Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26376853-20150508080139/@comment-4975807-20150630160701

Raelizflo wrote: I heard Cinderella was originally an Asian story. Why do you think it's about a Prince falling in love with a girl with tiny feet?

But racist white America in the 1950s would NEVER allow that... because it wouldn't be popular. Ah history... Cinderella is originally an Italian fairytale, but there is a Chinese variant of the Cinderella tale. In Chinese, the tale is called "Ye Xian", which is the name of the girl in the story. Ye Xian's father had two wives, and Ye Xian was born from one marriage, but her half-sister (Jun li) was born from another. Ye Xian is described as being very beautiful, kind and gifted in the arts such as pottery, while her half-sister is ugly and cruel. Ye Xian's mother died when she was a baby, and Jun li and her mother are often jealous of the attention Ye Xian gets from her father. I do not remember much else about the tale, but later Ye Xian's father dies of illness and Ye Xian later befriends a fish with golden eyes and scales who is a guardian sent by her deceased mother, but because Jun li discovers this, Jun li's mother has the fish killed and served for dinner. Then Ye Xian meets the spirit of an ancestor who tells her to talk to the fish's bones in order to be granted what her heart desires. Instead of a royal ball, it's the New Year's festival that Jun li and her mother go to because that was the time of year for a woman to meet a potential husband. And from making a wish to the fish's bones, Ye Xian gains a gown and slippers to attend the festival. I do remember part of the tale was that when the king found  Ye Xian's lost slipper, he was amazed at slipper's small size.