Notes & Queries: Why did Cinderella's slipper come off?

If Cinderella's slipper was such a perfect fit, how did it slip off as soon as she broke into a trot?

Have you ever tried running in glass slippers? They would not have been laminated or toughened glass, so would have broken very easily. Rather a silly fashion item, but aren't they all?

mountvictoria

I think the answer is that in the Brothers Grimm version there are three balls on successive nights. Cinders runs away at midnight on each occasion and the prince follows but fails to find her. On the third night he has the staircase smeared with pitch to slow down his mystery girl and her shoe sticks to the pitch and comes off.

KitGrey

Cinderella is whirling like a dervish on the dancefloor as midnight approaches, her cheeks ablaze, her heart afire, her loins asmouldering. Her beautiful slippers are becoming loose as the glass expands in the ardent heat of dancing toes and scalding passion. The clock strikes! One last scintillating glance at the prince and she must run, run swiftly. Her shoes are sparking on the marble floor, they are white-hot and getting larger with every step. One falls off. It is too late to turn back and pick it up. She feels the lace of her gown crumbling into rags.

"Holy smoke," says the Fairy Godmother to the last remaining footman before he turns back into a lizard. "I should have used borosilicate glass. It has a much lower coefficient of thermal expansion."

Sue Coates, Hastings, East Sussex

Exercise can cause sweaty feet.

DismantleTrident

What did Jesus and/or his parents do with the gold, frankincense and myrrh?

Mary and Joseph spent the gold on their getaway to Egypt, where they traded the resins for living expenses. Frankincense and myrrh were so valuable to the Egyptians that Queen Hatshepsut (1450BC) commissioned the first ever plant-hunting expedition for Boswellia sacra and Commiphora myrrha to the mysterious Land of Punt, to ensure her own local supply, cutting out the dealers.

However, Mary may have kept the myrrh, suspecting that her son would predecease her and she would need it for the burial.

Margaret Waddy, Cambridge

Mary stuck the gold in Jesus's trust fund and re-gifted the frankincense and myrrh.

alocin42

They sold it immediately on Ye-Bay.

notangry

Most probably Mary and Joseph used it to square whoever passed for policemen in those days en-route for Egypt, otherwise they could have landed in prison. Or they could have sold it and put it in a child trust fund, which would explain why Jesus was able to take so much time off work at the end of his life.

Margaret Squires, St Andrews, Fife

He converted them into cash and put it in the bank. Jesus saves.

Noel Hannon, London SW8

Most animals appear to be either basically diurnal, like humans, horses, dogs etc, or basically nocturnal, like owls and bats. Cats don't seem to care either way; are they unique in this?

Most respondents (N&Q, 3 January) have missed a fundamental point, which is that cats are primarily driven by their proximity to empty cardboard boxes. In the absence of such boxes, cats are listless and spend their time sleeping. When boxes are present, cats are wakeful, active and excited – obsessed by the question of whether they should sit inside or outside the box and poke their paws through any available holes. All this day/night business is a diversion.

Steve Rouse, Gee Cross, Ches

During its one daily waking hour, Littlejack's cat (N&Q, 3 January) will engage in an activity other than eating, which has gone unobserved because it almost always takes place in a neighbour's garden.

Mark Lewinski, Swaffham Prior, Cambs

Any answers?

Has there ever been an economically successful dictatorship?

Anthony Hills, Berlin, Germany

My favourite smell is of fresh laundry that has been out on the line. What is it I am actually smelling?

Lesley Isaacson, Ruislip, Middx

When did driving a lorry become "logistics"?

Roy Stewart, Caterham, Surrey

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