Fairy Tales from Around the

World: Cinderella
Second Grade Reading, Social Studies

by Cortney Nagler August 4, 2015

This colorful lesson combines reading comprehension with cultural awareness. Students will certainly have a
blast comparing and contrasting Cinderella stories from two different countries.

Learning Objectives

The students will be able to compare and contrast different adaptations of the same story.

Materials and preparation Key terms

Yeh Shen by Ai-Ling Louie compare

The Korean Cinderella by Shirley Climo contrast
Venn Diagram worksheet
Yeh Shen printout Yen Shen
The Korean Cinderella printout
dynasties
reared
coarsest
bedstraw

The Korean Cinderella

matchmaker
widow
magistrate
palanquin

Attachments

Venn Diagram (PDF)

Yeh Shen (PDF)
The Korean Cinderella (PDF)

Introduction (10 minutes)

As a whole group, explain to the students that they will be comparing and contrasting two versions of the
story Cinderella.
Ask the students to help develop the main plot of the Cinderella story that they are most familiar with.
Inform the class that they will be reading versions of Cinderella from other countries.

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (15 minutes)

Pass out the Venn Diagram worksheets. Go over the directions and ask the students if they have any
questions.
Create a hand-drawn version of the diagram on the board.
Use an example like cat/dog to start filling out the diagram on the board so that students can get the
hang of using Venn diagrams.

Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/

 Tell your students that you will be filling out a Venn Diagram for two different versions of the story
Cinderella: one from China and one from Korea.

Guided Practice (30 minutes)

Read aloud Yeh Shen by Ai-Ling Louie and The Korean Cinderella by Shirley Climo.
Make sure to emphasize the key terms as you read.

Independent working time (15 minutes)

While you are reading the stories to the class, your students should be actively listening and filling in
their Venn Diagram worksheets.
Allow extra time after the stories have been read for students to work independently and ask questions.

Related books and/or media

VIDEO: Yeh Shen - A Chinese Cinderella Story by alyssea84uk

Differentiation

Enrichment: Have advanced students write their own versions of Cinderella.

Support: Provide struggling students with the Yeh Shen and The Korean Cinderella printouts. They can
be allowed to reference the printouts during Independent Working Time.

Assessment (10 minutes)

Collect students' Venn diagram worksheets once they finish working. Review them later to assess their
comprehension of the lesson content.

Review and closing (20 minutes)

Come back together as a whole group and discuss the similarities and differences of both versions of
Cinderella.
Review some or all of the vocabulary words from the stories.
Ask students to point out similarities and differences between the two new versions and the version
they're most familiar with.

Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/

 Name Date

Fairy Tale Venn Diagram

Directions: Use the outside circles to tell the differences between the
two stories. Where the circles overlap, write the similarities .

DIFFERENT
Version:

SAME
DIFFERENT
Version:
 Yeh Shen
The Chinese Cinderella

During the time of the Ch'in and Han dynasties, a cave chief named Wu married
two wives and each gave birth to baby girls. Before long, Chief Wu and one wife died
leaving one baby, Yeh-Shen, to be reared by her stepmother. The stepmother didn't
like Yeh-Shen for she was more beautiful and kinder than her own daughter, so she
treated her poorly. Yeh-Shen was given the worst jobs and the only friend she had
was a beautiful fish with big golden eyes.
Each day the fish came out of the water onto the bank to be fed by Yeh-Shen.
Now Yen-Shen had little food for herself, but she was willing to share with the fish. Her
stepmother, hearing about the fish, disguised herself as Yen-Shen and enticed the
fish from the water. She stabbed it with a dagger, and cooked the fish for dinner. Yeh-
Shen was distraught when she learned of the fish's death. As she sat crying she heard
a voice and looked up to see a wise old man wearing the coarsest of clothes and with
hair hanging down over his shoulders. He told her that the bones of the fish were filled
with a powerful spirit, and that when she was in serious need she was to kneel before
the bones and tell them of her heart's desires. She was warned not to waste their gifts.
Yeh-Shen retrieved the bones from the trash heap and hid them in a safe place.
Time passed and the spring festival was nearing. This was a time when the
young people gathered in the village to meet one another and to find husbands and
wives. Yen-Shen longed to go to the festival, but her stepmother wouldn't allow it
because she feared that someone would pick Yeh-Shen rather than her own daughter.
The stepmother and the daughter left for the festival leaving Yeh-Shen behind. Yeh-
Shen, wanting desperately to go, asked the bones for clothes to wear to the festival.
Suddenly she was wearing a beautiful gown of azure blue with a cloak of kingfisher
feathers draped around her shoulders. On her feet were beautiful slippers. They were
woven of golden threads in a pattern of a scaled fish and the soles were made of solid
gold. When she walked she felt lighter than air. She was warned not to lose the

"Yeh Shen." Sam Houston State University - Huntsville, Texas. 17 Oct. 2009 <http://www.shsu.edu/~eng_dxd/yeh_shen.htm>.

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slippers.
Yeh-Shen arrived at the festival and soon all were looking her way. The daughter
and step-mother moved closer to her for they seemed to recognize this beautiful
person. Seeing that she would be found out, Yeh-Shen dashed out of the village
leaving behind one of the golden slippers. When she arrived home she was dressed
again in her rags. She spoke again to the bones, but they were now silent. Saddened
she put the one golden slipper in her bedstraw.
After a time a merchant found the lost slipper, and seeing the value in the golden
slipper sold it to a merchant who gave it to the king of the island kingdom of T'o Han.
Now the king wanted to find the owner of this tiny beautiful slipper. He sent his
people to search the kingdom, but no ones foot would fit in the tiny golden slipper. He
had the slipper placed on display in a pavilion on the side of the road where the slipper
had been found with an announcement that the shoe was to be returned to the owner.
The king's men waited out of site. All the women came to try on the shoe.
One dark night Yeh-Shen slipped quietly across the pavilion, took the tiny golden
slipper and turned to leave, but the king's men rushed out and arrested her. She was
taken to the king who was furious for he couldn't believe that any one in rags could
possibly own a golden slipper. As he looked closer at her face, he was struck by her
beauty, and he noticed she had the tiniest feet. The king and his men returned home
with her where she produced the other slipper. As she slipped on the two slippers her
rags turned into the beautiful gown and cloak she had worn to the festival. The king
realized that she was the one for him. They married and lived happily ever after.
However, the stepmother and daughter were never allowed to visit Yeh-Shen and were
forced to continue to live in their cave until the day they were crushed to death in a
shower of flying tones.

"Yeh Shen." Sam Houston State University - Huntsville, Texas. 17 Oct. 2009 <http://www.shsu.edu/~eng_dxd/yeh_shen.htm>.

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 THE KOREAN CINDERELLA
by Shirley Climo

In the land of Korea, where magical creatures were as common as cabbages,

lived a child named Pear Blossom. Pear Blossom was as lovely as the pear tree
planted in celebration of her birth.
One winter morning, when the branches on the pear tree were still bare sticks,
Pear Blossom's mother died.
"Aigo!" wailed the old man. "Who will tend to Pear Blossom now?"
He put on his tall horsehair hat and went to the village matchmaker. She knew of
a widow with a daughter the same age as Pear Blossom.
"Peony will make a good sister to Pear Blossom," the matchmaker promised.
When Omoni and Peony saw how beautiful Pear Blossom was, they were jealous of
her. Omoni made her worked day and night and constantly found fault with her.
One day, the village was having a festival. "Pear Blossom may go," said Omoni
in a voice as sweet as barley sugar, "after she weeds the rice paddies." She handed
Pear Blossom a basket of wilted turnip tops for her lunch.
"I am most grateful, Honourable Mother," said Pear Blossom.
When she reached the fields, Pear Blossom dropped the basket in dismay. Rice
rippled before her like a great green lake. Weeding it would take weeks. "Who could do
such a task?" she cried.
"DO-O-O-O" bellowed a black ox as it emerged from the long grass. The ox
began to munch the weeds, moving through the rows of rice faster than the wind itself.
Before Pear Blossom can say "Ohhh", both the ox and the weeds were gone. The
whole rice field was free of weeds and yet not a single blade of rice was trampled upon!
Pear Blossom cupped her hands over her mouth and called, "A thousand
thanks!" as the ox galloped away into the horizon.

"The Korean Cinderella." Internet 1996 World Exposition. 17 Oct. 2009 <http://park.org/Guests/Tampines/story2.shtml>
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 Pear Blossom hastened to the village festival. The road, which followed a
crooked stream, was rough with pebbles. Pear Blossom had just slipped off one straw
sandal to shake out a stone when she heard a shout.
"Make way! Make way for the magistrate!"
Four bearers, a palanquin swaying on poles across their shoulders, jogged
toward her. In the chair sat a young nobleman dressed in rich robes and wearing a jade
jewel in his topknot. Flustered, Pear Blossom teetered on a leg like a crane, holding her
straw sandal. Her cheeks grew hot as red peppers, and she hopped behind a willow
tree that grew beside the stream. As she did, her sandal fell into the water and bobbed
like a small boat, just out of reach.
"Stop!" commanded the magistrate from his palanquin.
He was calling to his bearers, but Pear Blossom thought he was shouting at her.
Frightened, she fled down the road.
The magistrate gazed after Pear Blossom, struck by her beauty. Then he ordered
his men to fish her sandal from the stream and to carry him back to the village.
At the festival Pear Blossom forgot her missing shoe. She watched the acrobats and
tightrope walkers until she was dizzy. She swayed to the flutes and drums happily.
Suddenly, she heard someone shouting at her. "What are you doing here?" screamed
her stepmother.
"I am here because a black ox ate all the weeds in the rice paddies," said Pear
Blossom.
"Black ox indeed! You are a liar..." before she could finish her sentence, she was
interrupted by the magistrate's bearers.
"Hear this," they shouted as they elbowed the palanquin through the crowd, "we
seek the girl with one shoe!"
"It's Pear Blossom!" Peony pointed at her sister, "She's lost her shoe."
The bearers put the chair down beside Pear Blossom, and the nobleman held up the
sandal.
"The magistrate has come to arrest you," screeched the stepmother, "you must
have committed a crime and serve you right!"

"The Korean Cinderella." Internet 1996 World Exposition. 17 Oct. 2009 <http://park.org/Guests/Tampines/story2.shtml>
2
 "She must deserve me as her husband," the magistrate said in a kind voice, "for
this lucky shoe has led me to her."
He turned to Pear Blossom and said, "I've luck enough if she who wears this one
becomes my bride."
Pear Blossom smiled, too shy to speak, and slipped the sandal on her foot.
The magistrate whisked Pear Blossom onto his palanquin and the bearers carried them
away into the crowd. Omoni and Peony stared speechless after the couple still
wondering if it was a nightmare!
Back home, a dozen pear trees bloomed. "Ewha! Ewha!" chirruped the sparrows
in the branches. In Korea, "Ewha" means "Pear Blossom."

"The Korean Cinderella." Internet 1996 World Exposition. 17 Oct. 2009 <http://park.org/Guests/Tampines/story2.shtml>
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