Cinderella Notes

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Cinderella Notes
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But first, what does the term folktale really
mean?

• 1. Folk refers to people.
• 2. Tales are stories.
• 3. Thus, a folktale is a story told by folks
  (people)

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How many Cinderella stories?

• 1. There are more than 340 known versions of the
  story.
• 2. They can be found worldwide, in most
  countries.
• 3. They represent the culture of the area they
  originate from.

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Where did Cinderella stories originate?

• 1. The European version, that we are familiar
  with, dates back to the 1500s or 1600s. There
  are versions from both Germany and England.
• 2. This is not the oldest, however.

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The oldest is.

• 1. A story from China, dating back to somewhere
  between 600-900 A.D. This means the story is
  more than 1,000 years old.
• 2. The girl in this story was named
• Yeh-Shen.

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Why the glass slipper?

• In ancient Chinese culture, people thought of the
  feet as the most beautiful part of the human
  body.
• Tiny feet were thought to be more beautiful than
  larger feet.

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Chinese Foot Binding

• 1. To achieve the beauty of the small foot,
  Chinese girls had their feet bound or wrapped
  tightly in fabric, at an early age.
• 2. The toes were folded under and foot bones
  broken. Binding stopped blood flow. Bones
  deteriorated. The foot became extremely
  misshapen.
• 3. The goal was to have a foot of approximately
  3 inches in length.

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Bound vs. Normal Feet
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X-ray of Bound Feet
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Links

• Cinderella
• http//www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/index2.htm
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