To anyone with even a little knowledge of fairy tales and folklore,the countless controversies that follow each cinematic remake of traditional stories never fail to elicit a certain amount of hilarity. Fairy tales, like languages or any other cultural products, are like living beings that continuously move and change shape in search of new meanings or new spaces for ancient meanings. Especially stories featuring female protagonists have undergone a continuous reformulation over millennia, a process that has frequently involved a kind of purge of the most transgressive themes, such as those tied to sexuality and violence.
For example, when we think of Cinderella, the first image that comes to mind is undoubtedly a submissive woman, a role model of virtue, prone to forgive even her tormentors and, of course, the famous glass slipper. But the story is much more articulated than that.
First off, the glass slippers never existed. For all those who have wondered at least once as children: why glass slippers if she has to run away after midnight? Here is the answer: Charles Perrault got lost in translation and what was supposed to be a comfortable fur-lined shoe turned into an impractical glass slipper. Things that happened when there was no Ludwig around to help you...
However, what is even more significant is that, originally, Cinderella was not so pure and inclined to forgiveness. Considering the time span from 400 BCE to the early 1900s, scholars have collected, from all corners of the world, well over 800 diverse versions of Cinderella's story. And, upon closer examination, as Britney Spears would say, our protagonist hasn't always been so innocent.
In fact, Cinderella appears to have left a long trail of deaths and injuries in her wake before becoming the sweet and submissive heroine portrayed first by Perrault and then by Disney. But let's start from the beginning.
Yes, Cinderella wasn't as innocent as one might think...
Several scholars agree that the oldest version of Cinderella dates back to Ancient Egypt. This assertion isn't entirely accurate. Despite claims to the contrary by many websites and authors, I assure you there is no trace of an ancient manuscript, written in hieroglyphs and found in Egypt, that recounts an Egyptian version of Cinderella.
However, some nosy Greek historians hint at a story that appears very similar to our Cinderella's and seems to have been passed down orally by the ancient inhabitants of the Nile Valley. This pertains to the legends surrounding a certain Rhodopis, a character straddling reality and fantasy.
According to that tattler of Herodotus, she was an enslaved Thracian woman, and fellow slave of Aesop, the story-writer. Rhodopis was so stunning that several men fell in love with her, including a certain Charaxus, brother of the famous poet Sappho, who became so enamoured that lavished huge sums on her and even bought her liberty.
To be totally honest, Rhodopis was not just a mere slave but a hetaira. Strabo is the first to report the legend which is considered the most ancient version of Cinderella’s:
They tell the fabulous story that, when she was bathing, an eagle snatched one of her sandals from her maid and carried it to Memphis; and while the king was administering justice in the open air, the eagle, when it arrived above his head, flung the sandal into his lap; and the king, stirred both by the beautiful shape of the sandal and by the strangeness of the occurrence, sent men in all directions into the country in quest of the woman who wore the sandal; and when she was found in the city of Naucratis, she was brought up to Memphis and became the wife of the king.
Revenge and violence
It is in China where, for the first time, we encounter the theme of the cruel stepmother. It has also been speculated that, being minute feet a sign of nobility and prestige in Chinese culture, this might have been the actual place of origin of the fairy tale.
In one version of the story written during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), the protagonist, Yeh Shen, is a girl of noble origins and a gifted potter. Orphaned first by her mother and then by her father, she has to live with her stepmother and stepsister who mistreat her.
Only an animal comes to her aid: a talking carp who turns out to be the reincarnation of her deceased mother. However, the stepmother, having become aware of the magical creature, captures the carp and eats it. The inconsolable Yeh Shen can do nothing but collect the bones of the fish and keep them inside four vases made by her.
However, her mother's ghost manages to appear to her in a dream and reveals to Yeh Shen that the bones she collected have a huge power since they can magically make gold and precious objects appear simply by expressing a wish. The girl thus uses the magical bones to create jewellery and clothing and waits appropriately attired for the New Year celebrations. Needless to say, a series of fortunate events unfold, leading to her losing a slipper that is eventually brought to the king, who decides to find the owner of the shoe…
Once Yeh Shen marries the king, a terrible fate awaits both her stepmother and stepsister, who are condemned to be buried alive. According to another version of the story, instead, the two women are forced to live together in seclusion and since they frequently go back and forth while quarrel, they end up digging a cave that will trap them forever.
What's really surprising is that some versions of Yeh Shen's story don't show a happy ending. After marrying the girl, the king discovers the magical powers of the carp's bones and begins to demand gold and jewels in large quantities until the magic runs out and his greed triggers a revolt in the kingdom. Paradoxically, the story doesn't report what happened to the protagonist after these events.
Cinderella the killer
In one of the first written European versions of the story, our heroine brings out her worst by engaging in actual criminal acts, including murder. In the Neapolitan fairy tale handed down by Basile and first published in 1636, Cinderella, unable to bear living with the stepmother, decides to kill her by dropping the lid of a large chest on the woman's head and decapitating her.
The young girl not only goes unpunished, passing off the murder as an accident, but also convinces her father to marry her beloved embroidery teacher. However, the latter turns out to be an even worse stepmother than the previous one.
Forced to spend her days working as a servant in her own home and considered a good-for-nothing idler by her father, Cinderella discovers she can speak to animals. A magical dove, in particular, teaches her powerful charms with which she can make clothes and jewellery appear and disappear. It's always her magical dove who informs her that her father, gone on a business trip, has bought gifts for all her stepsisters but not for her. Annoyed, she curses her father's ship with a powerful spell, causing it to be unable to leave the port... until her father provides her some special magical gifts...
In short, according to Basile's narration, Cinderella seems more a tricky, rebellious young girl than an example of virtue, being more akin to Pippi Longstocking than the Disney princess we all know. She climbs on the roofs like a cat, spies on people, sneaks out at night splendidly dressed. The king himself, intrigued by the mysterious woman, begins sending his servants to follow her in order to unmask her true identity... but she always manages to distract or corrupt them with gold and jewels... until she loses her slipper…
The final transformation
When Perrault decided to translate Basile's tale into French, not only was he responsible for the translation error that would forever make Cinderella's shoes so iconic, but he also purged the story of all its more mischievous and violent traits. As feminist critics have argued, a woman who was articulated and full of initiative was transformed into a passive creature who silently endures abuse…
After all, Perrault's aim was that of writing "stories with a moral", and a turbulent sneaky girl, capable of killing her stepmother, was not exactly an inspirational role model.
In later versions of the tale, such as those transcribed by the Grimm brothers, some gory and violent details of the original tale re-emerged, such as Cinderella's pigeons pecking out the eyes of the evil stepsisters. But, as for the rebellious and independent spirit of the protagonist, it seems to have been lost in the mists of time.
