Cinderella: The Development of a Classic

It all started with a dream and a slipper. But where did the dream and the slipper come from? When was the first tale of Cinderella told? The 1950’s Disney animated classic can’t be the original version and it most certainly can’t be the only version.  Common belief is that the French version Cendrillon and the Brothers Grimm version in their collection of folktales are the

'Cendrillon' by Gustave Dore
‘Cendrillon’ by Gustave Dore

original versions of the Cinderella theme, and just about everyone knows about, or has seen, the Disney animated film Cinderella, but is the story older than that? It is; you see, the theme of the tale can be found as far back as 7 BCE in the tale Rhodopis about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt. In another tale, the Cinderella character is known as Cordelia and she is the daughter of King Leir of Britain and in another version out of China the Cinderella character is called Ye Xian. Continue reading “Cinderella: The Development of a Classic”