Title: The Egyptian Cinderella
Author: Climo, Shirley
Illustrator: Heller, Ruth
Publisher and Date: Crowell Books, 1989
Genre: Picture Book, Multicultural, Traditional Tale
Age Range: K-5th
Summary:
Rhodopis is a young slave girl in the land of Egypt. She is noticeably different from the other servant girls (she has green eyes, light hair, and rosy sun kissed skin, while the Egyptian servant girls have brown eyes, dark hair, and copper skin.) and often gets teased and left out. They would often make her do their chores when their master wasn’t watching. The only solace Rhodopis found was in her animal friends and dancing. She would often dance after her daily chores were through, her feet moving across the earth as nimbly as a goddess. One day her master caught sight of her dancing, and to reward her for her beautiful dance he gave her a pair of rose red slippers. This made the other servant girls even more jealous of Rhodopis and they piled so many chores on her that she often felt too tired to dance. One especially cruel thing that her fellow servants did was to exclude from going to meet the Pharaoh. While she is doing her chores, however, a falcon comes and snatches one of her slippers away and delivers it to the Pharaoh. Believing it is the will of the gods that he marries the girl that the slipper fits; he sets out to find her. When he finally arrives at Rhodopis’ house, she hides in the reeds. Pharaoh spots her and makes her try on the slipper and it fits! She then produces the other shoe to match! When the other servant girls cruelly exclaim that she is not even Egyptian, the Pharaoh kindly says that her eyes are green like the Nile, her hair is feathery like papyrus, and her skin is pink like a lotus flower. Her physical beauty reflects the beauty of Egypt!
Response and Teaching Ideas:
I absolutely loved reading all the different versions of the Cinderella .I would love to read as many versions as possible so that I can introduce them all in my classroom someday. I think it is important for students from other cultures to see that their culture is being represented in the classroom. These Cinderella stories would be a great way to do so. One thing that struck me as different in this story is that Rhodopis is teased and treated cruelly by her fellow servant girls not stepsisters or a stepmother. Also, there is no magical element to this story. No fairy godmother or magical fish bones are there to save the day. The story does have elements similar to other Cinderella tales however. She is sought by a royal man to try on a shoe so that he can marry her. This story also, thankfully, has a happy ending like most Cinderella versions. I would love for my students to explore this and other versions of Cinderella and create a creative Venn diagram and an I-POEM. I think that both of these activities help students think critically about what they are reading and make each book more memorable. Be sure to check out the Egyptian Cinderella and other great Cinderella tales!
Author: Climo, Shirley
Illustrator: Heller, Ruth
Publisher and Date: Crowell Books, 1989
Genre: Picture Book, Multicultural, Traditional Tale
Age Range: K-5th
Summary:
Rhodopis is a young slave girl in the land of Egypt. She is noticeably different from the other servant girls (she has green eyes, light hair, and rosy sun kissed skin, while the Egyptian servant girls have brown eyes, dark hair, and copper skin.) and often gets teased and left out. They would often make her do their chores when their master wasn’t watching. The only solace Rhodopis found was in her animal friends and dancing. She would often dance after her daily chores were through, her feet moving across the earth as nimbly as a goddess. One day her master caught sight of her dancing, and to reward her for her beautiful dance he gave her a pair of rose red slippers. This made the other servant girls even more jealous of Rhodopis and they piled so many chores on her that she often felt too tired to dance. One especially cruel thing that her fellow servants did was to exclude from going to meet the Pharaoh. While she is doing her chores, however, a falcon comes and snatches one of her slippers away and delivers it to the Pharaoh. Believing it is the will of the gods that he marries the girl that the slipper fits; he sets out to find her. When he finally arrives at Rhodopis’ house, she hides in the reeds. Pharaoh spots her and makes her try on the slipper and it fits! She then produces the other shoe to match! When the other servant girls cruelly exclaim that she is not even Egyptian, the Pharaoh kindly says that her eyes are green like the Nile, her hair is feathery like papyrus, and her skin is pink like a lotus flower. Her physical beauty reflects the beauty of Egypt!
Response and Teaching Ideas:
I absolutely loved reading all the different versions of the Cinderella .I would love to read as many versions as possible so that I can introduce them all in my classroom someday. I think it is important for students from other cultures to see that their culture is being represented in the classroom. These Cinderella stories would be a great way to do so. One thing that struck me as different in this story is that Rhodopis is teased and treated cruelly by her fellow servant girls not stepsisters or a stepmother. Also, there is no magical element to this story. No fairy godmother or magical fish bones are there to save the day. The story does have elements similar to other Cinderella tales however. She is sought by a royal man to try on a shoe so that he can marry her. This story also, thankfully, has a happy ending like most Cinderella versions. I would love for my students to explore this and other versions of Cinderella and create a creative Venn diagram and an I-POEM. I think that both of these activities help students think critically about what they are reading and make each book more memorable. Be sure to check out the Egyptian Cinderella and other great Cinderella tales!
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