Conkiajgharuna, the Little Rag Girl (A Georgian Tale)

This tale is quite a departure from Perrault and Grimm's versions of Cinderella, although it has the element of the cow as a guardian seen in many of the Asian versions of Cinderella we read in class for this week. First, it is interesting to note that the tales including the cow as the mother-like provider of food and comfort were from Asia and the Middle East because many of those cultures saw the cow as a symbol of wealth and, in the case of the Indian version, as a sacred animal. Second, the story is not a riches-to-rags-to-riches tale as the Cinderella figure is the daughter of a poor peasant, not a gentleman. Cinderella is also not emphasized as the "most beautiful creature ever seen" like in many of the other Cinderella versions- she is not the slender female of the courtly French Cinderella. Rather, she is described as plump because of her nourishment from the cow, and her virtues rest in her ability to cope with her stepmother's abuse, her cleverness to get the king to notice her (by pricking him with a needle through the basket in which she is trapped), and her kindness to the devil woman (who is by every means a horrifying creature.) This Cinderella's hardiness, not dantiness, is what earns her her freedom from her mother and her rise in rank as a queen.

The effect of all these element acting in concert is that this tale is about a girl learning how to earn her own way in life by appreciating the things in life that will earn her wealth in her culture. When the girl takes care of the cow it is hard work, but she learns that her efforts pay off in nourishment and protection. Therefore, the cow becomes a symbol of wealth that has to be protected. The girl's encounter with the old devil woman is where the girl learns to appreciate the older generation's wisdom. Despite some of its knowledge of horrific events in the course of a lifetime, the wisdom of old women and their knowledge of how to become a successful woman in their culture is worth more than its weight in gold to a girl who has to learn how to become a woman on her own. It is with the old woman's wisdom of the springs that the girl acquires her ability to distinguish herself and to earn her greater wealth through marriage. The girl's cleverness is what enables her to take advantage of her newly aquired appreciation of wealth (from the cow) and wisdom (from the hag) by escaping the wiles of her stepmother through pricking the seat of her eventual husband.