Puzzle Description:

Hint: this fairy tale does not involve squirrel fur.

#1: Joe (infrapinklizzard) on Jan 13, 2013

Easy puzzle, easy guess. The hint is true, but probably not helpful. ;)

Cinderella?

3 Billy Goats Gruff

Yes, Cinderella, but I am completely baffled by the "squirrel fur" reference.

I see a bridge over the river with a troll underneath ;)

as per the squirrel fur....

http://stilettology.blogspot.com/2012/02/fun-facts-about-shoes-cinderellas.html

idk what answer Joe's looking for, but I'd say the blue's important....and changes to green as it passes the "shoe". I think Tom's correct and Joe sneakily made the bridge look like a shoe....

great job, Joe!

Yus, this is the glass slipper.

The fur is in reference to a fallacy that the glass slipper is a mistranslation of "fur slipper" ("pantoufle de verre" versus "pantoufle de vair"). Unfortunately, the correct one was used in the first french writing. http://www.snopes.com/language/misxlate/slippers.asp

Here's a modern look at the story: http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=346

modern is funny! :)

What is weird is that I'd long ago heard the mistranslation story, but was told the the original description was *green* slipper. (In French "verte" is the word for green and it is pronounced essentially the same as "verre", the word for glass, since French tends to make trailing consonants be silent.) I guess whoever told me that had heard it much earlier and then in the meantime forgot which homonym was substituted and picked a modern word with the same sound.

Brain explodes...POOF

I saw the slipper but after reading Tom's comment I realized it's the famous tale:
"bridge over the river with a troll underneath".

I figured it was Cinderella as soon as I saw the slipper,but this other stuff is real funny.:)

Jota: The troll is under the bridge over the river in 3 billy goats gruff....

I never have the correct change when I get to a trollbridge...

This obviously depicts the fairytale Jodi Arias' defense team is trying to weave. Joe has cleverly drawn a "slipper"-y slope...representing what happens when one lies.

Double post.

LOL

Joe: You must be a strong swimmer... Trolls require tolls as you know.

At SCA events, the table where you pay the site fee and fill out waivers and stuff is called Troll, since the trolls are lying in wait to take your money :)

I remember reading an old version of Cinderella with the squirrel-fur slippers. I also remember the stepsisters chopping of their heels and toes (respectively), in order to fit into the slipper. Those old fairy tales were brutal!

Grimm's fairy tales were often pretty grim.

Quite so.

Nicely done, Joe. I really like how you used color to enhance the transparency of the glass. Cinderella's Fairy Godmother must have put a little bit of gold fairy dust into the glass when she made the slippers.

Thanks, everyone.

Tom: I gave him my last groat, and he still wouldn't let me cross!

Kristen: I've never been to a proper SCA event, only a few unsanctioned local events. They were in a town park and free, so no trolls.

I have a feeling that the "old" version of Cinderella was probably a new writing that "reconstructed" what the spoken tale would've said. However, looking at all the documented retellings of this story, the slippers were always made of something very valuable - usually gold. I bet that when Charles Perrault was writing, glass still had the gloss of richness to it - and it was even more sparkly than gold.

Teresa: Yes, the color change was to emphasize the transparency of the slipper. As to the fairy dust, well, powder does help prevent chafing...


-=- Why not try on some of my other puzzles for size? http://webpbn.com/find.cgi?search=1&author=infrapinklizzard&unqual=1&undiff=1 -=-

Just ran across this picture of a trollbridge. (At least it's a bridge on the Trollstigen or "troll's footpath".)
https://www.lifeinnorway.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/trollstigen-road-norway-above.jpg

Wow! What a ride.

Been there!! Still have a key ring of a Norwegian flag that I think I bought at the gift shop there in 1975.

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