"Shake and quiver little tree, throw gold and silver down to me"

In so many stories across the world, trees play an important role. The story of Cinderella is one of them. Those familiar with the Disney adaptation know that it does not include a tree. In some literary versions, however, the tree plays a key part. The authors of these fairytales chose specific objects, and in this case specific trees, from their own cultural context. Let us look at the three versions of Basile, Perrault and the brothers Grimm. Our story starts with a date...