Part 6 of my Cultural Cinderella stories is The Korean Cinderella by Shirley Climo and illustrated by Ruth Heller. This is the second Shirley Climo Cinderella book I’ve done and this one is set in Korea and stars and girl named Pear Blossom. When Pear Blossom’s mother dies her father remarries a nasty woman with her own daughter and they force Pear Blossom to do all the work and wear rags.
The stepmother badly wants to sell her as a slave and sets her impossible tasks to justify sending her away, each time Pear Blossom prays for help and animals implied to come to her rescue. One day a huge festival is held in the village and the stepmother orders Pear Blossom to weeds the rice paddies before she can go, when an ox comes and eats up all the weeds in an eye blink. While on her way to the festival Pear Blossom losses a shoe in the river when she has to jump off the path as the magistrate is coming down the road. The magistrate has his men fish it for her but embarrassed she flees before he can return it. Impressed by her beauty and feeling guilty for frightening her, the magistrate becomes determined that he will find a way to return her shoe.
Pear Blossom spends the day enjoying the festival until her stepmother and stepsister find her and are about to punish her when the magistrate comes though looking for a girl with one shoe. Thinking that Pear Blossom is in trouble her stepmother is quick to push her forward and was quite surprised when the magistrate asks Pear Blossom to marry him.
Pear Blossom is named for the pear tree her overjoyed parents plant in the yard the day she is born and the illustrations of the tree as in changes through the seasons and Pear Blossom grows up are very beautiful. Ruth Heller did diligent research about Tanchong and kind of artwork found in Korean temples and is the bases for her illustrations. She also researched clothing and customs and well as the kinds of dances that would have been done at these festivals.
