Cinderella Boy!

The story inspirations for Boots and the Wizard are vaguely Scandinavian; meaning their origins can be found in Finnish, Norwegian and Danish cultures. In these stories there is frequently an Askeladden, or an ashlad, who would be the boy that sits by the fire and maintains it because he is too weak or useless to perform other duties. Askeladden is usually the youngest, the weakest, and occasionally the dumbest, until he has a chance to prove otherwise. In Scandinavian folklore Askeladden is similar to “Jack” from English and Cornish folklore such as Jack the Giant Killer and Jack in the Beanstalk.

The name “Boots” appears in a 19th century English translation of Norwegian folk tales by British translator Dasent. If you peruse the wikipedia link for Askenladden above, you can read some theories on why it was translated to “Boots” and how accurate that translation is. I considered a variation of Askeladden as a name for my protagonist instead of Boots, but I rather liked the serviceable and practical connotations that immediately come to mind with a simple name like Boots. It just fit the character.

So where does Cinderella come in? The ashlad is the counterpart to the ashgirl, or cinder wench, or the little ash girl, or Cinderella. The kindhearted underdog who succeeds on goodwill and good fortune. When my husband read the first few chapters I had written and said: “no offence, but Boots is a little…not dumb but, he just doesn’t seem to get it,” I knew I had succeeded in creating Boots. A lot of the time he doesn’t “get it”, but give him time, he’ll start to figure it out.

Further Reading and Notes:

• A collection of Norwegian Folktales that served as inspiration, specifically The Giant Without a Heart in his Body. Anytime you see “lad” or “Ashlad” in these titles you have a “Boots” character.
• The thumbnail image is called The North Wind Goes Over the Sea by Kay Nielsen and is from the story East of the Sun and West of the Moon.