Cavewoman slippers

When I first heard stories of Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, I thought Disney had the best creative talent in the world. How did they make bangers after bangers? They literally have the best stories.

I was duped. Before that, the Brothers Grimm published Cinderella as Aschenputtel in 1812 (Germany). Charles Perrault published the story as Cendrillon in 1697 (France). Giambattista Basile published the story as Il Pentamerone in 1634 (Naples, Italy). Variants appear in Arabian Nights (Middle East), Mahpishooni (Persian), Néang Kantoc (Cambodia), Tam and Cam (Vietnam), Ye Xian in 860 (China), and many more. The oldest recorded version is the ancient Greek story of Rhodopis, written by Strabo sometime between 7 BC and 24 AD. Walt Disney just stole the tale from the Brothers Grimm, but what's wrong with that? People have been doing that for millennia.

Stories are derived off of previous works, like art or science. Since stories have distinct structure, syntax, context, etc. that you can pattern-match, can you trace a Disney movie to a clumsy cavewoman? Since people told stories orally, they were passed down until they were eventually written down. As written stories were translated and rewritten, they evolved further. If you've ever played a game of telephone, it is obvious how fast stories change even with a few players. Scale that over hundreds of thousands of years.

In a conversation with Jenny yesterday, it became clear to represent this in the form of a network (obviously). Each story is a node connected to hundreds of nodes representing stories it is derived from. The derivative nodes could be anything from folk tales and local town legend to an inspirational historical figure or notable situation that the author had. Each derivative node has hundreds of derivative nodes, and so on. You could trace the evolution of stories across human history.


Il Pentamerone, the main inspiration for the Brothers Grimm, was significantly influenced by oral folk tales, but was also influenced by the town of Naples, since it was one of the most important hubs in the region. Parent nodes are influenced at varying degrees by their derivative nodes, and I think a small minority of derivative nodes have a disproportionately influential impact on the parent. If the most important derivative nodes are highlighted as you go back in time, a single situation's effects, like a cavewoman losing her slipper, can be traced all the way to Cinderella. Or maybe a Quixotic brute caveman to Shrek. This intergenerational butterfly effect makes me wonder what mundane thing I did today will lead to an epic tale hundreds of years from now.