A kindhearted young girl named Damura is manipulated into asking her widowed father to remarry in this Cinderella variant from Indonesia's Spice Islands (AKA the Maluku Islands). Mistreated by her new stepmother and stepsister, she is forced to take on the role of servant, and given only a ragged sarong to wear. When she loses this at the river one day, while doing the washing, she calls upon the wild animals for aid, and finds herself confronted by Grandmother Crocodile. This fearsome fairy godmother brings her a beautiful sarong of silver, while Damura cares for her offspring, but metes out a very different reward when Damura's stepsister attempts the same task. When the local prince holds a gathering in order to find the most graceful dancer, and Damura cannot attend because she does not have the required finery - her silver dress having been taken from her - Grandmother Crocodile steps in to help once again. But although Damura's dancing wins her the heart of the prince, who uses her golden slipper to locate her, the story does not end there, for the wicked stepmother and stepsister have another plan...

Adapted from a version of this story found in G.J. Ellen's 1916 Woordenlijst van het Pagoe op Noord-Halmahera ("Glossary of the Pagu of North Halmahera"), The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Story comes from the island of Halmahera, and contains many elements common to this tale type, the world over. The wicked stepmother and stepsister, the heroine being made to take the role of servant, the magical helper (or fairy godmother), the dainty slipper the heroine leaves behind for her prince - these are all present. I thought it was interesting that the magical helper here was a crocodile, as the fearsome reputation of this animal works to emphasize the heroine's kindness and good manners in the story, and to make her reward all the more extraordinary. By calling the crocodile 'Grandmother,' Damura emphasizes their connection, protecting herself from the animal's appetite, something Grandmother Crocodile herself confirms, when she says "it was wise of you to call me Grandmother...for if you had not, I might have eaten you." I also thought that the last episode of the story, in which Damura's wicked stepmother and stepsister feed her to a crocodile, only for Grandmother Crocodile to rescue and revive her, was fascinating, and added an unusual element to the tale. The accompanying artwork from Reynold Ruffins, done in acrylic, is beautiful, with bold colors and immensely appealing stylized figures. I have encountered Ruffins' work once before, in Verna Aardema's Misoso: Once Upon a Time Tales from Africa, and am glad to have run into another of his titles. This is one I would recommend to all young folklore enthusiasts, and to any reader interested in Cinderella type stories from around the world.

NOTE: like so many other authors who have retold Cinderella variants from around the world, Judy Sierra incorrectly states in her afterword that the Chinese version was the first version, worldwide, to be written down. This is an error I frequently see, and its ubiquity always confuses me. In point of fact, the first written version of a Cinderella-style story is that of Rhodopis, the Greek girl who was kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery in Egypt. This 'Egyptian Cinderella' can be found in the first-century BC writings of the Greek author Strabo, predating the ninth-century AD Chinese version by many centuries. ( )

Folktale

This book puts a really interesting spin on the classic Cinderella story. It takes place in the spice islands and focuses on a girl named Damura. Her step-mother and step-sisters mistreat her and make her do chores around the house. Then one day as she rode down the river she met Grandmother Crocodile who creates her a sarong and gold silk slippers for the ball. The prince wants her to be his wife but her step-mother and step-sisters push her in the river where she is swallowed by a crocodile. Grandmother crocodile comes to her rescue and saves Damura. The illustrations in this book are beautiful in this twist on Cinderella. I think that this could be used as a great way to show how a different culture tells a familiar story. I would like to own this book and share it with my students.

“The Gift of the Crocodile” is a Cinderella story from the Spice Islands in Indonesia. Although the general premise of the story is similar to others, there are also many differences. Damura has a great relationship with her mother until her mother passes away. Before her mother’s death, she reminds Damura to always be kind to the animals that live on the island. Damura’s father remarries and the stepsisters and stepmother treat Damura like a slave. Damura’s fairy godmother comes in the form of “Grandmother Crocodile,” who helps Damura look like a princess to win over the prince.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I think it is very interesting how many different variations there are of the typical Cinderella story. In my future classroom, I would love to give each of my students a different Cinderella story and then have the class discuss similarities and differences.
I thought it was very interesting to see how the culture of Indonesia influenced the story in this particular variation. Damura wore a sarong to the ball because that is the attire that is worn in Indonesia for fancy events. Damura spoke to the different animals and was always kind to them, as her mother had told her to be. This ended up working in her favor because “Grandmother Crocodile” was her fairy godmother and always looked out for her. ( )

This spin-off of Cinderella gave me mixed feelings. I enjoyed the plot and the illustrations but I did not think the writing and language was complex at all. The plot gave a modified version of the classic tale, Cinderella. I loved the way the author changed this fairytale to adapt to a new culture and new set of characters. I particularly liked that they replaced the "Fairy God Mother" with "Grandmother Crocodile." I also really like the illustrations in the story. Reynolds Ruffins' illustrations were beautiful and tied right into the story. It was interesting to get a visual of the story and the style of illustration worked perfectly with the text. While a lot was good about this text, I did not like the actual writing. It seemed as if the writing was not academic at all, it was a little bit too casual. Other than the writing, I definitely liked this story. The big idea of this story was the same as the traditional Cinderella; that no matter how badly you are treated by some, others will see your worth. ( )