Cinderella by the Grimm Brothers - Essay Example

These versions include The Story of the Black Cow, Donkeyskin by Charles Perrault and the recent Cinderella by the Grimm Brothers.The stories share certain similarities in terms of the plots, where there is an ill motive from one of the parents of the offspring, and they have to run away or endure suffering as a result. The protagonists later find love and their suffering ends. In The story of The Black Cow, the young boy has to run away from his stepmother who mistreats him but favors her daughter.

In the story of Donkeyskin, the princess, who is nicknamed Donkeyskin, also has to run away from the father because he believes she is supposed to be his wife. The father is trying to fulfill his late wife’s dying wishes that he should marry a woman who is wiser and more beautiful than her. The plot in Cinderella also portrays the same theme where the girl is facing a lot of hostility from the stepmother. However, she does not have the choice of running away like the characters in the other two tales.

The stories also show a lot of magical happenings. In The Story of The Black Cow, there is a cow that can talk with the boy and magically produce sweets by stomping her feet on the ground. Also, there is a snake that is supposedly holding the universe together. The snake is pleased with the cow’s action of feeding him with milk and grants the cow a wish. The cow asks the snake to cover the boy with golden clothes and make his body shine like gold, and the snake makes it happen. In the case of Donkeyskin, there is a donkey that produces gold coins instead of dung while Cinderella gets her carriage from a pumpkin and horses from mice with the help of her fairy godmother.

These gifts make the characters unique from the rest, for instance the ring that only fits on Donkeyskin’s finger, the golden slipper that only fits