In this really nifty educational site about the Origins of Writing, there’s an essay on the evolution of the Cinderella story. You are probably aware of variations on the Cinderella story from various sources, fairy tale books, Disney, opera, it was also used in the Broadway musical “Into the Woods”. One study examined the passing of the story between geographical areas by comparing the different versions in various cultures. The researcher concluded that folktales did not necessary travel between areas through merchants and travelers, but “through a very slow and systematic diffusion from culture to culture.” The story we know as Cinderella was adapted to each culture, to teach morals and values, some of which were the same from place to place, some of which were a little different. And as the tale became a written one, we lost the cultural shifts from oral storytelling. But there are still variations on the theme. And now we can record them all with a variety of media. (via xBlog)

Note: if you are looking for a huge, mind-boggling variety of Cinderella stories, take a look at Shen’s Books (run by my friend Renee). Shen’s specializes in multicultural children’s books and they have Cinderellas from every culture and lifestyle you can imagine (even a penguin!).