Fairy Tales in Different Cultures--A Cinderella Tale from Argentina

Today we are going back to Cinderella tales. The one for today is from Argentina. I found a copy of it translated in English in Latin American Folktales: Stories from Hispanic and Indian Traditions edited by John Bierhorst. Before we get into the tale, let's look a bit at Argentina.

Argentina is located in the Southeast of South America. It is officially called Argentine Republic. It is the eighth largest country in the world and the second in Latin America. It claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Europeans first arrived in the area in 1502. Pedro de Mendez established a settlement in the area that is now Buenos Aires in 1536 but it was abandoned in 1541 when it was destroyed by natives. Unlike the rest of Latin America the colonization of Río de la Plata estuary was not influenced by the gold rush since there were no precious metals in the area. However, the name Argentina comes from the Latin word for silver since they explorers heard rumors of silver mountains located there. Buenos Aires was established again in 1580. After much war, Argentina claimed its independence from the Spanish rule.

The climate of Argentina varies from subtropical in the north to subpolar in the south.  The animals also vary greatly depending on the climate. The north has the pumas, flamingos, hummingbirds, and more and the south has seals, sea lions and penguins. The west has the Andes Mountains, so it also has llamas and mountain animals.

Now onto our tale. This tale is called Rice from Ashes. Again I found it translated in Latin American Folktales: Stories from Hispanic and Indian Traditions edited by John Bierhorst. It has many similarities to Cinderella tales we have looked at from around the world. 

The story begins with a girl who has lost her mother and her father remarries a woman with two daughters of her own. From the start the stepmother and stepsisters are cruel to the girl, and she only has a lamb to keep her company.

Source

One day the stepmother tells her to kill her lamb. The girl starts to cry. The stepmother takes a plate of rice and spills it into the ashes in the hearth. She tells the girl that if she does not separate each grain of rice from the ashes by the time the stepmother wakes from her nap the lamb will have to die. The stepmother goes to nap and the girl cries. A dove comes and talks to the girl. The dove tells the girl to take a nap and it will clean the rice from the ashes. The dove has a flock of doves come to help and the task is taken care of. The stepmother is angry when she awakens from her nap.

By Keven Law, Los Angeles, USA [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The next day the stepmother pours sand into lentils for the task. The birds came back to do the task. The following day the stepmother throws sugar onto the hearth and an ant comes to help the girl. The next day the stepmother gives the girl two large bags of wool to spin. The lamb helps the girl and gets it done, however the stepmother finds one stray piece of wool on the lamb and orders her to kill the lamb. The lamb tells the girl to calm down and butcher and she will find a cup in the bowels. The lamb tells her to keep the cup forever. She does this and while at the stream, a little man comes and asks her for a drink. She gives him one with her cup.

The girl misses her lamb now that she has no one to talk to. The stepsisters decide to punish her more by asking their mother to buy them lambs. The stepsisters' lambs ate all the grass and the mother insisted on butchering them. The lambs told each sister in turn not to be sad and to find the cup and to be good to others. Each one found the cup inside the lambs' bowels. The little man comes to each of them and each stepsister in turn refuses to serve the little man, who happens to be God. 

Now there was a prince in town whose mother told him on her deathbed that he would marry a girl with a gold cup since it had been predicted by his godmother who was a fairy at his birth. He made an announcement in town for all the young women with gold cups to be presented to him. The stepmother ran to the king to have the prince come meet her daughters with their gold cups from the lambs. 

When the prince arrived the two stepsisters shoved one another to be the first to present the cup to the prince. The stepmother told the older girl to show the cup. The prince saw the gold cup and assumed this was who he was to marry. The prince put her on his horse and started for the palace. Along the way a bird sang out of a tree in the cemetery that he had the wrong girl. He asked to see the cup again and it was now iron. He turned back and got the other stepsister. Again the bird told him he had the wrong girl. He looked at her cup again and it had become iron. He took her home and insisted that their had to be another girl. He searched the house and found the orphan girl in the kitchen. He asked to see her gold cup. He put her on the horse to go the palace and as they went by the cemetery the bird told him he had the right one, however he asked to see her cup again and it was still gold. 

The girl and the prince were married and she became a very good queen who especially was kind to orphans.

Sharing Saturday 13-37

Thank you to everyone who shared their amazing ideas last week and thank you to all of you who visited to see what was shared and of course to those who left comments on others. If you have not had a chance to visit them, you should since there are wonderful ideas. Now for some features. We had one most clicked, so to check out this amazing idea (and there were several other wonderful fall inspired play that she shared last week) click on the picture!

Some Fall Favorites

1) From Mums Make Lists: Fall Foraging Fun for Kids

2) From Let's Play Music: The Autumn Fairy

3) From P is for Preschool: Leaf Confetti

4) From We Made That: Scarecrow Wreath

5) From The Chirping Moms: Pumpkin Pie Pudding Paint

6) From Little Bins for Little Hands: Fall with Earl the Squirrel

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog. 

From Your Hostess:
This week we shared kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month by sharing two wonderful picture books of Puerto Rican legends and the Multicultural Kid Blogs Blog Hop and Giveaway, continuing our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month we shared a Chilean Snow White and we learned about Andean flamingos; we also shared our Around the World in 12 Dishes "visit" to New Zealand with kiwi and ginger cake and growing our own kiwis and another Bill Martin, Jr. book--I Pledge Allegiance for the Virtual Book Club for Kids.

Now for This Week's Party  
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Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest. 

Flamingo Friday--The Andean Flamingo

Source:
Copyright Trevor Rickard and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Today I want to share with you a little about the Andean Flamingo. First I want to share that they are on the endangered list because their numbers are plummeting.I am going to share information I found in Birds edited by Tim Harris. It is part of the Facts at Your Fingertips and Endangered Animals series by Brown Bear Books. I will also add some information I found on-line. We will start with this YouTube video of some Andean flamingos in Bolivia.


The Andean flamingo is the rarest of the world's five species of flamingos. They belong to one of the oldest bird families which originated over 50 million years ago and are now threatened by the continuing exploitation and deterioration of their habitat. The Andean flamingo has show a decline equal to 24 percent in 15 years. Breeding success is consistently low and the adults live 50 years (therefore considered long-lived).

By Valerio Pillar (DSC_5251.JPG (DSC_5241 cropped)) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

They live on the puna. The puna is a high, cold, dry plateau in the Andes Mountains. These flamingos live in Peru, Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. The flamingos live in lakes where the water is ten times as salty as the sea. The lakes are home to diatoms which are microscopic single-cell algae which is what these flamingos eat. Like all the other flamingos, the Andean flamingo is an upside down filter feeder. (For more on feeding see my post here.) Here is a YouTube video of some Andean flamingos feeding Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust near Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom.


In the winter the Andean flamingos migrate to the lower wetlands. It is expected that this migration is due to the extreme aridity of the lakes in winter.  (Source)

The species nest in only ten or so major colonies and the breeding sites are under increasing pressure. Away from regular colonies, the flamingos are still hunted for their meat, feathers and fat (used in traditional medicine). Most of the birds killed are juveniles. Some people also remove their eggs for personal consumption or to be sold. There have also been an increase in mining near the breeding colonies and the development of the mining industry and towns to support it are major threats. There is water pollution as well as water diversion which cause fluctuating water levels. (For more on breeding and the life of a chick see my post here.

Source: Arpingstone at Wikimedia Commons

Now what makes the Andean flamingo different than the other species of flamingos? They are the only flamingos with yellow legs. Their bodies are pale pink with bright underparts and noticeable black patch on the wings.  Their bills are yellow and black and of course curved. (Source) They have three forward facing toes with no hind toes. Their voice is nasal and raspy in the calls in the colonies. The young Andean flamingos are grey in color. (Source)

By Paulo Fassina (Flamingo Flying 2) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

I should note that only the greater flamingo is not considered threatened. Even with several million birds (all four species combined) they are threatened due to hunting, long breeding cycle and there are fewer than 30 major breeding sites in the world.

I'll be sharing this in the Multicultural Kid Blog Hispanic Heritage Blog Hop. Have you entered the amazing giveaway yet?

Virtual Book Club for Kids--I Pledge Allegiance

Today I am going to share a second Bill Martin, Jr. book for the Virtual Book Club for Kids. If you missed our post last week, we shared The Little Squeegy Bug. Today's book is I Pledge Allegiance and it is co-authored with Michael Sampson. Now the main words to this book are the Pledge of Allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Skirt-a-Day Sewing Review--New Twin Skirts

Today I get the pleasure of sharing with you Skirt-A-Day Sewing by Nicole Smith. I was sent this book to review here and I have been enjoying it. Since September is National Sewing Month, I figured this was the best time to share it with you. This book helps you design your own patterns for the skirts. It has four basic type of skirts: wrap skirts, straight skirts, flared skirts and high-waisted skirts. For each of these types there are instructions for seven variations for a total of 28 different skirts--almost enough for one each day of the month.

Now I really have not designed my own pattern for clothes before. Or at least not very successfully. And to review this book, I really wanted to go through the steps, so I could give you an honest opinion of the ease. The first three chapters of the book are about sewing essentials, fabrics and the basics to drafting your own custom pattern. I spent quite a bit of time with Chapter 3, "Draft Your Own Custom Pattern." My first tip, is to read it carefully so you do not make a silly mistake like I did the first go around. The explanation is wonderful and easy to follow as long as you actually read it. Once you have your basic skirt sloper as it is called in the book, you are ready to try a variation. I decided to try a wrap skirt. (I am hoping to lose weight now that I'm exercising while Hazel is at school, so I didn't want to put time into a skirt that I couldn't easily adjust later.) I loved the "Double-Time Wrap," which is a reversible skirt with a scalloped hem. 

Next it came to choosing fabrics. Because the skirt is one piece of fabric plus a waistband, I found it hard to cut the fabric in the direction I wanted for some prints. Therefore I chose prints that the direction did not matter. I found the directions easy to follow and loved the suggestion of tracing a round can or object for the optional scalloped edge. I found the waistband instructions a bit confusing. In fact I stopped working on it for awhile and thought about how the waistband would work. I kept going back to Chapter 2 to read about the waistbands. Finally I figured it out and finished the skirt for me. Then I drew up a pattern for Hazel. She, of course, wanted a matching skirt. The second time around was much easier. Plus I took out some of the darts since she does not have the curves a grown woman has.

Hazel likes the pink and orange side the best and I like the brown side the best, but we are planning on wearing them tomorrow so we can be "twins". Although Hazel did point out to be twins we need matching shirts as well. 

Trying on our new skirts

We of course had to try them on together and have Steve take pictures. (Steve is not the best photographer, so I apologize for the picture quality--at least he did not cut off our heads like he has in the past.)

Now I cannot wait to adjust my skirt sloper to try the Jazz Age Skirt (the red one pictured on the cover), the High Definition Skirt (the orange and pink one on the cover) and the Girlie Show Skirt (a flared skirt). Now if I can at least some weight, so I know I will be able to wear them longer. Stay tuned. I know I will be using this book more and posting more great skirts made with it.

So I have to say, I recommend this book especially if you have been wanting to get into customizing patterns, but did not know where or how to start or if you are just looking for some great skirt patterns. This book has wonderful ideas that you can use to fit any body type. Happy Sewing!!