Traditional Literature
3rd Grade
Yeh-Shen is an asian version of Cinderella. This story is about an orphaned girl named Yeh-Shen that is left in the care of her stepmother. She was a beautiful girl that was envied by her stepmother and step sisters. Because of this Yeh-Shen was forced to do dirty work and was never given the opportunity to meet anyone, so her only friend was a fish. Yeh-Shen would feed the fish and the fish grew to be enormous. Yeh-Shen's stepmother did not like this, so she went to the pond and killed the fish. Yeh-Shen was crushed by the lose of her friend.
It was not long after this tradegy that an old man presented Yeh-Shen with the fishes bones and explained to her that all she had to do was kneel before the fish bones and tell them what she desired. Every wish that Yeh-Shen wished for became true.
Yeh-Shen soon desired something that her heart never thought was possible. She desired to go to the festival in the village where men choose their wives. She wanted to find someone to love her. Yeh-Shen knelt before the fish bones and told them her wish. Just like with everything else the fish bones made her desire come true. She was given a beautiful cloak and golden slippers to wear so that she would not be recognized by her evil stepmother and step sisters.
When Yeh-Shen enters the festival, everyone is stunned by her beauty. Shortly after arriving, Yeh-Shen hears her step sister talking to her stepmother about how the beautiful woman looks like Yeh-Shen. This frightens Yeh-Shen and she leaves the festival. On her way she lost one of her golden slippers and because of this the fish bones would no longer hear her. She then hid the remaining shoe under the tree and cried herself to sleep.
Meanwhile, a villager found the mate to the golden slipper and presented it to the king. The king had a desire to find the woman who owned the golden slipper so, he searched the entire kingdom. Yeh-Shen sneaked to the pavilion in the middle of town at night to steal her golden slipper back. The king noticed her steal the shoe and asked his men to follow her, for he knew it must be the owner of the shoe. When the king and his men reached Yeh-Shen's home, he asked Yeh-Shen to place the golden slipper on her feet and immediately the beautiful cloak was wrapped around Yeh-Shen. The king and Yeh-Shen later married and the evil stepmother and stepsisters were thrown in a cave.
I will use this version of Cinderella to teach about fairy tales from different cultures. After reading this book aloud I will have students find other versions of Cinderella. When reading the other versions students would use Venn-diagram charts to compare and contrast two versions from two different cultures. This will help students see how fairy tales and folk tales differ among cultures.
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