The Native American Cinderella

There's a lot going on in this fairytale. For one thing, there's the animism, which is a cross cultural idea found in every continent of the Earth. Harkening probably back to the first awakening of intelligence in our ancestors. The Earth was alive, and the wind, rain, brooks and waterfalls were all living things. Then there's the Cinderella aspect of the story, the human element. The acknowledgment of a particular quality that identifies your true love. The interesting thing about this is how it's found in all cultures. It's personified in the gods and goddesses of Greece, Egypt and Germany. The sort of giving of the elements character. I can see it burgeons to the beginnings of thought, that the Earth was alive, too. These cultural traits that we share are across all humans. A sort of universal tapestry of thought, where we all share common themes.

A lot of people think these stories travel, and then are reinterpreted, but I find them to be quite organic and indicative of human psychology. The Animism of the Native Americans isn't much different than the Paganism of the Greeks. If you really think about it. And then you have the Morality of Virgil and Homer which parallels the morality of the Bible in many ways. Even St. Paul noticed it. I think this defeats the postmodern claim of phenomenology, the assumption that experiences are utterly different from one person to another. Rather, I feel humans have a pretty strong shared experience, and this story popping up in a completely different continent unconnected by Europe proves that. The elements of if, the logic, roots itself in concrete truths ubiquitous to human experience. I think the modern idea of throwing away the past because we know better is foolish, and stories like these show that humans have a set pattern of existence. Monogamy being a part of that, but also the logic of a token being unique to one's true bride. Maybe there is a Logos that unites us? I'd say there is, and when we discover patterns like this in completely alien stories unrelated to European, Asian or African culture, we can only assume it's the case.  

Stories to Grow By. "The Native American Cinderella Story from Canada." storiestogrowby.org. https://storiestogrowby.org/story/native-american-cinderella/comment-page-1/#comment-24725. 11/9/2021. Web.