Who is Cinderella?
From childhood, many are familiar with watching Disney movies, having our parents read bedtime stories to us – generations are aware of the Disney Princess and the tale of Cinderella. But what many who are great-grandparents, parents or youth don’t know is that there are numerous versions that exist beyond what we see on the big screen with Disney. The version of Cinderella that most people revere is the European folktale written by Charles Perrault called Cendrillon. In Europe alone, there are more than 500 versions of this tale. Many would be shocked to discover the history of Cinderella, and then even more surprised to learn that Cinderella was not the original character’s name and that has changed over the centuries as well. While characteristics of fairytales often involve magic, magical elements, good and evil and royalty, some stories did not always have a happy ending. The earliest recorded version of Cinderella was thousands of years ago. It was an Egyptian folktale written by Strabo, a Greek geographer. The story was written between 7 BCE and 23 CE.
This version of Cinderella involves a young, enslaved girl, Rhodopis, who gains the attention of the pharaoh after her sandal fell off. An Eagle swoops in and picks up the sandal and drops it in the lap of the pharaoh. He is so interested in the sandal and how it looks that he was determined to find its owner. This story is proof that there are many versions of the Cinderella folktales from around the world and that oral stories remain in rotation for thousands of years.
In Vietnam, The Story of Tấm and Cám, is their version of Cinderella. This story is about two half-sisters— one of whom has a mother who dies. In this folktale the father remarries and then dies. Tam, the beautiful older sister ends up living with her father’s new wife and the daughter she had with Tấm’s father. Unfortunately, the father had fallen in love with an evil woman. This Vietnamese version sounds very close to a version that most readers and people are familiar with. One of the most popular folktales or fairy tales is the story of Cinderella.
