and luxurious jewels. Whereas, when Chinye’s stepsister was sent to the old woman’s house and was advised not to pick up the big gourds, she disobeyed. And when the step sister broke open the large gourds she and her mother were attacked by hornets.

http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/slamdunks/cinderellaculture/Chinye_A_West_African_Cinderella.pdf

While reading Tam and Cam I expected a traditional story very similar to the American version of Cinderella but to my surprise it was quite funny and plot twisting. It was interesting that the author decided to have tam reincarnate and be re joined with her beloved husband. One familiarity I did notice was the festival or big gala that unites the prince and soon to be princess also the way they meet through the fitting of a shoe/slipper. Essentially another aspect of the story that was familiar to me was the fact common (to some) tradition that cultures like these tend to have tales that would involve animals with them playing a big role. For example, towards the end of the story the bird ended up coming back to speak with the step mother to remind her that she was, in fact, eating her daughter when she ate the mam. What I understand from Vietnams culture after reading this story is that reincarnation is a belief and that maybe karma is in fact a bitch. They value hard work and believe you will receive what you give I.e tam was a hardworking girl who did nothing but try to keep her step mother happy, tam need up In a happy mirage with riches while the step mother and sister were mean miserable people who made tams life a living hell so they where gifted death at the end. I especially enjoyed reading tam reincarnation into different things and still ending up by her husbands side happy beautiful and young; right when you think the story is over tam comes back and gets what she rightfully deserves. This version of Cinderella  is far more interesting, entertaining than the American version which in my opinion is practicable. Reading tam and cam I did not know what was coming next. 

What I appreciate about the different tales of Cinderella is that they’re adapted to fit the needs of its culture but that they’re also similar enough to convey the same theme. The fairytale I’ve grown up listening to is the one in which the princess is tortured by the stepmother but eventually pursued romantically because of a lost glass slipper. Therefore, by reading different versions I’ve become more aware of the unimportance of the circumstances, but rather the priority to bring to the attention an unappreciated noble soul. In the tale, “The Hidden One” by Aaron Shepard rather than having a stepmother who tortured the cinderella of the story, it was the doings of the jealous older sister who made her miserable by abusing her physically and emotionally.In addition to those differences, the father is still alive and the “prince” of the story is a hunter who is hidden to everyone except his sister and his future bride. I like this tale most when compared to other fairy tales of cinderella because there was more of an emphasis on the goodness of her soul. However, this isn’t meant to belittle any appreciation of Cinderella’s character in the other fairy tales, but in most the beauty of her soul correlates with her physical beauty. In “The hidden one” her nobility determines her fate when she’s able to see the invisible hunter. In other words, the hunter’s sister had seen the beauty within Cinderella while she physically looked the worst version of herself. This comes to show how a good heart inevitably trumps physical appearance. Therefore, Like many other tales, the antagonists corrupted heart never stood a chance in overpowering Cinderella’s authenticity and good nature. Regardless, it was interesting to read a different version of Cinderella with the same message but a different plot.