Project Disney: Book and Movie Review: Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper by Charles Perrault and Ashchenputtel by the Brother's Grimm (no spoilers and spoiler section included)

Project Disney is Hosted by Picture Me Reading. Its goal is to read the original fairy tales that Disney based their beloved movies off of. I'm a self proclaimed Disney fanatic so I thought I would take on the challenge.

Book: Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper
Author: Charles Perrault
Publication: 1697
Source: Project Glutenburg free classic ebooks
Rating: 5/5 stars

Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper is the story of a girl who is mistreated by her step mother and with the help of her fairy godmother is able to go to the ball where she meets the prince and loses her glass slipper.

My Thoughts: (no spoilers):
This story was only about 2 pages on my computer in normal font so it is hard to do a spoiler free review on the very short story of Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper. I noticed with this story it just briefly mentioned her mistreatment by her stepmother, it quickly moved on to her step sisters excitement over the ball. The ball was in full swing quickly and before I knew it Cinderella had her happily ever after and the story was over.

Movie Comparision (spoilers included):

• The name Cinderella is given to her by her nicer stepsister
• The other stepsister calls her Cindertail
• Her father never dies by is a by stander to his wife's madness
• Her step sister's names are never mentioned
• The Godmother appears in the garden like the Disney movie and changes the mice into horse and the pumpkin into the carriage. Then she puts a beautiful ballgown on Cinderella. 
• The Disney movie spends more time focusing on Cinderella's tasks as a house keeper
• There is not only one night at the ball, but two
• The first night Cinderella leaves at 11 and the second night is shown in the Disney movie where she runs away and loses her slipper
• Her step mother does not suspect Cinderella to be the beautiful girl at the ball as she does in the Disney movie. 
• Cinderella is met with little opposition when she asks to try on the slipper
• It fits and her step mother and sister ask for forgiveness for the way they had treated her
• Cinderella gets married to the prince, but most surprising to me is that her step sisters get married to lords of the court and live with Cinderella in the palace

Book: Aschenputtel
Author: Brothers Grimm
Publication: 1814
Source: Goodreads ebooks
Rating: 5/5 Stars

Aschenputtel is about a girl who's mother lays on her deathbed and tells her always to be kind to everybody she meets. Aschenputtel weeps by her grave every day and her father is married by the winter. Her step mother is cruel and Aschenputtel wants to go to the ball. 

My Thoughts: (spoiler free):
Again this edition is not very easy to do a spoiler free review on because it was only about four pages with regular font on my computer. Ashchenputtel is definetly a darker tale of Cinderella. It has many things that I see in the Disney movies. This one took much more time going over Ashchenputtel's responsibilities as a housekeeper before they skipped ahead to the ball where Ashchenputtel discovered her own happily ever after.

Movie Comparison: (Spoilers Included) (1950):

• Again Ashchenputtel's father did not die and it really gave no explanation as to why he let his wive mistreat his daughter. 
• This tale has singing in it which I personally enjoyed. It gave life to the story.
• When Ashchenputtel asked to go to the ball her step mother told her if she could pick up all the peas from the ashes she could go to the ball.
• Ashchenputtel called to the birds and they helped her pick up the peas.
• Her stepmother was quick to break her promise and sprinkled twice as many peas into the ashes for Ashchenputtel to pick up.
• She completed the task, but her stepmother left with her sister to go to the ball without her still.
• The Ball did not last one night, but three. Ashchenputtel did not lose her slipper until the final night.
• There was no fairy godmother. The birds brought the dress to Ashchenputtel.
• Her's the thing I think most represents the Disney movie. Ashchenputtel comes to the ball and the prince dances with only her for the next three nights. 
• The slipper is golden in color instead of being made of class.
• Both Step Sisters cut off their toes to fit into the slipper.
• The prince takes them one at a time as his bride, but as he passes the hazel tree Ashchenputtel planted it sings for him to look at their feet. Both times he sees the blood and returns them to their home.
• He asks for Ashchenputtel to come to the palace to try on the slipper.
• It fits and he takes her as his bride. The story ends. I think this is the ending Disney might have took more because it focused more on Ashchenputtel's happily ever after rather than the step sisters. 

Final Thoughts: I think Disney used a mix of Charles Perrault's version and the Brothers Grimm's version to create the movie that they created and that I have fell in love with. Disney still added many things such as the aspect of Cinderella being friends with the mice. I think these were both wonderful stories. My only complaint is that they were too short. I think they were both worth the time to read since they both only took a few minutes each. 

Thanks for reading

Rachael