No, it’s not Disney. Neither are the Brothers Grimm. The story of Cinderella is much older and almost every nation has it. She is classified in the Arne-Thompson system as “the persecuted heroine.”
So, it’s the story of a beautiful but harassed girl who obeys her mean stepmother and stepsisters but later her fortune changes and she becomes a princess.
Of course, not every culture has named the protagonist as Cinderella . For example, in the Albanian culture there is the story of Hirushja; Askungen in Swedish; Unsgeljin in Mongolian; Zolushka in Russian; Pelenė in Lithuanian; Cendrillon in French; Aschenbrödel in German etc.
One of the oldest documented versions of the story appeared in China, around 860. In that version, Ye Xian is incredibly beautiful, kind and gentle girl, who is gifted in many skills such as pottery and poetry. She befriends a fish which embodies the spirit of her mother, but Ye Xian’s stepmother kills the fish.
Ye Xian saves the bones of the fish which are magical and create her a gown for the New Year Festival where she is recognized by her stepmother and stepsister. While running away from them, she loses her slipper. The king finds the slipper, falls in love with Ye Xian and saves her from the cruelty she lives in.
There are also few interesting versions of the story from Iran and the Middle East. One of them is titled as the “Maah Pishànih” which means “The Girl With The Moon On Her Forehead.” These versions have a different beginning of the story – Cinderella kills her mother so that her father could marry the Quran observer in the neighborhood. But her new stepmother is very cruel and her stepsister is stupid and mean.
She is harassed and lonely, so she befriends either a cow (her mother’s spirit/reincarnation), a fish (sent by her mother or Allah) or a 1000-year-old, underground female demon which becomes her helper. After working hard for her stepmother, she is rewarded with a moon- shaped jewel on her forehead (and a star on her chin or a long golden hair).
Then, one day, respectively to the culture, the Sultan, eventually the King, or the Emperor sees her face at a celebration .She escapes as she feels embarrassed (Islamic women should hide their face and stay reserved in front of men) but the King falls in love with her. The plot is pretty similar to the familiar story.
Also, there are some elements of the story that vary in the different versions and make it creepy and frightening. For example, Disney’s motion picture from 1950 is based on the Brothers Grimm version but the original Grimm’s story is bloodier than the movie.
In this version, Cinderella’s stepsisters cut off their toes so the golden slipper would fit their feet. Also, instead of a godmother, there is a wishing tree next to her mother’s grave.
Considering Cinderella’s father, in some versions, he stands with his wife (Cinderella’s stepmother) and humiliates his daughter.In other, he isn’t aware of the situation or he’s presented as being away on a trip or as deceased.
There are versions of the story where the stepmother doesn’t appear at all and Cinderella is harassed by her stepsisters. Sometimes the antagonist is rather a stepfather who oppresses her because he wants to enlarge the dowry of his daughters on account of Cinderella’s belongings.
Is “Cinderella” a story for children? Cinderella who kills her mother or Cinderella’s sisters who cut off their toes? What about Cinderella who is harassed by her stepfather because of obscure reasons? One thing is definitely sure- the world certainly has a vivid imagination and an interesting folklore.