“Who do you think really is the fairy godmother in those tales by the Brothers Grimm, those household märchen that they published to such success, but Athena herself? You must know Aschenputtel, the cinder-girl in the hearth? There’s a French version written up by Perrault—Cinderella, no less—and in that one, the girl is elevated by divine manipulation, she is so glorified and disguised that her own family can’t recognize her. Just like Odysseus, hidden in plain sight. The fairy godmother is Athena brought forward. Who else but Athena at the girl’s side to help with a carriage magicked up from
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