Cinderella
In the Grimm's Cinderella, a rich man's wife becomes sick, and on her death bed tells her only daughter to always remain good a virtuous and kind. After her death the man waits a season and then takes another wife who was cruel, and brought with her two pretty, but cold and mean daughters. Cinderella is forced to wear rags and sleep in the ashes by the fire, and her father does nothing. One day when he goes on a trip he asks his daughters if they want any gifts. The two stepsisters want material things but Cinderella just asks for the first branch to hit off his hat on the way. When he brings it back she plants it on her mother's grave and waters it with her tears, and it grows into a tree.
When the prince throws a ball, Cinderella begs to go and the stepmother says she can if she can pick a bowl of lentils out of the hearth in two hours. She does it with the help of some doves. Then the stepmother changes it to two bowls in one hour. She again does it with help. Finally she stepmother says she can't because she has nothing to wear. She goes to cry and pray at her mother’s tree, and the doves bring down a gown of silver for her to wear and she goes to the ball, where the prince falls for her.
She leaves at midnight, and he chases her, her father cutting down the pigeon coop because that’s where she hid. But she escaped to the hearth.
The same thing happens the next night, except with a gold gown, and she hides in a tree this time, also cut down.
The third night, the prince has put itch all over the steps and her shoe gets stuck. He then proclaims that he will marry the girl the shoe fits on. When getting to Cinderella's house, both stepsisters try the shoe and neither fit. But because their mother tells them they won't need to walk when they are queen, one cuts off her heel and the other her toes and the prince is fooled both times, until the doves warn him of their deceit. When Cinderella tries it it fits and he recognizes her face.
At the wedding the stepsisters try and get back into her good graces now that she will be queen, but the doves poke out their eyes as punishment.
Underlying Meaning
The Grimm’s Cinderella is ripe with underlying religious meanings and messages. First off, her mother dies, leaving her open for hardship. Instead of being a good substitute, the stepmother instead plays the part of the evil witch, with the stepsisters as extensions of her. They are everything that Cinderella is not - cruel, mocking, materialistic, while she is kind, caring and selfless - a true hearth keeper. (Clarke 700) The sins of Envy and Greed play a part here, as the stepsisters are greedy and materialistic as well as jealous of Cinderella's betrothal to the prince. The doves are present here, representing both Cinderella's dead mother, and the Holy Spirit descending on her shoulders and watching over her. (Zaleski) The mother in heaven, the daughter suffering on earth, and the dove are a kind of female Holy Trinity - God, son, Holy Spirit. (Clarke 699) The prince is her Christ like figure - he saves her from the miserable life she was living, but it can also be arguing that she herself is also a Christ like figure. At one point too in the beginning, the stepsisters dress Cinderella up in an old grey coat and call her 'princess'. This is reminiscent of when Christ was dressed in robes and mocked, being called 'king' by the Jews who prosecuted him. (Murphy 104) While there is no forest, the tree Cinderella planted represents nature as well as a supernatural quality for the story. The ashes that she sleeps in every night represent Ash Wednesday, as well as a representation of rebirth - phoenix’s rise reborn from ashes and they are a symbol of Christ. (Murphy 109)