The oldest known Cinderella story

[Fluffsy]

Fairytales were originally made up to scare naughty children into listening to their mothers.

[AndreaHarper]

Yanueh

AndreaHarper

I remember that one. There's another from a similar era (either a century before or after, though I honestly don't remember which direction) from Korea. Don't ask me where to find it online, though. I read it in a collection of cinderella-type stories meant for linguists (which is what I'm majoring in) and anthropologists at school.

No doubt these stories traveled along the Silk Road about that time, either to or from Alexandria, and from Alexandria to everywhere else.

The Internets says that the Egyptian version is the oldest known Cinderella story, so my guess is that the story left Alexandria for pretty much everywhere else.

This is probably true, to some extent, but stories like this are arranged by when they were recorded, not actually invented. And Korea wasn't really a part of the silk trade, at all. So the Egyptian version might be the oldest recorded, maybe, but the Mayan version (it's got a male protagonist, if I remember correctly) was first recorded in the 15th century (I think?), placing it well after more accessible area's versions, even though it surely wasn't invented just then. There are other bits of evidence (the New World has something like a dozen versions on it's own, and they had no contact with the Old World until centuries after the Silk Road was no longer the main trade route.)

[Yanueh]

Fluffsy

Fairytales were originally made up to scare naughty children into listening to their mothers.

Some were, but many are simply coming-of-age stories with fantastic elements, or just carry a moral message without threatening horrible consequences. Some are just whimsical and silly.

[Yanueh]

AndreaHarper

This is probably true, to some extent, but stories like this are arranged by when they were recorded, not actually invented. And Korea wasn't really a part of the silk trade, at all.

Korea and China weren't exactly isolated from each other though, so it's possible it initially traveled along the Silk Road, then kept on going through other means.

Quote:

So the Egyptian version might be the oldest recorded, maybe, but the Mayan version (it's got a male protagonist, if I remember correctly) was first recorded in the 15th century (I think?), placing it well after more accessible area's versions, even though it surely wasn't invented just then. There are other bits of evidence (the New World has something like a dozen versions on it's own, and they had no contact with the Old World until centuries after the Silk Road was no longer the main trade route.)

Do we know for certain whether they had it before Europeans came along? Because there have been a few cases where people (eg, the Dogon) picked up things from explorers and missionaries, only for other people to later mistake it for actual ancient lore.

[Mahrahia]

Cinderella stories are so popular in Spanish soap operas.

[Cat Paluc]

That's a really interesting version of the story children know so well. It could easily be made into a children's book.

[Xx-YourSinfulPleasure-xX]

the story seems interesting.

[devil in disguise 05]

I love this version ^_^ Thanks for posting it.

[Ivy Petrel]

There's just one thing i don't understand though. if she's supposed to be Greek, how would she know the god Horus?

[merrie]

Yeah, the real ones are super creepy- especially the Brother's Grimm verison. That was like wow.

[AndreaHarper]

Yanueh"Do we know for certain whether they had it before Europeans came along? Because there have been a few cases where people (eg, the Dogon) picked up things from explorers and missionaries, only for other people to later mistake it for actual ancient lore.[/quote]

Yes, for several reasons, some of which are language based and therefore not going to make sense (unless you actually want to get into the adaptation of foreign words into a language). The important reason is that there are too many differences for just a simple trade.

The differences between Le petit chapon rouge and what we know as Little Red Riding Hood are there but minimal, because it was a story that moved from Germany to France, and as such pulled from location and language. Because it was a French person trying to tell a German story in such a way as to get the meaning across, but not coming up with the story in the first place, the details are the same: wolf, red cape, little girl, forest, etc., in addition to the overall themes for that archetype.

On the other hand, the South American story of the sleeping girl and the European Sleeping Beauty have only the very barest handful of things in common, (there's a girl, a curse, and true love involved in both, but the former involves two people getting turned into mountains, several blood-thirsty gods, human sacrifice and chocolate, and the latter involves a princess, some guy she's never met, annoyed fairies, gold plates, and a bunch of rose bushes), enough to get them categorized as the same archetype, but no more.

(This does make sense, ri

oap34m6g:0="Yanueh"Do we know for certain whether they had it before Europeans came along? Because there have been a few cases where people (eg, the Dogon) picked up things from explorers and missionaries, only for other people to later mistake it for actual ancient lore.[/quote]

Yes, for several reasons, some of which are language based and therefore not going to make sense (unless you actually want to get into the adaptation of foreign words into a language). The important reason is that there are too many differences for just a simple trade.

The differences between Le petit chapon rouge and what we know as Little Red Riding Hood are there but minimal, because it was a story that moved from Germany to France, and as such pulled from location and language. Because it was a French person trying to tell a German story in such a way as to get the meaning across, but not coming up with the story in the first place, the details are the same: wolf, red cape, little girl, forest, etc., in addition to the overall themes for that archetype.

On the other hand, the South American story of the sleeping girl and the European Sleeping Beauty have only the very barest handful of things in common, (there's a girl, a curse, and true love involved in both, but the former involves two people getting turned into mountains, several blood-thirsty gods, human sacrifice and chocolate, and the latter involves a princess, some guy she's never met, annoyed fairies, gold plates, and a bunch of rose bushes), enough to get them categorized as the same archetype, but no more.

(This does make sense, right?)

[Kylie Colours]

Ivy Petrel

There's just one thing i don't understand though. if she's supposed to be Greek, how would she know the god Horus?

Because she is living immersed in the Egyptian culture.

[CaityTrina]

I knew this, I was looking for the original of all fairytales a while ago :3

[Pikachufreak22]

Yanueh

It's from ancient Egypt.

Oh! How cool! I only know of the one outside Disney's version, it starred Drew Barrymore as Danielle DeBarbarac. I'm gonna have to link that story on my dA page.

[Yanueh]

CaityTrina

I knew this, I was looking for the original of all fairytales a while ago :3

Aside from fairytales with known authors (eg, Hans Christian Andersen), we'll probably never be able to find the "original" fairytales, because most of them originated long before the people who told them could read or write.