Ashputtle (Cinderella)

Hello and welcome to today's Read Aloud.

Today I'll be sharing a story.

I'm sure you're familiar with some version of it.

It's the very famous Cinderella.

The name of it is Ash Puddle in the original version of Grimm's For the Young and Old,

The Complete Stories.

This version was translated by Ralph Mannheim in 1977.

The original version was written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm,

First published in 1819.

Ash Puddle.

A rich man's wife fell sick and feeling that her end was near,

She called her only daughter to her bedside and said,

Dear child,

Be good and say your prayers.

God will help you and I shall look down on you from heaven and always be with you.

With that,

She closed her eyes and died.

Every day the little girl went out to her mother's grave and wept and she went on being good and saying her prayers.

When winter came,

The snow spread a white cloth over the grave and when spring took it off,

The man remarried.

His new wife brought two daughters into the house.

Their faces were beautiful and lily white,

But their hearts were ugly and black.

That was the beginning of a bad time for the poor stepchild.

Why should this silly goose sit in the parlor with us,

They said.

People who want to eat bread must earn it.

Get into the kitchen where you belong.

They took away her fine clothes and gave her an old gray dress and wooden shoes to wear.

Look at the hottie princess in her finery,

They cried and laughing led her to the kitchen.

From then on,

She had to do all the work,

Getting up before daybreak,

Carrying water,

Lighting fires,

Cooking,

And washing.

In addition,

The sisters did everything they could to plague her.

They jeered at her and poured peas and lentils into the ashes so that she had to sit there picking them out.

At night when she was tired out with work,

She had no bed to sleep in but had to lie in the ashes by the hearth.

And they took to calling her Ash Puddle because she always looked dusty and dirty.

One day when her father was going to the fair,

He asked his two stepdaughters what he should bring them.

Beautiful dresses,

Said one.

Diamonds and pearls,

Said the other.

And you Ash Puddle,

What would you like?

Father,

She said,

Break off the first branch that brushes against your hat on your way home and bring it to me.

So he brought beautiful dresses,

Diamonds and pearls for his two stepdaughters.

And on the way home,

As he was riding through a copse,

A hazel branch brushed against him and knocked off his hat.

So he broke off the branch and took it home with him.

When he got home,

He gave the stepdaughters what they had asked for and gave Ash Puddle the branch.

After thanking him,

She went to her mother's grave and planted the hazel sprig over it and cried so hard that her tears fell on the sprig and watered it.

It grew and became a beautiful tree.

Three times a day Ash Puddle went and sat under it and wept and prayed.

Each time a little white bird came and perched on the tree.

And when Ash Puddle made a wish,

The little bird threw down what she had wished for.

Now it so happened that the king arranged for a celebration.

It was to go on for three days and all the beautiful girls in the kingdom were invited in order that his son might choose a bride.

When the two stepsisters heard they had been asked,

They were delighted.

They called Ash Puddle and said,

Comb our hair,

Brush our shoes,

Fasten our buckles.

We're going to the wedding at the king's palace.

Ash Puddle obeyed,

But she wept for she too would have liked to go dancing and she begged her stepmother to let her go.

You little sloven,

Said the stepmother.

How can you go to a wedding when you're all dusty and dirty?

How can you go dancing when you have neither dress nor shoes?

But when Ash Puddle begged and begged,

The stepmother finally said,

Here,

I've dumped a bowl full of lentils in the ashes.

If you can pick them out in two hours,

You may go.

The girl went out the back door to the garden and cried out,

Oh,

Tame little doves,

Oh,

Turtle doves and all the birds under heaven,

Come and help me put the good ones in the pot,

The bad ones in your crop.

Two little white doves came flying through the kitchen window and then came the turtle doves and finally all the birds under heaven came flapping and fluttering and settled down by the ashes.

The doves nodded their little heads and started in,

Peck,

Peck,

Peck,

Peck.

And all the others started in,

Peck,

Peck,

Peck,

Peck.

And they sorted all the good lentils and put them in the bowl.

Hardly an hour had passed before they finished and flew away.

Then the girl brought the bowl to the stepmother and she was happy for she thought she'd be allowed to go to the wedding.

But the stepmother said,

No,

Ash Puddle,

You have nothing to wear and you don't know how to dance.

The people would only laugh at you.

When Ash Puddle began to cry,

The stepmother said,

If you can pick two bowlfuls of lentils out of the ashes in an hour,

You may come.

And she thought she'll never be able to do it.

When she had dumped the two bowlfuls of lentils in the ashes,

Ash Puddle went out the back door to the garden and cried out,

Oh,

Tame little doves,

Oh,

Turtle doves and all the birds under heaven,

Come and help me put the good ones in the pot,

The bad ones in your crop.

Then two little white doves came flying through the kitchen window and then came the turtle doves.

And finally,

All the birds under heaven came flapping and fluttering and settled down by the ashes.

The doves nodded their little heads and started in,

Peck,

Peck,

Peck,

Peck.

And all the others started in,

Peck,

Peck,

Peck,

Peck.

And they all sorted all the good lentils and put them in the bowls before half an hour had passed.

They had finished and they all flew away.

Then the girl brought the bowls to her stepmother and she was happy for she thought she'd be allowed to go to the wedding.

But her stepmother said,

It's no use.

You can't come because you have nothing to wear and you don't know how to dance.

We'd only be ashamed of you.

Then she turned her way,

Turned her back and hurried away with her two proud daughters.

When they had all gone out,

Ash Puddle went to her mother's grave.

She stood under the hazel tree and cried,

Shake your branches little tree,

Throw gold and silver down on me.

Whereupon the bird tossed down a gold and silver dress and slippers embroidered with silk and silver.

Ash Puddle slipped into the dress as fast as she could and went to the wedding.

Her sisters and stepmother didn't recognize her.

She was so beautiful in her golden dress that they thought she must be the daughter of some foreign king.

They never dreamed it could be Ash Puddle,

For they thought she was sitting at home in her filthy rags picking lentils out of the ashes.

The king's son came up to her,

Took her by the hand and danced with her.

He wouldn't dance with anyone else and he never let go of her hand.

When someone else asked for a dance,

He said,

She is my partner.

She danced until evening and then she wanted to go home.

The king's son said,

I'll go with you,

I'll see you home,

For he wanted to find out whom the beautiful girl belonged to.

But she got away from him and slipped into the dev coat.

The king's son waited until her father arrived and told him the strange girl had slipped into the dev coat.

The old man thought,

Could it be Ash Puddle?

And he sent for an axe and a pick and broke into the dev coat,

But there was no one inside.

When they went indoors,

Ash Puddle was lying in the ashes in her filthy clothes and a dim oil lamp was burning on the chimney piece.

For Ash Puddle had slipped out the back end of the dev coat and run to the hazel tree.

There she had taken off her fine clothes and put them on the grave and the bird had taken them away.

Then she had put her gray dress on again,

Crept into the kitchen and laid down in the ashes.

Next day,

When the festivity started in again and her parents and stepsisters had gone,

Ash Puddle went to the hazel tree and said,

Shake your branches,

Little tree,

Throw gold and silver down on me.

Whereupon the bird threw down a dress that was even more dazzling than the first one.

And when she appeared at the wedding,

Everyone marveled at her beauty.

The king's son was waiting for her.

He took her by the hand and danced with no one but her.

When others came and asked for a dance,

He said,

She is my partner.

When evening came,

She said she was going home.

The king's son followed her,

Wishing to see which house she went to.

But she ran away and disappeared into the garden behind the house where there was a big beautiful tree with the most wonderful pears growing on it.

She climbed among the branches as nimbly as a squirrel and the king's son didn't know what had become of her.

He waited until her father arrived and said to him,

The strange girl has got away from me and I think she has climbed up in the pear tree.

Her father thought,

Could it be Ash Puddle?

He sent for an axe and chopped the tree down,

But there was no one in it.

When they went into the kitchen,

Ash Puddle was lying there in the ashes as usual,

For she had jumped down on the other side of the tree,

Brought her fine clothes back to the bird in the hazel tree and put on her filthy gray dress.

On the third day,

After her parents and sisters had gone,

Ash Puddle went back to her mother's grave and said to the tree,

Shake your branches little tree,

Throw gold and silver down on me.

Whereupon the bird threw down a dress that was more radiant than either of the others and the slippers were all gold.

When she appeared at the wedding,

The people were too amazed to speak.

The king's son danced with no one but her.

When someone else asked her for a dance,

He said,

She is my partner.

When evening came,

Ash Puddle wanted to go home and the king's son said he'd go with her,

But she slipped away so quickly that he couldn't follow.

But he had thought up a trick.

He had arranged to have the whole staircase brushed with pitch and as she was running down it,

The pitch pulled her left slipper off.

The king's son picked it up and it was tiny and delicate and all gold.

Next morning he went to the father and said,

No girl shall be my wife but the one this golden shoe fits.

The sisters were overjoyed for they had beautiful feet.

The eldest one took the shoe to her room to try it on and her mother went with her.

But the shoe was too small and she couldn't get her big toe in.

So her mother handed her a knife and said,

Cut your toe off.

Once you're queen,

You won't have to walk anymore.

The girl cut off her toe,

Forced her foot into the shoe,

Gritted her teeth against the pain and went out to the king's son.

He accepted her as the bride to be,

Lifted her up on the horse and rode away with her.

But they had to pass the grave.

The two doves were sitting in the hazel tree and they cried out,

Raku,

Raku,

There's blood in the shoe.

The foot's too long,

The foot's too wide.

That's not the proper bride.

He looked down at her foot and saw the blood spurting.

At that he turned his horse around and took the false bride home again.

No,

He said,

This isn't the right girl.

Let her sister try the shoe on.

The sister went to her room and managed to get her toes into the shoe,

But her heel was too big.

So her mother handed her a knife and said,

Cut off a chunk of your heel.

Once you're queen,

You won't have to walk anymore.

The girl cut off a chunk of her heel,

Forced her foot into the shoe,

Gritted her teeth against the pain and went out to the king's son.

He accepted her as his bride to be,

Lifted her up on the horse and rode away with her.

As they passed the hazel tree,

The two doves were sitting there and they cried out,

Raku,

Raku,

There's blood in the shoe.

The foot's too long,

The foot's too wide.

That's not the proper bride.

He looked down at her foot and saw the blood was spurting from her shoe and staining her white stocking all red.

He turned his horse around and took the false bride home again.

This isn't the right girl either,

He said.

Haven't you got another daughter?

No,

Said the man.

There's only a punny little kitchen drudge that my dead wife left me.

She couldn't possibly be the bride.

Send her up,

Said the king's son.

But the mother said,

Oh no,

She's much too dirty to be seen.

But he insisted and they had to call her.

First she washed her face and hands and when they were clean,

She went upstairs and curtsied to the king's son.

He handed her the golden slipper and sat down on a footstool,

Took her foot out of the heavy wooden shoe and put it into the slipper.

It fit perfectly.

And when she stood up and the king's son looked into her face,

He recognized the beautiful girl he had danced with and cried out,

This is my true bride.

The stepmother and two sisters went pale with fear and rage.

But he lifted Ash Puddle up on the horse and rode away with her.

As they passed the hazel tree,

The two white doves called out,

Raccoon,

Raccoon,

No blood in the shoe.

Her foot is neither long nor wide.

This one is the proper bride.

Then they flew down and alighted on Ash Puddle's shoulders,

One on the right and one on the left.

And there they sat.

On the day of Ash Puddle's wedding,

The two stepsisters came and tried to ingratiate themselves and share in her happiness.

On the way to church,

The elder was on the right side of the bridal couple and the younger on the left.

The doves came along and pecked out one of the elder sister's eyes and one of the younger sister's eyes.

Afterward,

On the way out,

The elder was on the left and the younger on the right.

And the doves pecked out both the remaining eyes.

So both sisters were punished with blindness to the end of their days for being so wicked and false.

Thank you for joining me for this reading of Ash Puddle by the Brothers Grimm.

Be well until next time.

Namaste.