ABSTRACT
Cinderella, one of the world’s most popular folktales, has innumerable subtypes and variants representing different “tradition areas” of the tale cycle. Alu’s encounter with the saint-as-dove, whom only she can see, parallels Cinderella’s meeting with the prince, who chooses her from all the girls at the palace. The folk veneration of saints played a major role in the life of many Jews in Morocco and constitute a basic component of their ethnic identity. Male initiators present themselves as the servants of the saint, active on the organizational level but relatively passive as healers. The mass immigration to Israel confronted the newcomers with the challenge of maintaining the linkage to their saints, who had been left behind. Psychocultural exegesis of Alu’s self-narrative emphasizes three central themes expressed through the following contrasts: purity versus impurity; loss versus compensation; and femaleness versus maleness. Alu’s reliance on the potent male figures conspicuously reflects the male-oriented values of Jewish Moroccan culture.
