Cinderella and Britain.
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CELTIC VARIANTS OF "CINDERELLA".
Macleod. | Campbell. | Sinclair. | Curtin. | |
Heroine, daughter of sheep, king's wife. | Ill-treated heroine (by stepmother). | Ill-treated heroine (by stepmother and sisters). | Ill-treated heroine (by elder sisters). | |
Spy on heroine. | Menial heroine. | Menial heroine. | Menial heroine. | |
Helpful animal. | Helpful cantrips. | Henwife aid. | ||
Spy on heroine. | Magic dresses. (+ starlings on shoulders). | Magic dresses.(honey-bird, finger and stud). | ||
Revivified bones. | Revivified bones. | Lost shoe. | Lost shoe. | |
Stepsister substitute. | Shoe marriage test. | Shoe marriage test. | ||
Magic dresses. | Golden shoe gift (from hero). | Heroine under washtub. | Mutilated foot. | |
Meeting-place (feast). | Meeting-place (sermon). | Happy marriage | Happy marriage | |
Flight threefold. | Flight threefold. | Substituted bride | Substituted bride (eldest sister). | |
Lost shoe (golden). | Lost shoe. | Jonah heroine. | Jonah heroine. | |
Shoe marriage test. | Shoe marriage test. | Three reappearances. | Three reappearances. | |
Mutilated foot. | Mutilated foot. | Reunion | Reunion | |
False bride. | Villain Nemesis. | |||
Bird witness. | Bird witness. | |||
Happy marriage. | Happy marriage. |
Now in the "English" versions there is practical unanimity in the concluding portions of the tale. Magic dresses—Meeting-place {Church)—Flight—Lost shoe—Shoe marriage-test—Mutilated foot—False bride—Bird witness—Happy marriage, follow one another with exemplary regularity in all four (six) versions.[1] The introductory incidents vary somewhat. Chambers has evidently a maimed version of the introduction of Catskin. The remaining three enable us, however, to restore with some confidence the Ur-Cinderella in English, somewhat as follows: Helpful
- ↑ Chambers, II, consists entirely and solely of these incidents.