The hardworking and sweet Cinderella has a lot of fans in the world. However, reading the romantic story of her love as presented by Charles Perrault, the young ladies are perplexed: how could a girl dance at the ball in such uncomfortable, albeit beautiful, shoes? True, it is possible that the shoes of the fabulous beauty were not at all made of crystal.
There are prototypes of Cinderella in the tales of many peoples. Of course, there are a lot of shoe options. So, in China, the heroine wore shoes woven from gold threads with gold soles. Breton storytellers endowed the girl with three pairs of shoes: steel, silver and gold. In Italy, they preferred a silver model, the Venetians presented their Cinderella with a diamond one, and the Danes - a silk one.
Successful disclaimer
In 1697, a book was published in France called "The Tales of My Mother the Goose, or Stories and Tales of the Past with Moralities", the author's adaptation of folk tales. Initially, Cinderella wore shoes with fur trim or squirrel fur. However, a slip of the tongue or a mistake appeared in the arrangement: the French "vair", the fur for the trim, was transformed into a similar-sounding "verre", glass. Later in the translations, the error remained, distorting the original meaning, although contributing to the creation of a sophisticated and refined image.
Perrault's tale was called "Cinderella, or Shoes, trimmed with fur." Therefore, researchers believe that the writer did not alter this part of the story, and therefore the mistake was not made by him.
Among different peoples of Europe, the name of the heroine was associated with ash or ash. On the shoulders of a hardworking girl, the stepmother shouldered all the housework, besides, her half-sisters and their mother constantly offended the girl. But in the end, goodness prevailed.
A bit of history
The heroine was helped by her godmother, a fairy. It was she who, with the help of magic, transformed Cinderella. The sorceress presented her goddaughter with fur-trimmed shoes with parting words to leave the palace before midnight.
According to some versions, during the period when the fairy tale was created by the people, both extraction and processing of fur were very difficult. Therefore, the products were highly valued.
By the time Perrault's story was recorded, the word “vair” denoting special material was out of use. And so it happened that the heroine arrived at the ball in glass shoes.
Hypotheses and reality
Many researchers are sure that even in the original source, Cinderella's shoes were presented with glass ones, and the writer “made” them crystal, wishing to give the image more fabulousness and poetry.
Interestingly, it was the glass shoes that the heroine of Irish history wore. In addition, in Irish and English, the words for glass and fur cannot be confused.
Be that as it may, the issue remains unresolved to this day, although the history of literature does not know the variants of the French fairy tale in which Cinderella wore fur shoes.
Even in a similar work by Marie-Catherine d'Onua, Perrot's compatriot, the heroine's feet were adorned with pearl-embroidered shoes made of velvet.
