Sacrifice and cannibalism: a true tale of Cinderella. Cinderella, or slipper, trimmed with fur, characteristic of the image of Cinderella

The content of the article:

The Cinderella complex is a condition in which a woman continues to live her childhood dreams, believe in fairy tales and refuse to accept reality. She is also unwilling to make even the minimum effort to correct the situation. It is necessary to clearly understand for yourself the consequences that may arise from the voiced psychological imbalance among representatives of the fair sex. Otherwise, a woman with a Cinderella complex can put an end to creating a family home in the future.

The mechanism of development of the Cinderella complex

The origins of this problem should be sought in childhood, when the girl is just beginning to develop as a person. Typically, the Cinderella complex develops according to the following pattern, which sometimes grows like a snowball:

• Primary provoking factor. There is no smoke without fire, so any problem has its own reasons for its formation. At the same time, psychological imbalance in a girl can arise both in a simple and in a wealthy family.
• Fixing the complex in consciousness. On fertile (minus) soil, the formation of a voiced problem begins, which will then need to be gotten rid of. It is important for parents to see a crisis situation in time so as not to further cripple the fate of their child.
• Development of the complex. If the moment of opportunity to correct a girl’s worldview is missed, then the mechanism of Cinderella syndrome is triggered. It can be stopped if adults monitor changes in psychological state to his daughter.
• Formed problem. IN in this case We are no longer talking about the reasons for the deformation of the child’s worldview, but about their consequences. The Cinderella complex is not the norm for any woman, because it basically implies a distorted concept of a behavior model.

Important! Many troubles can be prevented if you approach the issue wisely. Each girl will become a mature person in the future, so it is very important for parents to organize everything in such a way as to make her future personal life successful.

Reasons for the development of the Cinderella complex

1. Fear of success. Colette Dowling sees the Cinderella complex in this factor. A well-known American psychotherapist carefully studied the voiced problem, noting the sources of its formation in a woman’s inability and unwillingness to build her life independently.
2. Imposed stereotypes. Some parents themselves inspire their daughter that she is a princess and should wait for the best and only thing. The idea itself is quite good, but you cannot raise a child solely according to this principle.
3. Fear of loneliness. Some women are even ready for a pseudo-prince, to whom they themselves attribute non-existent virtues. If a more or less worthy candidate for adoration appears on the horizon, then a person with an anxious soul is ready to make him her chosen one.
4. Consequences of the Alice in Wonderland complex. It all starts with daydreaming and faith in the reality of achieving what you want. Dreams eventually reach grandiose proportions, which ultimately develops into a Cinderella complex. This is an even more passive model of behavior than the one mentioned above, and it often leads to female loneliness.
5. Parental education. In this case, the little girl is clearly given instructions that only hardships can bring long-awaited happiness. Persistence and work will grind everything down - the motto of such fathers and mothers who really consider their advice to be correct. As a result, the child takes everything literally and becomes a victim of life’s circumstances.

The main signs of the presence of a Cinderella complex

• Head in the clouds. Representatives of the fair sex with such a model of behavior are immediately clear that they have no idea about real life. They think about everything, but not about pressing problems. In this case, I immediately remember the enchanting person from the film “The Blonde Around the Corner”, who the world I saw things a little differently than pragmatic and sober-minded people.
• Excessive demands on yourself. An inferiority complex very often begins to develop in those individuals who are too unsure of their abilities. Deep down, they do not understand that they deserve much more than what fate gives them. Such secret thoughts begin to trigger the described Cinderella complex in a woman.
• Naivety. Ladies with a voiced problem sometimes amaze with their attitude to existing reality. They are capable of waiting for the prince on the proverbial white horse until they completely wither away physically. Such women are rarely happy because they end up becoming old maids.
• Absence own opinion . Individuals with the described complex are usually resigned individuals. They are unable to defend their position because they are often afraid to step out of the shadow of their prejudices. They go with the flow and do not try to change anything in their lives.
• Good girl complex. Each team had its own excellent student, who always and everywhere tried to be the best. Time is running, and the race for performance continues. A simple guy who is not the best of the best cannot be next to such a special one. The excellent student complex is capable of even very good man make a woman embittered in the future with obvious problems in her personal life.
• Romance. Such a personality is clearly revealed by his craving for heartbreaking melodramas like “Pretty Woman” with the brilliant Julia Roberts in the title role. A lady with a Cinderella complex is also interested in romance novels, Where ordinary girl became the chosen one of a handsome prince during the most incredible events.
• Victim behavior. If the heroine of the fairy tale by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm had not found the protection of the fairy godmother, her life would definitely have ended among dirty frying pans. A woman with a Cinderella complex always humbly endures tyranny, because she is simply not capable of fighting for her happiness.
• Altruism. It is possible to live for the sake of other people, but the question immediately arises about the appropriateness of such an existence. It is not a fact that such heroic deeds will be appreciated. In addition, a woman with a Cinderella complex can simply become an object to be used by a scoundrel for his own selfish purposes.
• Reliability. This quality of character is close to altruism, because such people can be called late at night and ask for help. In this case, everything will look almost like an order, because no one asks the opinion of the victim of the syndrome being described.

Varieties of the Cinderella complex in women

1. Naive person. Such ladies really believe that the world is painted in the most rosy colors. Even in the most primitive person with some financial wealth and aplomb, they are ready to see that very ideal prince. The arguments of others, as a rule, do not affect them, because so-called rose-colored glasses prevent naive women from understanding what is happening.
2. A person with no plans for the future. The moth woman is capable of fluttering through life for a very long time in search of her ideal. She cannot coordinate her actions because she is waiting for someone who will solve all her problems himself. It is easier for her to let the situation take its course than to try to find a way out of the impasse. She doesn’t have her own opinion, so she dreams of a smart and strong chosen one to hide behind his back.
3. A lady with high demands. This is a rather rare type of woman with a Cinderella complex, because usually individuals with a similar worldview have low self-esteem. But any rule has its exceptions, so even such persons can, in the depths of their souls, protest against the current circumstances and dream of an ideal prince.
4. Woman-child. Such persons resemble the fawn Bambi, who looks at the world with amazed eyes. Such ladies do not change with age, because they are accustomed to living in the world of children's fantasies. For them, Prince Charming is not a fairy tale at all, but a real desire to find themselves ideal partner. They are ready to endure everything because they are immature individuals and do not know how to stand up for themselves.

Consequences of the Cinderella complex in women

• Feverish search for the betrothed. A woman with Cinderella syndrome in an advanced stage of its development can begin a real hunt for a successful partner. She will try to please everyone because she is acutely afraid of being alone. In some cases, her plan succeeds, but the fact of acquiring exactly the ideal prince as her betrothed will not always correspond to reality.
• Old maid status. The wait for the perfect partner, who will come and solve all the problems of a woman with the described complex, may be delayed. As a result, the lady will remain with her own interests and in splendid isolation, without ever creating a full-fledged relationship with a man.
• Constant victim. Such a woman has practically no personal life, as she lives with the problems of others. She is not able to refuse them. Usually such ladies are single, with two or three, or even more cats. They are regularly asked to babysit someone’s children, watch a neighbor for free while her family is busy with their lives, etc. The second case is living with a difficult partner. These could be drunkards, drug addicts, former prisoners. At the same time, the woman always finds an excuse for them, endures antics, beatings and expects that everything will work out, because he is “good.”
• Career women. It is an extremely rare case when a lady becomes single only because she cannot find someone worthy. She also has an excellent student complex, so finding an equal partner is not so easy. She directs all her energy to her career, sometimes becoming a tyrannical leader who only comes home to sleep. And even if she is introduced to simple and good man, she will not agree to meet with him solely because of the search for her ideal.

Note! All options cannot characterize a woman’s personal life as happy. Therefore, it is necessary to change something in your behavior pattern and worldview, so as not to become a lonely victim of circumstances in the future.

Ways to combat the Cinderella complex

Any problem must be dealt with so that the situation does not reach an obvious dead end. Experts recommend many ways to combat a dangerous symptom that jeopardizes the victim’s personal life.

Personal possibilities for eradicating your Cinderella complex

1. Conversation with a successful friend. Many women are surrounded by a representative of the fair sex who seems smarter, more beautiful or luckier than them. The victim of the Cinderella complex definitely has such a friend, straight Talk which will help solve the existing problem. The conversation that takes place can sometimes amaze the instigator of a frank dialogue, because there are very few people who are completely satisfied with their fate. Consequently, she will understand that the ideal is a very relative concept, and it is not worth spending precious time searching for it.
2. Changing behavior patterns. There are many attractive and well-groomed women, so men have plenty to choose from when looking for their chosen one. The prince from the fairy tale “Cinderella” also had many opportunities to find his soul mate among the princesses and court ladies. However, he was attracted by the mystery of the stranger, who was able to intrigue him with her behavior. Therefore, the role of the victim must be changed to the image of a mysterious lady in order to become interesting to members of the opposite sex.
3. Striving for financial independence. You can dream about a wealthy chosen one, but you yourself should begin to realize yourself as an individual. In this life it is important to know that no matter what difficult situation Sometimes it’s possible to do without outside help. A man will not ignore a woman who, in addition to having attractive external features, strives to achieve success. Just don’t go too far and turn into an avid careerist, because such ladies only scare away the opposite sex.
4. The ability to say “no”. Reliability cannot lead to anything good unless it concerns sick parents, whose requests must always be satisfied. No one is obliged to obey anyone to the detriment of their interests and desires. We owe it to our children, and their wishes must also be passed through the filter of the expediency of the requirements. In all other cases, you can help your neighbor if you have the opportunity and desire to do so.

• Attending trainings. If you really have a desire to change your life, then there are many similar events for everyone. They will help a woman raise her self-esteem and improve relationships with the opposite sex. In addition, the affected person will see people with the same problem, which will show her the prevalence of the Cinderella complex.
• Consultation with a psychologist. A competent specialist will always be able to find the reasons for what is happening in the life of a submissive loser and offer methods of getting rid of the Cinderella complex. The therapy may take some time, but as a result, the woman will be able to organize her personal life and build relationships with people around her.

Ministry of Education of Ukraine

Kharkov National University named after. Karazin

on the topic: "Psychological portrait of Cinderella"

Kharkov 2008

It's about about the heroine of Charles Perrault's fairy tale "Cinderella", which was considered from my point of view (Slavic) understanding of this foreign heroine.

From the beginning of the fairy tale, the heroine of Cinderella appears as a sweet, sociable, empathetic and ready to come to the aid of those in need, a little girl who enjoys life, her parents, and is open to the world around her. A child who can and does freely express his emotions and feelings, his different desires and views. She is significant and respected due by her parents. We can say that as a child, Cinderella played and developed freely, without limiting her creative potential and abilities, openly expressed (even if childishly naively) her views on things. At that moment, her life was interesting and full of meaning.

Considering Cinderella’s childhood and family, we can assume that the conditions of such a good upbringing and attitude towards her: as still a small, but already individual, would have nurtured a holistic personality in the adult Cinderella. But an unexpected blow of fate - the death of her mother and the subsequent marriage of her father to a new wife - an evil stepmother - radically changes Cinderella's life, and subsequently her personality undergoes changes.

How the process of changing Cinderella’s personality took place can only be speculated and fantasized, since in the fairy tale this period of her growing up is briefly described by difficult conditions (including the inaction and helplessness of her father) and numerous responsibilities.

The matured Cinderella is still the same kind, but without showing herself, her character, a patient, forgiving girl. A girl without the right to express feelings, desires, emotions. In this situation, what is terrifying is not the conditions and the constant performance of difficult physical labor, but inaction and Cinderella’s acceptance of the established way of life: having completed all the housework, Cinderella went to a corner near the stove, sat on a pile of ash (hence the nickname “Cinderella”) and waited for the next orders, demands, instructions given by her stepsisters and stepmother. And only in moments when she was alone, she remembered her family and the time when she felt good among loving people. These thoughts take her far into her ideal world, in which there is no evil stepmother and her daughters, but there is her own home, family and a loving prince. Here one can see Cinderella’s idealistic thinking, attempts day after day, over and over again to forget, not to think about what is really happening, about her fear and inability to change anything.

Only with great effort does she do what she wants. In a situation where she is beautiful and elegant, dressed and prepared by the fairy godmother, having arrived at the castle, she doubts and is afraid to do what she wants - to go to the ball. Cinderella has to overcome herself, her doubts, her saving desire to leave (escape), go into the castle, and upon entering the ballroom feel different. And here at the ball, having received what she wanted, she runs away for fear of not being accepted by the prince for who she is. And it’s difficult for her to accept the fulfillment of her desires in an instant, because she’s lost the habit of it.

The manifestation of weak will and self-sacrifice is clearly manifested during fitting glass slipper sisters. Here Cinderella skillfully puts a shoe on her sister’s foot with her own hands, and at that moment refuses her beloved prince, the opportunity to become a princess: to escape from her home and realize her dreams. She does as her surroundings want, hiding and muffling her feelings, pushing herself into the background. I just want to ask the question: “What’s next?” And without hearing the answer, you understand the meaninglessness and uselessness of Cinderella’s life at this stage of life. Perhaps everything would have been so sad if again the will of chance (the broken shoe) and the efforts of the fairy godmother had not given Cinderella a chance to declare herself and her rights (the girl, the owner of that very small foot from which the shoe fell off) to the role of the bride prince.

To summarize the above, turning to the typology of personality pathologies of Professor A.K. Dusavitsky, we can say that psychological picture Cinderella is a portrait of a "Stoic":

with the main life principle- patience,

with a secondary, self-sacrificing attitude towards oneself,

with a personality type that was shaped by the environment (in the case of Cinderella, this is the stepmother and her daughters),

with acceptance of the priority of others,

with idealistic thinking and muted feelings,

with a lack of will and making great efforts to realize their desires,

with a memory that refuses to remember everything that happens and

resulting in a senseless waste of life.

Coming to the end of the story of Cinderella, you believe that thanks to positive education, received in early childhood, “magical” circumstances, the support of the fairy godmother, the prince and, finally, her efforts and purposeful development, this young girl will become a complete person: creative, with a vivid manifestation of worthy self-respect, realizing her desires, feeling and remembering every moment of her meaningful , purposeful life.

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Cinderella is a fairy-tale heroine, familiar from childhood. Dedicated to this wonderful girl many cartoons and films.

However, I remember most of all with Lily James starring.

It may seem that the girl is not wearing makeup at all, but this is not so.

Make-up uses products that highlight natural beauty and create natural effect. This kind of makeup is called nude.

Basic principles

Main efforts must be applied when sculpting. It is necessary to work painstakingly with each zone to get a good result.

However, you need to choose the right cosmetics to get the desired effect. Also important pay attention combination of colors.

Your arsenal should include shadows in natural shades. Beige, pearl, light brown and other colors close to the natural color of the skin are suitable.

What will you need?

To do makeup at home you will need:

You can learn how to do gypsy makeup with your own hands from our guide.

Important advice from the editors

If you want to improve the condition of your skin, you should pay special attention to the creams you use. A frightening figure - 97% of creams from well-known brands contain substances that poison our body. The main components due to which all the troubles on the labels are designated as methylparaben, propylparaben, ethylparaben, E214-E219. Parabens have a negative effect on the skin and can also cause hormonal imbalance. But the worst thing is that this crap gets into the liver, heart, lungs, accumulates in organs and can cause oncological diseases. We advise you not to use products that contain these substances. Recently, experts from our editorial team conducted an analysis of natural creams, where first place was taken by products from Mulsan Сosmetic, a leader in the production of all-natural cosmetics. All products are manufactured under strict quality control and certification systems. We recommend visiting the official online store mulsan.ru. If you doubt the naturalness of your cosmetics, check the expiration date; it should not exceed one year of storage.

Skin preparation

Makeup applies well to cleansed and prepared skin. You need to wash your face with a mild cleanser that does not dry out your skin. After this, wipe your face tonic lotion. It will remove remaining impurities and soothe the skin.

Moisturizer is applied to cleansed skin. Distribute over face and neck. Leave to absorb for 20-25 minutes. You need to choose a product with a light consistency.

The cream should be completely absorbed into the skin, not leave stickiness and not cause oiliness. Otherwise, the cosmetics will not stick well.

Step-by-step instruction

Errors in image creation

Makeup for Cinderella from a fairy tale looks natural. To achieve this effect, you need to take into account the main mistakes and try to avoid them:

• sculpting with concealers;

Fatty textures give an unnatural effect. Therefore, you need to use only dry products in moderation.

• using dark lipstick;
• too active eye makeup. Saturated and dark shades. Also give up black mascara in favor of brown;
• false eyelashes. If necessary, you can simply curl your eyelashes with a curling iron to add volume.

1. Try to do emphasis on eyebrows. In this case, the face will not look naked due to minimal lip and eye makeup.
2. Exfoliate regularly. Thoroughly cleansing your skin before applying makeup is not enough. Need exfoliation too. However, you should not scrub your skin immediately before applying makeup. The optimal time for the procedure is before bed.
3. Use foundation suitable for native skin color. You also need to carefully shade the borders to avoid the mask effect. For application it is best to use a special sponge or beauty blender. They will help achieve an even coating.

What clothes and hairstyle to combine with?

The styling should look natural. You need to form curls using a curling iron or straightener. You can also use irons. You must first apply thermal protection. When the hairstyle is ready, you need to lightly spray your hair with hairspray to fix the curls.

Cinderella makeup is suitable not only for a holiday or a photo shoot, but also for a date. Also his can be used in Everyday life . This makeup looks very gentle and natural, emphasizes natural beauty and does not oblige you to anything.

You can learn how to do Cinderella makeup from the video:

Cinderella is the daughter of a nobleman, a girl of “meekness and unparalleled kindness.” By order of his stepmother, Z. performs all the menial housework. She sews dresses and combs the hair of her stepmother and her two daughters for the ball given by the king's son. The godmother (sorceress) sees the grief of Z., who was not taken to the ball, and helps her go there, turning mice, a pumpkin, etc. into a carriage with horses, her wretched dress into a luxurious outfit, giving her shoes trimmed with fur, but setting the condition to leave the ball before midnight, when the magic ends. Z. went to the ball twice, and then listened to stories from her stepmother and her daughters about the beautiful princess with whom the prince was infatuated. But the second time she was almost late to leave the ball before midnight and, while running away, dropped her shoe. The prince, in search of a beautiful stranger, orders all the women to try on the shoe he finds: the one to whom it fits will become his wife. The shoe turned out to be too small for the stepmother’s daughters, but Z. came up, then she took out the second shoe. The godmother appears and turns Z.’s dress into an even more beautiful outfit than those in which she appeared at the balls.

The sisters ask her forgiveness for their bad treatment, and Z. forgives them. The prince marries Z., and she marries her two sisters to noble courtiers. The name of the heroine is unknown, only nicknames are given (Zamarashka, Cinderella). Her appearance is indefinable: her stepmother and sisters cannot recognize her in a different outfit. Fairytale world Perrault is strange: faces are not visible in him, voices are not distinguishable, only things have certainty. This is a shoe trimmed with fur (due to the fact that in some French publications the word vair - “fur for trimming” was mistakenly replaced by the word verre - “glass”, in translations of Perrault’s fairy tales into a number of languages, including Russian, an exquisite but incomprehensible image of a “glass slipper” appeared).

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“Where are the sacrifices, and especially the cannibalism?” - you will be surprised. The tale is about a kind and meek girl who picked through the ashes until her time struck. The thing is that the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault are fairy tales written down already in the 18th-19th centuries. Ekah, that is, close to our time.

The original, mythological context in later treatments is greatly distorted. The mythological elements present in the earlier versions of the tale are forgotten, because the myth is not always logical and understandable. The myth is much more archaic and frightening, and the fairy tale is an attempt to rationalize it.

“Cinderella” is one of the most popular “vagrant stories”, which has over a thousand incarnations in folklore different nations peace.

Where is Cinderella's mother? She was eaten!

Popular

One of the most important images in the fairy tale “Cinderella” is the image of the deceased mother. The reader does not question why the unfortunate woman could have died. The appearance of the good fairy godmother in Charles Perrault's version is also not surprising. And few people realize how closely these two images are related to each other.
So, at the very beginning of the fairy tale, Cinderella’s own mother dies, and her father, having grieved, finds himself another wife. Why does death occur? In most fairy tales this is not covered, but is given as a given, but there are still fairy tales that have preserved the most ancient motifs that answer this question.
In the Greek version of "The Wench on the Roost" (Edmund Martin Geldart, Folk-Lore of Modern Greece: The Tales of the People, Little Saddleslut), a mother suffers death at the hands of her own daughters:

One day three sisters were sitting and spinning flax. And they said: “Whose spindle falls to the ground, we will kill and eat.” Their mother's spindle fell first, but they did not touch her, but sat down to spin further. And again mother’s spindle fell, and again, again... “Well! - they said. “Now we’ll eat it.” But Cinderella stands up for her mother, although to no avail: “No!” - said the youngest of the sisters. - Don't eat it. Since you want meat so much, eat it better than me.” But the sisters refused; two of them killed and then cooked the mother.

This is how the daughters brutally dealt with their own mother. Cinderella refuses the meal and will subsequently be rewarded for this.
From the text it can be assumed that the mother deliberately drops the spindle to save her children. Subsequently, in the fairy tale Little Saddleslut, it is the mother who becomes the magical giver for the youngest daughter, whom the sisters mocked:

Then the youngest, who was called the Girl on the Roost [after the death of her mother, the girl sat all the time on the chicken roost, for which her sisters gave her this nickname], collected all her mother’s bones and buried them under the hedge. For forty days the girl fumigated them with incense, and then wanted to take them to another place. As soon as she lifted the stone, rays of light blinded her. She found there a beautiful robe, as if woven from the sky and stars, from spring and sea ​​waves. In addition to the dress, there were many coins.

But this is not an isolated case. There are quite a lot of examples mentioning the eating of a mother by members of her family. Often the motive of so-called endocannibalism (eating a relative) is performed in a milder form, that is, there is no direct mention of eating human flesh. The mother in these versions is transformed into an animal—often a cow—and only then eaten.

Breaking a magical ban

In some fairy tales, the transformation of a mother into an animal is a consequence of breaking a magical prohibition. This is what the Serbian fairy tale “Pepelyuga” (Woislav M. Petrovitch, Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians, Pepelyuga) tells us:

In the high mountain pastures, near deep abysses, several girls were spinning yarn and looking after the cattle. Suddenly they noticed a strange man with a long white beard reaching to his waist. He stopped and said: “Beautiful maidens, beware of the abyss. After all, if one of you drops your spindle into her, that girl’s mother will turn into a cow at that very moment!” Having said this, the old man disappeared. The girls, puzzled by his words and discussing the strange incident, approached the very edge of the cliff... They looked into the crevice with curiosity, as if they hoped to see something unusual there. Suddenly the spindle slipped out of the hands of the most beautiful of them and, hitting the stones, flew into the abyss. When the girl returned home in the evening, her worst fears came true. Instead of her mother, she saw a cow in front of the door.

The cow helps Marra (Serbian Cinderella) when her father marries an evil and obstinate woman. But the stepmother is not stupid - she tells her daughter to follow Marra and see how she manages to always be well-fed. The deception is discovered, and the stepsister informs her mother that the cow feeds the girl and helps her stepmother complete her tasks. The evil stepmother orders the cow to be killed, but she, anticipating death, tells Marra not to taste its meat, but to collect the bones and bury them in a certain place.
Quite often, a mother turned into an animal foresees her death and is not afraid of it.
Another example of punishment for a violated ban is the fairy tale “The Wicked Stepmother” (J. Hinton Knowles, Folk-Tales of Kashmir, The Wicked Stepmother) of the state of Kashmir. In this fairy tale, Cinderella's mother is the wife of a brahmin. When leaving home, the brahman urgently asks his wife not to eat anything until his return. Otherwise she will turn into a goat. If he himself tastes food outside the house, he will turn into a tiger.
Having disobeyed her husband's commandment, the wife tries food in his absence and turns into a goat. Her ex-husband remarries. In this version of the fairy tale, Cinderella has other brothers and sisters, who are rescued by a magical goat until the evil stepmother figures out their helper. After this, the new wife, pretending to be sick, tells the doctor to say that only goat meat can save her. The doctor meekly fulfills her command. The brahman at this time did not have money for another goat, so a sad fate befalls his ex-wife.

What does sacrifice have to do with it?

There are two main reasons for cannibalism as a real phenomenon: forced cannibalism associated with difficult living conditions (hunger, drought, etc.), and ritual cannibalism. In the context of this story, we can with relative confidence reject the version of eating a relative due to hunger, since fairy tales repeatedly mention fat flocks of sheep and other signs of prosperity.
The phenomenon of endocannibalism has deep archaic roots and is often mentioned in myths and fairy tales. If initially cannibalism was characteristic of the supreme deities, then as the ban spreads, it becomes a feature of lower mythological creatures: vampires, werewolves, and so on. He is usually severely punished.

Thus, in most fairy tales about Cinderella, in which there is a motif of indirect or direct cannibalism, animals, which are the spirit of the deceased mother, forbid her to taste their meat.

Vengeful Cinderella from Vietnam

At times the plot turns into completely unimaginable directions. In one of the Vietnamese versions of the fairy tale “Tấm Cám”, Cinderella punishes her stepmother in the cruelest way, forcing her to taste the flesh own daughter.
When the Vietnamese Cinderella Tam has already married the prince, her stepsister Cam asks her how she manages to maintain her beauty. Tam replies that she is just taking a bath with boiling water. Having done as her sister advised her, Cam dies, boiled alive. Tam cuts her body into pieces and cooks the meat into food, then sends it to her stepmother. The woman starts her meal without hesitation, but then a raven lands on the roof of her house and croaks: “Yummy! A mother eats her own daughter's flesh! Is there any left? Give me a piece too!” And only after finishing it, the stepmother discovers her girl’s skull at the bottom of the pot, after which she dies of shock.

Helper animals: from cow to fish

Over time, the motive of cannibalism has gone through a long path of rationalization. The tale is very for a long time remained an oral genre. Passing on a familiar plot from mouth to mouth, storytellers brought something of their own to the story of Cinderella, often omitting or rationalizing what was incomprehensible to the narrator. Thus, the gap between Cinderella’s mother and the good helper who appears on her path began to increase.
In many versions of the tale, the image of the mother loses its significance, but at the same time the image of an animal helper is retained, the appearance of which is not explained in any way. In the Irish, Scottish and Serbian analogues of “Cinderella”, such an animal is a sheep or a cow, which to some extent makes this fairy tale similar to the equally well-known story of “Little Khavroshechka”.

Most often, a female acts as an animal helper, but there are also male variations that go far from the idea of ​​a mother-savior. And if in the Malay folk tale “Bawang Putih Bawang Merah” the fish also admits that she is the girl’s mother, then in the Vietnamese “Tam and Cam” the fish clearly symbolizes a male figure - according to some versions, the girl is helped by Buddha himself.
Fish appears in Asian fairy tales for a reason: it often symbolizes God.
Other animals also help Cinderella: the bull takes her away from her evil stepmother in the Norwegian fairy tale “Katie the Wooden Cloak”; A red calf in a Scottish Rashin-Coatie leads her through the forest. There are also characters from the “lower world”: a mouse, a toad and others.
At the next stage of rationalization, birds or a tree that grew on the mother’s grave act as Cinderella’s assistants. According to the Brothers Grimm, Cinderella made a pilgrimage to the burial place of her mother and there watered the earth with her tears until a tree grew in that very place. As soon as Cinderella shook it, nuts fell from the branches, in which magical gifts were hidden for her. Joseph Jacobs' Cinderella does exactly the same thing when she plants a hazel tree. A bird flies to her and advises her to shake the tree so that a nut falls from it.
In the Italian fairy tale “Cinderella” (Thomas Frederick Crane, Italian Popular Tales, Cinderella), the father brings youngest daughter the little bird Verdelio, which gives Cinderella her beauty. The image of a bird is ubiquitous in the myths of various countries. human soul. Thus, deceased relatives come to the living in the form of birds and help in trouble or warn of misfortune. The bird is a heavenly inhabitant, close to the gods. It is the birds who warn the prince about deception when Cinderella's stepsisters, wanting to marry a royal person, cut off part of their foot so that the shoe fits.
Why exactly hazel becomes Cinderella’s protector is also clear. Among many peoples, hazel (hazel) was considered closely related to the afterlife. In some places in Europe, on Christmastide, homeowners scattered nuts on the floor and in corners to feed the souls of the dead. IN German fairy tale Aschenputtel Cinderella asks her father to bring her the first branch that will knock off his hat so that she can plant it on her mother’s grave. This branch turns out to be a hazel branch. In addition to connecting with the afterlife, the hazel tree also endows its owner with great wisdom; among the Druids this tree was considered sacred.

Birth of a Fairy

If the images of birds or trees as magical helpers already embodied the spirit of the deceased mother only purely symbolically, then later this image completely lost its original meaning. At this stage, Cinderella's assistant is either a being of divine nature or a human friend.
In the well-known fairy tale by Charles Perrault, Cinderella is helped not by animals or birds, but by a fairy godmother who appears out of nowhere. In the Georgian Cinderella, “The Little Ragged One” (Conkiajgharuna), the poor girl is helped by a devi - a mystical creature, one of the forms of the mother goddess. She does this in a rather creepy way:

One day, when Little Ragged was tending a cow, she accidentally ran onto the roof. [Note author: in some areas of the Caucasus, peasant houses are dug into the ground, so it is quite possible to accidentally walk onto the roof]. The girl followed the cow to return it to the road, but accidentally dropped the spindle into the house. Looking inside, she found an old woman there and asked her: “Good woman, give me my spindle.” “I can’t, my child,” answered the old woman, “go in and take it yourself.” This old woman there was a maiden. When Tattered Girl picked up the spindle, the mistress of the house turned to her with a request: “Daughter, daughter, come to me and look at my head, I’m almost eaten.” The girl came closer and looked at the old woman's head. Her heart sank when she discovered worms crawling inside. But Tattered Girl gathered her courage and cleaned off a few worms, after which she said: “What is there to look at? Your head is clear!”

The gods help not only Tattered Man. Goddess Bhagavani took pity on Mugazo, the heroine of the Vietnamese fairy tale “The Golden Slipper.”
Just women, both kind and not so kind, also support Cinderella. Zezolla, the Italian Cinderella from the fairy tale by Giambattista Basile (1575−1632), conspiring with her nanny, breaks her stepmother's neck with the lid of a chest. The kind neighbor from the Georgian fairy tale orders her birds to collect all the millet that the stepmother scattered and ordered her stepdaughter to collect.
And in the Greek fairy tale already mentioned above, Cinderella is directly helped by God. Finding herself in the desert, she prays: “Lord, give me a hole in the ground so that only I can stick my head there, so as not to hear the howling of wild animals.” After Cinderella’s request was fulfilled, she asked for a larger hole, one that would fit waist-deep. And only for the third time Cinderella prayed for a hut where she could live.

Thus, the image of Cinderella’s mother, hidden behind layers of numerous transformations and distortions, acquires a mystical, sacred meaning.
Having rejected the later, softer versions, where Cinderella forgets or forgives her evil stepmother and sisters, we encounter a common motif in which the spirit of the dead mother cruelly avenges her grievances. The stepmother breaks her neck, birds peck out her daughters' eyes, Cinderella forces her stepmother to taste the flesh of her own child...
In light of all of the above, the question arises: who is really the main character in this story? Isn't Cinderella just a tool, a conductor, with the help of which the spirit of the deceased mother administers its, sometimes bloody, justice? Dying, she does not completely leave the world of the living, but is invisibly present in it, conveying her will to her daughter and showing her the way.