Cinderella in Other Cultures
Today we are living in multi-cultural world, and it is important for us to gain an understanding of other cultures. Studying well known stories in other countries and cultures and comparing it with our own is a great way to learn about how their people lived during ancient times, as well as their beliefs, dreams and wishes. Cinderella is a great story to do this because of the large variants of the story. Bellow are two versions; it is important to recognise that there is an endless amount of Cinderella stories in just about every country.
Yeh-Shen: Chinese Version
The Chinese version of Cinderella tells the story of a young lady, named Yeh-Shen who’s chief father died, as well as her mother, forcing her to be raised by her step mother. Like Cinderella, Yeh-Shen found friends with animals, but she was best friends with a beautiful fish, who she shared the little food she received with. After finding out about the fish, the step mother killed it, and cooked it for dinner. Yeh-Shen was devastated, but later learnt the fish’s bones were magic. As an alternative to attending a ball, Yeh-Shen wished to attend a spring festival, but was disallowed but the step mother. So, she asked the fish bones for a dress, and a “beautiful gown of azure blue with a cloak of king fisher draped around her shoulder”, and shoes made of gold, threaded into a fish scale pattern. Having losing one slipper, it is soon handed to the king, who searches for the owner, only to find his future wife Yeh-Shen. Similar to the Grimm’s version, the storey ends violently, with the step sister and step mother being crushed to death in a shower of flying tones.
It is important to note the culture references throughout the tale, for example, Yeh-Shen’s ball gown is made of kingfisher feathers. As an alternative the ball, Yeh-Shen heads to a festival, and her father is a Chief with two wives. Therefore, it is very reflective of their cultures. There is also a fish theme evident, |
Rhodopis: Egyptian version
In the Egyptian version, Cinderella is known as Rhodopis. Rhodopis does not have a mother or father, but rather is kidnapped by pirates and then teased by fellow house-girl servants. Similar to Grimm's and Disney's version, Rhodopis finds friendships with animals. Her master quite likes Rhodopis, and decides to give her a pair of red-rose gold slippers. One afternoon, the pharaoh held a court, but Rhodopis was not allowed to go, for she had jobs to do. It was the Egyptian God Horus as a falcon who took Rhodopis' shoes. He dropped the one shoe into the hands of the pharaoh, who took this as a sign and searched for his future wife.
There's an exhausting amount of Cinderella tales from other countries and cultures. A list, and links to the stories are included on the following website:
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/other.html
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