by Alice Grey

Created on: September 15, 2008   Last Updated: November 22, 2008

Cinderella is arguably one of the most popular of all the Classic Fairy Tale narratives. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to find a young woman who has not, at some point in their girlhood, dreamed of being the 'Cinderella' figure - the Belle-of-the ball that is swept off her feet by a Handsome Stranger and ferreted off to his Castle to live 'happily ever after'. Most girls today know not only the literary story but own the video-cassette, DVD, Barbie doll, Halloween outfit and a myriad other commodity products. Indeed, how many of us as adult women have not at some point invoked the services of a 'fairy-godmother' or held back on committing to a perfectly good relationship because we were waiting for our 'Handsome Prince'; our own feel-good-movie'?

As rooted in our childhood memories and cultural make-up as the 'Cinderella' narrative is, we do not hold the copyright to the tale. Multiple variations of the tale exist; the earliest recorded version dating as far back as the C9th AD. Transcribed in China by Tuan Ch'eng Shih, this C9th version records the story of a young girl named Yeh-Hsien. She is described as being intelligent, clever and hardworking but after loosing both her parents she finds herself alone in the care of her father's co-wife who not only mistreats her but also denies her food, drink and warmth. As a consequence, Yeh-Hsien befriends a magical fish that appears to her in the household pond. Enraged that Yeh-Hsien has found a source of comfort and companionship her Step-mother kills the fish. Yeh-Hsien is not thwarted though and secretly retrieves the bones from the magical fish hiding them in her room. Even in death the fish continues to help Yeh-Hsien and when she is forced to stay at home on a festival day the magical bones provide her with a cloak made from Kingfisher feathers and a set of tiny golden slippers. It is important to remember at this point that tiny feet were highly sought after in China as a sign of nobility - right up until the practice of foot binding was abolished in the early C20th. This gives us a context from which we see the tiny glass slipper derived and with it the idea of a certain kind of ideal beauty. A beauty that in its antithesis to the 'working-girl' form of the Cinderella figure suggests a lack of social worth or beauty inherent in the working class woman.

On leaving the festival Yeh-Hsien loses one of her golden shoes which is subsequently picked up and sold to a warlord. A massive search begins to find the

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