READING: Authors Tell Different Stories

Many of you have heard a Cinderella story, but what you may not know is that there are over a hundred different ways to tell the Cinderella story. Each of these stories is written by a different author. An author is someone who writes a story.

Let’s look at two authors and how their stories are different. Pay close attention to the stories especially the animals in the story. When writers write about the same thing but tell the story in a different way… that is called their “version” of the story. The story of Cinderella has many different versions.

The version that most people know is the oldest one written in 1697 by Charles Perrault from France. This is the version where the birds help sew Cinderella’s dress and the mice turn into carriage men and help Cinderella go to the ball in the pumpkin that turns into a carriage. In this version, many of the animals are Cinderella’s friends. They help her meet the Prince, who Cinderella marries, and together they live happily ever after.



In another version of this story, written in the 1850s by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm from Germany, there are birds that help Cinderella throughout the story. Cinderella’s mother is not living at the beginning of the story. She visits her mother’s grave three times a day to say a prayer for her.

Cinderella’s father had given her a twig when he went to the festival. She plants the twig and her tears water the twig until it grows into a tall tree.

The birds now live in the tree and they give Cinderella a dress of gold and silver and slippers that are gold and silver, too. Cinderella goes to the festival to meet and dance with the Prince. Later, he finds Cinderella at home doing work for her stepmother and stepsisters. Cinderella marries the Prince and they live happily ever after.

Now you can understand what the word “version” means and how more than one author can tell a story in a different way. This is also called the “author’s point-of-view”. The story is told from the author’s viewpoint. That is why there are many versions of the same story.




ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION

1. This story talks about different versions of Cinderella. What is the oldest version mentioned in the story? Who wrote it? When was it written?

2. In Grimm’s version written in the 1850s in Germany, the Cinderella story has Cinderella visit the grave of her mother three times a day. Explain how the twig grows and what the birds do for Cinderella.

3. In fairy tales, there usually is a “happily ever after” ending. Explain one of the endings of the Cinderella story and how this is a “happily ever after” ending.


IMPORTANT: you have to do another exercises that is in the blogg,EXERCISES: Authors Tell Different Stories