A search for the "real" Cinderella might begin with the best-known version, Char las Perrault’s "Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper." Perrault’s effort found favor with the court of French King Louis XIV as did his other works, including "Blue Beard," "Puss and Boots," "Red Riding Hood," and "Sleeping Beauty." Perrault’s version has become indelibly imprinted upon our minds as the "real" Cinderella since the release of Walt Disney’s 1950 movie, Cinderella and the Little Glass-Slipper. These renditions are not folktales, but rather literary creations based loosely upon collections of folktales.

The German variant "Assenputtel" collected by the Grimm brothers is more representative of the folktale as found in central and western Europe. In this version, the stepmother and stepsisters mistreat Assenputtel, the Ash Girl. She plants a twig on her mother’s grave. The twig grows into a tree from which the heroine requests and receives gifts, including gold slippers. She attends a festival; the prince coats the stairs with pitch; Assenputtel’s shoe adheres. One sister cuts off her toe so her foot will fit into the shoe. The other sister cuts off her heel so her foot will fit into the shoe. Assenputtel’s foot fits perfectly into the shoe. She marries the prince. Pigeons blind the evil sisters.

There are earlier and varied versions of the tale in eastern Europe and Asia. Cinderella-like tales are cited in over 2000 sources. The Aarne and Thompson Type 510 A (folktale classification system) includes the five motifs in which the heroine: 1) suffers persecution, 2) receives magic help, 3) meets a prince, 4) provides proof of her identity, and 5) marries the prince.