"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo"
Did the title or the lines above remind you of anything? No? How about this: “I want every girl in the kingdom to try on this lost glass slipper. I must find my princess.” Better? If you guessed Cinderella, you are right. As a kid, we all grew up believing in fairytales and happy endings. Most of us loved the idea of talking to animals or marrying the prince of our dreams and having the perfect ending like Cinderella had. This magical and lovely story is also known as The Little Glass Slipper and has been around for almost 1,500 years already. But unfortunately, I have to tell you that Disney didn't create Cinderella. They indeed added their magic twist to create the Cinderella we all know today, the beautiful prince dress in glass shoes, shiny headband and long white gloves. Also known as the poor girl that had to defeats the difficulty of her evil stepmother and stepsisters, who treat her like their servant. Or the girl that had to help from her little flurry, animal friends, so she could meet and dance with a prince, but then had to hurry home before the clock strikes midnight. But again, that's the Disney Cinderella, the one from the 1950 animated film and the new remake in theaters right now.
The real Cinderella is a character that weaved centuries of storytelling and most human cultures, and sometimes her forgotten slipper isn't even made of glass. Through time and culture, there have been many adaptations to the story. The first literary European version of the Cinderella was published by Giambattista Basile in his Pentamerone in 1634 form Italy. Follow up with the most famous version, Charles Perrault released in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé in 1697, and following by the Brothers Grimm in their folk tale collection Grimms' Fairy Tales in 1812.
There are several theories about the real Cinderella and how Disney added their twist to it, and we are about to tell you all we know, so buckle up and get ready to read all kinds of crazy stuff about Cinderella. To start off, the first Cinderella didn't speak English. She was Greek. The first ever recorded story featuring a Cinderella-like figure dates to Greece in the sixth century BCE. In that ancient tale, a Greek courtesan named Rhodopis had one of her shoes stolen by an eagle, who flew all the way across the Mediterranean and drops it in the front of an Egyptian king.
The king thought this was a sign from heaven, asking him to look for the owner of the shoe who will turn out to be the love of his life. The king quickly picks up the shoe and starts on a quest to find the "his true love." Through his journey, he encounters different kinds of women, who claims to be the owner of the shoe; but it didn't fit any of them. Days and weeks had gone by, and the king thought of giving up, until one day he walks around a poor village in where he hears a beautiful voice. He sees a gorgeous woman lying on a rock, washing her clothes. Surprisingly the lady turns out to be Rhodopis. Without thinking it twice, he asks her to try on the shoe. The shoe fits perfectly and asks her to marries him, raising her from her lowly status to the throne.
Some others claim that the first Cinderella wasn't Greek, but Asian. From the earliest known Cinderella stories in the ninth-century, there is a Chinese tale that talks about a young girl named Ye Xian who had to live with a stepmother, stepsister and a stepbrother, after her dad passed away. When Ye Xian turned 19, she ran away from home because she couldn't handle her family anymore. She walked around the village looking for food and somewhere to stay, but everyone just shut their doors. Later, an old couple finds her on the streets and invites her to their house to have dinner. Ye Xuan agreed and explained to them why she left home. The couple felt sorry for her and gave magic fishbone. She could wish for anything her heart desired, and she wished to find the husband of her dreams and to lead the love her life to her. She throws her shoes across the sea, hoping that one day, a man could find it and return it to her. And like Rhodopis' tale, a monarch comes in possession of the shoe, but this time the shoes had a gold fish-scale pattern on them. The king goes on an expedition, and he finds Ye Xian. Without hesitation, the king her to marry him.
Finally, get ready for the English version Cinderella. Make sure you are comfortable and ready to read this one.
The story created by the Brother Grimm goes like this:
This story is about a girl whose father is wealthy, and her mother is ill. Unfortunately, the mother dies from cancer, and the girl will visit her mother's grave often.
The father remarried another woman who already had two daughters, all of which treat the little girl crudely. Sometimes they will force her to cook and clean for them. Even though the house was huge, they will ask the girl to sleep near the fireplace and in the cinders. Which is how she got her name, Cinderella.
One day, Cinderella's father goes to the fair. And he brings back Cinderella a hazel twig, which supposedly had magic on it. Cinderella decided to plant the twig at her mother’s grave. Magically the hazel tree grows and produces birds that will grant Cinderella anything she wishes.
A few months later, the king announced that he would be holding a three-day celebration so that the king’s son, the prince, could find a bride. The king invited all the single young lady in the land, no matter if they were rich or poor. While the two step-daughters prepare for the festival and Cinderella also did, but they both laugh at the notion that she would even think about going since she is so messy from the housework.
But the step-mother insisted that Cinderella could still attend the festival, only if she can pick lentils from a pile of ashes. Cinderella will never make it on time to dance, so she goes to her mother's grave and calls on the birds to help her. However, the step-mother rejects Cinderella’s act and makes her start over again while they all attend the festival without her.
Cinderella goes back to the grave and makes a wish at her hazel tree, the birds show up again and brings her a beautiful gold and silver dress. Cinderella attends the dance and sees the Prince. Astonished with her beauty, the prince asks her to dance with him. However, my midnight, Cinderella runs away from the Prince; trying to get back home before her stepmother does. At the very next night, Cinderella wanted to attend the second-day celebration, so she asks the hazel tree for another dress and, once again, birds appear with another beautiful dress. The prince noticed Cinderella and asked her to dance again, but like before, Cinderella runs away from the Prince again.
On the third day, Cinderella asks the hazel tree for another dress and, again, birds arrive with another beautiful dress. The Prince and Cinderella dance one more time, but at the end of the night, Cinderella, again, runs away. However, this time, the Prince covers the stairs with tar. So when Cinderella left the castle, one of her shoes gets stuck. Yet, she left without it.
The Prince, now with one shoe, searches for the woman whose foot fits. He goes to every door knocking and asking all the ladies to try on the shoe. When he arrived at Cinderella's house, the first step-daughter tried the shoe. It seems to fit after cutting off her toe, and the Prince takes her away on a date. However, the Prince realizes that she was bleeding and leaving a trail of blood, so they return to the home. The second step-daughter did the same thing to fit the shoe by cutting off part of her heel, and the Prince takes her away. But again, he returns after seeing that the shoe doesn’t really fit and there was blood all over the place.
Finally, when the prince was about to leave, Cinderella ran all the way from the basement and tried on the shoe, and it fits. Both of them fell madly in love with each other and decide to get married.
And the two step-daughters had their eyes plucked out by birds.
"Oh, now, just a minute. You must understand, my dear: On the stroke of twelve, the spell will be broken, and everything will be as it was before."
"The Prince, now with one shoe, searches for the woman whose foot fits."
"And the two step-daughters had their eyes plucked out" by birds.
"And just like a fairytale"