Line #5 Literature/CapORushes

Context Literature / CapORushes

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1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/caporushes1.jpg]]
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3	''Cap O' Rushes'' is an English FairyTale collected by Creator/JosephJacobs (in ''English Fairy Tales'').
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5	A rich man asked his daughters how much they loved him. The oldest said, more than her life; the next, like the whole world; the youngest, like meat loves salt. Believing the youngest daughter's statement to be vulgar rather than flattering, he flew into a rage and threw her out. While wandering in the wilds, the girl made herself a cloak with a hood, out of rushes, to hide her fine clothing.
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7	Eventually, the girl found a great house where she begged a job scrubbing the dishes, and because she gave them no name, they called her "Cap O' Rushes," due to her cloak. One night, the house held a ball and Cap O' Rushes sneaked into the party by taking off her cloak so her fine clothes were on full display. The master's son saw her at the ball and fell in love with her, but was unable to get out of her who she was. After they met at two more balls, he gave her a ring. When the son still could not find her, he fell sick.
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9	The sick son was served gruel on his sick bed, and after Cap O' Rushes persuaded the cook to have her make the gruel for him, she was able to put the ring into the gruel bowl, allowing the son to find her and marry her. At the wedding party, Cap O' Rushes told the cook to make the meal without any salt. This left all the dishes without flavour, and her father, who turned out to be amongst the guests, started to weep because he now realised what his daughter had meant, and he feared she was dead. Cap O' Rushes then revealed herself as his daughter and forgave him, and they all lived HappilyEverAfter.
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11	Other variants of the persecuted heroine include Literature/{{Cinderella}}, Literature/{{Donkeyskin}}, Literature/{{Catskin}}, and Literature/{{Tattercoats}}; this one belongs to the subgroup that uses the "Love Like Salt" motif that Creator/WilliamShakespeare lifted for ''Theatre/KingLear''. See also ''Literature/TheOneHandedGirl'' for a different tale type with a male persecutor.
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13	Full text [[https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/eft/eft12.htm here]].
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15	!!Tropes
16	* DancesAndBalls: Where they meet.
17	* FallenOnHardTimesJob: In the kitchen, in the classic style.
18	* FeminineWomenCanCook: Gruel. But it lets her put the ring in it.
19	* NobleFugitive: Cap O' Rushes.
20	* PrincessForADay: When she goes to the ball.
21	* RagsToRoyalty: Well, to nobility.
22	* SculleryMaid: The classic job for run-aways in fairy tales.
23	* SheCleansUpNicely: At the ball.

Context Literature / CapORushes