Fairytale Shoes, A Foretold Destiny
Shoes are a common, yet often overlooked literary motif in fairytales and folktales. Fashion scholar Alexandra Sherlock argues that narrative incorporation of shoes in media (“fairytales, song lyrics, movies and television”) is so ubiquitous, it had become a “loaded device”, and a metonymy for lived experience” that overshadows the materiality of the object itself[1]. In an article published in Children's Literature Association Quarterly, author Carole Scott argues clothes in fairytales serve a unique purpose of “allow(ing) characters outward expression of their psyche's deepest desires” through “ fantastical transmutation.”[2] In this essay, I will explore the motif of shoes in fairytales by analyzing three historically significant variants of the Cinderella Story, and compare the key tropes of Cinderella’s slippers to those of other fairytale characters and characters from children's books and the media. In doing this, I hope to define the unique and consistent tropes associated with fairytale shoes. Then, I hope to prove that these tropes are influential in the way we think about fairy tales and both classic and modern children’s literature. Finally, I will point to the unusual properties of these tropes in an effort to understand why a seemingly mundane and unassuming object had taken on greater narrative meaning.
Cinderella's glass slippers' iconic influence ranges beyond its folk and fairytale origins. Cinderella’s story had been adapted countless times, had become a common phrase describing a ‘rags to riches' story, and Disney’s 1950s adaptation of the fairytale cemented it as one of the most well known and widely regarded stories- the castle serving as an inspiration for Disney's current logo[3]. Like many fairytales based on oral tradition, it is difficult to point to the exact conception and origin of the story, however it is widely regarded that the earliest known literary version of the story are Giambattista Basile Tadeo’s “The Cinderella Cat/ Zezolla, The Cat Cinderella” published in 1634, with noteworthy variants including 1812 Grimm Brother’s “Ashputtel” (based in German folklore) and Charles Perrault’s 1697 “Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper” (the most well known literary version, and the origin of the glass slipper addition). It is worth noting that the story itself is likely much older, as ascertained by references to it in Christian sermons that date back to 1508 ( Jean Gerson’s “The Lost Sheep”). The incorporation of Cinderella folklore to these sermons was likely to make them more accessible to the public, indicating that by then the story was commonly known[4].
In examining these early stories, we see the origin of the fairytale shoe trope, and its inspired transformations. Giambattista Basile Tadeo’s “The Cinderella Cat/ Zezolla, The Cat Cinderella” (as translated from Italian to English by Rachel Louise Lawrence) follows the familiar story of a high born daughter, who through tragic misfortune (her mother died, her father re-married, her governess convinced her to kill her new mother, and then married her father, becoming an even worse step-mother and giving birth to six wicked step-sisters– as one does), is forced into indentured servitude in her own home. While she is forced to do a variety of back breaking work, the most notable one is tending (or literally sleeping in) the hearth in the kitchen - which leaves her permanently dirty and marked, and results in a new mocking nickname “Cenerentola”(p8).
Later variants of this story maintain this narrative beat, adding to it the wicked step mother pouring a dish of lentils into the fire in order to keep the heroine busy during the ball - a purposefully unnecessary, painful and physically unclean activity. When Cinderella suggests she may go to the ball, in both variants her family mocks her for being physically too dirty to go to the ball, and for being unable to dance due to not having proper shoes. In Grimm’s version, Ashputtle explicitly wears heavy wooden shoes that limit her mobility. And in Perrault’s version, part of Cinderella’s servitude is creating her sister’s outfits, doing their hair and washing their clothes (all of which she does whole heartedly and with no complaints). In a sense, Cinderella is an invisible presence bound to the home, as opposed to her sisters who can convey their individuality through their clothes, and leave the home to enjoy life, dance, and seek their fortune via marriage.
The magic that transforms the heroine is perhaps the most inconsistent element of these three variants of her story. In Tadeo’s Italian version the heroine obtains a palm tree branch from an enchanted fairy grotto in Sardinia (long story) alongside specialized golden tools to care for it, plants it in her mother’s grave, and once it grows the size of a woman (Tadeo, p.12), it grants her wishes.Similarly, Grimm’s Ashputtle plants a hazelnut tree that grants her wishes. It had been suggested by Koehler that this indicates potential pagan roots to the story, relating to common motifs of early tree worshiping practices in Europe (Kohler, p.35) - further supporting the story’s far reaching roots. Tadeo’s version enforces the sense of individuality expressed through clothing by detailing, three times over, the exact dress and shoes the protagonist took to the ball (sea-green and copper shoes first time, light blue with stars and silver shoes second time, and brown golden with flowers with golden shoes third time). The materiality of the shoes is noteworthy. Sherlock’s article regarding our modern approach to shoes claims that we often overlook the literal marital of the shoe, its function as a walking instrument, in favor of the fantasy it represents (Sherlock, P.27) . We see that in the consistent themes of shoes made of impractical, symbolic, and physically impossible materials. While Grimms only include the golden shoe, Perrault’s version introduces the glass slipper - a uniquely impractical, delicate and otherworldly material that had since become iconic. The materiality of the glass and its lasting impression holds a unique importance in analysis of this story and is a subject of much debate and discussion. It could be that much like Snow white’s glass coffin was meant to allow others to view her beauty, the glass slippers act in contrast with the ashen coat that normally covers Cinderella. It is transparent, clean, and formed in the fire of a hearth.
Kathryn A. Hoffman’s CInderella Across Cultures [5] a connection is drawn between glass art and cultural memorabilia that was common in the french courts in the time of Perrault, and large mirrors were a staple of the architecture. In that sense, the slipper would very naturally belong in a palace, and even mirror aspects of its architecture (ch.2 Parrault’s “Cinderellion” Amongst Glass Tales. Crystal Fantasies and Glasswork in Seventeenth Century France and Italy. (Side note - the chapter also claims that the glass slipper may have been a mistranslation to squirrel fur- a theory that had since been contested, and which I will not discuss because it is simply too much). Further enforcing Perrault’s intentionality in the use of material is the additional transformations- a pumpkin gourd into a carriage, mice for horses and a particularly distinguished looking rat (who had the longest beard of the three she caught, which one must assume, made him of fine breeding indeed) for their coach. The original is deliberately humble, vermin and homely and is transformed to the extravagant, exclusive and mobile.
Just as important as the materiality of the shoe is its fit, which is the device by which Cinderella is found and recognized by her prince. In Tadeo’s version, Zezolla departs (in no particular time in the evening), and the king (who in this version, is the individual courting her) sends his servants after her. The servants follow her shoeprints on the ground, and to throw them off, she scatters gold coins provided to her by the magic tree to distract them while she gets away. This is repeated once more, with pearls instead of gold, and in her third dance at the ball, she escapes via a carriage, and one of her shoes falls behind. The servants bring the king the shoe, and in true Italian literary fashion, he holds it to his heart and exclaims “If the foundation is so beautiful, what must the house be like?” (connection to the theme of house)” Beauteous candle stick, which holds the candle that consumes me! Oh, tripod of the beautiful cauldron in which my life is boiling!” (connection to themes of house and to fire) “ … I embrace you, I press you to my heart” (refers to the shoe as though it were Zezolla herself) “ and if I cannot reach the plant, I shall at least adore the roots” (connection to trees); and if I cannot have the chapters, I shall kiss the base!” (connection to house). Then, talking directly to the shoe, he says “You, who, until now, were the prison of a white foot” (enforcing race and possible class associated with it) “, are now the fetter of an unhappy heart.” (referring to the shoe as a chain, prison, limiter of mobility - a theme we will explore a bit later).” By you, she who is the tyrant of my heart stood taller by an inch and more” (strangely, the shoe seemed to have physically empowered Zezolla who, apparently, a “tall” “Tyrant”), “ and by you, my soul grows just as much in sweetness as I gazed upon and possess you.” (P19)
Once he is done with these lamentations, the King orders every household in his kingdom to bring in their daughters. He asks Zezolla’s father if he has more then two daughters- the father mentions that he had left behind one daughter, who “always looks after the hearth because she is not worthy of anyone’s notice, and she does not deserve to sit down at the table where (the king) eat(s).”(p23) The king requests that she would be the very first one brought to him. Once Zezolla arrives, the king thinks he might recognize her face but says nothing and simply presents her with the shoe, which supernaturally “darts” to her foot, fitting her perfectly. He then puts her on the throne, and tells everyone to bow to her, cementing her social transformation from unworthy to sit at the table to the top of the kingdom itself- the highest power a woman of the time might hope for. While the king recognizes her face (which is more than some of the other version’s suitors can say for themselves), it is the supernatural quality of the shoe that flies to her that marks her true identity. Zezolla is not cleaned before her arrival, and wearing the shoe does not change the rest of her outfit in any way (unlike Perrault’s version, where the shoe summons the dress.) Presumably, her family did not clean her before her arrival, and she is still in her stained hearth clothes while sitting at the throne. It is worth noting that unlike the two other versions, the size of Zezolla’s shoe is never described.
In the Grimm’s story, the shoe is “small and dainty”. The evil step sister’s feet are described as “beautiful” yet are still too large to fit, and their mom tells them to cut off parts of their toes and ankles, claiming that “when thou art Queen thou wilt have no more need to go on foot”. Thoroughly fooled, the prince rides away with first one sister and then the other, each time stopped by two birds (who had been magically assisting Ashputtel and are an extension of the magical Hazel tree) that sing to him “Turn and peep, turn and peep, There’s blood within the shoe, The shoe it is too small for her, The true bride waits for you.” The prince turns back, and although her family does not want him to see her, Ashputtel is finally presented to him. She draws her foot from the “heavy wooden shoes” onto the golden shoe that fits like a glove. It is only after she wears the shoe that the prince recognizes her. Then, in true Grimms fashion, the magical birds pluck the sister’s eyes, meaning there are three blind people in that room - the two sisters who had lost their eyes, and the prince who evidently has a severe case of face blindness. The shoe provides a recognition that illuminates through the physical grime covering Ashputtel, and her sister’s deception. The small size of the shoe enforces a sense of delicate femininity[6], and the mother’s claim that as queens they wouldn’t need to walk may relate to a connection between the leisurely lifestyle of the upper class, femininity, and delicate, smaller feet. (Perrault’s version also mentions the shoe is described as “little” but no other size descriptors are provided, and the sisters are not at all punished or mutilated). This reference to smaller shoe size may likely be related to a Chinese variant of the story, Yen-Shen.[7]
One of the oldest versions of the tale, Yen-Shen had appeared in written records of the Tang Dynasty (800AD), and is remarkably similar to the later european variants. [8] After losing her mother, and being abused by a step mother, Yen-Shen receives help from a magical animal (fish) in the form of golden shoes and a cloak of kingfisher feathers, that allows her to go to a festival to seek out a bridegroom. Where the story notably diverges, Yen-Shen leaves the festival without meeting anyone, but leaves behind one of her golden shoes. The king happens upon it, and fascinated by the small shoe, seeks Yen-Shen out, freeing her from her abusive family. In an article about recontextualizing footwear narratives, N. Sundar relates the shoe’s small dimensions with foot-binding practices that were prevalent between (206BC-24AD). He further adds that the shoe as a marker of privilege in the story is influenced by the fact that the cold weather in European countries meant most people wore shoes all the time, and within the house. While in parts of East and West Asia, through which the story had likely travelled, are warmer, making shoes less of a common essential and more of a class-related privilege. The Grim’s variant's use of the smaller, golden shoes with which the privileged queen would never have to talk again certainly make sense within this context (although it is worth noting that while the wooden shoes are described as heavy and immobilizing, the golden shoes enable Ashputtel to dance).
In examining these variants of one of the most well known fairytales and magical fairytale shoes, we can notice recurring themes. The heroine had suffered a great misfortune which forced her into poverty and indentured labor, kept her in an unloving home, forced her to stay within the confines of the home (close to the fire), and changed her appearance through ash, and potentially fire. In some variants, such as Perrault’s, the heroine is distinguished by her work ethic and good heart. She never complains when mistreated, in the ball she goes out of her way to feed her wicked step sisters the fruits given to her by the king, and once she becomes queen she marries her groveling step-sisters to nobles in the castle. In this way, her character is established as deserving of the shoe and its transformative properties. The fairy godmother who also helps her appears out of the blue and with no explanation, and disappears just as swiftly. In Tadeo and Grimm’s versions, the heroine is given the shoe through deliberate magical practices and her personal cunning, and (while she is hard working and beautiful) exhibits no particular sense of moral obligations. The shoe’s belonging to her are explicitly supernatural, and a direct result of the tree she had planted in her mother’s grave. This might relate to the heroine's bloodline as high born, and indicate an innate return from riches, to rags, and magically back to riches. In this sense, she was restored rather than transformed. Still, much of the story centers on the miseries of her poverty, and the physical transformation allotted by clothes that turns the hidden, ashen girl into an individual that can be seen, and that physically enables her to dance at the ball. From this we can notice three motifs to explore - Shoes and their environment, shoes as instruments of mobility vs. immobility, shoes that reveal an individual’s inner or external identity in relation to others/ society.
To start, I will examine Parrault’s second most influential addition to the lore of fairytale footwear - Puss in Boots. Earlier variants ( such as Costantino and His Cat by Fiovanni Francesco Straparola, 1550; Gagliuso Giambattista Basile, 1634) included many Cinderella story elements, from the two unkind older siblings to attaining a ‘rags to riches’ (and in Basile’s case, back to rags in the end) by obtaining nice clothes and using them to fit in the royal court to obtain a fortune. This is done by the fae cat, but with no means of magic, only lies, cunning and trickery. An avid fan of nice shoes, in 1697 Parrault added to the canon the cat’s shoes, which served no direct narrative function (the cat claims he needs them to walk over brambles, but he never really encounters any brambles, and he described the boots as giving him a “millitary” appearance, but there is no direct reference describing their impression on others.) The cat requests that the boots be made especially for his paws, making them unique to the cat’s identity and stature. In his notes, Parrault describes the cat’s clothes as distinctly aristocratical and belonging in a high society[9]. I would argue that while the boots stuck as an affective symbol, their meaning had changed based on society’s projection on fairytale boots and their mobility. Today, the most common place iteration of this character can be found in Dreamwork’s Shrek (2001) and notable spin-offs like Puss In Boots (2011) and the newest iteration - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022). In it, the titular character still wears and is defined by his iconic boots, but his French high society associations were traded with more adventurous, spanish leaning influences (such as Zorro). Early in the film, he is forced to give up his boots, and by extension, his identity. He buries them in a grave, and becomes a domestic cat, physically unable to leave the house of his elderly caretaker (who hoards cats).
For male protagonists, fairytale boots tend to be associated with enhanced, adventurous mobility[10]. Motifs such as the seven league boots used by Thumbling ( Hop-o'-My-Thumb by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé (1697), to accommodate his small stature and Jack the Giant Killer to assist him in his adventures. Like Puss in Boots, Tom is a physically small character enabled by his magical boots, and Jack fights giants (making him, in relation, also a small character). A literary interpretation of this motif can be seen in Diana Wynne Jones Howl’s Moving Castle (1986), where the elderly female protagonist attempts to use them, but finds them to be very large (like two buckets)- and inconveniently superfluous (they always transport her too far). In this, the author plays with both the fit of the shoe and its enhanced powers of mobility, which is impractically grand. In other words- we see a pattern of male boots - even inadvertently (such as in Puus In Boots, through the collective subconscious) being associated with grand adventure and enhanced mobility for smaller male characters. For female characters, boots are rare, and do not seem to carry the same implications.
I would like to suggest that his elderly caretaker might be closer demographically to a different fairytale shoe- one that is also domesticated and grounded within the home. The Nursery Rhyme “Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe" was first published in 1794 (Joseph Ritson's "Gammer Gurton's Garland”). The rhyme details an older woman with many children, who cannot afford to feed them, in a humorous and short form. Later artistic interpretation of this rhyme by illustrators reveal what type of shoe most seem to associate with this character– predominantly, old boots (W. W. Denslow, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose, A Gander at Mother Goose (1940) by Dave Monahan, Charles McKimson, Virgil Ross, Tex Avery, Gammer Gurton’s Garland (1794): “There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe” by Joseph Ritson). In this, we see the shoe itself as an environment and an extension of an identity and a social role, which society associates with this character description, made large and caricaturized. The mother’s physically immobile representation of boots that conflicts with its male equivalent.
Shoes can also be used to limit mobility or as punishment. In the Grimm version, Ashputtel wore heavy wooden shoes while sequestered, and the wicked stepsisters were “punished” by bleeding into the golden show. Shoes as a punishing instrument is an important facet of the Fairytale Shoe’s trope. This is exemplified in the Grimms version of Snow White, where the evil queen is punished by being forced to wear metal shoes that are heated until they are red, and dancing in them until she dies. This may have inspired Hans Christian Andersen “The Little Red Shoe” (1845), in which a vain girl adores her new ruby red shoe (which prevents her from going to church). While wearing the shoes, she dances uncontrollably and cannot stop to the point of pain, until she repents and can finally remove her shoes. The “Red Shoe” may also relate to what many folklorists believe to be the oldest known fairytale - The Smith and The Devil/ The Legend of St. Dunstan and the Devil (“Horse Shoe. The true Legend of St. Dunstan and the Devil” by George Cruikshank, 1871). In this story, the devil wants a smith (St. Dunstan) to fix his hooves with horse shoes so he could walk better. The smith uses this opportunity to inflict incredible pain on the monster, putting the shoes on while they are red hot, and only removing them once the devil promises not to enter any home with a horse shoe hanging in it. Other variants, such as Stingy Jack, do not contain the explicit morality of a Saintly Figure, and benefit financially by blackmailing the devil. Again, we see the themes of physical mobility vs. immobility, punishment, rewards, shoes hung in the house (environment), and a specialized shoe for a specialized individual - who’s feet shape reveal a monstrous identity. In Children’s literature, we see these themes in The “Watsons Go To Birmingham-1963” by Christopher Paul Curtis (1995), the monstrous Wher-Poo’s toes are explicitly described as square (unique/ deformed shape), (this is also a motif in Rohd Dahl’s “The Witches”). One chapter after the monster’s foot is noted, the protagonist deals with a traumatic, violent event and fixates on the shoe of a dead girl he thinks might be his younger sister, Joetta. In this, the story darkly parallels Cinderella’s slipper, as the protagonist wonders where the shoe fits. Unlike Cinderella’s slipper, this shoe could’ve physically fit any one of them, attaching a sense of collective grief even when Joetta is found alive. Holes by Louis Sachar (1998), also plays with the shoe’s unique identity and fate of fortune/ misfortune. From the unique, magical shoe of a famous athlete that falls from the sky (good fortune), to the resulting incarceration (bad fortune), to removing the generational bad luck curse at Camp Green Lake (ultimately, good fortune). The physical manifestation of Stanley’s family misfortune manifests, first, in the protagonist’s father’s failure to fix the smell of old shoes, and later, when it is reversed, and his ability to remove foot odor so people might salvage old, smelly shoes. The materiality of the shoe (and its smell) and its use in representing character’s identity and grander fate, mix together. The celebrity shoe as a luxury item akin to the glass slipper is undercut by the fact that Hector, who stole it, did not know its significance and simply had no shoes to wear. He immediately threw it away, resulting in Stanley’s arrest. Like Cinderella’s Slipper, this shoe entrusts both Stanley and Hector with their fate, and ultimately their fortune - but does so indirectly. Hector’s nick name “Zero” (given to him because he refused to talk, and people thought his head was empty) also parallels Cinderella’s mean nickname and identity concealing features. In this, the lack of shoes also becomes a defining characteristic.
Finally, in examining removal as a removal of its limitations, and the significance of shoeless characters. In the fairytale we can see examples such as Grimm’s Twelve Dancing Princess or “The Shoes That were Danced Off”, in which the “limiting” feminine shoes are taken out of their “natural” environment - the palace - and onto a party in what is implied to be a fae space, where the girls dance so freely, their shoes are physically torn apart on a nightly basis. In this, the destruction of the shoe is a freedom from the delicate, housed, and pre-determined nature of their lives. It is mitigated by the man who manages to follow them, and is offered the eldest’s hand in marriage. Once their secret is discovered, the girls can be contained within their shoes, and married (Cardigo, P.221). In Andrew Lang’s The Enchanted Pig, a woman is forced to wear three metal shoes as punishment while walking for years as a beggar, replacing each pair after it is destroyed, until she finds her animal bride's groom (whose beastly transformation also relates to his foot). Here, we see the metal shoe’s environment as unsheltered, and making penance which needs to pain by walking the shoes until they break apart. In both cases, there is a clear sense of the painful limitations of the shoes and the ways in which they trap a person within them.
Characters like Huck Finn (in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain, 1876) stands out as shoeless, both due to financial and home problems, but also because of his associations with nature, adventure, and existing outside of the confines and limitations of society. Similarly, in “American Born Chinese" by Gene Luen Yang (2006), the Monkey King who is initially shoeless is socially shamed by his lack of shoes when he is not allowed into a social event. He forces himself to wear shoes, physically transforming his body to fit them. This highlights his otherness, and his desire for both personal greatness/ ambition, and desire for social acceptance. Once he learns to accept himself, he stops wearing shoes and finds happiness within his true identity (still, somewhat outside of the society he wanted to fit in).
In examining the the motif of shoes in fairytales - first by doing a close reading of three historically significant variants of the Cinderella stories, and then by applying the motifs of Cinderella’s shoes to other fairy tales and a diverse array of children’s books and media, we see the distinct and consistent tropes associated with fairytale shoes. The magic the shoes enlays in: first, the shoe’s unique tailoring to its wearer’s body or identity. Second, the environment in which the shoe belongs, and the mobility it affords the wearer in this environment. And finally, the wearer’s sense of autonomy within and outside the fate bestowed by the shoes.
Sources, Articles:
Beauchamp, Fay. “Asian Origins of Cinderella: The Zhuang Storyteller of Guangxi.” Oral Tradition, vol. 25, no. 2, Oct. 2010, https://doi.org/10.1353/ort.2010.0023.
Cardigos, Isabel, et al. “The Wearing and Shedding of Enchanted Shoes.” ELO, by Wildman Press et al., vol. 5, 1999, pp. 219–28. core.ac.uk/download/pdf/61501238.pdf.
Gnanasekaran, R., et al. “PILC Journal of Dravidic Studies.” PILC Journal of Dravidic Studies, Jan. 2019, pilc.py.gov.in/sites/default/files/ej4.pdf#page=88.
Hoffman, Kathryn,A. , Cinderella Across Cultureswww.google.com/books/edition/Cinderella_Across_Cultures/KKshDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=glass+slipper+French+court&pg=PT34&printsec=frontcover.
Koehler, Julie Lauren-Jacokes. “The Persecuted History of Cinderella: A Case for Oral Tradition in Western Europe.” Gramarye: The Journal of the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy, season-04 2016, sussexfolktalecentre.org/wp-content/uploads/Persecuted-History-of-Cinderella.pdf.
Scott, Carole. “Magical Dress: Clothing and Transformation in Folk Tales.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 4, Dec. 1996, pp. 151–57. https://doi.org/10.1353/chq.0.1186.
Sherlock, Alexandra. “‘It’s Kind of Where The Shoe Gets You to I Suppose’: Materializing Identity With Footwear.” Critical Studies in Fashion and Beauty, vol. 5, no. 1, Oct. 2014, pp. 25–51. https://doi.org/10.1386/csfb.5.1.25_1.
Warwick, Genevieve. Cinderella’s Glass Slipper. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009263948.
Cinderella Verients:
Ashputtel, by Grimm Brothers, (1812)
Cendrillon ou La petite pantoufle de verre by Charles Perrault (1697)
The Cinderella Cat/ Zezolla, The Cat Cinderella by Giambattista Basile (1634)
:
Yen-Shen, Chinese Cinderella , 9th century
[1] Sherlock, Alexandra. “‘It’s Kind of Where The Shoe Gets You to I Suppose’: Materializing Identity With Footwear.” Critical Studies in Fashion and Beauty, vol. 5, no. 1, Oct. 2014, pp. 25–51. https://doi.org/10.1386/csfb.5.1.25_1.
[2] Scott, Carole. “Magical Dress: Clothing and Transformation in Folk Tales.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 4, Dec. 1996, pp. 151–57. https://doi.org/10.1353/chq.0.1186.
[3] Wiki, Contributors to Disney. “Cinderella Castle.” Disney Wiki, disney.fandom.com/wiki/Cinderella_Castle.
[4] Koehler, Julie Lauren-Jacokes. “The Persecuted History of Cinderella: A Case for Oral Tradition in Western Europe.” Gramarye: The Journal of the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy, season-04 2016, sussexfolktalecentre.org/wp-content/uploads/Persecuted-History-of-Cinderella.pdf.
[5] Hoffman, Kathryn,A. , Cinderella Across Cultureswww.google.com/books/edition/Cinderella_Across_Cultures/KKshDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=glass+slipper+French+court&pg=PT34&printsec=frontcover.
[6] Cardigos, Isabel, et al. “The Wearing and Shedding of Enchanted Shoes.” ELO, by Wildman Press et al., vol. 5, 1999, pp. 219–28. core.ac.uk/download/pdf/61501238.pdf.
[7] Beauchamp, Fay. “Asian Origins of Cinderella: The Zhuang Storyteller of Guangxi.” Oral Tradition, vol. 25, no. 2, Oct. 2010, https://doi.org/10.1353/ort.2010.0023.
[8] Gnanasekaran, R., et al. “PILC Journal of Dravidic Studies.” PILC Journal of Dravidic Studies, Jan. 2019, pilc.py.gov.in/sites/default/files/ej4.pdf#page=88.
[9] Perrault, Charles. “Puss in Boots.” Routledge eBooks, 2022, pp. 5–15. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003297536-2.
[10]Cardigos, Isabelle “The Wearing and Shedding of Enchanted Shoes.” ELO, by Wildman Press et al., vol. 5, 1999, pp. 219–28. core.ac.uk/download/pdf/61501238.pdf.