The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo

Summary

The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo is a story of a Greek girl who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in Egypt. Her name is Rhodopis. She did chores just like all of the other household servant girls but she was treated poorly because she didn't look Egyptian. She had green eyes and blond hair. Her master was old and slept often while they worked, so he never heard the other girls mistreat Rhodopis.  She made friends with the animals and she would dance when them when her chores were done. One day her master saw her dancing, he had never seen something so beautiful. He decided to buy something special for her, so he bought her a pair slippers that were gilded with rose-red gold. The other girls were jealous of Rhodopis because all they had on their feet were sandals made of papyrus. 

One day Rhodopis overheard the other girls talking about how they were going to sail for Memphis to see the Pharaoh because he was holding court for his subjects. Rhodopis wanted to go but she had chores to do. She had gotten her new shoes dirty and took them off to clean them when a falcon circled the sky above her. She said hello to him because falcons are the symbol of the god Horus. The falcon swooped down and stole one of Rhodopis' slippers. The falcon flew all the way to Memphis and waited until Amasis, the Pharaoh was starting to get bored and he dropped the slipper into his lap. Amasis had never seen such a beautiful slipper and he vowed to marry the woman this shoe belonged to. He traveled all over Egypt looking for the owner to the slipper he found. When he approached the other servant girls they knew immediately who it belonged to. They wanted to try it on anyway but their feet were too big. Amasis saw Rhodopis hiding in the reeds near the river and he called her forward. He had her try on the slipper and it fit her perfectly. He said there was none so fit to be a queen. The other girls were mad because she wasn't even Egyptian but the Pharaoh said "She is most Egyptian of all. For her eyes are as green as the Nile, her hair as feathery as papyrus, and her skin the pink of a lotus flower". And so, Amasis married Rhodopis and she became his queen.

Evaluation

The story of Rhodopis is one of the oldest Cinderella stories ever recorded. It was recorded by the Roman historian Strabo in the first century B.C. There was actually a Rhodopis who was born in Greece and kidnapped by pirates and made to be a slave in Egypt. She actually married the Pharaoh Amasis, but if there really was a golden slipper no one really knows. I enjoyed this story, it was so different from any other Cinderella I've read. The Pharaoh didn't even need to see Rhodopis to know he was going to marry her. This is such a different twist from most fairy tales. I think its great to teach children not to treat people badly and that it is possible to overcome adversity.