04-22-1999, 06:21 PM
I like to see these myths debunked as well as anyone, but I'm left unsatisfied with the debunking job (cf. column 1/29/99.) I looked up verre and vair in my French dictionary. Verre indeed means glass, but vair is translated as vair. Not very helpful, but you know how French people are. Anyway, a quick check in Webster's informs me that vair is a particular type of squirrel fur much prized during medieval times. It doesn't specifically mention if it was prized for making slippers however.
The way I see it, the point that glass slippers appear in versions of the story other than the French one is irrelevant. We already know they appears in the English versions. The questions to answer are: 1) Could those versions be based on an earlier French version which made the switch? 2) Are there any known versions of the story in which Cinderella did wear fur (especially vair fur) slippers? Obviously, more research is needed.
Greg Charles
The way I see it, the point that glass slippers appear in versions of the story other than the French one is irrelevant. We already know they appears in the English versions. The questions to answer are: 1) Could those versions be based on an earlier French version which made the switch? 2) Are there any known versions of the story in which Cinderella did wear fur (especially vair fur) slippers? Obviously, more research is needed.
Greg Charles