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Thursday 11 February 2010

The Wheatsheaf.

I found this book for £1. It is a bound version of the 1930s magazine 'The Wheatsheaf' "A co-operative magazine for the home" Here is an article about common myths in fairytales. Apparently Cinderella didn't wear glass slippers, but slippers of sable. This was a mis-translation from french to english. "Pantoufles en vair" is french for 'fur slipper's, however 'en verre' changes the meaning to 'glass,' hence how the mistake occured. Nor did puss have boots. And as for Dick Whittington's cat, who supposedly led him to his fortune, well there is more than one kind of cat, 'Achat' is an old term for trading, and it was almost certainly trading that led Dick Whittington to his fortune. Alternatively his 'cat could have stemmed from a certain type of ship used to ferry coal, which was known as a 'cat' The kind of cat to carry coal, rather than catch rats.

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