From my book, Cinderella Tales From Around the World
:This tale, part of Jewish tradition and often included in Biblical apocryphas, may seem one of the least likely Cinderellas in this collection. However, Graham Anderson discusses the Cinderella links to the story in his Fairytale in the Ancient World
If accepted as a Cinderella tale, it is also one of the earliest versions recorded with scholars estimating its first appearance most likely in Egypt between the 1st century BC/BCE and early 2nd century AD/CE.
As a result of Anderson's compelling arguments, the apocryphal version of Asenath and Joseph is included in my book. You can also read more about Asenath on Wikipedia which will refer you to other resources to read her many stories.
Read them all. And then you decide! Is Asenath a Cinderella?
Huh. The only version of Asenath's story I'd heard was that she was Dinah's child with Shechem and was taken by an eagle to Egypt, where the necklace identified her as being from the house of Jacob (all of which was necessary so as to make sure Joseph didn't marry an Egyptian). That she was persecuted or had help from a magical helper is completely new to me.
ReplyDeleteThen again, I've never read the apocryphal version of the story. Or even the version in Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer, which I think is where it's from. I just remember what my 4th grade teacher told us (it was a Jewish private school, which is why we were talking about this). I think a lot of why I remember it is because it seemed so odd at the time, truth be told.