Quick Summary: Katie is the daughter of a king who remarries a wicked Queen who abuses her while her father is at war. However, helping through these hard times is a magical bull who loves Katie very much. When the Queen learns the bull is helping Katie, he orders its death. When Katie warns her friend, the two flee the castle and travel until they come to three woods that are copper, silver, and gold. In these woods, the pair come across a troll in each area, all of whom the bull defeats in combat.
Finally, the friends came to another kingdom and another castle. There the bull orders Katie to kill him and to bury him beneath a stone where a wooden cloak is. Katie is to wear it to hide herself, and whenever she needs help, she is to go to the stone.
Katie gets work in the palace where she is mistreated by the Prince and other servants for her filthy appearance.
One Sunday, Katie desired to go to church, and so she went to the Bull’s grave. A man appears and uses magic to dress and clean her. This allows her to make an impression on everyone there, especially the spoiled Prince. Every time they meet, he inquires where she is from, but she lies and makes a land, using items he threw at her that day as small hints. When she leaves, he tries to follow, but she uses a spell that allows her to escape. Each time, however, he finds an item of hers: a glove, a riding whip, and a shoe.
After the third time, the Prince proclaims that he will wed the lady who fits the slipper and begins his search for the maiden.
His travels take him to Katie’s old kingdom where the Queen has Katie’s stepsister try on the slipper. To his horror—as she is so ugly—the shoe fits. As such, the prince is forced to keep his word and marry her. On the way to the church, however, a little bird sat upon a tree and sang:
“A bit off her heel,
“And a bit off her toe;
“Katie Woodencloak's tiny shoe
“Is full of blood — that's all I know.”
Sure enough, when they checked the shoe, they saw it was coated in blood. (Obviously, the bride never thought to change shoes or bandage her feet.)
Thus, the search began once more. Only this time he had a name: Katie Woodenclock.
When asked about it, he learned that was the name of the servant he had mistreated the whole time. Though reluctant as he is sure Katie is ugly, he calls her to try on the shoe.
To everyone’s surprise, it fits. And when she threw off her wooden cloak, she revealed her gold kirtle and the fellow to the gold shoe.
Now seeing her in all her beauty, the Prince was overjoyed and married her.
The end
Note: Above was just a quick summary and only covered the basics. I suggest you read the tale I linked before continuing otherwise my thoughts won’t make any sense.
This story quickly became one of my favorites simply because of the scenes with the three woods. I love the concept of the metallic woods, the fearsome battle with the trolls, and the bull’s victory over them.
Speaking of which , I really loved the relationship between Katie and the bull. The two are so sweet together, and I love his protectiveness of her. I'm glad that he wasn’t going to just stand around and let the Queen kill him either. As soon as he heard that he tells her, "we have to get the hell out of dodge" and they bolt. I’m sad he has Katie kill him later, but maybe he doesn’t technically die as I’m pretty sure he was the helpful man. Though I don't understand why he has her kill him. The Cinderella part of the tale could have happened with him alive, I'm just saying. Regardless, the bull was one of the better Cinderella helpers. Hell, he fought THREE massive trolls with numerous heads for her.
Speaking of trolls, they’re awesome. I love them as antagonists. Trolls are cool. (Not as cool as dragons, but still.) I never thought of a troll having more than one head, but in this tale they can have up to nine, which is a neat visual. The fight scenes are well-structured and pretty gory for a fairy tale. (Btw, should I add a trigger warning? I don’t think so, but I’m not 100% sure.) Then again, I shouldn’t have been surprised. It’s not like Cinderella stories have ever shied away from body horror. It’s just that it usually happens to the stepsister.
And on the subject of the stepsister, I’m not sure she was needed in the story. She didn’t do anything till the end and her role could have easily been replaced with one of the bullying servants. It felt like she was just there because a stepsister has to try on the shoe and fail in these stories.
Moving on, the story has an element in common with the Little Rag Girl, Rushen Coatie, and the Sharp Gray Sheep, where the MC buries the magic helper under a stone and goes to it when they need their gowns for church. (Though unlike the latter two, he sadly doesn’t come back.)
Speaking of which , I thought it was cool that all of Katie’s dresses reflected the woods she traveled through. It was a small but neat way to tie the whole story together.
Speaking of, here are the pretty outfits of the story:
A kirtle bright as the copper wood with gloves
A sliver kirtle that shone like the silver wood with a riding whip (no explanation why the magic gave her this for a party but maybe it was one of THOSE parties)
A kirtle almost all pure gold and studded with diamonds with a pair of golden shoes
All the outfits were made from items collected from the enchanted woods: the copper leaf, the silver leaf, and the golden apple. (Sadly, not Eris’ apple.) It’s a shame that all they’re used for is to make pretty gowns, but eh. That’s just the type of tale this is.
Her main outfit is a wooden cloak/dress she wears to hide herself. The concept is a unique touch that helps Katie to stand out.
As for Katie herself, I liked how they portrayed her here. She cares deeply for her friend, gets overwhelmed, and isn’t afraid to show a little sass. She may also know a little magic, as I don’t recall her being taught a spell to lose pursuers. (A lot of Cinderellas in these seem to be able to do this, I notice. Witch Cinderella /Cinderella with Fairy blood, anyone?)
I don’t get why she chose the Prince as she showed more interest in the preacher. (Wouldn’t that have been a twist?)
I have no idea why Katie falls for the jerkoff prince other than the story says she must. In most tales, I can understand why the Cinderella character falls for the prince. A) He’s usually kind and attentive at the events; b) he’s the only one to see value in her. And after a life of abuse and being seen as worthless, those two things mean a lot.
Here the Prince mistreats Katie as much as her stepmom did, and he never learns his lesson not to judge appearances. Hell, he insults Katie until she drops her cloak at the end. If there’s ever an adaption of this tale, just please reincarnate the Bull as human and have her marry him! He’s way better than any of the princes in these tales.
All in all, I love this story for the second act as I’ve always loved adventures in stories. I was also drawn to the brave bull and his relationship with Katie. I wish they had put forth a better reason to kill him though, like maybe he could no longer withstand his injuries even with the healing tonic.
The Prince is a twat, but it’s rare that these Princes get any decent personalities, so I’ll let it slide.
The stepmother is a queen here but just does the typical wicked stepmother stuff, and the stepsister was just there to have her foot cut up and to have the narrator state how ugly she was. Honestly, they’re the least fun in the story.
The real threats of the tale is the trolls whom the Bull fights and, as I've said multiple times, they are awesome! I never expected them to show up in a Cinderella tale, but I’m glad they did.
Overall, I highly recommend it for the second act and the friendship between Katie and the bull.
But what do you think? Do you like this version or do you thing it strayed too far from the formula? Please let me know!
Oh, and if you have a Cinderella tale to share, please do and help me expand my collection.
