Imagine a woman, beautiful and sweet and very humble. She comes from a poor family, but has rich qualities. Does this sound like an Iraqi lady? Cinderella is a story of a beautiful young lady that is taken advantage of by her father’s new wife and her stepsisters. But in the end, she gets all of her wishes with the help of a fairy godmother and lives happily ever after. That is the French Version. In the Iraqi tale, the stepmother is nice at first, but becomes jealous of the child’s beauty. The godmother is a little red fish too. Despite the chores and bad treatment being a similarity, the godmother figures and magical transformations are different. To begin with, Cinderella had chores and was treated badly, which was similar in both stories. In the Iraqi version, “As soon as she was mistress of the house the stepmother began to leave all the work for the fisherman's daughter to do. She would not give her stepchild soap to wash her hair and feet, and she fed her nothing but crusts and crumbs. The girl bore this patiently, saying not a word, but she thought ‘I picked up the scorpion with my own hand so I'll save myself with my own mind’” (“Little Red Fish”). Also in the French version: No …show more content…
According to the French story, Cinderella is given “clothes made with cloth of gold and silver, all beset with jewels” and “a pair of glass slippers, the prettiest in the world” (Perrault). But in the Iraqi version, “Cinderella’s” skin “shines bright like a full moon”, her hair “is of cloth-of-gold” and her stomach “is filled with gold”. (“Little Red Fish”) Both Cinderella characters are blessed with magical transformations, but nonetheless, the transformations are different in many ways. These transformations are what helped both Cinderella characters fulfill their destinies and get married to their “prince charming’s” and have a happily ever