History Literature / Cinderella

''Cinderella'' is one of the oldest, best known, and most universal stories in the world. The oldest known version is the ancient Greek tale of Rhodopis, a ''hetaira'' or courtesan who, according to a legend first recorded in the 1st century B.C., married the Pharaoh of Egypt.

The quintessential RagsToRoyalty story, the best known versions in the western world are based on the one written by Creator/CharlesPerrault in the 17th century (full text [[https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault06.html here]]). If, on hearing the name Cinderella, you think of fairy godmothers, glass slippers, and a pumpkin turned into a coach, you're thinking of Perrault. In 1950, Franchise/{{Disney|AnimatedCanon}}'s ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'' adapted Perrault's story into a movie, cementing it in people's minds as '''the''' story of Cinderella. Unless, of course, you're Czech, Slovak, German or Norwegian, in which case you're probably thinking of [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070832/ the 1973 Czech/German ''Three Wishes for Cinderella'']], notably lacking in pumpkins, glass footwear, and godmothers of any extraction, instead featuring hazelnuts.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_magic_of_cinderella.jpg]]

In 1957, Creator/RodgersAndHammerstein adapted it into a [[Film/{{Cinderella}} musical for a television broadcast,]] starring Broadway royalty Howard Lindsay and Dorothy Stickney, Edie Adams, Kaye Ballard and Creator/AliceGhostley (as the King and Queen, Fairy Godmother, and stepsisters, respectively) and Jon Cypher (of ''Series/HillStreetBlues'' fame) as the Prince. One particular young lady took a week off from her starring role in [[Theatre/MyFairLady the most popular play on Broadway at the time]] to play Cinderella - Creator/JulieAndrews in her on-camera debut.

** Disney's own version didn't have the stepfamily punished, although the sequels elaborated on their fate. The 2015 remake had Ella forgive her two stepsisters after they apologise, but the narration said the family was banished from the kingdom.

* TwiceToldTale: Tellings and retellings [[FracturedFairyTale and parodies]] are limitless. As well, variants of the tale have been recorded in a wide array of cultures throughout history, going all the way back to Ancient Egypt and China as well as Europe and North America. The appeal of the story is pretty much universal.

The bare bones of the story are as follows: A young noblewoman's mother dies and her father remarries a woman with daughters of her own, then disappears. The girl's new step-family turns out to be cruel and vindictive, and mistreat her by making her work as a servant. This usually gives rise to a mocking nickname to do with her dirtyness (in English, Cinderella, or Cinder-girl, covered in fireplace cinders). When the local prince holds a kingdom-wide ball, they refuse to let her attend, but she calls on a spirit helper (usually representative of her dead mother) who takes pity on her and outfits her for the ball, allowing her to outshine everyone present and win the heart of the prince. There is, however, a limit to the spirit's help: Cinderella must return by midnight. On the second night of the ball, the prince contrives to keep her past her curfew, and in her rush to get away, she loses one of her slippers. The prince uses the lost slipper to track her down, and, once reunited, they marry. The vindictive step-family may or may not be punished, depending on the variation.