I did not know that yesterday!

There are more than 3,000 versions of the Cinderella myth. Almost every world culture has one -- she's known as "Yeh Shen" in China, "The Burnt Face Girl" to the Mik'maq tribe, "Tattercoats" in England, and "Marouckla" to the Slavs. While the story can't claim a sole author, it does have a few notable interpreters.

Charles Perrault was a minor literary figure in 18th-century France. In 1697, he published Comte de ma Mere L'Oye (Tales of Mother Goose), which refashioned several well-known folktales such as "The Sleeping Beauty," "Little Red Riding Hood," and "Cinderella."

Perrault cleaned up the popular peasant version of the Cinderella tale for a more refined, upscale audience. In the original, the glass slipper was filled with blood from the severed toes and bunions of the wicked stepsisters! Mother Goose was translated into English in 1729, and the Brothers Grimm produced their famous German version in 1812.