Thread by @LitDigi

Cinderella, one of the most beloved fairy tales alive today; anyone can look at a pumpkin and a glass slipper and get a clear image of the 1950s cartoon, blue headband and all; but today, we’re looking at occurrences of Cinderella around the world!

If you’ve ever dived into the history of Cinderella, you’ll probably recognize the name Aschenputtel (don’t worry, we’ll talk about her). However, some consider the story of Rhodopis to be the first Cinderella story, written somewhere between 7 and 23 BC!

In that story, recorded by Greek geographer Strabo, Rhodopis is bathing in Naucratis, when an eagle steals one of her sandals. it flies all the way to Memphis to literally drop it into the king’s lap. For reference, here’s the distance between the cities:

Stunned by the beautiful shoe, & the serendipity of the moment, the king searches all of Egypt for the owner. Once he finds Rhodopis, she becomes his wife; sound familiar? Yeah, scholars think so, too. Here's a footwear comparison:

Rhodopis’s story is actually retold (with some mythical additions) in the children’s book Egyptian Cinderella, by Shirley Climo (a book I actually remember reading as a kid). The title has gotten some flack though, since in the actual story, Rhodopis is actually Greek.

In China, the tale of Ye Xian is often equated to Cinderella. After the death of her mother and father, Ye Xian becomes the servant to her stepmother and younger step sister. They treat her terribly, and she only finds solace in a fish, which is a spirit sent by her mother.

When stepmom hears Ye Xian has a sliver of happiness, she catches and eats the fish. Another guardian spirit tells Ye Xian to save the bones, so she can grant wishes on them. She wishes to go to the New Year Festival, and is magically dressed in a lovely gown, and gold slippers.

She leaves early in fear of being recognized, and loses one of her slippers. It is sold from person to person until it's given to a king of the To’Han isles. He, similarly, begins looking for the owner of the slipper, and after much searching, finds Ye Xian, and they are married.

(There’s so much more to this story, but I can only fit so much into 280 characters; if you’re interested in this story, please check out this site wikiwand.com/en/Ye_Xian or the children’s book, Yeh-Shen by Ai-Ling Louie)

The tale you might have heard called the “original” Cinderella is the story of Aschenputtel, a Grimm’s Brothers’ fairy tale from Germany; a longer and more graphic telling of the well-known princess.

(although we can’t really say “original”, considering how MANY Cinderellas there are, and how minute or massive each story can differ; there’s no simple origin to the beloved story ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

In the Grimm Version, Cinderella lacks her Fairy Godmother, and instead given her dress and shoes from the tree that she grew from her mother’s grave - with her tears. There’s also a lot of lentils thrown into fire pits, talking birds, and, um, foot mutilation.

So, Cinderella’s been around for a LONG time. What’s more, elements of her story are seen EVERYWHERE. There are just 500 adaptations within Europe alone! Aschenputtel, Cendrillion, Cenerentola, Ye Xian, Nyasha, or the Rough Faced Girl, they’re all the same girl, right?

Let's ask ourselves: can we call these “China’s Cinderella” or “Egypt’s Cinderella” when they came long before Disney's movie? Is it fair to other cultures for us to indoctrinate their folklore in a western trope? Or is “Cinderella” a folder for these stories to go into equally?

I reached out to Maria Tatar, a Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures and of Folklore and Mythology at Harvard (basically, the fairy tale expert), and she happily responded to me with some thoughtful comments (thank you again, @mariamtatar !!)

@mariamtatar She explains that “Many of the tale types are truly international, but since most folklore research was done in American/European regions, we are now stuck with names that don’t make sense for other cultures.” And even talks a little about Disney’s changes.

@mariamtatar “It’s only the European versions where we find ‘white as snow’ and then Disney changed it to ‘skin white as snow’!” Dr. Tatar exclaims, in reference to a new book she is writing, where she attempts “to change one narrative from ‘Snow White’ to ‘Beautiful Girls.’”

@mariamtatar It’s not totally clear how we should go about with naming these stories, but acknowledging the problem allows us to be aware of it, and we can appreciate the similarities and differences between all these tales without being disrespectful!

@mariamtatar So, there’s your fairy-tale deep dive! If you’ve enjoyed this thread, check out these sources of weird Cinderella tales and even outlandish fairy tales you may have never heard of! vox.com/2015/3/15/8214… bustle.com/articles/61053…
surlalunefairytales.com

@mariamtatar If you want to keep seeing content like this, or maybe if you have any suggestions for another deep-dive, please like and comment on this thread! My name is Ruby Hembree, a student intern at Georgia Tech, and I’m glad (and surprised) you read this far! :)