Glass Slippers

I know there are a lot of things going on in the world that we should be thinking about  - terrorism, natural disasters, hunger, war, politics, Brexit … the list is endless.

But.

I was thinking.

Why didn’t Cinderella’s glass slipper disappear at the stroke of midnight?  Seriously.  The carriage turned back into a pumpkin.  Likewise the mice, rats and lizards returned to their natural form.  So did the dress.

But.

Not the glass slippers.  Or should I say one slipper, as that’s the token that the Prince carries around to each house in the land to find the girl he’d danced with at the ball.

Is that one magical piece of footwear, or what?  That’s a very smart Fairy Godmother too, since she must have known the importance of the shoe ahead of time.  Very cunning, these fairytale magicians.

I haven’t done a web search on this particular subject (probably worried about what I might find out there in the big wide yonder …) so I have no idea if the conundrum has ever been solved, or what conspiracy theories are out there.  Or more to the point - is anyone else wasting even a tiny smattering of their day contemplating this matter?

Interestingly, I just looked up Cinderella on the internet and Wikipedia makes for a fascinating read.  Apparently the “Cinders” figure turns up in all sorts of folklore around the world, and the glass slipper is sometimes an anklet, and in Asian stories, there are fish bones and swings involved.  One story has “Cinders” singing and the Prince recognizes her voice above all others.  Another shows “Cinders” planting a hazel tree over her mother’s grave and a dove in the tree gives her what she wishes for, instead of a Fairy Godmother.   In some countries, her name is more like “Ash Pot”, which I suppose is a variation of Cinderella.

I had no idea that a story with this basic plot could be found in so many countries, and how old the story was, as well.  There are some versions from 1634 or older (that’s assuming that everything in Wikipedia is correct … hahahaha!).

Maybe now I’ve posted this to the Blog, I’ll venture out into the brain of Google and waste a few minutes solving the problem, then I can go back to thinking about Brexit, runaway trucks, etc. 

Or maybe not.