👠How the fairy tale of Cinderella came about👑

 👠How the fairy tale of Cinderella came about👑

1. The oldest known oral version of the Cinderella story is the ancient Greek story of Rhodopis, a Greek courtesan who lived in the colony of Naucratis in Egypt, whose name means “Ruddy-cheeked.”
The story was first recorded by the Greek geographer Strabo in his Geographica:
 “...They [the Egyptians] tell a fabulous story that while she was bathing, an eagle snatched one of her sandals and carried it to Memphis; and while the king was administering justice in the open air, an eagle, flying over his head, dropped a sandal into his lap; and the king, excited both by the beautiful form of the sandal and by the strangeness of the incident, sent men into all parts of the country in search of the woman who wore the sandal; and when she was found in the city of Naucratis, she was brought to Memphis, and she became the king’s wife...”
The same story was later told by the Roman orator Aelian (c. 175 - c. 235) in his Miscellaneous History, written entirely in Greek.
The story of Aelianus is very similar to the story told by Strabo, but it adds that the name of the pharaoh in question was Psammetichus.
 Aelian's account indicates that the Rhodopis story remained popular throughout antiquity.
Herodotus, about 5 centuries before Strabo, records a popular legend about a possible relative of a courtesan named Rhodopis in his History, claiming that she came from Thrace, was a slave of Iadmon of Samos and a companion of the narrator Aesop, and was taken to Egypt during the time of Pharaoh Amasis (Ahmose) II, in the 6th century BC and was freed there for a large sum by Charax of Mytilene, brother of the lyrical poet Sappho.
The similarity between the Rhodopis shoe and Cinderella's slipper was noted in the 19th century by Edgar Taylor and the Reverend Sabina Baring-Gould.
During the period of Egypt's opening to the world, this narrative, modified from the original facts of the marriage of Ahmose II and Rhodopis, became extremely popular in Greece, reaching the ears of many storytellers. After all, the moral of the story in almost all its versions lies in sacrifice, through which one can achieve the highest happiness.

2. Aspasia of Phocea
A second predecessor of the Cinderella character, originally from Late Antiquity, may be Aspasia of Phocea.
 Her story is told in Eliana's Varia Storia: having lost her mother in early childhood and being raised by her father, Aspasia, despite living in poverty, dreamed of meeting a noble man. As she falls asleep, the girl has a vision of a dove turning into a woman, who instructs her on how to eliminate physical imperfections and restore her own beauty. In another episode, she and other courtesans are forced to attend a feast given by the Persian regent Cyrus the Younger. 

During the feast, the Persian king targets Aspasia herself and ignores the other women.

3. Tale of the 12th century AD. e. o Le Fresne ("The Girl of the Ash Tree"), retold by Marie of France, is a variant of the "Cinderella" story in which a wealthy noblewoman leaves her infant daughter at the foot of an ash tree outside a convent with a ring and brocade as marks of her identity because she One of the twin sisters - the mother is afraid that she will be accused of infidelity (according to popular belief, the twins were the testimony of two different fathers).
The baby is discovered by a gatekeeper who names her Fran, meaning "Ash Tree", and she is raised by nuns.
 After she reaches maturity, a young nobleman sees her and becomes her lover.
 The nobleman, however, is forced to marry a woman of noble birth.
 Fran accepts that she will never marry her lover, but waits in the peace of marriage as a servant.
She covers the bed with her own brocade but, unbeknownst to her, her lover's fiancee is actually her twin sister, and her mother recognizes the brocade as the same one she gave to the daughter she abandoned years ago. Fran's true parentage is revealed and, as a result of her noble birth, she is allowed to marry her lover while her twin sister marries another nobleman.

4. Chiclemphusa from Malta
The Maltese Cinderella is called Chicklemfusa. She is depicted as an orphan in early childhood. Before his death, her father gave her three magical objects: a chestnut, a nut and an almond. She worked as a maid in the king's palace. Nobody ever paid attention to the poor girl. One day she heard about a big ball and with the help of a magic spell she turned into a beautiful princess. The prince fell in love with her and gave her a ring. The next night the prince gave her a diamond, and on the third night he gave her a ring with a large gem. Towards the end of the ball, Chicklemfusa ran away and hid in the basements of the palace. She knew that the prince was very sad about her disappearance, so one day she baked crostini (baked bread with a snack) for him and hid three gifts in each of them. As the prince ate the cookies, he found the gifts he had given to the mysterious princess and soon realized what a huge mistake he had made by ignoring Chicklemphusa because of her poor appearance. They soon entered into marriage agreements and she became his wife.

5. Chinese Ye Xian
The story of Ye Xian first appeared in Miscellaneous Pieces from Yuyang, written by Duan Chengshi around 860.
In this version, Ye Xian is the daughter of a local tribal chief who died when she was young. Because her mother died before her father, she is now under the guardianship of her father's second wife, who abused her.
Ye Xian befriends a fish who is the reincarnation of her late mother.
Her stepmother and stepsister kill the fish, but Ye Xian finds bones that are magical and they help her dress appropriately for a local festival, including a very light gold slipper.
Her adoptive family recognizes her at the festival, causing her to run away and accidentally lose her shoe. After this, the king of another sea island receives the shoe and is interested in it, since no one has feet that can fit the shoe. The king searches everywhere and finally reaches E's house, where she tries on the shoe. The king realizes that she is the one and takes her back to his kingdom. Her cruel stepmother and stepsister were stoned to death.
Variations of this story are also found in many ethnic groups in China.

6. Iranian Moon-Forehead
The Iranian version of the story is called "Moon-Forehead" or in Persian Mahpishuni (Persian: ماه پیشونی, Roman: māhpišuni). The story is very similar to the German version, but the girl is described as being born with a shining moon on her forehead and, after losing her natural mother, forced to live under the ashes to obscure her shining moon, which would outshine her stepmother's two daughters. The contrast between the shining moon and the ashes denotes potential, like the fire beneath the ashes. The placement of the radiance on the forehead can be a reference to higher knowledge or personality.

7. Brothers Grimm's Cinderella
The Brothers Grimm version has been extensively revised to make it acceptable to the general public.
In the original story, the father is not dead and lives with the stepmother, who manages Cinderella with her two daughters. The latter grows hazel trees as the reincarnation of her dead mother.
The late mother will dress her daughter for the three days of the ball, and it is the doves, magical assistants, who will reveal to the prince the deception of the two sisters who tried to put on their stepsister's slipper. For this purpose, they cut off the toes of one, and the heel of another, just to fit the shoe.
The blood coming out of the shoe will reveal the intentions of the two sisters, who will even be blinded by doves during Cinderella's wedding to the prince.

8. In the Ukrainian version of the folk tale, from the willow tree, which grew from the grain that the mother gave to her daughter before her death, the maids come out and do hard work, dress her magnificently, and she goes to church three times on Sunday, where the prince falls in love with the beauty.

9. In German oral history, two sisters, as punishment, are even sentenced to dance in hot shoes until they die of exhaustion.

10. Cinderella by Charles Perrault
In Perrault's version, the facts are considerably softened compared to the oral tradition that existed at the time, and a fairy and her magical assistants (mice and lizards) appear.
 Perrault wrote this way to please the court of the King of France, where in such a regal setting, quartering and execution mutilations were not very appropriate.
"Cinderella" has been illustrated countless times. Among the famous names we can mention the Frenchman Gustav Doré, the Germans Ludwig Richter, Oskar Herfurth, Alexander Zick, the Austrian Moritz von Schwindt, the Englishman Arthur Rackham...

Numerous musical works were written based on the fairy tale, the most famous of which are, perhaps, Rossini’s opera “Cinderella, or the Triumph of Virtue” from 1817 and, of course, Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet “Cinderella” (1945).
What does the fairy tale about sweet Cinderella teach? Of course, all the same eternal values - kindness, hard work, mercy and love. And also - respect for your ancestors, for the world around you, and finally, for your heart, which, as you know, is wiser than the mind and understands the truth much faster.
And the second question: why does this fairy-tale plot remain so popular for many centuries, among many peoples?
There are two reasons, in my opinion, and they are very significant.
Firstly, the tale tells of a dizzying rise from the very bottom to the very top. Who was the girl in the first third of the fairy tale? No one. A dirty Cinderella. Humiliated and pushed around. Then a miracle happens and the prince falls in love with her. So much so that he is ready to look for her all over the world.
And Cinderella turns into a princess. Isn't this what all the girls in the world dream about?
There is another reason why this plot is eternal. In the “collective unconscious” of every woman lies not only the dream of a handsome prince, but also the desire for him to run after her, look for her, worry about her and... and, in the end, find her.
If he is a worthwhile prince, he will spare neither time nor effort in searching for Love.
Sources: wikipedia; en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki;
vbaden.blogspot.com; Pinterest.