Compare two versions of Cinderella told by authors from different cultures

Learning goal: Compare and contrast two versions of the same story written down by different authors from different cultures, focusing on the characters, the settings and the central message of each. This lesson teaches Ohio's 2026 English language arts standard for grade 2, first implemented in the 2027-28 school year.

For the adult: what makes two texts "versions of the same story". Many old stories were told aloud for a long time before anyone wrote them down. When different people in different places told the same story, they kept its skeleton and changed its details to fit their own language, customs and ideas about what matters. The story of a mistreated girl who is helped by magic, goes to a royal celebration, loses a shoe and is found by the shoe is told in many places. This lesson uses two of the best-known written versions. Charles Perrault, a writer in France, published his version, "Cendrillon," in 1697. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, two brothers who collected stories in Germany, first published their version, "Aschenputtel," in 1812, and they kept changing it in later editions. The Grimm retelling below follows their final edition of 1857. The 1812 first edition is different in several ways: in it, the dying mother asks the girl to plant a little tree on her grave, the father brings no hazel twig, and the birds do not peck out the stepsisters' eyes. That punishment first appears in the second edition of 1819 (see D. L. Ashliman's translation of the 1812 text and his note on the 1819 edition, listed under Supporting sources). France and the German-speaking lands (today's Germany) are neighbours in Europe with different languages and different storytelling habits, so the two authors come from different cultures. The passages below are new, shortened classroom retellings written for this lesson. They keep the events of the two older versions but are not quotations from them. The Grimm version has a harsh ending; the retelling below says what happens without describing it in detail, and you may soften it further for your group.

Original classroom retelling — Cinderella, after Perrault (France, 1697)

A kind girl lived with her father, her stepmother and two proud stepsisters. The stepmother gave her the hardest work in the house. When the work was done, the girl sat by the fireplace in the cinders, so her stepsisters called her Cinderella.

The king's son gave a ball. The stepsisters dressed in their finest clothes, and Cinderella helped them get ready, even though they teased her. When their coach rolled away, she began to cry.

Suddenly her fairy godmother appeared. "Bring me a pumpkin," she said. With a tap of her wand, the pumpkin became a golden coach. Six mice became six horses, a rat became a coachman, and six lizards became footmen. Cinderella's rags became a gown of gold and silver, and on her feet were two glass slippers. "You must leave before midnight," said the godmother, "or everything will change back."

At the ball, everyone admired the unknown princess, and the prince danced with no one else. The first night she left in time. The second night she forgot the hour. When the clock began to strike twelve, she ran so fast that one glass slipper fell off, and the prince picked it up.

The prince announced that he would marry the woman whose foot fit the slipper. A messenger tried it on ladies all over the kingdom. At last he came to Cinderella's house. The stepsisters could not squeeze their feet into it. Cinderella slipped it on easily and then took the other slipper out of her pocket. Her godmother appeared and turned her clothes into the gown again.

The stepsisters fell at her feet and begged her to forgive them. Cinderella lifted them up and forgave them with all her heart. She married the prince, and she gave her stepsisters a home at the palace and helped them marry two lords.

Original classroom retelling — Aschenputtel, after the Brothers Grimm (Germany; first published 1812, retold here from the 1857 edition)

Before she died, a mother told her daughter, "Be good, and I will look down on you." The daughter visited her mother's grave every day. Her father married again, and the new wife brought two daughters who were fair of face but unkind. They took the girl's fine clothes, gave her an old grey dress and made her sleep in the ashes by the stove. They called her Aschenputtel, which means something like "ash girl."

Once her father went to a fair. The stepsisters asked for dresses and jewels. Aschenputtel asked for the first twig that brushed against his hat on the way home. It was a hazel twig. She planted it on her mother's grave and watered it with her tears, and it grew into a beautiful tree. A little white bird lived in the tree, and whenever she made a wish, the bird threw down what she wished for.

The king held a festival for three days so that his son could choose a bride. Her stepmother threw a bowl of lentils into the ashes and said Aschenputtel could go if she picked them out. Birds flew in and picked out every good lentil, but the stepmother still would not let her go. So Aschenputtel went to the hazel tree and asked for a dress. The bird threw down a gold and silver dress and slippers.

Each night of the festival the prince danced only with her, and each night she escaped before he learned who she was. On the third night the prince had the stairs spread with sticky pitch, and her left slipper, made of gold, stuck there.

The prince went to her house with the slipper. Each stepsister tried to force her foot into it, and each time two doves in the hazel tree called out that the shoe did not fit and that the true bride was still at home. Aschenputtel tried the slipper, and it fit. At the wedding, the birds punished the two stepsisters for their unkindness and their lies.

How to compare: characters, settings, central message. A comparison looks for what is the same and what is different, and it always names a detail from each text. Work through three categories, in this order, because each one builds on the last.

Characters. Both stories have a kind, hard-working girl, a stepmother, two unkind stepsisters and a prince. The helper is the biggest difference. Perrault gives Cinderella a fairy godmother with a wand, who appears when Cinderella cries. The Grimms give Aschenputtel a hazel tree she grew on her mother's grave and a white bird that grants wishes. The girl herself is a little different too. Perrault's Cinderella waits and is rescued; Aschenputtel plants the twig, cares for the tree and goes to it to ask for help.

Settings. Both stories begin in a home where the girl works and sits in the ashes, and both move to a royal celebration. Perrault sets two nights of a ball, with a strict midnight rule. The Grimms set three days of a festival, and important scenes happen at a graveside and a hazel tree. The lost shoe is glass in Perrault and gold in the Grimms, and it falls off as she runs away in one and sticks in pitch on the palace stairs in the other.

Central message. The central message is the big idea the story wants the reader to take away. It is supported by what happens, especially at the end, and a reader may find more than one message in a story; a good answer names one and points to the events that support it. Perrault's Cinderella forgives the stepsisters and gives them a home, so one message of his version is that kindness and forgiveness are worth more than beauty or fine clothes (the first of the two morals Perrault printed after his tale says that graciousness is worth more than beauty; "graciousness" is the word in Andrew Lang's English translation, listed under Supporting sources). In the Grimms' version the birds reveal the stepsisters' lies and punish them, so one message of that version is that goodness and faithfulness are rewarded and cruelty and lying are punished. The two stories share an event, the shoe that fits, but they reach different messages because the endings are different.

A fully worked comparison. Question: How are the helpers different, and why does it matter? Step 1, find the helper in each text: fairy godmother (Perrault); hazel tree and white bird on the mother's grave (Grimm). Step 2, say the difference in one sentence: "Perrault's helper is a magic godmother who appears from nowhere, but Aschenputtel's help grows from the twig she planted on her mother's grave." Step 3, connect it to the message: in the Grimm version, the girl's love for her mother and her own care for the tree bring the help, which fits the message that faithfulness is rewarded. Step 4, check both texts again to make sure every detail is really there.

The misconception, and why it is wrong. Many children think one version is the "real" Cinderella and the other is wrong. Neither is the original; both are written-down versions of a story that was told in many places. Another mistake is mixing details, for example saying that Aschenputtel had a fairy godmother. Keep a note sheet with a P column and a G column so that every detail stays with the text it came from. Finally, do not decide that everyone in France or everyone in Germany believes the message of one story. Each version tells us about one author's telling, not about every person in a country.

Worked example 1 — characters. Question: Who helps the girl in each version? Perrault: a fairy godmother who turns a pumpkin into a coach, mice into horses and rags into a gown. Grimm: a white bird in the hazel tree on her mother's grave, and birds who pick the lentils out of the ashes. Comparison sentence: "Both girls get magical help, but Cinderella's comes from a fairy godmother and Aschenputtel's comes from birds and a tree she planted."

Worked example 2 — settings. Question: How long is the royal celebration, and how is the shoe lost? Perrault: a ball on two nights; she forgets the midnight rule on the second night and loses a glass slipper as she runs away. Grimm: a festival lasting three days; on the third night her gold slipper sticks in pitch the prince spread on the stairs. Comparison sentence: "Cinderella loses her glass slipper by running at midnight, but Aschenputtel's gold slipper is caught by the prince's trick with the pitch."

Worked example 3 — central message. Question: What does each ending teach? Perrault: Cinderella forgives her stepsisters and helps them, so kindness and forgiveness matter more than beauty. Grimm: the doves reveal the stepsisters' lies, and the birds punish them at the wedding, so goodness is rewarded and cruelty and lying are punished. Comparison sentence: "Both stories reward the kind girl, but Perrault ends with forgiveness and the Grimms end with punishment, so their messages are different."

Representation task — the P/G/Both chart: Fold a page into three columns labelled Perrault, Both and Grimm. After each retelling is read aloud, write or draw one detail on a sticky note and place it. A note may go in Both only if you can point to the detail in both texts. Fill at least two notes each for characters, settings and message. Then read the chart aloud to a partner, who checks one note against the text.

Independent performance: Write or dictate a comparison of the two versions in five or more sentences. Success criteria: (1) you name both versions and say that they come from different authors in different cultures (France and Germany); (2) you give one similarity and one difference about the characters; (3) you give one difference about the setting; (4) you state each version's central message and point to the ending event that shows it; (5) every detail you use is really in the text it belongs to. An adult may write your words for you; the ideas must be yours.

Extension for the adult: Read a third, teacher-selected Cinderella-type story from outside Europe, such as the Chinese tale of Ye Xian, which was written down more than a thousand years ago. Record the actual book title and reteller, add a third column to the chart and repeat the comparison.