# Fairy Tale Rapes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 28, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-rapes/296571 "2005-03-28T05:50:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-rapes/296571/21 "2005-03-29T15:17:59Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > In fairy tales people often fail to recognize others that they know very well. However, on re-reading it, probably you are right that there is a second king involved. However, the incest theme in the first part of the story is clear. Seems like the question would have come up when these tales where told orally on cold evenings around the fireplace. “Hey, Dad . . . wasn’t that her father she just married.” “I dunno, son. It’s just how the story goes.” “Oh, no no!” Mother insists, sitting aside her sewing. “It was _another_ king.” ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-rapes/296571/22 "2005-03-29T15:27:42Z")
According to some people Rumpelstiltskin is a warning against female masturbation. And in Cinderella, it’s not a GLASS slipper, it’s a FUR slipper, which is about as obvious a symbol for female genitalia as you can get. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-rapes/296571/23 "2005-03-29T15:49:42Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > And in Cinderella, it’s not a GLASS slipper, it’s a FUR slipper, which is about as obvious a symbol for female genitalia as you can get. This would make a lot of sense in french, since the words “verre” (glass) and “vair” (on uncommon and old word refering to a kind of fur) are pronounced in the same way, so the mistake could have been easily done, story tellers mistaking one rare word for another much more common. However, why would the same mistake be done in non french versions of the tale? ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-rapes/296571/24 "2005-03-29T16:08:04Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > This would make a lot of sense in french, since the words “verre” (glass) and “vair” (on uncommon and old word refering to a kind of fur) are pronounced in the same way, so the mistake could have been easily done, story tellers mistaking one rare word for another much more common. > > However, why would the same mistake be done in non french versions of the tale? according to snopes this is wrong - [http://www.snopes.com/language/misxlate/slippers.htm](http://www.snopes.com/language/misxlate/slippers.htm) the original was always glass, though may have been borrowed from earlier oriental tales with a gold slipper ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-rapes/296571/25 "2005-03-29T18:09:36Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > According to some people Rumpelstiltskin is a warning against female masturbation. > > And in Cinderella, it’s not a GLASS slipper, it’s a FUR slipper, which is about as obvious a symbol for female genitalia as you can get. Actually, the earliest version (Giambattista, again) says it’s a _pianelle_ which “Cinder-Cat” loses. They were a sort of galosh which protected the shoe from the mud-- the overshoe rests on a foot-tall stilt with a wide circle base. (They’re also known as \*chopines. \* [Here](http://art-design.smsu.edu/yarberry/Courses/ART330-S2002/submissions/Duenke/Exhibit.html) are some images of them, and a page that discusses their use. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-rapes/296571/26 "2005-03-29T18:34:02Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > This would make a lot of sense in french, since the words “verre” (glass) and “vair” (on uncommon and old word refering to a kind of fur) are pronounced in the same way, so the mistake could have been easily done, story tellers mistaking one rare word for another much more common That’s just an urban legend. The earliest extant copies clearly refer to [Versace](http://www.ioffer.com/i/GIANNI-VERSACE-SLIPPERS-LEATHER-BLACK-SIZE-39-4772090) slippers, which makes a lot more sense. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-rapes/296571/27 "2005-03-29T20:23:26Z")
[QUOTE=irishgirl] According to some people Rumpelstiltskin is a warning against female masturbation. QUOTE] How? (Note this is my being curious, not my challenging the assertion. Internet clarity is oh so important 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-rapes/296571/28 "2005-03-29T20:43:34Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > Actually, the earliest version (Giambattista, again) says it’s a _pianelle_ which “Cinder-Cat” loses. They were a sort of galosh which protected the shoe from the mud-- the overshoe rests on a foot-tall stilt with a wide circle base. (They’re also known as \*chopines. \* Giambattista’s stories may be the earliest written versions of many fairy tales, but there is no reason to suppose that they’re “original” in the sense of being closest to the oral history versions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-rapes/296571.md?page=1)