“Cinderella,” as told by Grimm, differs significantly from the story that we see in the movies. In the following summary, I shall endeavor to include most of the variant features.
The Grimm version begins with the death of Cinderella’s mother. As she lay dying, she said: “My dear child, be pious and good, and then God will always protect you.” Cinderella heeded her mother’s injunction and faithfully visited her grave.
The following year Cinderella’s father married a widow who had two beautiful daughters. You already know about their wickedness and how badly they treated Cinderella, so I won’t have to tell you.
One day, before her father left for the fair, he asked the three girls what they wanted to bring them. One stepdaughter wanted fine dresses, the other asked for pearls and precious stones. Cinderella asked her father to break off the first branch that touched his hat and give it to her.
When her father returned with the branch of a hazel tree, Cinderella planted it on her mother’s grave and watered it with her tears. It became a beautiful tree. Whenever Cinderella visited her mother’s grave, a white bird sat on the tree. If Cinderella expressed any wish out loud, the bird granted her wish.
When the king invited all eligible maidens to a ball, Cinderella wished to go with her stepsisters. Her stepmother threw a tubful of beans into the ashes, and promised that Cinderella could go to the ball if she picked out all the beans in one hour. Two white pigeons picked them out for her. When she presented the beans to her stepmother, the latter reneged on her promise, but said Cinderella could go to the ball if she picked two more tubfuls of beans out of the ashes. The birds helped her again, but again the stepmother refused to take her, since she had no suitable clothes.
After the rest of the family left for the ball, Cinderella went to her mother’s grave and received suitable apparel from the bird in the hazel tree: a dress of gold and silver plus silken slippers ornamented with silver.
At the ball, the prince danced with her all evening. When she wished to go home, the prince offered to accompany her. He wanted to find out who she was. However, Cinderella ran away and hid in her pigeon-house. The pursuing prince waited till Cinderella’s father came home and told him that a girl was hiding in his pigeon-house. However, when the door was cut open with an axe, no one was there. Cinderella had gone out the back of the pigeon-house, returned her fine clothes to the bird, and returned to her usual place in the ashes.
There was another ball the next evening. The bird gave Cinderella even finer clothes. After dancing with the prince all evening, she again ran away. This time she hid in a pear tree in her garden. The prince politely waited until the father came home before investigating. When they investigated, no one was in the tree. Cinderella had slipped away and returned to her usual place.
The next day there was another ball. Again Cinderella was the prince’s partner all evening, and again she ran away. However, this time the prince had put pitch in strategic places. Cinderella’s left slipper got stuck and she lost it.
The following day, the prince went looking for the owner of the slipper. When he came to Cinderella’s home, the older sister tried on the slipper, apparently in the presence of only her mother. At the suggestion of her mother, she made the slipper fit by cutting off her big toe. Deceived, the prince put her on his horse and headed homeward.
As they passed the grave of Cinderella’s mother, two doves were sitting in the tree. They told the prince to look back at the trail of blood, so that he would realize that he had been tricked.
The second sister then tried on the shoe. She made it fit by cutting off her heel, but the doves again warned the prince that he was taking home the wrong bride.
The prince returned and asked Cinderella’s father if he had any other daughters. He told the prince about Cinderella, but expressed doubt whether she could be the bride. The prince insisted on seeing her, in spite of the stepmother’s objection. The shoe fit, and the prince took her home and married her.
Grimm concludes his story with the note that the two sisters were smitten with blindness on account of their wickedness.
Reference:
“Grimm’s Fairy Tales” with introduction and notes by Elizabeth Dalton; translation anonymous