Rhodopis The Egyptian Cinderella

Who knew a pair of shoes could be so important?

Salutations, reader. This week, our story comes to us from Egypt. Rhodopis The Egyptian Cinderella is a story about a girl who was lonely and abused. It already sounds familiar, but there's a few twists. Check out the story above, and continue reading below to read too much into it with me.

I have to start with her animal friends. It's interesting to me that people who are down on their luck always seem to befriend animals. It was also interesting to me that Rhodopis befriended a hippo. Hippos are herbivores, but they are very territorial and aggressive. If you see one coming towards you, they're usually not just wanting to listen to you sing. So, Rhodopis is befriending animals, but at least one scary one. I was a little surprised that they didn't do her chores for her, but I guess this isn't some kind of animated movie.

Rhodopis' master isn't a great guy. He sees his slave dancing beautifully so he decides to do something for her. Does he give her freedom? Lighten her chores so she can dance as a form of entertainment for him or his friends? Do anything to make her life better? Well...he gives her a nice pair of shoes. Now, understand that shoes are important to protect your feet. The soles of these shoes are leather, so they're pretty sturdy. But I'm kind of surprised that none of the other slaves stole the shoes from Rhodopis since they hated her so much. Maybe it was just because the shoes wouldn't have fit.

Later in the story, Horus steals one of Rhodopis' shoes while he's in the form of a falcon. I was amazed that both Rhodopis and the Pharaoh knew this bird was actually a god. I guess the falcon had a godly aura around him. Also, being the curious soul that I am, I looked up what Horus was the god of. He's the god of the sky, so it makes sense that he would take the form of a bird. However, he's also the protector and ruler of Egypt and the Pharaoh was thought to be the "living Horus". So it's even more significant that this falcon would be bringing signs and portents to the Pharaoh.

With Horus' function in mind, it's interesting that he would set up the Pharaoh and Rhodopis like that. Was there some kind of threat coming that Rhodopis could help Egypt fight off? All we really know about her is that she came from a different land, she was kind to animals, she could work really hard, and she danced beautifully. Maybe Egypt needed more diversity of thought in its highest ranks. That's assuming the Pharaoh paid much attention to his wives... Either way, Rhodopis' life was probably much improved after their marriage. And I love how the Pharaoh made her physical differences from others reasons that she was Egypt, even though she didn't look like Egyptians and she wasn't from there.

The moral of this story is that if a falcon steals one of your shoes, keep the other one with you in case you can reunite the pair. Alternatively, if you're stuck in a life of drudgery, make friends with animals and hopefully a god will notice you and help you.

Have a different moral? Wondering if Rhodopis was ever able to visit Greece again?  If the Pharaoh ever danced with her? If anyone in this story besides Rhodopis had a name? Comment below! And don't forget to subscribe if you liked this post!