Kao And The Golden Fish: A Cinderella Folktale From Thailand
September 30, 2012 in All Posts, Preschool, Preschool Literacy
We’ve been invited by Becky of KidWorldCitizen to participate in a Cinderella Around The World book review project that examines the various culturally diverse “Cinderella”-type written stories and oral traditions that have been in circulation long before Disney’s Cinderella came into existence.
For our Cinderella story, we chose a tale from Thailand: Kao and The Golden Fish, as remembered by Wilai Punpattanakul-Crouch and retold by Cheryl Hamada.
Kao and The Golden Fish has the typical Cinderella story elements: a wicked stepmother, a mean stepsister, and a kind young girl who is forced to work in rags for her new, uncaring mother, until she meets and marries a prince and moves to the palace.
What’s different about this story is that the young girl’s mother doesn’t just die and leave the picture, but she comes back in the form of a golden fish, an eggplant, and finally, a pair of trees. I liked the idea of the young girl being able to seek comfort in these other beings in which her mother was reincarnated and that she could continue talking to her mother, especially through the sad and lonely times. My daughter was relieved that the mother didn’t die and go away forever, like in the other fairytales she is used to, like Disney’s Snow White, Cinderella, and Bambi.
If you’re interested in buying this story, you can find it on Amazon, but be aware that it is not an illustrated book with words on each page. Rather, the story is found at the back of the book, and you are free to tell the story in your own words as you flip through the peaceful watercolor illustrations. This feature makes this book great for all ages and readers since any child can remember and retell the story the way she likes - though it wouldn’t be a good book to use to teach children to read.
Please stay tuned for an update to this post with links to other Cinderella-type stories from Greece, Korea, Mexico, Serbia, and more.
Did you grow up with a favorite non-Disney Cinderella story or do your children have a favorite fairytale whose origins are in another culture or country besides the U.S.?
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Chrissy – who has written 426 posts on The Outlaw Mom® Blog - Creative Living in a Conventional World.
The illustrations in this book look dream-like!!! I just requested it from our library per your suggestion. I love that the mom comes back as different items to comfort her daughter. Another great aspect of this books is that bilingual families can use wordless books to tell stories, and have their children re-tell them in their own words, practicing the language in such a fun and engaging way.
That’s such a good point, Becky - I didn’t think of that aspect (the book is more available to bilingual families since the pictures aren’t accompanied by text). Thanks so much for starting this project and including us! It’s such a wonderful idea and we’re excited to go through the list
My girls would love a book that they could retell in their own words. I’ve seen no word picture books but never one with the story in the back like you describe. The illustrations you shared are stunning.
I actually didn’t know that the book would be like that when I ordered it, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise! Thanks for coming by
[…] from The Outlaw Mom Blog, read a Cinderella story from Thailand called Kao and The Golden Fish as remembered by Wilai Punpattanakul-Crouch and retold by Cheryl Hamada. What makes Kao and the […]
I love this project! Will see if I can still participate. We do have some Indian folk tales with similar themes as Cinderella.
This story sounds very touching due to the reincarnation of the mother in another form…I’m sure my daughter will appreciate this aspect of the Cinderella story. She often tells me she feels sad that Cinderella will not have her mother ever…
Sharing this on my FB page…
Thanks, Rashmie
I really love the reincarnation aspect as well. It’s nice to have a happy Cinderella story that connects a girl with her mother instead of a girl with a boy who’s supposedly going to save her and make her happy!
I like this story! If I were more on top of things lately, I would have loved to participate- I DID cover the Korean Cinderella last year as part of the South Korea Country Presentation our daughter did for her pre-school Montessori class…The story of Kyongji, there was only one mean step-sister, she lost her slipper in a pond and it was an Emperor and not a prince who married her after some very odd twists in the story…
Here is the link to the post with the description of the Korean Cinderella! http://crittersandcrayons.com/2011/11/06/south-korea-101-all-you-really-need-to-know/
I remember that post - great info about Korea. Thanks for sharing it!
I love the idea of having the story at the back and then having the actual book be a wordless picture book!
It’s actually nice for both me and the kids since they get to retell it and not be “wrong” and I get to tell the version *I* like!