Origins of the Cinderella Fairytale: No Glass Slippers here.
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I knew I wanted to re-write a fairytale, I knew it would feature queer MCs, and I knew that I wanted to put a decent twist on the traditional tale. But I wasn’t sure which fairytale it would be until I came across the origins of Cinderella.
Did you know that the story hails from ancient China?
It emerged in the 9th century, published around 850-860AD by Duan Chengshi in his book Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang, but it’s highly likely that this story existed long before that, in the spoken word. Since that time it has gone on to become one of the most popular and retold fairytales in existence, with over 350 versions of it found in European folklore alone.
Now, if you Google ‘origins of Cinderella’ you will be bombarded with information that cites the ‘Greek/Egyptian’ story of Rhodopis, written in 1st century BCE by Greek geographer Strabo, as the oldest version of the tale. But there is some push-back over this claim. There’s a really interesting article that you can read here that purports to ‘debunk’ the idea. Basically, the tale of Rhodopis as written by Strabo actually holds very few similarities to the story we recognise as Cinderella. In fact, the only comparative element is the shoe/slipper. The story that Strabo heard whilst travelling through Egypt, recounts a young courtesan having her slipper stolen by an eagle, and dropped in the lap of the Egyptian king, who decides he’ll marry whoever owns the slipper (because that is a reasonable thought process, no?)
No magic, no stepsisters or stepmothers, no orphan girl, not even a slave girl. Not even a ball.
The author of the article goes on to say that eagles were not known in Egypt for most of its history, and did not appear in any iconography until 323-330BCE. Having an eagle as central to the story seems odd for the time-period.
So, here’ s a story that holds very little resemblance to the Cinderella tale, yet it’s cited as the origin. Why?
Well the confusion online today seems to stem from a woman named Olive Beaupre Miller. She was an American who, in 1919, established a publishing house called The Book House for Children, which, as the name suggests, published children’s books. She was a writer herself, and in 1920 released a series called My Book House which contained a volume called Through Fairy Halls which included ‘Rhodopis – The first Cinderella Story’. But as the story was for children, the main character could hardly be a courtesan, so Miller changed her to a slave girl, who was hard done by in her familial home, and would go on to attend a great ball.
Starting to ring any bells?
In the disclaimer at the beginning of the book Miller declares that story was ‘told to little children several thousand years before Christ’. Which it was not. But the reading audience weren’t to know that, and took the popular tale for what it claimed to be….the original Cinderella story…when in actual fact the version they were reading was made up entirely by a 20th century American.
But the origin story over which there is no debate, is that of Ye Xian, emerging in 9th century China.
It tells of a lonely, abused young girl forced into servitude by her stepmother and stepsister (or half sister), whose only friend is a beautiful golden carp. In a horrible act of cruelty, Ye Xian’s stepmother kills the fish, and serves it up for dinner. The distraught Ye Xian manages to collect the bones of her beloved friend and hide them away. Time goes on, and Spring Festival approaches (Chinese New Year) and of course Ye Xian has no hope of being allowed to attend the annual dance, her stepmother and stepsister making sure of that. Desperate, Ye Xian prays to the fishbones, and a mysterious old gentleman appears to grant her wish; a Taoist fairy godfather with a long beard and flowing gown. He gives her a new dress, and new shoes; golden slippers. Attending the dance, Ye Xian is recognised by her stepsister and flees…leaving behind one of the slippers.
Safe to say you know the rest of the story….
It would not be until 1697 that the tale you and I are most familiar with would emerge. Frenchman, Charles Perrault, in his tale ‘Cendrillon‘ added a female fairy godmother, a pumpkin coach, mice that became horses, lizards that became footman and of course….the glass slipper.
Interestingly, there is contention over what the slipper was actually made of, with some suggestion that the word was mistranslated, and Perrault intended the shoe to be made of ‘vair’ (French for fur) rather than ‘verre’ (French for glass).
Disney of course went with the ‘glass slipper’ when they made their film adaptation in 1950. A film that likely saved the Disney studio from ruin. They were suffering financial difficulties at the time, and took a huge risk with their $3million dollar ‘Cinderella.’
The film went on to make $8million. And is still being remade to this day, with the most recent adaptation being the 2015 live action which made over $500million.
Disney have, until this day, lived happily ever after.
Curious about the original tale?
My adaptation is The Cinders. A queer retelling of the tale, inspired by the original Ye Xian story.
A fallen prince. A bold shoemaker. And a love that will rewrite a fairytale.
Click on the image, or HERE to read the blurb.
Available in Ebook and Paperback.
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