The Cinderella retellings are fascinating. I knew the Grimm's version, with the cutting off of toes and heels, but the idea that poor Cinderella had to be rescued twice, each rescue requiring three separate things, is so very very fairy tale - the power of three indeed.

(Was it Cinderella or Snow White's story that had the wicked stepmother nailed into red hot shoes as punishment for being a wicked stepmother? I can't recall. Bad people being punished that awfully speaks to a certain amount of rage against evil people in power within the hearts of the people who told the stories. Or maybe that's too much political analysis?)