Fairy Tale Friday--The Sharp Grey Sheep (Scotland, 1860)

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I’ll begin.

This week we move outwards towards the Highlands to look at a tale from Scotland entitled The Sharp Grey Sheep. It was collected by JF Campbell from a labourer named John Dewar from Glendaruail [Glendaruel], Cowal and published in Popular tales of the West Highlands: Orally collected, vol 2 in 1860.

This story is the first of ones we will look at where the Prince and the ill-treated maiden meet at church and not at a ball. This is also a version where the magical helper is not human. In Ye Shen, it was a golden fish. In this tale, because it is set in Scotland, it is a sheep. I find it most interesting that this tale does not have a reference to our heroine in the title, but instead refers to her magical helper.

 Most stories emphasise the dirty quality of our protagonist (Cinder Maid, Ash Girl etc) but this one specifically talks about denying her food. The stepmother purposely does not give her enough to eat and forces her out in all weathers like a common labourer to tend the sheep in the field. In this tale the new Queen conspires with the henwife and her daughter whose name translates as Bald Scabby Thing to spy on the young girl to find out how she is getting food.

The starving girl is brought meat by a sharp (horned) grey sheep. It is not clear where the meat comes from and it seems slightly perverse for a sheep to bring meat which most likely is lamb. Perhaps the word meat merely means food like the King James Version translation of Genesis 1:29 where it says:

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

As in Ye Shen, our magical animal is slain by the evil stepmother, but the bones continue to work magic in the girl’s life due to her kind nature.

The idea of a henwife is interesting to me. I looked it up and the literal definition was “A woman who keeps poultry,” but there is so much more to it than that. The henwife was often the wise woman of the village, a seer or herbalist. You can read a really interesting article about the role of the henwife {HERE}.

Last week’s version of the Cinder Maid was very clear that our protagonist has a chance with the Prince despite being dirty due to her noble birth. In this tale, the Prince sees her tending the sheep and is entranced by her beauty. Clearly, there are less class issues in Scotland. After the Queen sends her own daughter out in the field as a shepherdess to be noticed by the Prince, our heroine (who is never named simply called “the daughter of the first Queen”) is made to take on the traditional role of cooking and cleaning. The Prince sees her and again is entranced and wants to meet her a church—a place where decent folk may socialise. Three times she attends church and catches his eye but rushes away before her stepmother and stepsister come home. 

As you would expect she loses a shoe. The henwife advises the new Queen to “cut the points” from her daughter’s toes to make the shoe fit. This version gets all the way to the wedding day before a bird says that this is the false bride with a shoe full of blood and the true bride is home by the fire. It is also the ONLY version I have read that deals with something that has bothered me all my life. No other version seems to mention cleaning the blood out of the shoe, but would you not find it repulsive to try on a shoe filled with someone else’s blood? Thankfully, this version does deal with that saying:

  They cleaned the blood out of the other shoe, and they tried it on her, and the shoe fitted her.

The Sharp Grey Sheep source

There was a king and a queen, and they had a daughter, and the queen found death, and the king married another. And the last queen was bad to the daughter of the first queen, and she used to beat her and put her out of the door. She sent her to herd the sheep and was not giving her what should suffice her. And there was a sharp (horned) grey sheep in the flock that was coming with meat to her.

The queen was taking wonder that she was keeping alive and that she was not getting meat enough from herself, and she told it to the henwife. The henwife thought that she would send her own daughter to watch how she was getting meat, and Ni Mhaol Charach [Bald Scabby Thing], the henwife's daughter, went to herd the sheep with the queen's daughter. The sheep would not come to her so long as Ni Mhaol Charach was there, and Ni Mhaol Charach was staying all the day with her.

The queen's daughter was longing for her meat, and she said, "Set thy head on my knee, and I will dress thy hair."

And Ni Mhaol Charach set her head on the knee of the queen's daughter, and she slept.

The sheep came with meat to the queen's daughter, but the eye that was in the back of the head of the bald black-skinned girl, the henwife's daughter, was open, and she saw all that went on, and when she awoke she went home and told it to her mother, and the henwife told it to the queen, and when the queen understood how the girl was getting meat, nothing at all would serve her but that the sheep should be killed.

The sheep came to the queen's daughter and said to her, "They are going to kill me, but steal thou my skin and gather my bones and roll them in my skin, and I will come alive again, and I will come to thee again."

The sheep was killed, and the queen's daughter stole her skin, and she gathered her bones and her hoofs, and she rolled them in the skin; but she forgot the little hoofs. The sheep came alive again, but she was lame.

She came to the king's daughter with a halting step, and she said, "Thou didst as I desired thee, but thou hast forgotten the little hoofs."

And she was keeping her in meat after that.

There was a young prince who was hunting and coming often past her, and he saw how pretty she was, and he asked, "Who's she?"

And they told him, and he took love for her, and he was often coming the way; but the bald black-skinned girl, the henwife's daughter, took notice of him, and she told it to her mother, and the henwife told it to the queen.

The queen was wishful to get knowledge what man it was, and the henwife sought till she found out whom he (was), and she told the queen. When the queen heard who it was, she was wishful to send her own daughter in his way, and she brought in the first queen's daughter, and she set her own daughter to herd in her place, and she was making the daughter of the first queen do the cooking and every service about the house.

The first queen's daughter was out a turn, and the prince met her, and he gave her a pair of golden shoes. And he was wishful to see her at the sermon, but her muime [stepmother] would not let her go there.

But when the rest would go, she would make ready, and she would go after them, and she would sit where he might see her, but she would rise and go before the people would scatter, and she would be at the house and everything in order before her muime would come. But the third time she was there the prince was wishful to go with her, and he sat near to the door, and when she went, he was keeping an eye on her, and he rose and went after her. She was running home, and she lost one of her shoes in the mud; and he got the shoe, and because he could not see her, he said that the one who had the foot that would fit the shoe was the wife that would be his.

The queen was wishful that the shoe should fit her own daughter, and she put the daughter of the first queen in hiding, so that she should not be seen till she should try if the shoe should fit her own daughter.

When the prince come to try the shoe on her, her foot was too big, but she was very anxious that the shoe should fit her, and she spoke to the henwife about it. The henwife cut the points of her toes off that the shoe might fit her, and the shoe went on her when the points of the toes were cut.

When the wedding day came the daughter of the first queen was set in hiding in a nook that was behind the fire.

When the people were all gathered together, a bird came to the window, and he cried, "The blood 's in the shoe, and the pretty foot's in the nook at the back of the fire."

One of them said, "What is that creature saying?"

And the queen said, "It's no matter what that creature is saying; it is but a nasty, beaky, lying creature."

The bird came again to the window; and the third time he came, the prince said, "We will go and see what he is saying."

And he rose, and he went out, and the bird cried, "The blood's in the shoe, and the pretty foot's in the nook that is at the back of the fire."

He returned in, and he ordered the nook at the back of the fire to be searched. And they searched it, and they found the first queen's daughter there, and the golden shoe on the one foot. They cleaned the blood out of the other shoe, and they tried it on her, and the shoe fitted her, and it’s like was on the other foot. The prince left the daughter of the last queen, and he married the daughter of the first queen, and he took her from them with him, and she was rich and lucky after that.

That’s all for this week. Stay tuned next week for an English retelling of another Scottish tale. 

What We Ate Wednesday--Roasted Red Pepper Cheesy Sauce Pasta with Roasted Broccoli

Hello lovelies! Recently, I was craving a bowl of ooey-gooey vegan cheesy noodles (as you do.) I don't know where this craving came from. I probably saw something out of the corner of my eye that worked its way into my subconscious and would not let go.

I am *very* suggestible when it comes to food.

I had planned to do a stir fry with broccoli over rice noodles for a quick Boxing Day lunch, but could not stop poking my head in the fridge and looking at the jar of roasted red peppers and sighing loudly. Finally Spiderman said,

Go on. You don't have to twist my arm to eat cheesy noodles. 

I decided to adapt a cheese sauce based on my high protein WHITE BEAN ALFREDO SAUCE and use a roasted red pepper from a jar to give it a a more punchy cheese flavour. I also topped it with sun dried tomatoes and roasted broccoli to make it more of a meal.

This was *definitely* a good idea.

I used the long brown rice noodle nests I would have used in a stir fry. It gave them real slurpability (is this a word? well it should be.)

It was a really quick meal that tasted amazing.

Roasted Red Pepper Cheesy Sauce Pasta with Roasted Broccoli

Preheat your oven to 200C/400F.

Slice up as much broccoli as you want, lay in in a big roasting pan and drizzle with a bit of oil. Generously add salt, pepper and a dash of garlic powder if you wish. Roast for 20 minutes or until florets go brown and slightly crispy.

Meanwhile make the sauce and cook the pasta.

The sauce:
1 white onion, sliced into rainbows
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tin white beans (I used butter beans as it was all i had on hand...next time will probably use cannellini) 
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
Up to 1 tsp salt
1 roasted red pepper from a jar
! TB lemon juice (bottled is fine)
1 cup non dairy milk
1.5 TB starch (I used tapioca, but cornstarch/cornflour would work)
1/2 tsp each smoked paprika and turmeric for colour

Optional topping:
 oil packed sun dried tomatoes, snipped into bite size

1. Cook your noodles according to package directions.
2. Cook your onion and garlic in the 1 cup of broth. Boil until nearly all the liquid has been absorbed.
3. Add the garlicky onion to a blender with everything else and blend until smooth.
4.  Return to the pan and heat until bubbling and thickened. Add the cooked noodles and stir to coat.
5. Add your optional sun dried tomatoes and top with roasted broccoli.

YUM! Seriously, YUM.

Which gives me an idea on how to use this sauce to make a broccoli cheese soup.

Hmmm...I see another food obsession has begun......

Fairy Tale Friday--The Cinder Maid (European, 1916)

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I'll begin. 

Last week we looked at the story Aschenputtel by the Brothers Grimm collected in 1812 and this week we look at a similar version written by Joseph Jacobs in his book Europa’s Fairy Book published in 1916.

Joseph Jacobs was Australian by birth and immigrated in 1872 to England where he graduated from Cambridge University, and became one of the best known folklorists of his era. In 1900 he immigrated to the United States, where he died sixteen years later.

This version entitled The Cinder Maid was constructed based on his analysis of the common features of hundreds of European versions that he collected. It has a wonderful opening line that draws you in. I also find it interesting as every other version I can think of starts with our female protagonist, her suffering and desire to go to the ball and to win her a husband to improve her social standing but this version starts with the king who wants to marry off his son.

Her father, as in other versions, is under his new wife’s thumb. In some versions he can be as mean as the new wife and his stepdaughters. In this version he tries to stand up for his daughter and suggests that she too should have a dress and go to the ball but is quickly shut down and decides to say nothing more to keep the peace.

As in Aschenputtel, she goes out to the Hazel tree planted on her mother’s grave to ask for help. Interestingly in this version a bird throws down a hazelnut (sometimes called a filbert) and when the Cinder Maid cracks it a beautiful dress and shoes fall out. Then the Hazel tree splits open and a coach and horses emerges that coordinate with her ensemble. This happens on three separate nights—each time her dress and shoes getting more and more beautiful. They range from a dress “as blue as heaven” embroidered with stars and copper shoes to “golden brown like the earth” and embroidered with flowers and silver shoes to “green as the sea with waves upon it” and shoes made of gold. I find this really fascinating because have you seen the size of a hazelnut? They are quite small. To have a voluminous silk dress and matching shoes come out of a nut is magical indeed.

The Cinder Maid also seems to possess a magic of her own. Each night as she escapes with her midnight curfew (harking back to Perrault’s tale) she calls up a mist from the ether to shroud her and aid her escape. How does she do it? I do not know.

In this version, after the first ball when the prince gets wise to her runaway antics, he smears honey on the steps for the second night, but she cleverly leaps from “stair to stair to stair” and doesn’t get caught. The last night he smears tar and it is this which catches her golden shoe.

One thing that annoyed me about the Grimm’s version was the fact that the prince was there when the slipper was tried on, failed to look at the FACE of the person trying on the shoe and was twice deceived by the stepsisters cutting off parts of their feet to fit into the shoe. This story eliminates that issue by having the herald travel far and wide to try the slipper on eligible women and by eligible, I mean of “noble birth.” If she had been a true Cinder Maid and not a noble woman forced into lowly circumstances, she would have had no chance at becoming queen. Poor women can only raise themselves so high. When the first stepsister mutilates her feet to fit in the shoe, the prince is notified that they have found the one and he comes running only to exclaim, “but this is not the lady!” He rejects her only to be told that he has to marry her because he said he would only wed the one who fit the shoe, not the one who fit the shoe and was the right person. The moral? Be more specific. Luckily both sisters who tried this trick were bleeding profusely, so he didn’t have to honour his rash promise.

It ends as you would expect it to end. Her father stands up and declares he does have another daughter which nets Cinder Maid a chance since she is still of noble birth despite the ashes and soot. The prince looks at her face and declares this is his lady love and they live happily ever after.

The Cinder Maid source

Once upon a time, though it was not in my time or in your time, or in anybody else's time, there was a great king who had an only son, the prince and heir who was about to come of age. So the king sent round a herald who should blow his trumpet at every four corners where two roads met. And when the people came together he would call out, "O yes, O yes, O yes, know ye that his grace the king will give on Monday sennight" -- that meant seven nights or a week after -- "a royal ball to which all maidens of noble birth are hereby summoned; and be it furthermore known unto you that at this ball his highness the prince will select unto himself a lady that shall be his bride and our future queen. God save the king."

Now there was among the nobles of the king's court one who had married twice, and by the first marriage he had but one daughter, and as she was growing up her father thought that she ought to have someone to look after her. So he married again, a lady with two daughters, and his new wife, instead of caring for his daughter, thought only of her own and favoured them in every way. She would give them beautiful dresses but none to her stepdaughter who had only to wear the castoff clothes of the other two. The noble's daughter was set to do all the drudgery of the house, to attend the kitchen fire, and had naught to sleep on but the heap of cinder raked out in the scullery; and that is why they called her Cinder Maid. And no one took pity on her and she would go and weep at her mother's grave where she had planted a hazel tree, under which she sat.

You can imagine how excited they all were when they heard the king's proclamation called out by the herald. "What shall we wear, mother; what shall we wear?" cried out the two daughters, and they all began talking about which dress should suit the one and what dress should suit the other, but when the father suggested that Cinder Maid should also have a dress, they all cried out, "What, Cinder Maid going to the king's ball? Why, look at her, she would only disgrace us all." And so her father held his peace.

Now when the night came for the royal ball Cinder Maid had to help the two sisters to dress in their fine dresses and saw them drive off in the carriage with her father and their mother. But she went to her own mother's grave and sat beneath the hazel tree and wept and cried out:

Tree o' mine, O tree o' me,

With my tears I've watered thee;

Make me a lady fair to see,

Dress me as splendid as can be.

And with that the little bird on the tree called out to her:

Cinder Maid, Cinder Maid, shake the tree,

Open the first nut that you see.

So Cinder Maid shook the tree and the first nut that fell she took up and opened, and what do you think she saw? -- a beautiful silk dress blue as the heavens, all embroidered with stars, and two little lovely shoon [shoes] made of shining copper. And when she had dressed herself the hazel tree opened and from it came a coach all made of copper with four milk-white horses, with coachman and footmen all complete. And as she drove away the little bird called out to her:

Be home, be home ere mid-o'-night

Or else again you'll be a fright.

When Cinder Maid entered the ballroom, she was the loveliest of all the ladies, and the prince, who had been dancing with her stepsisters, would only dance with her. But as it came towards midnight Cinder Maid remembered what the little bird had told her and slipped away to her carriage. And when the prince missed her, he went to the guards at the palace door and told them to follow the carriage. But Cinder Maid when she saw this, called out:

Mist behind and light before,

Guide me to my father's door.

And when the prince's soldiers tried to follow her there came such a mist that they couldn't see their hands before their faces. So they couldn't find which way Cinder Maid went.

When her father and stepmother and two sisters came home after the ball, they could talk of nothing but the lovely lady: "Ah, would not you have like to have been there?" said the sisters to Cinder Maid as she helped them to take off their fine dresses. "The was a most lovely lady with a dress like the heavens and shoes of bright copper, and the prince would dance with none but her; and when midnight came, she disappeared, and the prince could not find her. 

He is going to give a second ball in the hope that she will come again. Perhaps she will not, and then we will have our chance."

When the time of the second royal ball came round, the same thing happened as before; the sisters teased Cinder Maid, saying "Wouldn't you like to come with us?" and drove off again as before.

And Cinder Maid went again to the hazel tree over her mother's grave and cried:

Tree o' mine, O tree o' me,

Shiver and shake, dear little tree;

Make me a lady fair to see,

Dress me as splendid as can be.

And then the little bird on the tree called out:

Cinder Maid, Cinder Maid, shake the tree,

Open the first nut that you see.

But this time she found a dress all golden brown like the earth embroidered with flowers, and her shoon were made of silver; and when the carriage came from the tree, lo and behold, that was made of silver too, drawn by black horses with trappings all of silver, and the lace on the coachman's and footmen's liveries was also of silver; and when Cinder Maid went to the ball the prince would dance with none but her; and when midnight cam round she fled as before. But the prince, hoping to prevent her running away, had ordered the soldiers at the foot of the staircase to pour out honey on the stairs so that her shoes would stick in it. But Cinder Maid leaped from stair to stair and got away just in time, calling out as the soldiers tried to follow her:

Mist behind and light before,

Guide me to my father's door.

And when her sisters got home, they told her once more of the beautiful lady that had come in a silver coach and silver shoon and in a dress all embroidered with flowers: "Ah, wouldn't you have like to have been there?" said they.

Once again, the prince gave a great ball in the hope that his unknown beauty would come to it. All happened as before; as soon as the sisters had gone Cinder Maid went to the hazel tree over her mother's grave and called out:

Tree o' mine, O tree o' me,

Shiver and shake, dear little tree;

Make me a lady fair to see,

Dress me as splendid as can be.

And then the little bird appeared and said:

Cinder Maid, Cinder Maid, shake the tree,

Open the first nut that you see.

And when she opened the nut in it was a dress of silk green as the sea with waves upon it, and her shoes this time were made of gold; and when the coach came out of the tree it was also made of gold, with gold trappings for the horses and for the retainers. And as she drove off the little bird from the tree called out:

Be home, be home ere mid-o'-night

Or else again you'll be a fright.

Now this time, when Cinder Maid came to the ball, she was a desirous to dance only with the prince as he with her, and so, when midnight came round, she had forgotten to leave till the clock began to strike, one -- two -- three -- four -- five -- six, -- and then she began to run away down the stairs as the clock struck eight -- nine -- ten. But the prince had told his soldier to put tar upon the lower steps of the stairs; and as the clock struck eleven her shoes stuck in the tar, and when she jumped to the foot of the stairs one of her golden shoes was left behind, and just then the clock struck TWELVE, and the golden coach with its horses and footmen, disappeared, and the beautiful dress of Cinder Maid changed again into her ragged clothes and she had to run home with only one golden shoe.

You can imagine how excited the sister were when they came home and told Cinder Maid all about it, how that the beautiful lady had come in a golden coach in a dress like the sea, with golden shoes, and how all had disappeared at midnight except the golden shoe. "Ah, wouldn't you have liked to have been there?" said they.

Now when the prince found out that he could not keep his lady-love nor trace where she had gone, he spoke to his father and showed him the golden shoe and told him that he would never marry anyone but the maiden who could wear that shoe. So the king, his father, ordered the herald to take round the golden shoe upon a velvet cushion and to go to every four corners where two streets met and sound the trumpet and call out, "O yes, O yes, O yes, be it known unto you all that whatsoever lady of noble birth can fit this shoe upon her foot shall become the bride of his highness the prince and our future queen. God save the king."

And when the herald came to the house of Cinder Maid's father the eldest of her two stepsisters tried on the golden shoe, But it was much too small for her, as it was for every other lady that had tried it up to that time; but she went up into her room and with a sharp knife cut off one of her toes and part of her heel, and then fitted her foot into the shoe, and when she came down she showed it to the herald, who sent a message to the palace saying that the lady had been found who could wear the golden shoe.

Thereupon the prince jumped at once upon his horse and rode to the house of Cinder Maid's father. But when he saw the stepsister with the golden shoe, "Ah," he said, "but this is not the lady."

"But," she said, "you promised to marry the one that could wear the golden shoe," And the prince could say nothing, but offered to take her on his horse to his father's palace, for in those days, ladies used to ride on a pillion at the back of the gentleman riding on horseback.

Now as they were riding towards the palace her foot began to drip with blood, and the little bird from the hazel tree that had followed them called out:

Turn and peep, turn and peep,

There's blood within the shoe;

A bit is cut from off the heel

And a bit from off the toe.

And the prince looked down and saw the blood streaming from her shoe and then he knew that this was not his true bride, and he rode back to the house of Cinder Maid's father; and then the second sister tried her chance; but when she found that her foot wouldn't fit the shoe, she did the same as her sister, but all happed as before. The little bird called out:

Turn and peep, turn and peep,

There's blood within the shoe;

A bit is cut from off the heel

And a bit from off the toe.

And the prince took her back to her mother's house, and then he asked, "Have you no other daughter?" and the sisters cried out, "No, sir."

But the father said, "Yes, I have another daughter.

And the sisters cried out, "Cinder Maid, Cinder Maid, she could not wear that shoe."

But the prince said, "As she is of noble birth, she has a right to try the shoe." So the herald went down to the kitchen and found Cinder Maid; and when she saw her golden shoe, she took it from him and put it on her foot, which it fitted exactly; and then she took the other golden shoe from underneath the cinders where she had hidden it and put that on too.

Then the herald knew that she was the true bride of his master; and her took her upstairs to where the prince was; when he saw her face, he knew that she was the lady of his love. So he took her behind him upon his horse; and as they rode to the palace the little bird from the hazel tree cried out:

Some cut their heel, and some cut their toe,

But she sat by the fire who could wear the shoe.

And so they were married and lived happy ever afterwards.

That’s all for this week, stay tuned next week for a tale from Scotland.

What We Ate Wednesday--Magical Loaf Studio

Hello lovelies! Christmas is coming and you might still be thinking about what to make for your holiday meal if you are wanting to avoid eating a turkey.

You might be:

• new to being vegetarian or vegan
• new to being gluten free
• having a vegan or gluten free guest coming over that you don't know how to cater for
• wanting to eat more healthily
• have recently seen reports about the fact that reducing your meat and dairy consumption is the best way to reduce your carbon footprint and save the planet from extinction

Whatever your reason I wanted to offer you some choices before the big day. This recipe generator is the best thing since sliced (gluten free) bread. It's called the Magical Loaf Studio and you can mix and match with things you have in your store cupboard to make an endless variety of meals. 

Need it vegan? They are all vegan! 

Need it gluten free? Choose the gluten free carbohydrate/ binding options. 

Need it healthy? They are all based around whole foods like beans and nuts and whole grains.

But aren't nuts expensive? I need it to be cheap. Don't worry...there is only half a cup of nuts in it making it very affordable. 

Here is a link to the MAGICAL LOAF STUDIO.  It does use American measuring cups, so if you are in the UK pop over to Poundland and buy you a set. They really do make cooking so much easier. No more maths! 

Christmas dinner from years past

Here is a sample recipe based on the one I made for us last Christmas.

Magical Loaf

1/2 cup walnuts

2 TB water or broth for steam-frying

One onion, diced

One large garlic clove, minced

One large carrot, peeled and grated

One cup mushrooms, cleaned and chopped

2 cups cooked black beans

1 cup uncooked quick oatmeal or oat bran

1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetable broth, as needed

3 TB tapioca flour

1/4 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. dried sage

1 tsp. dried basil

1/4 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. dried rosemary

2 TB nutritional yeast flakes

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 TB tamari/soy sauce

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350ºF Spray a loaf pan or 8x8 square baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside (an 8x8 pan makes a crisper loaf).

Grind the walnuts into a coarse meal using a food processor or spice/coffee grinder. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Sauté any vegetables you've chosen in the water or broth for steam-frying until soft. Add to the large mixing bowl along with all the remaining ingredients. Mix and mash together well, adding only as much liquid as needed to create a soft, moist loaf that holds together and is not runny (you may not need to add any liquid if the grains and protein are very moist). Add more binder/carbohydrate as needed if the loaf seems too wet.

Press mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or platter and slice. Serve with potatoes, vegetables, and vegetarian gravy, if desired.

Note from me: I tend to cook mine in my muffin tin at 200C/400F for 30 to 40 minutes to make cute little portions. 

I hope you have a cruelty free Christmas because Compassion Tastes Good. 

Fairy Tale Friday--Aschenputtel (Brothers Grimm, 1812)

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I’ll begin.

This week we look at my favourite version of Cinderella from my childhood. This version is called Aschenputtel and was collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in their  Kinder und Hausmärchen (Children and Household Tales) in 1812.

I liked this version much better than the Perrault version for several reasons. The first being she is a stronger protagonist. In the Perrault version Cinderella is incredibly passive saying things like “I am not worthy to go to the ball” and then cries and waits for someone to fix her problems. In this version she does cry and pray a lot, but she still plays an active role in her destiny. She goes to her mother’s grave, sits beneath the hazel tree she has watered with her tears, and asks for what she needs. A white bird (perhaps a dove representing the soul of her mother) throws down whatever she needs.

In this version we also see the introduction of impossible tasks. The stepmother plays "mind games" that are meant to tease the poor girl and get her hopes up about going to the festival. She throws a bowl of lentils into the ashes and tells the poor girl if she can pick them out within two hours she can go to the festival. Our resourceful heroine calls on “all the birds of the sky” to come in and peck the lentils from the ashes and return them to the bowl. When she completes the task the stepmother does it again, giving her a one hour deadline this time and two bowls of lentils to sift from the ashes. Again, she completes the impossible task, but the stepmother still refuses to take the girl to the festival saying that she would be embarrassed to be seen with the cinder covered girl.

If this were the Perrault version, she would sit down defeated in the kitchen and wait for someone to come over and solve her problems. In the Grimm’s version, she runs out to her mother’s grave and asks for help. A beautiful dress of silver and gold is thrown down to her and off she goes to the festival. Each night of the festival she is given a different dress, even more beautiful than the last, and each night she decides when she leaves (no random curfew.) She chooses not to be found by the prince by hiding in the pigeon coop and up a pear tree. On the last night of the festival the prince smears the steps with pitch to catch her, but she merely leaves her solid gold slipper behind. I often thought as a child how awkward it would be for other guests arriving or leaving the party to have the entranceway covered in sticky resin. This scene with the pitch on the stairs features in the musical Into the Woods and we will look closer at this at a later date.

Lastly, the bits that appealed to me the most were the parts involving mutilation. I was a blood-thirsty sort of child. When the golden slipper is being brought house to house the stepsisters mutilate themselves to fit into the shoe--one cuts off her toe and the other cuts off her heel. When the prince sees that the shoe fits, he just pops the stepsister on his horse and rides away without looking up to see the identity of the person actually wearing the shoe. When they pass the grave of Cinderella’s mother two pigeons call out, “There is blood in the shoe! The bride is not right!” Twice he does this (TWICE!) without bothering to look up at the face of the person wearing it and say “Hey, this is not my true love.” He just looks to see if the shoe fits and rides away. It is only when Cinderella tries it on that he raised his gaze above her feet and looks at her face, recognises her and says, “She is my true bride.” This always annoyed me as it made the prince look careless and quite frankly a bit stupid, but this will be rectified in next week's tale.

 It was only upon revisiting this tale for the blog that I noticed the fact that he says T"his is not the right one, either. Don't you have another daughter?"  when he returns the second sister to the house. The fact that he he uses the term THIS and not SHE really speaks volumes about how women were viewed as property as he refers to her as an object and not a person.

I also felt slightly grossed out thinking about having to wear a shoe that two other people had recently bled into. That's just unsanitary. 

Then there is the revenge part. Perrault who loves to moralise has Cinderella forgive the stepsisters for their wicked behaviour and gets her to find them good husbands. In this tale pigeons fly down at the wedding and peck out the stepsister’s eyes, so they were “punished with blindness for as long as they lived.”

It’s good to be friends with birds.

Aschenputtel source

A rich man's wife became sick, and when she felt that her end was drawing near, she called her only daughter to her bedside and said, "Dear child, remain pious and good, and then our dear God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you." With this she closed her eyes and died.

The girl went out to her mother's grave every day and wept, and she remained pious and good. When winter came the snow spread a white cloth over the grave, and when the spring sun had removed it again, the man took himself another wife.

This wife brought two daughters into the house with her. They were beautiful, with fair faces, but evil and dark hearts. Times soon grew very bad for the poor stepchild.

"Why should that stupid goose sit in the parlour with us?" they said. "If she wants to eat bread, then she will have to earn it. Out with this kitchen maid!"

They took her beautiful clothes away from her, dressed her in an old gray smock, and gave her wooden shoes. "Just look at the proud princess! How decked out she is!" they shouted and laughed as they led her into the kitchen.

There she had to do hard work from morning until evening, get up before daybreak, carry water, make the fires, cook, and wash. Besides this, the sisters did everything imaginable to hurt her. They made fun of her, scattered peas and lentils into the ashes for her, so that she had to sit and pick them out again. In the evening when she had worked herself weary, there was no bed for her. Instead she had to sleep by the hearth in the ashes. And because she always looked dusty and dirty, they called her Cinderella.

One day it happened that the father was going to the fair, and he asked his two stepdaughters what he should bring back for them.

"Beautiful dresses," said the one.

"Pearls and jewels," said the other.

"And you, Cinderella," he said, "what do you want?"

"Father, break off for me the first twig that brushes against your hat on your way home."

So he bought beautiful dresses, pearls, and jewels for his two stepdaughters. On his way home, as he was riding through a green thicket, a hazel twig brushed against him and knocked off his hat. Then he broke off the twig and took it with him. Arriving home, he gave his stepdaughters the things that they had asked for, and he gave Cinderella the twig from the hazel bush.

Cinderella thanked him, went to her mother's grave, and planted the branch on it, and she wept so much that her tears fell upon it and watered it. It grew and became a beautiful tree.

Cinderella went to this tree three times every day, and beneath it she wept and prayed. A white bird came to the tree every time, and whenever she expressed a wish, the bird would throw down to her what she had wished for.

Now it happened that the king proclaimed a festival that was to last three days. All the beautiful young girls in the land were invited, so that his son could select a bride for himself. 

When the two stepsisters heard that they too had been invited, they were in high spirits.

They called Cinderella, saying, "Comb our hair for us. Brush our shoes and fasten our buckles. We are going to the festival at the king's castle."

Cinderella obeyed, but wept, because she too would have liked to go to the dance with them. She begged her stepmother to allow her to go.

"You, Cinderella?" she said. "You, all covered with dust and dirt, and you want to go to the festival? You have neither clothes nor shoes, and yet you want to dance!"

However, because Cinderella kept asking, the stepmother finally said, "I have scattered a bowl of lentils into the ashes for you. If you can pick them out again in two hours, then you may go with us."

The girl went through the back door into the garden, and called out, "You tame pigeons, you turtledoves, and all you birds beneath the sky, come and help me to gather:

The good ones go into the pot, 

The bad ones go into your crop."

Two white pigeons came in through the kitchen window, and then the turtledoves, and finally all the birds beneath the sky came whirring and swarming in and lit around the ashes. The pigeons nodded their heads and began to pick, pick, pick, pick. And the others also began to pick, pick, pick, pick. They gathered all the good grains into the bowl. Hardly one hour had passed before they were finished, and they all flew out again.

The girl took the bowl to her stepmother, and was happy, thinking that now she would be allowed to go to the festival with them.

But the stepmother said, "No, Cinderella, you have no clothes, and you don't know how to dance. Everyone would only laugh at you."

Cinderella began to cry, and then the stepmother said, "You may go if you are able to pick two bowls of lentils out of the ashes for me in one hour," thinking to herself, "She will never be able to do that."

The girl went through the back door into the garden, and called out, "You tame pigeons, you turtledoves, and all you birds beneath the sky, come and help me to gather:

The good ones go into the pot, 

The bad ones go into your crop."

Two white pigeons came in through the kitchen window, and then the turtledoves, and finally all the birds beneath the sky came whirring and swarming in and lit around the ashes. The pigeons nodded their heads and began to pick, pick, pick, pick. And the others also began to pick, pick, pick, pick. They gathered all the good grains into the bowls. Before a half hour had passed, they were finished, and they all flew out again.

The girl took the bowls to her stepmother, and was happy, thinking that now she would be allowed to go to the festival with them.

But the stepmother said, "It's no use. You are not coming with us, for you have no clothes, and you don't know how to dance. We would be ashamed of you." With this she turned her back on Cinderella and hurried away with her two proud daughters.

Now that no one else was at home, Cinderella went to her mother's grave beneath the hazel tree, and cried out:

Shake and quiver, little tree,

Throw gold and silver down to me.

Then the bird threw a gold and silver dress down to her, and slippers embroidered with silk and silver. She quickly put on the dress and went to the festival.

Her stepsisters and her stepmother did not recognise her. They thought she must be a foreign princess, for she looked so beautiful in the golden dress. They never once thought it was Cinderella, for they thought that she was sitting at home in the dirt, looking for lentils in the ashes.

The prince approached her, took her by the hand, and danced with her. Furthermore, he would dance with no one else. He never let go of her hand, and whenever anyone else came and asked her to dance, he would say, "She is my dance partner."

She danced until evening, and then she wanted to go home. But the prince said, "I will go along and escort you," for he wanted to see to whom the beautiful girl belonged. However, she eluded him and jumped into the pigeon coop. The prince waited until her father came, and then he told him that the unknown girl had jumped into the pigeon coop.

The old man thought, "Could it be Cinderella?"

He had them bring him an axe and a pick so that he could break the pigeon coop apart, but no one was inside. When they got home Cinderella was lying in the ashes, dressed in her dirty clothes. A dim little oil-lamp was burning in the fireplace. Cinderella had quickly jumped down from the back of the pigeon coop and had run to the hazel tree. There she had taken off her beautiful clothes and laid them on the grave, and the bird had taken them away again. Then, dressed in her grey smock, she had returned to the ashes in the kitchen.

The next day when the festival began anew, and her parents and her stepsisters had gone again, Cinderella went to the hazel tree and said:

Shake and quiver, little tree,

Throw gold and silver down to me.

Then the bird threw down an even more magnificent dress than on the preceding day. When Cinderella appeared at the festival in this dress, everyone was astonished at her beauty. The prince had waited until she came, then immediately took her by the hand, and danced only with her. When others came and asked her to dance with them, he said, "She is my dance partner."

When evening came, she wanted to leave, and the prince followed her, wanting to see into which house she went. But she ran away from him and into the garden behind the house. A beautiful tall tree stood there, on which hung the most magnificent pears. She climbed as nimbly as a squirrel into the branches, and the prince did not know where she had gone. He waited until her father came, then said to him, "The unknown girl has eluded me, and I believe she has climbed up the pear tree.

The father thought, "Could it be Cinderella?" He had an axe brought to him and cut down the tree, but no one was in it. When they came to the kitchen, Cinderella was lying there in the ashes as usual, for she had jumped down from the other side of the tree, had taken the beautiful dress back to the bird in the hazel tree, and had put on her grey smock.

On the third day, when her parents and sisters had gone away, Cinderella went again to her mother's grave and said to the tree:

Shake and quiver, little tree,

Throw gold and silver down to me.

This time the bird threw down to her a dress that was more splendid and magnificent than any she had yet had, and the slippers were of pure gold. When she arrived at the festival in this dress, everyone was so astonished that they did not know what to say. The prince danced only with her, and whenever anyone else asked her to dance, he would say, "She is my dance partner."

When evening came Cinderella wanted to leave, and the prince tried to escort her, but she ran away from him so quickly that he could not follow her. The prince, however, had set a trap. He had had the entire stairway smeared with pitch. When she ran down the stairs, her left slipper stuck in the pitch. The prince picked it up. It was small and dainty, and of pure gold.

The next morning, he went with it to the man, and said to him, "No one shall be my wife except for the one whose foot fits this golden shoe."

The two sisters were happy to hear this, for they had pretty feet. With her mother standing by, the older one took the shoe into her bedroom to try it on. She could not get her big toe into it, for the shoe was too small for her. Then her mother gave her a knife and said, "Cut off your toe. When you are queen you will no longer have to go on foot."

The girl cut off her toe, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. However, they had to ride past the grave, and there, on the hazel tree, sat the two pigeons, crying out:

Rook di goo, rook di goo!

There's blood in the shoe.

The shoe is too tight,

This bride is not right!

Then he looked at her foot and saw how the blood was running from it. He turned his horse around and took the false bride home again, saying that she was not the right one, and that the other sister should try on the shoe. She went into her bedroom, and got her toes into the shoe all right, but her heel was too large.

Then her mother gave her a knife, and said, "Cut a piece off your heel. When you are queen you will no longer have to go on foot."

The girl cut a piece off her heel, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. When they passed the hazel tree, the two pigeons were sitting in it, and they cried out:

Rook di goo, rook di goo!

There's blood in the shoe.

The shoe is too tight,

This bride is not right!

He looked down at her foot and saw how the blood was running out of her shoe, and how it had stained her white stocking all red. Then he turned his horse around and took the false bride home again.

"This is not the right one, either," he said. "Don't you have another daughter?"

"No," said the man. "There is only a deformed little Cinderella from my first wife, but she cannot possibly be the bride."

The prince told him to send her to him, but the mother answered, "Oh, no, she is much too dirty. She cannot be seen."

But the prince insisted on it, and they had to call Cinderella. She first washed her hands and face clean, and then went and bowed down before the prince, who gave her the golden shoe. 

She sat down on a stool, pulled her foot out of the heavy wooden shoe, and put it into the slipper, and it fitted her perfectly.

When she stood up the prince looked into her face, and he recognised the beautiful girl who had danced with him. He cried out, "She is my true bride."

The stepmother and the two sisters were horrified and turned pale with anger. The prince, however, took Cinderella onto his horse and rode away with her. As they passed by the hazel tree, the two white pigeons cried out:

Rook di goo, rook di goo!

No blood's in the shoe.

The shoe's not too tight,

This bride is right!

After they had cried this out, they both flew down and lit on Cinderella's shoulders, one on the right, the other on the left, and remained sitting there.

When the wedding with the prince was to be held, the two false sisters came, wanting to gain favour with Cinderella and to share her good fortune. When the bridal couple walked into the church, the older sister walked on their right side and the younger on their left side, and the pigeons pecked out one eye from each of them. Afterwards, as they came out of the church, the older one was on the left side, and the younger one on the right side, and then the pigeons pecked out the other eye from each of them. And thus, for their wickedness and falsehood, they were punished with blindness as long as they lived.

And if you want to read it in German then you can read it {HERE}.

 That’s all for this week. Stay tuned next week for a tale of a Cinder Maid.