Reading Notes: More English Tales, Part B

Rushen Coatie by Joseph Jacobs (1894)

• There once a king and queen who both gave birth to a little girl. When the queen died, she told her daughter that a little red calf will come to her, and all she would have to would be to tell it what she wants. 
• Eventually, her dad married a mean stepmother with three ugly daughters. They took everything from her, only giving her a coat made out of rushes. 
• The step-mother did not give her step-daughter enough food to live off of, but the red calf gave her food to survive. 
• The stepmother found out and had the red calf killed, but the dead calf told her to take the bones and put it under a grey stone. It will grant her wishes like before. 
• Instead of a ball like in Cinderella, it was going to church. One day, Rushen Coaties rushed out of church leaving a glass slipper. 
• The prince tested it on every girl, and eventually it fit the youngest girl of the family after the cutting off toes part, of course. 
• Along the way to get married, there was a birdie that tweeted about Rushen Coaties. At the end, the prince found the right girl. 

(Illustration of Rushen Coatie in English Fairytale book: Wikipedia Commons)