A Chinese Cinderella - the Rough Faced Girl

The Rough Faced Girl

“Oochigeaskw”, or “Rough Faced Girl”, was written by Algonquian speaking Native Americans. It tells the story of a sister taking care of her brother, whom they call the Invisible One. He is a great hunter and would make an excellent husband to anyone, but he can be seen by very few people. Almost every girl in the village tried to see him, but only Oochigeaskw succeeded. This girl was a slave in her own home. She was horribly mistreated by her sisters and her father was completely oblivious. One night after her two sisters had tried to meet the Invisible One, Oochigeaskw put on a pair of her father’s moccasins, made an outfit out of a birch tree and went to meet with the Invisible One and his sister. The sister asked a series of questions such as “Of what is his shoulder strap made?” Since Oochigeaskw was the only other girl in the village that can see him, the two were married and took their places in the wigwam as husband and wife.

I was most interested in this version of Cinderella since it didn’t follow the same general story line as the rest. An example would be that many versions usually portray their respective Cinderellas to have small feet. Especially in the Asian culture, having small feet was a very attractive quality in a woman. It usually includes something like “And on her feet were tiny glass slippers!” (Grant 641). In this version of the story, the only mention to small feet was telling of how big the father’s shoes were compared to Oochigeaskw’s feet. Many versions of this story also convey a sense of beauty, which this girl did not attain until she was to be wed to the hunter. Once they were getting ready to be wed the sister made the girl beautiful. “Her hair grew again, as it was combed, long, like a blackbird’s wing. Her eyes were now like stars: in all the world there was no other such beauty.” Some also show a bond formed between the “prince” and