1. Folktales Cinderella Tales from Around the World: Unit Overview

2. What is it? A traditional tale or legend originating among a people or folk. They are many times told by word of mouth (the oral tradition) by the common folk of a town.

3. What’s the point? Folktales are told for many reasons: Entertainment Teach a lesson Reflect the values of the society Told as a quest to understand the spiritual and natural world

4. These stories are for kids…right? Before the time of television, radio, I- pods, and video games, folktales were told for entertainment among adults. They were not originally written for children. Many folktales included death and violence.

5. Cinderella Folktales Disney’s Cinderella was not the first version of the story that was told. Many versions of this story have been told for over a thousand years. There is thought to be 1,500 versions of this story today

6. So what’s the difference? The original Cinderella story did not have a fairy godmother. The fairy godmother was first introduced in a French version of the story in 1697. In a German version of the story, there is no fairy godmother. Instead a dove lives in a tree planted on a grave, and the bird pecks out the eyes of the stepsisters.

7. Look for differences in… Values Customs Language Cultural Beliefs Family Structure Desired Characteristics Plot (events in the story) Characters Setting Conflicts Magical Elements Moral (lesson learned)

8. A Variety of Tales… The Baba Yaga (Russia) The Cinderlad (Ireland) Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters (Africa) The Story of Tam and Cam (Vietnam) The Rough-Face Girl (Canada) The Tale of the Anklet (Persia) The Old Man’s Daughter (Romania) Yeh-Shen (Japan)