The Story of Cinderella and other tales (1988, Golden Fairy Tale Collection, text by Peter Holeinone, illus. Piero Cattaneo)
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| Text by Peter Holeinone Illustrated by Piero Cattaneo ISBN 0-7105-0497-7 © Dami Editore, Italy Published by Peter Haddock Limited, Bridlington, England Printed in Italy Amilcare Pizzi Arti Grafiche S.p.A. Cinisello B. (Milano - Italia) - 1988 Photo: My collection |
The Story of Cinderella and Other Tales, with text by Peter Holeinone and illustrations by Piero Catteneo, was published in about 1988 by Peter Haddock Limited as part of their Golden Fairy Tale Collection. It seems likely the series was originally published in Italian. For more information about the series and to link to my reviews of other books in the series, see Golden Fairy Tale Collection (Peter Haddock Ltd).
This pink hardcover book spotlighting Cinderella appears to be the third book of the Golden Fairy Tale Collection. The covers of all the books have the same golden framing (plants entwined with fairy tale motifs), with a signature picture. For this, the signature picture is a scene from within the book, showcasing Cinderella trying on her lost slipper. The endpapers are a deep royal blue, and a golden contents page (with the same plant and motif frame as the cover) appears before the copyright page and title page.
Like the other books in this collection, the title page features an elderly cat (wearing a bonnet, shawl, and apron), sitting in a wooden rocking chair and reading the books of the collection to a group of young mice.
Contents (7 stories across 55 pages):
- Cinderella
- The Snow Maiden
- Sayed's Adventures
- The Empress Jowka
- The Book of Spells
- The Game of Chess
- Bluebeard
Cinderella
Like the other books in this collection, the opening story begins before its title, with a few sentences following a large 'Once upon a time' and a large illustration. I found this format a bit peculiar to read, initially mistaking it as an epigraph before the story begins on the following page, but we're clearly not meant to read it this way as the first paragraph on the other page makes little sense without taking the paragraph on the former page into account. With the inclusion of this first page, the story is retold over 9 pages.
The text by Peter Holeinone is lively and original, with the introduction of an amusing cat. The story source appears to be Perrault's version¹ of Cinderella. There are no helpful birds, or hazel tree, as in the Grimms'² version, and the father is not mentioned at all past marrying again, in tune with the Perrault story. Did you know Cinderella's father doesn't die in most historical versions of Cinderella (including, apparently, this one)? For a fun overview of this little-known fact, see Was Cinderella's Dad a Jerk? (Snow White Writes).
One thing I didn't like about Holeinone's retelling was the focus on Cinderella's beauty, with no mention of her character. In Perrault's version of the fairy tale, Cinderella is "no less good than beautiful" ("of unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper") and although she is described as "a hundred times more beautiful than her sisters" this appears to be linked to their character, which is proud and haughty, like their mother, with the sisters being described as "rude and uncivil" (although the younger less so). We're told the stepmother "could not bear the good qualities of this pretty girl [Cinderella], and the less because they made her own daughters appear the more odious."
In the Grimms' tale, Cinderella is "pious and good" and Cinderella's stepsisters are described as "beautiful, with fair faces, but dark and evil hearts." Compare with Holeinone's story:
Cinderella used to spend long hours all alone talking to the cat. The cat said, "Miaow", which really meant, "Cheer up! You have something neither of your stepsisters have and that is beauty." ... her stepsisters, no matter how splendid and elegant their clothes, were still clumsy, lumpy and ugly and always would be.
The popular idea of the physical ugliness of Cinderella's sisters apparently came from pantomime versions of the fairy tale, where visual traits were exaggerated for viewers, and this representation of "the ugly stepsisters" was popularised by Disney's animation of the fairy tale in 1950.
Cinderella's saviour in Holeinone's tale is a "fairy", but she's not described as a godmother. (Visually, she looks to be about Cinderella's age, with sparkling gold hair and a delicate white hennin (medieval cone-shaped hat).) She comes to help Cinderella go to the ball because "the wind blew ... [Cinderella's] sighs" to her. In line with Perrault's version of the fairy tale, she appears again at the end of the story to transform Cinderella back into rich and magnificent clothes. In Holeinone's tale, this is an active intervention to condemn Cinderella's stepmother, who explodes in anger after the slipper fits Cinderella's foot. "That's enough!" the fairy exclaims, and "[i]n a flash, Cinderella appeared in a splendid dress, shining with youth and beauty." The stepmother is thwarted and Cinderella goes off to live happily ever after with her prince. "And as for the cat, he just said "Miaow"!"
Apart from the cat (who also has an amusing encounter with the fairy mid-story) the artwork is the highlight of this retelling. Cattaneo's Cinderella is a beautiful redhead – and what clothes! Her rags are lustrous satin, her dress for the ball is a stunning rainbow concoction, and the gown the fairy transforms her into at the story's end is a beautiful pastel pink, yellow, and blue. I loved the watercolour dissolution of the dancers in the ball scene, and the landscape image of the fairy and Cinderella standing before the golden pumpkin coach, with white horses and a pastel sky:
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| A colourful transformation: detail from illustrations for 'Cinderella' |
At least one other person appreciates Cattaneo's artwork – see Piero Cattaneo is One of History's Best Children's Book Illustrators, But You've Never Heard of Him (Artpublika).
The Snow Maiden
This short two page fairy tale is a retelling of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Snow-Image: A Childish Miracle', first published in the International Monthly Magazine of Literature, Science, and Art on November 1, 1850, and republished the following year as the title story in Hawthorne's collection, The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales.³
Holeinone's retelling here suffers from its brevity, losing the depth of meaning Hawthorne's story carries. The two sisters of Hawthorne's original have become a brother and a sister in this version, which makes no difference to the tale. What does make a difference is that in this telling no one protests about bringing the snow girl inside. The children say nothing, and the snow girl "didn't have the courage to speak". It appears that the father takes the girl inside alone, and she stands and weeps at the window and slowly melts. There is no alarm from those watching (and no unwillingness to believe their eyes as in the original), so the ending feels like a fizzle (or, dare I say, a damp squib?).
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| A colourless child made from snow: detail from illustrations for 'The Snow Maiden' |
Sayed's Adventures
This fairy tale is the longest of this book, at 10 pages. It is based on a literary fairy tale by German Wilhelm Hauff, which I don't think is very well known in the English-speaking world. The original, published in 1827, was titled 'Saïds Schicksale' ('Saïd's Adventures').⁴
This was the first time I'd encountered the tale and I enjoyed the way Sayed's adventures played out. Holeinone's retelling is a much truncated version, and since the story is not, I think, well known, I'll outline the plot (as Holeinone tells it) here.
The story begins with a couple, Benezar and Zemira, who lived "[o]nce upon a time, in the mysterious East". A fairy gifts their son, Sayed, with a tiny whistle, and Zemira tells Benezar to give it to their son when he is twenty. However, his father gives the whistle to Sayed when the boy is only 18, when Sayed decides to go on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.
This is the beginning of Sayed's adventures, as his caravan is attacked by thieves and, though he fights bravely, he is captured after killing a "richly dressed" robber named Almansor, who turns out to be the son of a "sheik". The sheik respects Sayed and lets him go, but Almansor's friends are determined to avenge their friend. They capture Sayed and stake him out to die in the desert. Luckily, Sayed is rescued by a merchant named Kalum, who decides Sayed must work off his 'life debt' by doing "all the humble jobs" at Kalum's bazaar in the city of Baghdad.
While in service to Kalum, Sayed meets the fairy who gave the whistle to him as a child. She explains its failure to save him before now because it is of no use to him until he is twenty, but she loans him armor and horses so he can take part in tournaments to earn money to free himself from servitude so that he can go home to his father.
One night, Sayed rescues two strangers from attackers in the street and they gift him with a ring and a bag of coins. This gives Sayed the money he needs to win his freedom and he tells Kalum his plans to leave, but Kalum has him arrested for theft of the bag of coins. Sayed has no evidence of how he received the items, as he did not know the identity of the men who gave them to him, so he is put on a ship to be sent to Thirsty Island, to live with the other criminals there.
On the ship, he contemplates his life as a twenty year old and when the ship is wrecked, he blows the whistle and his life is saved – he is rescued by a dolphin that responds to the whistle. Sayed comes ashore at the foot of a military camp and tells his story, whereby he learns the ring and the bag of coins belonged to the disguised caliph of Baghdad, and his chief minister, who liked to roam the streets to observe the people, and whose lives he saved. Sayed's father is present at the military camp in search of Sayed and the two are reunited. "Since justice must be done in the world, evil Kalum was arrested and imprisoned as he deserved to be..."
The idea of owing a life debt to the person who saves your life is apparently purely literary in nature, never having existed in any real culture (so far as my limited research can tell). The outrageousness of expecting Sayed to work for him until he has repaid that debt is what makes Kalum an "evil" character – Holeinone's story makes it clear that Kalum should have saved a life out of virtuousness and expected no-one to reward him but Allah. This is different from the original story by Hauff, in which Kalum's manipulations and expectations are far more complicated.
As with the other stories in this collection, Cattaneo's artwork is evocative, with a wonderful use of colour in the costumes, and inspiring watercolour backgrounds. This story particularly showcases his skill with portraying animals, as below:
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| Sayed with his caravan: detail from illustrations for 'Sayed's Adventures' |
The Empress Jowka
This 8 page story is a much simplified retelling of Yei Theodora Ozaki's 'The Stones of Five Colors and the Empress Jokwa – An Old Chinese Story', published in 1908 in her collection, Japanese Fairy Tales.⁵ You'll note that Holeinone's retelling has transposed the letters of the Empress's name so she is Jowka rather than Jokwa.
In Holeinone's version of the tale, there is no mention of the age of giants or the empress's impressive height of twenty-five feet, but we are told that the empress "was young, beautiful, kindly, and wise". Though she tries to live in peace for the good of her people, a prince of the northern mountains, Kokai, rebels.
"Kokai pleaded with one of the evil gods" and gained the ability to flood the land, and win all battles by drowning his foes. Eventually, the god of fire comes to Jowka and offers to join her army to defeat Kokai. But when Kokai is defeated, "rather than surrender to the Empress Jowka, who would have forgiven him, he hurled himself, head first, against the mountain and died."
Him being twenty-six feet high in the original story makes a little more sense of what follows: "the blow was so hard that the mountain, named Shu, cracked". The empire is flooded by lava but, worse, the pillars that hold up the sky are also cracked, and the sun and the moon no longer travel across the sky.
Jowka asks her people to gather blue, white, black, orange, and red stones. She grinds them into a paste that restores the pillar. But the sun and moon do not know the pillar is restored and they don't return. Jowka finds two brave horsemen to deliver a message to each. When they return she tells them they mustn't bow to her:
Men like you shall always remain on their feet before anyone on earth, for you have looked the Sun and the Moon in the face!
Cattaneo's watercolours again capture sublime costumes and colours. His skill with animals is clear here as well. I particularly liked this scene of the brave messenger journeying "from cloud to cloud, from heaven to heaven, through winds and storms, brushing past comets and shooting stars":
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| Journeying to the sun and the moon: detail from illustrations for 'The Empress Jowka' |
The Book of Spells
This shorter (4 page) fairy tale retelling appears to have as its source German Ludwig Bechstein's tale, "The Old Wizard and the Children".⁶ Although Holeinone's story features an ogre rather than an old wizard as the antagonist, it appears to be an otherwise fairly faithful retelling of the original, published in 1845 in Bechstein's Deutsches Märchenbuch ('German Fairy-Tale Book'), but there may well be some later variant that Holeinone drew from in his retelling.
In Bechstein's tale the purpose of the wizard in kidnapping the children is oblique, but in Holeinone's version the ogre "liked his house to be tidy" so he kidnaps them "to look after the house, clean the floors, wash the plates and do the laundry every week". Kidnapping children to be servants doesn't appear to be a particular tale type⁷ but it is a motif that appears in other tales, such as the Grimms' Tale 79, 'The Water Nixie'.⁸
In Holeinone's retelling, the ogre reads carefully every evening from a book of spells. The two children, who (we are told) "were intelligent", read the book when the ogre is away and learn the spells. In Bechstein's tale, only the boy learns the spells, while in this version, perhaps aiming to be gender revisionist, both learn the spells, but the boy is the only one that casts them.
When they flee, the boy uses the spells to hide them both from the ogre by transforming into different things. In Bechstein's story, the boy becomes a pond and his sister a fish (here a pond and a minnow) and the wizard runs to fetch some nets (the ogre goes to fetch a fishing line). The boy and girl then become a chapel and an altar-piece (here a shrine and an angel) and the wizard runs to fetch a light to burn them down (the ogre goes to fetch wood). The boy then becomes a threshing floor and the girl a grain of corn upon it (here both turn into grains of corn, mingling with thousands of other grains on the threshing floor). In both versions, the antagonist becomes a cock to eat the grain and the boy becomes a fox that eats him. That's the end of Bechstein's story, whereas here, free of the ogre, we're told they are "able to go home again, safe and sound!"
Cattaneo's illustrations are ever so slightly cartoonish for this story, which works well for a story that has a fantastic antagonist. There is great energy in his pictures of the ogre and the children, and I liked how the end illustration expanded on Holeinone's text to show the children welcomed by their parents.
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| Kidnapped by an ogre: detail from illustrations for 'The Book of Spells' |
The Game of Chess
This 6 page tale is based on a segment of the Persian epic poem of the 11th century by Firdausi, The Shahnameh, which gives an apocryphal account of the origins of the game of chess.⁹
In Holeinone's version of the story, a king dies after his wife has given birth to a son, Gav. The king's brother becomes Gav's regent, and he marries Gav's widow. They then give birth to a son, Talend, and the king's brother then dies. Opposing political factions form – some wanting Gav as king, some wanting Talend.
Their mother avoids making a decision, and so the boys grow up as enemies and eventually meet in battle to decide who will rule. Neither wants their brother dead, however, so they give orders for their brother to be spared. Unfortunately, when Talend is surrounded by Gav's army and knows he has lost, his heart gives out and he dies.
Gav creates the game of chess to show his grieving mother what happened and prove he did not kill his brother. "In the end, she understood that, as in make-believe, so it s in real life, when there is a fight to the last, one of the opponents must fall, just as her son Talend had fallen."
This is a sad story, and Cattaneo's illustrations fully capture the joy of the mother with her two little boys, the antagonism that develops between them both, and the later heartbreak, but his skills are best shown off, I think, in the illustration below. The monochromatic palette of the desert background and the beautifully rendered elephants allows the fallen prince to draw the eye, as he lies supine in full colour.
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| Talend's heart gives out as he realises his defeat: detail from illustratons for 'The Game of Chess' |
Bluebeard
Bluebeard is the sort of gruesome story you would expect to be part of the Grimms' repertoire, and it did appear in their 1812 collection, but they later removed it, because it is actually a French folktale first popularised by Perrault in his 1697 collection, Histoires ou contes du temps passé, avec des moralités (Stories or Tales from Past Times, with Morals), or Contes de ma mère l'Oye (Mother Goose Tales).¹
Holeinone's story, told across 8 pages, is consistent with Perrault's telling, although he removes the description of how no-one wanted to marry Bluebeard because of his beard colour, and the wooing of both sisters, and adds some back story whereby Bluebeard tells others how his previous wives died. Her party with houseguests remains the same, as does her curiosity about the room she has been forbidden to see, but there is no explanation that the key stained with blood is magical. Another explanation that is dropped and which, I think, makes this retelling less convincing, is that the time Bluebeard's wife begs for to delay her murder is to say her prayers. There is no credibility in this retelling when the wife merely begs for "ten minutes to live" and he allows this. It is interesting that Holeinone has at the end of his tale a Christian burial for the other wives. This doesn't appear in the Perrault version, which focuses on the good fortune of the living wife and her siblings, whom she uses Bluebeard's wealth to support. It's not clear to me when laying the murdered wives to rest became a common part of Bluebeard endings, but I thought it was an interesting juxtaposition to have a Christian burial emphasised here while the significance of saying one's prayers before death was elided.
Another elision is Anne's viewing of the cloud of dust from the tower - in Holeinone's version she sees a few peasants and then nothing until suddenly two horsemen appear. The cloud of dust in Perrault's version lends credence to their arrival - it is no sudden appearance; readers are supposed to know they are hidden behind this cloud of dust kicked up by their horses' hooves.
I've never liked the story of 'Bluebeard', not because of its gruesomeness but because the moral of the story seems unjust.
Perrault's ending states:
Moral: Curiosity, in spite of its appeal, often leads to deep regret. To the displeasure of many a maiden, its enjoyment is short lived. Once satisfied, it ceases to exist, and always costs dearly.
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| Bluebeard prepares to dish out his justice: detail from illustrations for 'Bluebeard' |
Footnotes
² You can read the Grimms' version of 'Cinderella' online – see Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales (as compiled and translated by D. L. Ashliman).
⁵ You can read Yei Theodora Ozaki's 'The Stones of Five Colors and the Empress Jokwa – An Old Chinese Story' online – see Japanese Fairy Tales (Project Gutenberg).
⁶ You can read Ludwig Bechstein's tale, 'The Old Wizard and the Children', online – see Bechstein Fairy Tales (a site hosted by Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), which shares an adaptation from the first English translation of Bechstein tales).
⁸ Grimm's tale numbers are the numbers of the fairy tales collected in Kinder- und Hausmärchen (KHM). The numbers range from KHM 1 (The Frog Prince/King) to KHM 210 (The Hazel Branch). The numbers are based on the 1857 edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, which is divided into 2 volumes. The original Kinder- und Hausmärchen was first published as two separate volumes (Vol. 1 in 1812 with 86 stories) and Vol 2. in 1815 with 70 stories). The 1857 edition was the seventh edition, much expanded, and with changes to the tales. This is the edition that most English translations are based upon and is the quintessential "Grimm's Fairy Tales".
⁹ You can read 'The Story of Gav and Talhand, and the Invention of Chess' translated into English by Arthur George Warner and Edmond Warner towards the end of their Volume VII of nine volumes translating the original Persian text. The story is part of the Nurshirwan section of the poem – see The Shahnama of Firdausi (Heritage Institute) (pages 394-423).
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