Yeh-Shen : A Cinderella Story From China

Synopsis

Yeh-shen is a Chinese Fairy Tale known to be one of the oldest variations of "Cinderella". The story first appears during the 9th Century in Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang. Ye Xian (or Yeh-Shen) is the daughter of a scholar with two wives, when her mother and then her father die from a local plague, Ye Xian is forced to become a lowly servant and work for her father's other wife (Ye Xian's stepmother) and her half-sister. She is soon overjoyed to find her mother reincarnated as a large fish in a nearby lake watching over her, though learning of this the stepmother has the fish captured and served to herself and her own daughter. Ye Xian collects the bones and is told by a spirit to place them at each foot of her bed, and she will be granted wishes if she requests them of the bones. Soon the Spring Festival begins, and Ye Xian is told to stay and clean by her stepmother. A spirit, however, tells her where to discover some clothes to wear to the festival. She goes to the festival and enjoys herself until she needs to leave to avoid discovery by her stepmother. She leaves behind a golden slipper which is discovered by a King who resolves to discover the owner. He eventually does so taking her as his wife to her joy, and leaving the stepmother and daughter behind.