Cinderella Arrives at the Ball
When Cinderella arrived at the palace, it was the king’s son who offered her his hand as she alighted from her golden coach. He led her into the palace to join the glittering company gathered there. Upon her entry to the ballroom there was an immediate and profound silence. Everyone stopped dancing, the musicians ceased to play, and all heads turned, so entranced was everyone with the singular beauty of the unknown newcomer. Nothing was then heard but a confused noise of, "Who is she? Do we know her? How wonderful her gown! How elegant her hairstyle! How beautiful she is!" The king himself, old as he was, could not help watching her, and telling the queen softly that it was a long time since he had seen so beautiful and lovely a creature.
‘Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper’ by Charles Perrault.
The theme for “Smile on Saturday” for the 8th of January is “portray a fairy tale”. This theme was made for me, as I love faerie tales, which were very much a part of my childhood when my beloved maternal Grandmother used to read me stories from an old book of faerie tales. Over the years, I have never lost the love, or the magic of faerie tales and these stories are as enjoyable and as fresh to me as they were when I first heard them. I now tell them to my godchildren, instilling in them the same love of old folk and faerie tales from around the world, complete with the darkness so many of them contain in their original versions. The only difficulty I faced with this theme was, out of all the things I could do, which one would I pick?
Over the last few years, I have been photographing different faerie tales I love using Playmobil characters to dramatise the tales. I have about fifty to sixty stories completed now, some of which I have uploaded to Flickr, but most have yet to see the light of day here, so I could have chosen a more obscure faerie tales like the Grimm Brothers’ “King Thrushbeard”, “the Sea Hare” or “Mother Hollie” or the Estonian faerie tale of “The Waterlily and the three Golden Spinners”, just to name a few, however I have opted for what would generally be agreed is the world’s most famous and beloved faerie tale of “Cinderella”. This is just one photograph of many that I have taken to illustrate the Grimm Brother’s version “Ashenputtel” which features no faerie godmother, although the text above comes from the more commonly known “Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper” by Charles Perrault. I do hope you like my choice for the theme this week, and that it makes you smile.
Playmobil is a line of toys produced by the Brandstätter Group, headquartered in Zirndorf, Germany. Production began in 1974. Playmobil began to be sold worldwide in 1975, and by 2009, approximately 2.2 billion Playmobil figures had been sold. The signature Playmobil toy is a 7.5 cm tall human figure with a particular smiling face. In 2006 Playmobil released three Fairy Tale Sets, including set 4213 which was a Cinderella set, which today is highly sought after. It contains four characters, all of which I have included here: Cinderella in the foreground, the king’s son in the midground to the right of Cinderella and her two stepsisters who are midground to the left of the photo. To complete her family, I have added her stepmother in the black and gold dress and her father in the cream hat with the red beard (as in the Grimm Brothers’ version, both father and stepmother play a more significant part in the tale). I have also included the king and queen and various ball guests including a joker with his yellow hat.
A wide range of accessories, buildings and vehicles, as well as many sorts of animals, are also part of the Playmobil line. Playmobil toys are produced in themed series of sets as well as individual special figures and playsets. New products and product lines developed by a 50-strong development team are introduced frequently, and older sets are discontinued. Promotional and one-off products are sometimes produced in very limited quantities. These practices have helped give rise to a sizeable community of collectors.
Cinderella Arrives at the Ball
When Cinderella arrived at the palace, it was the king’s son who offered her his hand as she alighted from her golden coach. He led her into the palace to join the glittering company gathered there. Upon her entry to the ballroom there was an immediate and profound silence. Everyone stopped dancing, the musicians ceased to play, and all heads turned, so entranced was everyone with the singular beauty of the unknown newcomer. Nothing was then heard but a confused noise of, "Who is she? Do we know her? How wonderful her gown! How elegant her hairstyle! How beautiful she is!" The king himself, old as he was, could not help watching her, and telling the queen softly that it was a long time since he had seen so beautiful and lovely a creature.
‘Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper’ by Charles Perrault.
The theme for “Smile on Saturday” for the 8th of January is “portray a fairy tale”. This theme was made for me, as I love faerie tales, which were very much a part of my childhood when my beloved maternal Grandmother used to read me stories from an old book of faerie tales. Over the years, I have never lost the love, or the magic of faerie tales and these stories are as enjoyable and as fresh to me as they were when I first heard them. I now tell them to my godchildren, instilling in them the same love of old folk and faerie tales from around the world, complete with the darkness so many of them contain in their original versions. The only difficulty I faced with this theme was, out of all the things I could do, which one would I pick?
Over the last few years, I have been photographing different faerie tales I love using Playmobil characters to dramatise the tales. I have about fifty to sixty stories completed now, some of which I have uploaded to Flickr, but most have yet to see the light of day here, so I could have chosen a more obscure faerie tales like the Grimm Brothers’ “King Thrushbeard”, “the Sea Hare” or “Mother Hollie” or the Estonian faerie tale of “The Waterlily and the three Golden Spinners”, just to name a few, however I have opted for what would generally be agreed is the world’s most famous and beloved faerie tale of “Cinderella”. This is just one photograph of many that I have taken to illustrate the Grimm Brother’s version “Ashenputtel” which features no faerie godmother, although the text above comes from the more commonly known “Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper” by Charles Perrault. I do hope you like my choice for the theme this week, and that it makes you smile.
Playmobil is a line of toys produced by the Brandstätter Group, headquartered in Zirndorf, Germany. Production began in 1974. Playmobil began to be sold worldwide in 1975, and by 2009, approximately 2.2 billion Playmobil figures had been sold. The signature Playmobil toy is a 7.5 cm tall human figure with a particular smiling face. In 2006 Playmobil released three Fairy Tale Sets, including set 4213 which was a Cinderella set, which today is highly sought after. It contains four characters, all of which I have included here: Cinderella in the foreground, the king’s son in the midground to the right of Cinderella and her two stepsisters who are midground to the left of the photo. To complete her family, I have added her stepmother in the black and gold dress and her father in the cream hat with the red beard (as in the Grimm Brothers’ version, both father and stepmother play a more significant part in the tale). I have also included the king and queen and various ball guests including a joker with his yellow hat.
A wide range of accessories, buildings and vehicles, as well as many sorts of animals, are also part of the Playmobil line. Playmobil toys are produced in themed series of sets as well as individual special figures and playsets. New products and product lines developed by a 50-strong development team are introduced frequently, and older sets are discontinued. Promotional and one-off products are sometimes produced in very limited quantities. These practices have helped give rise to a sizeable community of collectors.