Now this version of Cinderella was much more like the Brothers Grimm's version of Cinderella than Charles Perrault. It had the same kind of deep set magic, tied in with death, rather than the happy-go-lucky magic of the French version of Cinderella. However there are some major differences between the two stories.
Firstly, one of the major differences is that Pepelyouga's real mother, before she dies, is first turned into a cow. Now I do not know the significance of cows in Serbian culture, but I believe it would be quite interesting to find out. This cow then helps Pepelyouga with her seemingly impossible chores. It is after this little cow interlude, that the story returns to a more Grimm-esque fairy tale. The talking cow (mother) asks to be buried under a certain stone of a house and tells Pepelyouga that if she ever needs help, she is to come to the grave and ask for it. Also she asks Pepelyouga not to eat the meat of the slaughtered cow - this is interesting as it appears the Serbian tale puts emphasis on the evilness of cannibalism. It is okay that both the father, the evil step-mother and the step-sister eat the cow (who is actually the mother) but good sweet innocent virtuous Pepelyouga is forbidden to eat it, lest she turn into an evil person like the rest of her family.
There is also a great emphasis on religion in this version of Cinderella. Instead of going to a ball at the palace, the stepmother and stepsister leave Pepelyouga at home slaving away, whilst they go to church. The doves sitting on top of a chest on top of the mother's grave tell Pepelyouga to go to church dressed in the beautiful dresses, and it is here in the church that she meets her Prince Charming, the Czar's son. It is whilst she is being pious and virtuous that she is discovered by her Prince and of course, he immediately falls in love with her.
The Serbian version of the fairy tale ends in a similar way, however to the Perrault fairy tale. Instead of their being blood and maimed feet and faces, Pepelyouga is simply carried off into the sunset by her handsome Prince. However it is interesting to note though that it specifically says that "Later he won her love and they were happily married." This Cinderella seems to be more level-headed than the other Cinderellas. Instead of just swooning into the arms of the Prince, he has to win her love. This makes them seem more on an equal level. It would be interesting to see when this Serbian version of the tale was written - to see if it was written during a time of feminism etc.
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It is interesting to note how many details the Siberian version shares with all the other versions we read for class (cows, churches, helpful birds, etc.). I think you raise a good point about needing the knowledge of when it is written. I don't know much about Siberia, but a lot of the details of the story don't match my mental picture of the place. I wonder how much of the tale is pulled from other versions and what other influences were involved in the story to make it end the way it does. What role does magic play in the Siberian version?
ReplyDeleteThis story reminded me of the black cow in one of the other stories we read. I find it interesting that many stories have the good parents tunring into some form of nature whether a bird, a cow, or even a hazel tree like in the Grimms version of Cinderella. There is often the suggestion that the spirit of the good mother remains on earth. I also found it interesting that they go to a church rather than a palace. There is also another story we read which has the stepmother and stepsister going to the theatre which seemed odd and I wondered how this funtioned.
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