KOREAN CINDERELLA
The Korean Cinderella parallels the Western European version in many ways; there is a stepmother who mistreats Pear Blossom (Cinderella). She wants to go to the festival, and must complete three impossible tasks in order to attend. On the way, she loses her sandal, and a magistrate picks it up. Once he finds Pear Blossom again, he is charmed by her beauty, and asks her to marry him. She lives happily ever after.
The First Task: to fill a broken bucket with water; a frog helps Pear Blossom.
Pear Blossom's bedroom, beside the fire in the kitchen. This is not a scene that appears in the story text – it goes with the title page at the beginning. I envisioned that a kind girl who animals help, must have been kind to them earlier in the story, so here she feeds mice crumbs.
The Second Task: to find every grain of a spilled bag of rice. Swallows help Pear Blossom.
Endpapers for the book - pear blossoms.
The Festival
