CINDERELLA

 

Cinderella is the common man’s fairy tale. The story is about kindness and gentleness of a girl who was treated poorly all her life. The Disney version, again the most popular, tells us about a girl whose mother passed away and her father remarried so that she could have the love of a mother. However, her stepmother has two daughters and can never accept Cinderella into her life. So when the father dies, the stepmother is cruel to Cinderella and treats her like a maid. A few years pass. The Prince of the region has organized a ball to find him a suitable wife. Cinderella goes there by the aid of her fairy godmother. However, the spells will wear off at twelve.She arrives at the ball and immediately the Prince falls in love with her, her charm, her beauty and her kindness. They dance all night and Cinderella just realizes that it is almost twelve. She runs and accidentally drops her glass slipper while hurrying home. The Prince, who fell in love with Cinderella finds her through that slipper and proposes. They live happily ever after.

Cinderella is one of the most beautiful stories of all times. It tells us that the bad situations will end. And everything will be okay eventually. If you are kind, honest and good, you will get a happy ending. Cinderella was a nobody, another one of those souls who was abused at home and treated poorly in general. Yet, the Prince fell for her. Her kindness, her good nature, her attitude and her intelligence attracted him. These traits are irreplaceable, found only in the good souls of this world.
Cinderella is one of the most relevant of the fairy tales in the modern world. That can be proved by the number of movies, serials etc. made on the same. It is the story of an everyday girl who was ill-fated and ill-treated. It is a story of a happy ending. The modern versions of this story has no fairy Godmother, rather it has helping neighbors, caring workers and best friends giving our Cinderella or Ella a makeover. Instead of balls, there are proms or parties, instead of Prince Charming, the star player and the famous singer.

Originally though, Cinderella was a tale of abuse. The name ‘Cenerentola’ comes from the Italian word ‘cenere’ (ash). It has to do with the fact that servants were usuallysoiled with ash due to the cleaning work and were nobodies. This story has the richest history and so many variations before the modern time itself. The earliest known Cinderella story is the story of Rhodopis, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt (7 B.C.).

I think that Cinderella is one of the best fairy tales because people can actually relate to it. Yes, it has elements of magic. But that is what actually makes it the fairytale that it is today. And we need to believe that miracles do happen. We just have to be kind and good. The rest will follow. We will always get our happy ending.

Cinderella ends my blog discussion about the fairy tales and the variations that we can read even today. Where magic is replaced but not forgotten, miracles happen, but are believable and happy endings are possible. Because Once Upon A Time, in a land far away, there was a girl, who had the courage to follow her heart and she did.  And everyone lived happily ever after. Except maybe the evil stepmother.