The Original Cinderella Story: Grimm, Perrault and the 1,000-Year-Old Versions

There is no single "original" Cinderella story. The version most people know, with a fairy godmother, a pumpkin coach and glass slippers, comes from Charles Perrault's Cendrillon (1697). The darker version, where the stepsisters cut off parts of their feet and birds peck out their eyes, comes from the Brothers Grimm's Aschenputtel (1812). And the oldest written Cinderella we know of is Chinese: the story of Ye Xian, recorded around the 9th century.

This guide walks through each major version so you can see how the tale changed and why the Grimm ending is so violent.

The Oldest Cinderella: Ye Xian (China, 9th Century)

The story of Ye Xian was written down by Duan Chengshi in a collection of miscellaneous tales from the Tang dynasty. Ye Xian is mistreated by her stepmother after her father dies. Her only friend is a magical golden-eyed fish. The stepmother kills and eats the fish, but Ye Xian saves its bones, which grant her wishes. She attends a festival in a cloak of kingfisher feathers and golden shoes, loses one shoe, and a king searches the land for the woman whose foot fits it.

The stepmother and stepsister are later killed by flying stones. Notice the core elements are already here: a dead parent, a cruel stepfamily, a magical helper connected to the lost mother, a festival, a lost shoe and a royal search.

The Greek historian Strabo also recorded a story about Rhodopis, a woman whose sandal is carried off by an eagle and dropped in the lap of an Egyptian king, who then searches for its owner. It is less a full Cinderella plot than an early "lost shoe" motif.

Basile's "The Cat Cinderella" (Italy, 1634)

Giambattista Basile's Pentamerone includes "La Gatta Cenerentola." Its heroine, Zezolla, is no passive victim: on the advice of her governess, she kills her first stepmother by slamming a chest lid on her neck. The governess then marries Zezolla's father and promptly turns cruel too. Zezolla receives magic from a date tree planted with help from a fairy, attends three feasts, and loses a slipper (a pianella, a kind of raised shoe) on the last night.

Perrault's "Cendrillon" (France, 1697)

Perrault's version introduced most of the details pop culture now treats as essential:

• The fairy godmother
• The pumpkin turned into a coach, mice into horses, a rat into a coachman
• The midnight deadline
• The glass slipper

Perrault's Cinderella is gentle and forgiving. At the end, she brings her stepsisters to live at the palace and marries them to lords. Perrault closes with a light, ironic moral: beauty is valuable, but graciousness is worth more, and good connections (like a godmother) don't hurt.

Was the slipper really glass?

A popular theory says Perrault meant vair (squirrel fur) and that verre (glass) was a mistake. Most scholars reject this. Perrault wrote verre, glass suits the fairy-tale logic of an impossible, perfectly fitted object, and the "fur" claim seems to have started with nineteenth-century writers, including Balzac.

The Grimm Version: "Aschenputtel" (Germany, 1812)

The Grimm story is where the famous gore comes from.

No fairy godmother, but a tree and birds

Aschenputtel's dying mother tells her to stay pious and good. The girl plants a hazel twig on her mother's grave and waters it with tears until it grows into a tree. A white bird in the tree grants her wishes. This is a powerful image: her magic comes directly from her mother's memory, not from a stranger.

Three nights, golden slippers

There is no single ball but a three-day festival. Each night Aschenputtel receives a finer dress and escapes before the prince can follow. On the third night, the prince has the palace stairs smeared with pitch, and her golden slipper sticks.

The stepsisters cut their feet

When the prince arrives with the slipper:

• The first stepsister cuts off her big toe on her mother's advice. "When you are queen you won't need to walk," the mother says.
• The second cuts off part of her heel.

Each time, the prince rides off with the wrong bride until two doves in the hazel tree call out that there is blood in the shoe. Finally Aschenputtel tries it on and it fits.

The birds take their eyes

At the wedding, the stepsisters walk beside the bride hoping to win favor. The doves peck out one eye from each sister on the way into the church and the other eye on the way out. The Grimms frame it as punishment for "wickedness and falseness."

Cinderella Versions Compared

Why Is Cinderella Everywhere?

Folklorists classify the tale as ATU 510A. Hundreds of variants have been recorded worldwide; Marian Roalfe Cox's 1893 study catalogued 345 of them. The story survives because its emotional core is universal: grief for a lost parent, unfairness at home, being unseen, and finally being recognized for who you are.

The lost shoe matters because it is a test that cannot be faked. You can wear a borrowed dress, but you cannot borrow a foot, which is exactly why the Grimm stepsisters' self-mutilation is so horrifying. They try to force a fit that is not theirs.

If you enjoy modern takes on the tale, see our list of the best fairy tale retellings, and for the history of the most famous stepfamily in literature, read why stepmothers are always evil in fairy tales.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the oldest Cinderella story?

The oldest known written version is the Chinese tale of Ye Xian, recorded by Duan Chengshi in the 9th century during the Tang dynasty.

Who added the fairy godmother and glass slipper?

Charles Perrault, in his 1697 tale Cendrillon. Earlier versions used trees, birds or animals as the magical helper.

Do the stepsisters really cut off their feet?

Yes, in the Brothers Grimm's Aschenputtel. One cuts off her toe and the other her heel so the golden slipper will fit.

What happens to the stepsisters in the Grimm version?

Doves peck out their eyes at Cinderella's wedding, blinding them as punishment.

Is Cinderella's slipper fur or glass?

Perrault wrote "glass." The theory that he meant squirrel fur (vair) is widely rejected by scholars.