The Wicked Stepmother

Hamilton, Virginia.  "The Wicked Stepmother".  The Dark Way:  Stories from the Spirit World.  San Diego:  Harcourt Brace Jovanich, Publishers, 1990.  Print.

Long ago in Russia, a woman lived with her old husband, her own daughter and her stepdaughter.  The woman always praised her daughter, who was as mean and ugly as the woman herself.  She never praised the stepdaughter, although the girl was good and sweet.

One day the woman told her old husband to take his daughter away, far far away to where she would freeze to death.  Against his wishes, the man did as he was told.  He drove his daughter far away and left her in the snowfields.

Father Frost appears, asks questions of the daughter and tries to make her comfortable as she begins to freeze to death.  Because of her kindness, Father Frost showered the girls with jewelry and fine clothing.  The girl's father returns to retrieve her frozen body for burial, and is surprised to fin her alive with a trunk full of riches.

Upon returning home, and seeing the stepdaughter's riches the wife directs her husband to take her own daughter to the snowfields.  Again Father Frost comes, asks questions of the stepdaughter and tries to comfort her as she is freezing.  However the stepdaughter is rude and mean, and Father frozes her to death.  The old husband returns to retrieve the daughter and finds her dead body.

Cultural Origins:

The author comments that this is a tale from Old Russia in which a mean person does not heed the warning and truth told by an animal.  The good person is kind and polite and in turn is rewarded.  The mean stepdaughter is punished because of her rudeness.

Audience:

I think this story would be enjoyed and appreciated most by youth in grades 5 and higher, and by adults.  These age groups will be able to understand the meanings behind the story, those of kind people succeed and mean people are punished.  Also that of hearing the truth from unlikely sources.

Adaptations:

I do not see myself adapting this story much.  The one possible adaptation is changing the animal that is providing the warning, but maybe not since a dog is an animal with which almost any person would be familiar.  Another possible adaptation could be to provide more physical description of the girls and the woman for listeners to get a great visual of these characters.