Rossini's story of Cinderella is very different from the Disney version, the one best known to American children today. There is no fairy godmother, no pumpkin coach, not even glass slippers. In fact it is not even a fairy tale but a comedy of manners written for adults. However, neither is Disney's like most of the over 700 known versions of the story. The Cinderella story and its history have been studied more than almost any other work.
The oldest true Cinderella story comes from the China of 850-860 A.D.
Cinderella is known as Zezolla in Italy, Yeh –hsien in China, and Rashin Coatie in Scotland.
In the Chinese version, there is no fairy godmother. Instead, Yeh-hsien receives her nice clothes by praying to the bones of her dead pet fish. In the Italian version, Zezolla gets her clothes from a magic tree and she actually kills her stepmother. In the Scottish version, Rashin Coatie kills her evil sister with an axe to rescue her pet cow. The cow then provides her with her nice clothes.
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