Rhodopis
Rhodopis is an Eygyptian tale that historians think was first recorded around the first century BC/AD. It's believed to be about a real person written about by Herrdodous around 500 BC. The story goes that Rhodopis (the 'rosy-cheeked') is forched to wash her clothes in the river Ormoc by fellow servants. Whilst she does this an eagle takes her rose-gilded sandal and drops it at the feet of the Pharaoh in the city of Memphis. He then asks the women of his kingdom to try on the slipper to see who it fits, Rhodopis succeeds. The Pharaoh falls in love with her and they marry.
standard times. tell me a story. (2009) [online image] available from: http://www.gosanangelo.com/lifestyle/tell-me-a-story-8212-rhodopis-queen-of-the-nile [accessed 14th april 2015]
The origins of this story may go back to the desire for women to have small feet and that being a very attractive quality. In many cultures women used to bind their feet to make them smaller.
Ye-Hsein
Ye-Hsein is the oldest know recorded Chinese version of the Cinderella story. It appears in Yu Yang Tsa Tsu (Miscelleny of forgotten love) by Tuan Ch'eng-shih around 856-860 AD. In it a hardworking girl befriends a fish, the reincarnation of her mother, which is then killed by her stepmother. Ye-Hsein saves the bones, which are magic and they help her dress appropriately for a festival. She has to exit quickly and loses her slipper, the king finds her by the slipper and falls in love with her.
Versions of Cinderella were then reproduced again and again for the next 1000 years, especially in the European middle ages where the stories can be very long epics, ballads and legends of saints.
Charles Perrault
The version of Cinderella that most people are familiar with and is the most influential to the modern interpretations is by Charles Perrault in 1697. In the story, a father with one daughter re-marries to a woman with two daughters who are very nasty. As soon as the wedding is over the step-mother and sisters banish the girl to sleep in the attic, do all the housework and wait on the sisters. She often hides in the chimney-corner seated amongst the cinders which earned her the names 'cinder-slut' or 'cinderella'. The girl is very kind and patient and never complains about her ill-usage. The King's son gave a ball and invited the two step-sisters and Cinderella helped them dress and do their hair for the ball. When Cinderella goes back to the basement and cries her fairy Godmother appears. She turns the pumpkin into a carriage, the mice into horses, a rat into a coachman, lizards into footmen, transforms Cinderella's rags into a beautiful gown and gives her a pair of glass slippers to wear. She then warns her she must be back by midnight. Cinderella goes to the ball and everyone falls silent at her beauty. She dances with the Prince twice and sat with and was very kind to her step-sisters (who don't recognize her) She leaves in time to arrive back home at midnight. The prince throws another ball the next evening so he can see Cinderella again and he never leaves her side all night. Cinderella enjoys herself so much she forgets the time and had to run off as the clock begins to strike midnight. In her hurry she leaves a glass slipper which the Prince picks up. A few days later the Prince announced he would marry whoever's foot fitted the glass slipper exactly. After a few weeks he called on the stepsisters who could not succeed in squeezing their feet into the slipper. Cinderella asked if she may try it on and whilst the sister laughed it was said she could. It fitted perfectly and Cinderella pulled out the other slipper to match it. She and the Prince married and she gave her two sisters room at the palace and married them to two great lords.
Perrault, C (2002) The fairy tales of Charles Perrault. Sixth Edition. United Kingdom: Hodder & Stoughton pg. 112
Grimm Brothers
100 years later the Grimm bothers published the first edition of their collection of fairy tales which contained a version (perhaps a more classic German version) of Cinderella. In this story a young girls mother is dying and tells her daughter to plant a tree on her grave. Whenever the daughter wishes for something she must only shake the tree and she'll have the wish. The father then remarries a woman who already has two daughters, they decided that the daughter can be their maid and do everything in their power to make her miserable like tipping peas and lentils into the ashes so she has to spend all day separating them. As she had no bed every night she curled up in the hearth and as she always looked so dirty they named her Cinderella. The King then throws a ball to last three days and the two stepsisters are invited. They go and tell Cinderella to sort out the bad lentils from the good ones. She begins to sort them but two pigeons fly though the window and offer to help sort the lentils. Very quickly they finished the job and told Cinderella to climb to the Pigeon coop to watch the ball. She does and eventually falls asleep. The next day the sister leave again and tell Cinderella to sort sweet peas. She starts the job but again the pigeons come and finish the job for her. They tell her to shake her mothers tree to wish for clothes for the ball but warn her she must be back before midnight. A beautiful dress and silver slippers fall down and she dresses and heads to the ball. The Prince immediately falls in love with her and dances with her all night. Just before midnight she leaves. The same happens again the next night but Cinderella forgets that it's midnight. She runs away from the ball. leaving her slipper stuck on the stairs. The Prince finds the slipper and announces he will marry whoever's foot fits in the tiny slipper. Finally he gets to stepsisters and the mother hands them a knife and tells them to cut off a bit of their foot to fit into the slipper if they need to. The eldest slipper cuts off part of her heel and is about to leave with the prince when the pigeons call out that there's blood in the shoe. The youngest sister then tries and cuts off her toes. Again the pigeons tell the Prince. The Prince comes back and asks if anyone else is in the house, when he's told about Cinderella he demands to see her. She comes and her foot fits in the slipper. They leave together in his carriage.
Since this version, Cinderella has been re-told thousands of time in various media forms, most notably film. From the Disney's classic Cinderella to period versions of the tale like Ever After to modern day interpretations that adapt the basic story line such as A Cinderella Story and What a Girl Wants. Recently Disney have remade Cinderella into a live action film.
IMDb. Cinderella. (2015) [Online Image] available from: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm589101056/tt1661199?ref_=tt_ov_i [accessed 14th april 2015]
