Cinderella
Look what I bought for 50p! This Ladybird edition of Cinderella is so beautiful that I had to share it with you. Of course we all know the 'Bibbidi bobbidi boo' of Walt Disney's Cinderella (which I will include), but this book is even lovelier. So here it is, the front cover and my favourite illustration.
Cinderella is such a fascinating story, and so embedded in our culture. Cinderella is the archetypal oppressed hero, who is ultimately rewarded. Her repression is perhaps typical of women throughout history. Her reward, true love; seems to have informed modern ideas of romance.
And what is with the shoes? For a start, glass slippers sound clammy, cold and unflattering. Secondly, if Cinderella's clothes turned to rags at midnight, then her shoes should have done too. Then there is the strangeness of the idea of tracking down your beloved using her shoes. This had been done before, in the tale of Rhodopis, which was recorded by Strabo in the 1st century BC.
'when she was bathing, an eagle snatched one of her sandals from her maid and carried it to Memphis; and while the king was administering justice in the open air, the eagle, when it arrived above his head, flung the sandal into
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his lap; and the king, stirred both by the beautiful shape of the sandal and by the strangeness of the occurrence, sent men in all directions into the country in quest of the woman who wore the sandal; and when she was found in the city of Naucratis, she was brought up to Memphis, became the wife of the king'
That seems to be the root of the 'what is with the shoes?' question, I wasn't expecting to answer it so thoroughly. But it leaves my Ladybird book looking pretty new in comparison. On a less highbrow note, here's 'Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo', as promised.
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