So I'm using my turn at Fairy Tale Friday to dredge all these ancient stories up from our collective subconscious. I recently laid hands on a copy of The Brothers' Grimm annotated fairy tales, complete with gory illustrations--and I'll be bringing you the best bits of the stories that Disney left out.
Today's fairy tale? The original Cinderella. In which the two wicked stepsisters, rather than just trying on the glass slipper and admitting that it didn't fit, each cut off a bit of their feet to get them into the slipper:
"Then her mother gave her a knife and said, 'Cut the toe off; when thou art Queen thou wilt have no more need to go on foot.' The maiden cut the toe off, forced the foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the King's son."
Both times, the Prince doesn't notice the transparent glass slipper was filling up with blood (or see the ragged stumps in the shoe) until two helpful pigeons point it out:
"Turn and peep, turn and peep,
There's blood within the shoe,
The shoe is too small for her
The true bride waits for you."
But that's not the best part. At the end of the tale, when Cinderella's stepsisters come to her wedding, here's what happens to them:
"When the wedding with the King's son had to be celebrated, the two false sisters came and wanted to get into favour with Cinderella and share her good fortune. When the betrothed couple went to church, the elder was at the right side and the younger at the left, and the pigeons pecked out one eye of each of them. Afterwards as they came back, the elder was at the left, and the younger at the right, and then the pigeons pecked out the other eye of each. And thus, for their wickedness and falsehood, they were punished with blindness as long as they lived."
The moral of the story? The pigeons know what you did. And they are vengeful birds.
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