Cinderella (fairy tale)/Headscratchers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • If the glass slippers were created by the fairy godmother's magic, and the magic ended at midnight, then how did the lost slipper still exist by the time they were trying them on everyone?
    • Always thought that the fairy godmother left the shoes as mementos, in the Disney version at least, since we have that scene where Cinderella cradles it and directs her thanks to the sky as if the funny old magic lady is also Jesus.
    • Maybe the shoes have to be together in order to disappear.
    • Its just like the bound armor in Oblivion, damage it and drop it, then it won't disappear when the time runs out.
  • Was Cinderella really the only person in the kingdom who the slippers could fit?
    • Hm, there's no actual reason on the story itself, but the Grimms mention the sisters cutting chunks of their feet to fit the shoe, so probably it's because her feet were incredibly and amazingly small.
    • As I understand it, the story has its roots in an old Chinese tale, so the "delicate beauty" implied by Our Heroine's tiny feet were really the result of foot-binding. Squick.
      • In the Chinese version the heroine had feet naturally small, gain without pain, and that is why her sisters were so jealous of her. Must have been uncomfortable though...
    • They were custom made, so, yeah.
    • I've seen versions of the story where the slippers magically change size so that Cinderella's feet are the only ones that fit in them.
    • Cinderella is the story of a fairy godmother's successful Xanatos Gambit for helping a deserving young woman.
    • The Witches Abroad retelling lampshades this by having Nanny Ogg of all people possess the same foot size.
    • The Disney version Lampshades this:

Duke: But, Sire, this slipper may fit any number of girls.
King: That's his problem. He's given his word, we'll hold him to it.

      • And then Cinderella III: Twist In Time took it further: the stepmother uses magic to make the shoe fit Anastasia's foot first and so they go to the palace instead of Cinderella. When the prince sees Anastasia, he knows that she isn't the woman he danced with and realizes the possibility that the shoe could have fit multiple girls.
    • She could have a really weird foot size (very narrow, very wide, quarter size, etc.)
      • That was how it was explained in Ella Enchanted, that the slippers were fairy made (which was why they didn't break) and why they were so small - fairies were notorious for having tiny feet. Ella had a few drops of fairy blood in her, so she too had very small feet.
    • In Just Ella, she actually got the shoes by creating a wager that a glassblower could make her shoes she could walk in. If she made it ten steps, she got the shoes for free.
  • This applies mostly to the modern "fairy godmother" versions -- WHERE THE HELL WAS THIS GODMOTHER BEFORE THE BALL?! The godmother couldn't be bothered to help out Cindy at all when she was being tormented by her stepmother and stepsisters?
    • Cindy hadn't asked for help before. In the Disney version, she's cheerful despite the way they treat her until they destroy the dress. In the earlier fairy tales, while she's unhappy as a servant, the magic help only appears when she cries at her mother's grave and expresses a wish that she could go to the ball ( she's never even given a chance to make a dress in those versions.)
      • Actually, why does the fairy godmother help at all? She lives in a mansion, has plenty of food to eat, and even though she's treated poorly, she maintains a really good attitude.
        • A really good attitude that had finally reached the breaking point. Cinderella had taken the final piece of abuse needed to completly shatter her optomistic mind and was giving up all hope on her dreams and actually all hope of happiness. That was what finally called the fairy godmother.
    • In Ella Enchanted and the Roger's and Hammerstein's version of Cinderella, the fairy godmother was involved in Cindy's life, she just didn't know said godmother was magic. As for why the godmother didn't help her earlier, in Ella Enchanted there were rules as to how much or what kinds of magic fairies could use (which was why there was so much trouble, the fairy that cursed Ella used a spell that was too "big" to be used). The godmother for Ella would only use smaller spells, for things like housecleaning or cooking. In the musical, it was never really stated why the godmother never helped Cinderella, but it was implied that she thought her goddaughter's dreams were silly. She only decided to help her that one night because she was so moved by Cinderella's wishes to go to the ball.
    • This was addressed in Jim Henson's Hey, Cinderella! of all things. When the fairy godmother shows up, Cinderella asks what caused her to appear. The godmother says "Because you cried!" When Cinderella points out that she's cried before without the godmother appearing, she gives some excuse about being busy. It's also shown that the godmother wasn't too with it (she implies that she left Pinocchio in a whale and forgot about him).
    • Or else it's just that they aren't allowed to interfere too much. As compared to spiriting a girl away from her wicked stepmother and setting her up with an entire independent life, giving her a dress to go to one dance isn't much interference at all.
  • Why doesn't Cinderella ever do anything about her situation, in any of the adaptations? In the Hilary Duff and Selena Gomez versions, it gets even stranger. Instead of Cinderella fearing her Step-Evils, why couldn't she make them fear her? Neither of them had to do those stupid tasks. The worst thing these diva stepmothers could do is pull them out of school, which would be illegal anyway. I just think these girls could have done a lot more to improve their lives, with just a little bit of brute force and perhaps tying the ditzy stepsisters up in respective closets.
    • What exactly could Cinderella do? Tell Lady Tremaine and the two step-sisters to eff off? Wow, nice going, hun, you just made your life a lot more miserable than ever before!! She had no power in that place. It was this life or be in the streets. Tying them up and shoving them in closets would grant her a stay at some jail.
    • In Ella Enchanted, Ella does take revenge whenever she can. She slips her stepmother herbs that make her fall asleep at a banquet, tricks Hattie into smelling a flower that makes her tell the truth for a period of time, and slips mice and spiders into Hattie's bed. Which is pretty impressive when you consider that Ella is the one who has a genuine reason why she can't outright refuse to be a servant and leave (the curse).
    • Rewatching the Disney version, I get the impression that their Cinderella is just too nice for her own good and wouldn't wish harm on anyone. You'd imagine that if the Prince wanted to punish Lady Tremaine and her daughters, Cinderella would be all "Oh, but they're not really that bad." She's just that kind of person.
    • ^ I doubt that; we see Disney's Cinderella frequently complaining her life ("Time to start another day!", "Goodness, morning, noon, and night...", "Oh, now what do they want? All right, all right! I'm coming!"). Women's rights just sucked in those days; a woman just up and leaving home and supporting herself on her own was a lot harder, if not an impossibility, compared today. Her step-mother took her father's fortune when he died, so she essentially had nothing and nowhere to go. Women's only hope of leaving home in far too many settings is marriage -- unfair, depressing, but true.
      • In a TV movie version of the story, the Godmother asks Cinderella why she doesn't just leave and improve her own life. Cinderella reveals that she promised her father on his death bed that she'd keep the family together. During the conversation, we are led to believe that she got along with her stepmother and sisters before his death and they had gotten progressively worse in the years since.
  • One thing that bothers me is this: Cinderella, in most versions, is nobility. From what I understand, nobility hobknobbed as that was how they kept their influence in court and amongst other nobles. This means that while Cinderella, being young, may not have gone visiting, she surely would have been seen by her father's friends when they came to visit him. Did no one notice that their friend's daughter who is now a marriagable age and might make a fine wife for their sons is nowhere to be seen after her father passes? Did they not think to check in with her, or to invite her to visit along with her stepmother/sisters to see if one of them would be a good match?
    • Depending on the version (if it even says anything about him at all, most don't) Cinderella's father is usually less of a nobleman and more of a wealthy scholar or businessman who "married up" by hooking up with the Wicked Stepmother. Chances are if he had friends, they were probably not of a social class to be checking up on a Lady who had lost her husband -- and even if they were, it's unlikely the stepmother would have allowed them to visit if she thought they would object to how she was treating said late husband's daughter.
    • Not to mention that nobility or not, if a girl is essentially downgraded into a servant, a guy probably wouldn't want her in times like that. In Ever After, Danielle looks utterly ashamed and near tears when she confesses to Henry that she was the daughter of a noble lady because she was still a servant.
  • If the shoes are made to fit Cinderella's feet perfectly, why does she lose one of them?
    • The shoe doesn't cover most of the top of her foot, and...well, there's a reason shoes are usually made of flexible material.
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