Childrens Book Review of The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo: Rhodopis and Her Pharaoh Amasis

The name Rhodopis calls up images of a blonde-haired, green-eyed beauty whose pale skin reddens the Mediterranean’s bright sunlight. It simultaneously describes ancient Egypt’s original Cinderella, as:

• A child kidnapped -- from northern Greece or Thrace -- by pirates;
• A friend of Aesop the fable-teller on Samos;
• The recipient in a Nile River villa at Naucratis of slippers rose-reddened by iron being mixed into gold.

Rhodopis’s story establishes her:

• Animal domestication achievements;
• Graceful dance performances;
• Impressive interpersonal skills;
• Industrious work ethic.

The above-mentioned attributes explain Rhodopis’s being contracted prestigiously to:

• Iadmon, Aesop’s master and richest east Aegean Sea island landowner;
• Charaxus, brother of lyric poet Sappho (640? – 570? B.C.E.) of the northeast Aegean Sea island of Lesbos.

Pharaoh Amasis becomes aware of Rhodopis’s existence during a visit to Memphis. He dons the ear-pinching, heavy-weighted, red-and-white crown of the Two Egypts. He endures a meet-and-greet while serving as supreme justice to his people’s complaints. A bird concurrently interrupts Rhodopis’s admiration of slippers gifted by Charaxus. The avian identity traditionally is given as an eagle (Accipitridae family) although a lanner (Falco biarmicus) or peregrine (Falco peregrinus) falcon  -- as the animal manifestation of Horus, god of the reigning pharaoh and of the skies -- may be a possibility with a more explainable, understandable impact upon Amasis’s subsequent decision-making. Whatever the genus, the raptor leaves with one of Rhodopis’s slippers, which then is dropped far away into Amasis’s lap.  

Generations of fable-lovers applaud a bird’s successful matchmaking -- vectored by a dainty, exquisite slipper -- of a powerful pharaoh with a powerless beauty of:

• Lotus-pink skin;
• Nile-green eyes;
• Papyrus-colored hair.

First-time witnesses of the story of Rhodopis and her pharaoh benefit from the user-friendly format of the tale’s telling in The Egyptian Cinderella. The “must-have” modern retelling’s comfortable style and convenient applicability honor the inputs of:

• Shirley Climo, as author;
• Ruth Heller, as full-color artist;
• HarperCollins, as publisher.

It is printed in the United States of America, with an original publishing date of 1989. It offers parents of four- to eight-year-olds and teachers of preschoolers to third-graders ample opportunities for:

• Cultural enrichment;
• Educational entertainment;
• Historical exposures.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

"The beautiful Rhodope in love with Aesop": engraving by Francesco Bartolozzi (September 21, 1727 – March 7, 1815) after painting by Angelica Kauffmann (October 30, 1741 – November 5, 1807)

private collection of engravings, Saint Petersburg, northwestern Russia: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Kauffman_Esop_and_Rodope.jpg

Rhodopis received rose-reddened slippers at a villa at Naucratis.
The ancient Egyptian city and trading post was located on the Nile River's Canopic (westernmost) branch in Lower Egypt's western Nile Delta.
locator map of Naucratis and the Nile Delta: ChrisO~enwiki (Prioryman), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nile_Delta_-_Naucratis.png

fragmentary statue head of Pharaoh Amasis: real-life pharaoh of "The Egyptian Cinderella"
Altes Museum, Museum Island, central Berlin, northeastern Germany: Ben Pirard (Ben Pirard at Dutch Wikipedia), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Farao_Amasis.JPG

"The Egyptian Cinderella" (1:02)
Uploaded May 8, 2013, by Christina Phillps to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwYWzbC85tU

In "The Egyptian Cinderella," Rhodopis' hair is described as having the color of papyrus.
Pith (tissue), visible in cross section of triangle-shaped culm (stem; stalk) of papyrus plant (Cyperus papyrus), is used for making papyrus paper.
Cyperus papyrus: Timur V. Voronkov (INSAR), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Papirus.jpg

Climo, Shirley. 1989. The Egyptian Cinderella. Illustrated by Ruth Heller. New York City, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

Brooks, E.S. (Elbridge Streeter). "Cinderella's Ancestor (A Story of the Days of the Pharaoh.) [B.C. 2500.]. Chivalric Days and The Boys and Girls Who Helped to Make Them: 1-22. New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1886.

• Available via PICRYL at: https://picryl.com/media/chivalric-days-and-the-boys-and-girls-who-helped-to-make-them-ba7e43

Brooks, Elbridge S. (Streeter). "Cinderella's Ancestor (Part I)." Pages 46-51. In: Clarence F. Carroll and Sarah C. Brooks, A Reader for the Fifth Grade. New York and Chicago: D. Appleton and Company, 1911.

• Available via Internet Archive at: https://archive.org/details/carrollbrooksrea05carr/page/46/mode/1up

Brooks, Elbridge S. (Streeter). "Cinderella's Ancestor (Part II)." Pages 51-56. In: Clarence F. Carroll and Sarah C. Brooks, A Reader for the Fifth Grade. New York and Chicago: D. Appleton and Company, 1911.

• Available via Internet Archive at: https://archive.org/details/carrollbrooksrea05carr/page/51/mode/1up

“The Girl with the Rose Red Slippers.” Ancient Egypt: The Mythology > The Myths. Retrieved December 2014.

• Available at: http://www.egyptianmyths.net/mythslippers.htm