Americans are familiar with the story of Cinderella. Similar stories may be found throughout the world: a poor, beautiful girl, downtrodden by her stepmother, receives supernatural aid to win the hand of a noble prince who is searching for a bride. Although the circumstances differ (the girl may be a rural peasant or a servant in a great house, the supernatural helper may be a fairy godmother or a goldfish, the prince may belong to European feudalism or the Aztec empire), all the stories exhibit the same basic ____.