Cinderella
Cinderella
Gustave Doré’s illustration for Cendrillon
Folk tale
Name:
Cinderella
AKA:
Cendrillon, Aschenputtel,
Cenerentola
Data
Aarne-Thompson
Grouping:
510a
Country:
Worldwide
Published in:
The Pentamerone (1634)
Mother Goose Tales
(1697)
Grimm’s Fairy Tales
(1812)
Cinderella
(French: Cendrillon, German:
Aschenputtel, Spanish: Cenicienta,
Italian:
Cenerentola) is a well-known classic folk tale
embodying a myth-element of unjust oppres-
sion/triumphant reward. Thousands of vari-
ants are known throughout the world.[1] The
title character[2] is a young woman living in
unfortunate circumstances which suddenly
change to remarkable fortune. The word
"cinderella" has, by analogy, come to mean
one whose attributes are unrecognised, or
one who unexpectedly achieves recognition
or success after a period of obscurity and
neglect. The still-popular story of Cinderella
continues to influence popular culture inter-
nationally, lending plot elements, allusions,
and tropes to a wide variety of media.
Origins and history
The Cinderella theme may well have origin-
ated in classical antiquity: The Greek histori-
an Strabo (Geographica Book 17, 1.33) recor-
ded in the 1st century BC the tale of the
Greco-Egyptian girl Rhodopis, which is con-
sidered the oldest known version of the
story.[3][4] Rhodopis
(the "rosy-cheeked")
washes her clothes in an Ormoc stream, a
task forced upon her by fellow servants, who
have left to go to a function sponsored by the
Pharaoh Amasis. An eagle takes her rose-gil-
ded 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 san-
dal to see which one fits. Rhodopis succeeds.
The Pharaoh falls in love with her, and she
marries him. The story later reappears with
Aelian (ca. 175–ca. 235),[5] showing that the
Cinderella
theme
remained
popular
throughout antiquity. Perhaps the origins of
the fairy-tale figure can be traced back as far
as the 6th century BC Thracian courtesan by
the same name, who was acquainted with the
ancie