Золушка - один из самых известных «бродячих сюжетов», который имеет более тысячи или даже более полутора тысяч воплощений в фольклоре разных народов мира. Откуда такая популярность и почему? Возможно, мотив потерянной и найденной туфли Золушки - вариация мотива кольца, найденного в рыбе, или вариант мотива косы Рудабе (Рапунцель)/аркана Заля (см. ФиН "Шахнаме..." глава 4.3), т.е. мотивов Благовещения и Непорочного Зачатия. В некоторых версиях золушки эти мотивы соединены и переплетены:

In the Tamil romance, "Madana Kámarája Kadai," translated by Natesa Sástri (see Clouston, Pop. Tales and Fictions, i, 377), is a story about a princess from whose head, after her bathing, there fell a hair ten bhágams long (a bhaga is equal to two yards). The dashing waves rolled the hair into a ball, which, as it lay on the shore, the King of Kochchi (i.e., Cochin) espied. Judging ex pede of the beauty of the woman from whose head the hair had fallen, he resolved to obtain her as his wife. In No. 4 of the Folk-tales of Bengal (Lal Behari Day) the Princess Keshavati loses a hair whilst bathing. It is seven cubits long, and she ties it to a shell, which floats down to where Sahasra Dal is bathing. "The owner of this hair must be a remarkable woman, and I must see her," quoth he. ...One more parallel. In the story of "The Wicked Stepmother" (Knowles, Folk-tales of Kashmir) a woman drops her nose-ring. It is swallowed by a fish, which the king's cook buys. Search is made for the owner, whose beauty induces the king to marry her.
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/marianroalfecox/variants/68.html SurLaLune Fairy Tales: Marian Roalfe Cox: Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O' Rushes, abstracted and tabulated

- в тамильской версии принцесса во время купания теряет один волос длиной в два десятка метров, волны скатывают волос в шар, который на берегу находит король и решает взять ее в жены (здесь же мотив купания красавицы - Вирсавии, Сусанны и др.). Кстати, с очень длинными волосами изображали Марию Магдалину. В бенгальской версии принцесса также во время купания теряет волос длиной в семь локтей, она привязывает его к раковине, которая приплывает к некоему Sahasra Dal, тоже купающемуся, и он решает разыскать владелицу этого волоса. В кашмирской сказке "Злая мачеха" женщина теряет носовое кольцо, его проглатывает рыба, которую покупает повар короля, и, найдя владелицу, король, впечатленный ее красотой, решает на ней жениться. Шакунталу, узнанную по кольцу, найденному в рыбе, также называют индийской Золушкой.
Кстати, Ясон-Христос тоже потерял сандалию, когда переносил старуху через реку Анавр/Эвен/Энипей (старуха оказалась необычно тяжелой, т.к. это была сама богиня Гера, возлюбившая Ясона с тех пор. История напоминает св. Христофора, перенесшего через реку маленького Иисуса). Именно с потерявшим сандалию оракул связывал угрозу для трона царя Пелия. Здесь тоже потеря связана с водой. Например, сандалию Родопис орел уносит тоже во время купания. В египетской «Повести о двух братьях» (которая отчасти схожа со сказкой "Портупей-прапорщик", см. сообщ. № 434 выше) прядь волос героини волны также приносят к фараону, который решает разыскать ее сделать своей «Великой любимицей». По Геродоту и Страбону, пирамиду Микерина называли пирамидой гетеры Родопис. Кстати, имена Родопис и Рудабе схожи.

Есть растение Венерин Башмачок - не связано ли название с потерянной туфлей Золушки? В средние века растение имело также название Марьин башмачок в честь Девы Марии (имело также названия Адамова голова, Ноев ковчег):

http://online.snh.cc/files/2100/HTML/100hs_lady_s_slipper__cypripedium_pubescens.htm Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium pubescens; (Orchidaceae)
THE SHOE OF MARY
The name of Lady's Slipper is ancient, given to the European varieties by medieval botanists in honor of the Virgin Mary. The original Latin for Lady's Slipper was Calceolus marianus, “the shoe of Mary”. The old French names for the flower were sabot de Ia Vierge. and soulier de Notre Dame--”the Virgin's Slipper” and “our Lady's shoe”. However, the medieval association with the Virgin Mary was eventually removed, probably because of the Reformation, and instead of referring to Mary, the Lady became Venus.

С Золушкой также сравнивают Корделию "Короля Лира", а Гонерилья и Регана соответствуют злым сестрам Золушки. Корделию, пожертвовавшую собой ради Лира и невинно пострадавшую, сравнивают с дочерью Иеффая, с Ифигенией и даже с Христом. Лира, держащего на руках Корделию в конце пьесы, называют инвертированной или светской Пьетой. Причем сначала было неясно, жива Корделия или мертва, оживает ли она. Перед этим они с Лиром были заключены в темницу, где решили ни за что не расставаться.

В японской сказке The Snake Son-in-law (вариант "Лягушачьей шапки") отец дает обещание отдать дочь змею, что напоминает обет Иеффая. У него было три дочери, но две старшие отказывают отцу, только младшая идет ему навстречу, что может напомнить историю короля Лира, неблагодарных Гонерильи и Реганы и доброй Корделии, которой пришлось претерпеть страданий. Возможно, мотив опалы Корделии близок к историям, где уход дочери обусловлен угрозой инцеста со стороны отца.

The Snake Son-in-law
Once upon a time, when a farmer in a certain place was passing his rice paddies on his way home from work, he saw a big snake trying to swallow a frog. He was sorry for the frog and said to the snake, "I will give you a daughter if you will spare the frog." The snake seemed to understand, for it let the frog go and glided away somewhere.
The farmer was glad to see how happy the frog was, but once he reached home and began to think about it, he worried so much over the foolish promise he had made that be became sick.
The farmer called his oldest daughter to his bedside the next morning and said, "Father felt so sorry for a frog yesterday that he promised a daughter as a bride to the snake. I wonder if you would go for me." The girl went off, saying, "How awful! You had better go yourself, Father."
The farmer gave up and called his second daughter. But when she heard what he had to say, she too answered, "How awful! You had better go yourself, Father." She ran off.
The farmer thought his youngest daughter would refuse, too, but he decided to try asking her. Her eyes filled with tears as she listened to him, but she said, "I will go. Please go and buy me 1000 gourds and 1000 needles."
The happy farmer went to town immediately and bought the 1000 needles and the 1000 gourds and gave them to his daughter.
The snake came in the evening as a handsome samurai, leading a great number of men to receive the girl. The father wept as he packed the 1000 needles and 1000 gourds for her and sent her away with them. The snakes crossed the field, crossed the hill, and went farther and farther into the mountains. They came to the snake's home, where a thousand of his snake comrads were twisting and coiling as they waited to eat the girl.
When it seemed that the time had come for the girl to be devoured, she said, "I came expressly to be eaten by you, but I have just one request before that. Please do as I say. I want you to sink these 1000 gourds and float these 1000 needles."
Then she threw the 1000 gourds and 1000 needles she had brought into the pond. "We can finish that in a hurry," the snakes said, as they plunged eagerly into the water. But gourds are things that float and needles are things that sink, and the snakes became exhausted.
In the meantime the girl started to run home, but she lost her way. While she was worrying about that, she saw a light flickering in a house beyond. She hurried toward it and found an old woman spinning alone there. The girl told the old woman why she was lost and she was allowed to stay there for that night. The old woman seemed happy as she brought out all kinds of good things to eat one after another, and cared for the girl.
The old woman said, "The feudal lord of this land has sent messengers everywhere looking for a bride. You are beautiful and open-hearted, really a girl without faults, so you should go to the feudal lord. I will guide you to his place after daylight tomorrow."
The girl was pleased with this idea and spent a happy night with the old woman. She followed the old woman to the castle town in the morning to see. It seemed to her that all the girls in the land had gathered there, pushing each other around, and each of course said she would be chosen. Presently the head steward came and looked over each girl in line. A sash was too short or an overgarment was too long and no girl looked just right to him. He came to the girl the old woman had brought at the end of the line. He declared that she was a good one, and she became the bride of the feudal lord.
The girl sent for her parents in her own land to come to the castle, and they lived a life of ease there for all their lives. It is said that the old woman was the frog the farmer had saved.