Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1542465
11 gozotoday | FRIDAY • 9 JANUARY 2026 CULTURE An exciting Gozitan variant of the famous Cinderella fairytale FROM 19 December till 28 Jan- uary 2026 the Xewkija Windmill will host a special exhibition by Veronica Veen based on her book The Maltese Cinderella and the Women's Storytelling Tradition. This book was well received and was awarded a grant by the Malta Book Fund in 2017. The author will be present on Saturday afternoon. Her books will be on offer then and can be signed. A variety of activities for old and young will be organised, such as workshops to write your own fairy tale (for example Sunday 28th, 15:00hrs), illustrating and much more. It was a most spec- tacular find, when the au- thor, a cultural anthropologist and art histori- an, discovered a very deviant Gozitan Cin- derella variant in 1992, il-Ger- mudija, or the Sooty One. C o m p l e t e l y different from the famous Cin- derellas, the heroine is an energetic and s e l f - c o n s c i o u s maid, who knows without the usual 'helping animals' or a god- mother/fairy, to 'conquer' the heart of a somewhat timid son of the house, so nót a King or Prince. The story, with its independent and wise heroine-against-all- odds, still conveys a clear message for women today. This can hardly be said any more about the clas- sical Cinderellas (Perrault, Grimm brothers etc.). Since there is self-evidently no pictural tradition yet of our il-Germudija, the exhibition will focus upon her place in the con- text of her famous classical sisters. Therefore mainly the oldest, au- thentic and remarkable Cinderel- la images are being selected, tell- ing their own story for that time. This also in order not to fall into the sweetness and conditioning effects of the 'Disneyfication' and the present 'Princess craze', how- ever seductive this may be for our girls, even adult ones. And in the author's own words: It was the end of 1991 when I met the last genuine storyteller of Malta: Marija of Xewkija, as I called her. She was the last one in a family line of storytellers and must have had at least as many stories in her repertoire as father Magri had published. However, since then about half of the folk- lore studies happen to be based on his collection. Upon that she told them from a female point of view. Her dearest story was called il-Germudija by her, the Sooty One or The Mal- tese Cinderella.This is for sure a very special variant, al- so cleverly construct- ed, and with a very s t r o n g m a i n character. U n f o r - t u n a t e l y I could c o l l e c t o n l y t h r e e and a half sto- ry from M a r i j a , but her n i e c e Gianna, to whom she endlessly told stories from her childhood on- wards, could give me some ten stories more. Also she became a good storyteller in the process and could help me very well with aunt's treasure trove. From all this material in combi- nation with international variants, I wrote a book of some 120.000 words, which could have become my third dissertation! I also made an exhibition with different, more international and visual Cinderella material: the Maltese Cinderella and her Sis- ters. Besides, I collected a lot of not only Cinderella editions, but also "princess material" (nice for young girls!) and I developed edu- cational material for workshops of c. 2 hours, to create your very own fairytale! So more than enough to make a beautiful exhibition for the Mill in Xewkija, notably the home village of both my storytellers! In this way I am able to bring il-Germudija home again.