Cinderella

            
             Here's the story: The girl gets her prince. She leaves her family, who treated her horribly behind in her past. She lives happily ever after. Everyone has heard of Cinderella, but people are unaware that there are many different versions of this legend. One is written by the Grimm Brothers and is titled "Aschenputtel." In this story the girl is treated as if she were a servant. Her stepfamily hates her and wants nothing to do with her unless she is doing their dirty laundry. Yet, she somehow manages to leave her family behind, and live happily ever after with her Prince. Another version of the story is the Native American tale called "The Algonquin Cinderella." In this one the girl's own family treats her awfully. Yet she is also lucky and, as they say, "the slipper fits." She marries the most sought after man in her village. Although both of these stories present the same morals, they vary in specific details such as characters, settings, and the use of magic.
             The most opponent difference between these two stories is the characters. Even the name of the main character is different. It is not Cinderella in either story. In Grimm's Fairytale the girl's name is Aschenputtel, whereas she was named Oochigeaskw in the Native American version. This doesn't change anything in the actual plot, but something that is different is the family in each story. In Grimm's tale, Aschenputtel's mother dies when she is just a young girl. When her father eventually remarries, her new stepmother and her two daughters move in. All of these new women in Aschenputtel's life are wicked. Her stepmother doesn't treat Aschenputtel as if she is one of her own children, and the stepsisters, though beautiful, are evil at heart. The new family doesn't want Aschenputtel to be beautiful anymore so "They took away her pretty dresses, and put on her an old gray kirtle, and gave her wooden shoes to wear"(209). They make her work in the kitchen cooking their meals and cleaning the dishes.