Cinderella and David

Dear Storytellers,

I have switched from the RCL to the Narrative Lectionary!  This week's story is the call/selection of David from I Samuel 16:1-13.  Here is one way to approach it:

Today we’re reading a story about the prophet Samuel and the boy who would become king of Israel.  His name was David.  But before we get to that story, I want to tell you another tale—one you probably know well.  Cinderella.  There is a new Cinderella movie that’s showing right now.  It has several things in common with the story I heard as a little girl, but there are many updated parts of the story as well.  Cinderella dreams more of a career than a handsome prince, her stepmother is given a backstory which provides empathy for her cold-heartedness, and the step sisters are more plain than ugly, and not as mean as I remember.  It’s not your grandmother’s Cinderella story.

It starts out the same, though.  Ella’s father has died, and she lives with her step mother and two step sisters, who are not very nice to her.  They treat her more like a servant than a family member.  In fact, they have nicknamed her Cinder-ella because she is often dirty from the cinders in the fireplace where she cooks the family’s meals.

The king hosts a ball for the entire realm, so that his son, the prince, may find a bride.  Her step mother prevents Cinderella from going to the ball, but Cinderella gets there anyway, with the help of a fairy godmother.  The catch is that the magic which provides a beautiful gown, a horse-drawn carriage, horsemen, a footman and glass slippers wears off at midnight, so Cinderella has to be careful and watch the clock.

Of course she and the prince are smitten with each other.  She gets caught up in the romance of the whole thing, and has to run away from the prince and the ball as the clock is striking midnight.  In the rush to get away, she loses one of her glass slippers.  The prince is heartbroken, and vows to find his future princess by trying the glass slipper on every maiden in the land, until he finds the one it fits.

When he gets to Cinderella’s cottage, her stepmother has locked her in her room so that she won’t be able to meet the prince and try on the slipper.  The prince tries the slipper on one step sister, then the other.  Cinderella’s stepmother even tries to force her large foot into the delicate slipper.  It is the last house on the prince’s tour, so he asks, “Are you sure you have no other daughters?”  Cinderella escapes from her prison and appears just in time to effortlessly slip her foot into the glass shoe.  A perfect fit.

I invite you to listen to this morning’s story from the Bible and notice what Samuel and David's story has in common with the tale of Cinderella.