Scholars often contend that there is only one story that has ever been told and that all of our epics, sonnets, tabloids, novels, and fairytales are simply a variation on this single theme, which is the story of the quest. While one might argue that such reductionism is a little extreme. this quest story - that is, the story of something that has been lost and must be found and of the dangers and difficulties faced by the one who is on the quest - is arguably a fundamental element of all of the most successful and long-running tales. Fairytales must be counted among such successful stories, for while we might be inclined to dismiss them as merely kidstuff, as something that we once listened to but forgot long before puberty, fairytales are in fact important elements of our culture. Fairytales are one of the most significant and effective tools that parents have in passing on the values of a society to the next generation, and so if we wish to understand the central values of a culture we should never ignore the stories that parents tell to their children and the specific types of quests engaged in those tales (Propp 41).
The story of Cinderella - which has versions in scores of cultures and languages and historical periods - is what might well be considered a "perfect" fairytale; its widespread popularity across so many different cultures suggests that this is indeed the case. This popularity with both children and adults (for if it were not popular with adults as well they would not repeat it to their own children) suggests that the "work" that is done by the story of Cinderella (for stories can accomplish the work of cultural transmission just as can sermons, paintings, and public floggings) is one that is important to many societies.
There are hundreds of versions of this fairytale that have been recorded from across the globe as well as across thousands of years of history:
Cinderella is one of the most recognized stories ...