Cinderella and Donkeyskin

I can understand Tatar’s argument that Cinderella and Donkeyskin stories should be read together - at least as long as we regard the Cinderella version of the Brothers Grimm and the Donkeyskin version of Perrault. The basic principal is the same: A daughter becomes poor because her real mother dies. But the daughter’s destiny is not the father’s fault. In Cinderella, it is the bad stepmother’s fault who uses her sexual power over the father to keep him from invading, and in Donkeyskin it is the mother’s fault as she makes the father promise that he will only marry a women that is better than her in every way – a task only her own daughter can fulfill. After becoming poor, each marries to a prince after dancing with him three times at a ball and loosing an item that only fits her – which is finally also the way how both princes find them again after having lost them at the ball. Thus, what actually makes both stories so similar is that the father is not the real cause for the bad condition of their daughters, but it is the fault of their wives – which is also a very important aspect of Tatar’s argument that both stories should be read together.

But as a matter of fact, not all Cinderella stories contain this part. Regarding the Italian version of Cinderella, a mother or stepmother is completely absent. The father simply has three daughters, and he treats one of them different from the others, or rather one of the daughters behaves different from the others – for no obvious reason. Like the Cinderella in the Grimm’s version, the father brings them a gift before the ball and the two other daughters ask for a dress whereas Cinderella just wants a special bird. As she doesn’t have a dress, she can’t go the ball - but it is her own decision that she doesn’t want to go. Again it is the bird which provides Cinderella with three different dresses for the 3 balls. And again her sisters and father don’t recognize her at the ball because she looks so much more beautiful than at home where she is always dirty from the ashes. Like in the Grimm’s version she is found at home after fleeing the third time from the ball and marries the prince.

Comparing both Cinderella plots, it becomes obvious that they are much more similar than Grimm’s Cinderella version and Perrault’s Donkeyskin. It is obvious that both stories are unmistakably Cinderella stories. But this also means that the bad stepmother drops out as a distinctive feature of the Cinderella tale. And as soon as this feature misses, that the condition Cinderella finds herself in isn’t the fault of the bad stepmother or rather of women in general, the plots of Cinderella and Donkeyskin suddenly are much further away from each other – and are not anymore similar enough to be read with each other. Consequently, it depends on which versions you choose if Cinderella, Donkeyskin or even Thousandfurs should be read together.