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This
Ancient Egyptian version of Cinderella is considered
the oldest version of the story, recorded by the Roman
historian Strabo in the first century BC.
Long
ago in the Ancient land of Egypt were the green water of the Nile River flows
into the blue water of the Mediterranean Sea lived a young maiden named Rhodopis.
She born in Greece but had been kidnapped by pirates and carried to Egypt where she was sold into slavery. Her owner
was a kind old man and because he spent most of his time sleeping under a tree
sleeping he never saw
how the other servant girls in the house taunted and teased Rhodopis because she looked
different to them. Their hair was straight and black
while hers was golden and curly. They had brown eyes and hers were green. Their
skin had the glow of copper, but she had pale skin that burnt easily in the sun
so they called her Rosy Rhodopis. They made her work hard, shouting at
her all day, "Go to the river and wash the clothes. Mend my robe. Chase the geese from the
garden. Bake the bread."
She had no
human friends only the animals. She trained the birds to eat from
her hand, a monkey to sit on her shoulder, and an old hippopotamus would slide
up, out of the mud, onto the bank to be closer to her. At the end of each day, if she
wasn't too tired, she would go down to the river to be with her animal friends
and if she had any energy left from the hard day's work she would sing and dance
for them.
One
evening as she was dancing, twirling around lighter than air with her feet
barely touching the ground, the old man woke from his sleep and watched as she
danced. He admired her dancing and decided that one so talented should not be
without shoes. He ordered her a special pair of slippers. The shoes were gilded
with rose-red gold and the soles were leather. Now the other servant girls could
really hate her for they were jealous of her beautiful slippers.
One
day, word
arrived that the Pharaoh was holding court in Memphis and all in the kingdom
were invited. Oh how Rhodopis wanted to go with the other servant girls, for she knew there
would be dancing, singing, and lots of wonderful food. As the other servant girls
prepared to leave in their finest clothes they turned to her and gave her more
chores to be sompleted before they returned. They poled their raft away leaving a sad girl
on the bank. As she began to wash the clothes in the river she sang a sad little
song--"wash the linen, weed the garden, grind the grain." The
hippopotamus grew tired of this little song and splashed back into the river.
The splashing of the water wet her slippers. She quickly grabbed them up, wiped
them off and placed them in the sun to dry. As she was continuing with her chores
the sky darkened and when she looked up she saw a falcon sweep down, snatch one of
her slippers, and fly away. Rhodopis was in awe for she knew it was the god
Horus who had taken her shoe. Rhodopis, now with only one slipper, put it away in
her tunic.
Now
the Pharaoh, Amasis, Pharaoh of upper and lower Egypt was sitting on his throne
looking out over the people and feeling very bored. He much preferred to be
riding across the desert in his chariot. Suddenly a falcon swooped down and
dropped a rose-red golden slipper in his lap. Surprised, but knowing that this was a
sign from the god Horus, he sent out a decree that all maidens in Egypt must try
on the slipper, and the owner of the slipper would be his queen. By the time the
servant girls arrived the celebrations had ended and the Pharaoh had left by
chariot in search of the owner of the golden slipper.
After searching on land
and not finding the owner he called for his barge and began to travel the Nile
pulling into every landing so that maidens could try on the slipper. As the barge
rounded the bend in front of the home of Rhodopis everyone heard the sounds of the
gong, the trumpets blaring, and saw the purple silk sails. The servant girls ran
to the landing to try on the shoe while Rhodopis hid in the rushes. When the servant
girls saw the shoe they recognized it as Rhodopis' slipper but they said
nothing and still tried to force their feet into the slipper. The Pharaoh spied
Rhodopis hiding in the rushes and asked her to try on the slipper. She slid her tiny
foot into the slipper and then pulled the other from her tunic. The Pharaoh
pronounced that she would be his queen. The servant girls cried out that she was
a slave and not even Egyptian. The Pharaoh responded with "She is the most
Egyptian of all...for her eyes are as green as the Nile, her fair as feathery as
papyrus, and her skin the pink of a lotus flower."
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