Ashenputtel

A darker version of the well known Cinderella story was recorded by the German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century. The tale is called "Aschenputtel". This version is much more intense than most others in that Cinderella's father did not die and the stepsisters mutilate their feet to fit in the golden slipper. There is no fairy godmother, but help instead comes from a wishing tree that the heroine planted on her mother's grave. The stepsisters suffer a terrible punishment for their cruelty.