The idea of being able to design and make your own shoes is almost the stuff of fairytales. It’s fitting that one of the most famous fairytales of them all has an exquisite pair of shoes at its core...
The idea of being able to design and make your own shoes is almost the stuff of fairytales. It’s fitting that one of the most famous fairytales of them all has an exquisite pair of shoes at its core: Cinderella. But the sanitised version of the Cinderella story we know today is quite unlike it was in its original form – and the original is much older than you might think.There are many variants of the “Cinderella” story worldwide, and the earliest known is the story of Rhodopis, a Greek slave girl who eventually married the Egyptian pharaoh; this was published in 7BC. The old Chinese version of the tale features a fish instead of a fairy godmother.The very first written European telling of this story dates back to 1634, when it was an Old Italian oral folk tale transcribed and published in Naples by Giambattista Basile in his work the Pentamerone. Written in the dialect of the Neapolitans, the original tale was based in Naples, an important cultural and political kingdom and one of Europe’s most influential capitals at that time. The original name “Cenerentola” means “ash” or “cinder”; servants of the time were always soiled with ash from their work and their accommodations in cold cellars where they’d get warm only by sleeping close to the fireplace.The story by Basile features a downtrodden orphaned princess, a wicked governess and her daughters, magical transformations at the hands of a fairy, a lost slipper, and a quest by a king to find the slipper’s rightful, owner. In this retelling, the shoe magically jumps onto the foot of the heroine when it comes into her presence.The story of Cinderella was later retold, by Frenchman Charles Perrault in 1697 in his “Tales of Mother Goose”, and most famously by the German Brothers Grimm in 1812. Perrault retold the story as “Cendrillon”, adding the pumpkin, the fairy godmother, and slippers of glass. The evil governess was now a stepmother, and the spells were much bigger. The stepsisters were apologetic and hence forgiven. The Brothers Grimm wrote their version, “Aschenputtel”, in 1812. The differences in this tale are significant:Cinderella is strong and pragmatic, and may be considered even to be a witch herselfThere is no fairy godmother, but a magical wishing tree on her mother’s graveThe ugly stepsisters cut off parts of their feet in their attempts to fit the shoeCinderella’s father is alive and not particularly loving or nurturingThe glass slipper is a golden shoe, which is left behind at the ball because the prince has smeared the palace steps with pitch to trap CinderellaThe Disney version of Cinderella we are most familiar with is closest to the Perrault retelling of the tale. The moral of the story? Beauty is to be treasured, but kindness and graciousness are beyond valuation. And when you make your own shoes, with or without the help of a fairy godmother, magic can happen!
