Robert D. San Souci's Spanish American Cinderella tale, Little Gold Star, begins with Tomas, a sheepherder, whose wife died and left him alone with their only child Teresa. Along with her two daughters, Inez and Isabel, a widow moved close to Tomas and convinced him to marry her. Because his wife nagged him everyday, Tomas stayed away herding his sheep longer and longer while his wife forced Teresa to do all of the chores. Even when Tomas gave his daughter a lamb as a gift, his wife killed the lamb and told Teresa to wash the lamb's fleece in the river so she could make a pillow. While she was at the river washing the fleece, Teresa had the fleece snatched away by a fish. As she began to cry, a woman robed in blue asked her what was wrong. After Teresa told her the story of what happened, the woman told her to visit a shack on the mountainside and to tend to the old man and child and sweep the floor in return for the fleece. Unknown to Teresa, the woman in blue was the Blessed Mary, the old man was Saint Joseph, and the baby was baby Jesus. Because Teresa was kind to the old man and the child and obeyed the woman's orders, the woman placed her finger on Teresa's forehead where a little gold star appeared. When Teresa returned home and told her stepmother about what happened, her stepmother did not believe her and when she tried to scrub off the gold star it only shone brighter and when she touched the clean fleece it became muddy. Each stepsister was instructed to wash the fleece the two following days and both sisters met the Blessed Mary. However, both sisters did not tend to the old man and baby in the shack on the mountainside. When the woman in blue gave each sister the clean fleece and learned of their behavior towards the old man and baby, she gave Isabel horns and Inez donkey ears. One night, Teresa and her family went to a fiesta honoring the patron saint of the town. Don Miguel, a rich man who lives in the town, danced with Teresa and fell in love with her. However, Teresa's stepmother told Teresa to go home and leave Miguel. Once Miguel realized Teresa was gone, he vowed not to rest until he found the woman and asked her to marry him. Yet, when he asked for her step-daughter's hand in marriage, Teresa's stepmother told Teresa that she had to fill ten bottles with birds' tears, stuff twelve mattresses with birds' feathers, and prepare a tableful of fine food. Desperate to complete these tasks and marry Miguel, Teresa asked the woman in blue for help. The Blessed Mary told Teresa to touch her gold star and that she would be able to finish all three tasks. Once she saw the three impossible tasks completed, the stepmother realized that Teresa was blessed and sent Miguel a letter agreeing to the marriage. As time passed and the stepmother and stepdaughters became less evil, the donkey ears and horns finally disappeared.
In my classroom, I would use Little Gold Star by having my students compare and contrast the American Cinderella tale to the Spanish American Cinderella tale. Also, I would have the students rewrite the story, create their own story book, and draw their own illustrations for their book. Another example of how I could include Little Gold Star in my classroom would be to have a unit based on studying various culture's versions of classic folk literature such as Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, etc.
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