Cinderella is one of the eldest known fairy tales. It's very likely the most popular one as well. The reason for its popularity is probably a sense of injustice and helplessness which each of us experienced at least a few times during our childhoods.

We can find hundreds of versions all around the globe, the eldest known at the moment comes from China from around 9th century.

Most of us probably know Cinderella in one of the versions based on Charles Perrault’s writings. He ‘invented’ a fairy helping poor Cinderella and famous glass slippers. Here are some more interesting facts:

1. Grimm’s version of Cinderella has golden slippers, but there are some other versions with fur slippers or slippers made from some kind of animal skin. Several other fairy tales impose great importance on footwear too.

2. Disney’s animated version of Cinderella from 1950 was a huge success and maybe saved the heavily indebted company who waited for a real profitable project since 1937 (Snow White) and invested amazing three million dollars in Cinderella. But on the other hand, we should know Disney and his relatives liked to dramatize about an importance of their projects for a very simple reason - it's good for propaganda.

3. If we want to read a really cruel version of Cinderella, we should check Basile’s Cenerentola where Cinderella (called Zezolla) killed her stepmother (because she wasn't very nice to her and a governess suggested to do that anyway) just to find out governess who helped her has plans on her own …

I bet you didn’t know all that!