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A short youtube video of the story of Kongjwi and Patjwi.

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Kongjwi and Patjwi - Global Audiobook: Once Upon a Time in Korea

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The story of the Korean Cinderella - Kongjwi and Patjwi (1) 

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The story of the Korean Cinderella - Kongjwi and Patjwi (1) 

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Kongjwi was a little girl who lived in Korea. She was fairly innocent and simple, and was an only child to her mother and father, until one day when her parents were both passed away and she was left to live with her step-mother and her step-sister Patjwi. Both of them were hateful towards Kongjwi providing her with treacherous work to take up her time. One day her step-mother gave her a plow and ordered her to not return home until the whole field was plowed. Kongjwi's plow unfortunately snapped into two and she started plowing with her hands, until an ox appeared bringing her apples and insisted he shall do the plowing himself.
Days later the city's mayor invited every household to a ball. The step-mother told Kongjwi that she can go to the ball if she completed the long list of tasks. She said to fill the hangari, hull the unmilled rice and weave the jute fibres into cloth. No matter how hard she tried, she could not complete the tasks. Hearing her sorrowful cries attracted many animals to come to help her with her tasks and even a beautiful fairy from the heavens above. The fairy offered Kongjwi with a magnificent silk hanbok along with a floral silk gomusin. She rushed to the ball in her new attire impressing all the guests and even the mayor. The mayor was so blown away he asked for Kongjwi's hand in marriage, but spotting her step-mother and step-sister made her flee the ball. On her way out she drops a shoe in the river which the mayor finds and starts a search to find and return the shoe to his lost wife. Eventually finding her, they are together at last and happy until the step-sister Patjwi drowns Kongjwi in the stream and disguises herself as her to live her happy life with the mayor, but Kongjwi talks to the mayor in his dreams and warns him of this occurrence causing the mayor to find Kongjwi's body in the stream reviving her with a kiss and reuniting with her. They then live happily ever after while the step-sister and step-mother are locked away forever.

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The story of the Korean Cinderella - Kongjwi and Patjwi (2)

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The story of the Korean Cinderella - Kongjwi and Patjwi (2)

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The Korean Cinderella expresses its own cultural twist on the Cinderella folklore that incorporates aspects of ancient beliefs and society. Their Korean names, Kongjwi and Patjwi have the meaning of bean girl and red bean girl in english. The description of beauty in ancient Korea was a balance of inner beauty and outer beauty. In the time period of the Joseon dynasty where this story was set, girls/women appearing elegant, clean, and innocent was important in society while obtaining a calm reputation. The characteristics of Kongjwi matched the beauty standard describing her very pure and filled with good intentions, along with a look of innocence and simplicity. Nevertheless, her step-sister and step-mother tried to hide her good traits by painting her as a person of poor quality of life. Along with other ancient tales from other cultures, animals also serve a significant role in ancient Korea. The ox that helped Kongjwi plow the field in the story has a reputation in ancient Korean culture for representing honesty, sincerity, and self-sacrifice. The ox is know to live to serve through its work, and completes tasks without complaining, and that's why it was a sign of self-sacrifice for Kongjwi.

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Throughout the story the consistency of animals is brought up quite often but most importantly the significance of the Falcon. In ancient Egyptian culture the god Horus is believed to take form in a falcon who represents healing and quintessence.  He possesses a powerful energy which is why when the falcon presented the slipper to Amasis, he was determined to find the owner since it was his destiny predetermined by Horus.
Other significant meanings in the story can be expressed by how the servant girls chose to present themselves for the big celebration and meeting the Pharaoh. In ancient Egyptian culture, the colour blue can represent many things but specifically signifies factors of creation and life like fertility and birth. When the first servant girl decorated herself with a necklace of blue beads, this was meant to express herself in a certain way towards the Pharaoh. The second servent girl wore bracelets on her wrist which was known to express the power to protect from harm, and represent status and beauty. Jewelry was a very significant factor of Ancient Egypt and was passed on for many generations with each colour, style, and fabric conveying a different concept.

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This version of Cinderella relates to the storyline of the original tale of Cinderella where she successfully overcomes the discrimination against her but this story also tackles another social injustice presenting how Rhodopis overcomes racial discrimination as well. The reasoning for why she is not treated as an equal is due to her differences like the paleness of her skin and colour of her eyes and hair that make her stand out from the rest of the Egyptians. By the end of the story the servant girls argue against her good fortune by stating how she's undeserving of being a queen because of her heritage. With this, the Pharaoh exclaims how Rhodopis is "the most Egyptian of all," and that "her eyes are as green as the Nile, her hair is as feathery as a papyrus, and her skin the pink of a lotus flower." thus proving her appearance and weather she was Egyptian at all had no influence on her becoming the queen.

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The story of the Korean Cinderella - Kongjwi and Patjwi (3)

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The story of the Korean Cinderella - Kongjwi and Patjwi (3)

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The objects used to tell this tale are common throughout ancient Korean culture and distinguish it from other versions of the story.

Hangari - A traditional jar used to store pickled foods. Mentioned in the story when the step-mother demanded her to fill the hangari as one of her impossible tasks.

The silk hanbok - Known as the national dress of South Korea. occasionally worn to important ceremonies, it was carefully crafted to portray symbols of beauty, protection, and blessings. In the story, Kongjwi's fairy grants her with a gorgeous hanbok.

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Youtube video on Ancient Egypt: explaining Religion, myths, Gods, and symbols.

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Our story begins long ago in the beautiful land of Egypt, where there lived a girl named Rhodopis. She was enslaved by the Egyptians and taken from her homeland in Greece where she was to perform chores like washing clothes and gathering reeds. Due to her Greek ethnicity, she was different from the other girls and adopted the name Rhodopis from being so "rosy cheeked" with bright blonde hair and pale skin. The other girls would relentlessly tease Rhodopis and order her around to fulfill their every need, and although her master was kind, she rarely observed these occurrences and paid no mind to them. Since Rhodopis was constantly picked on by the people surrounding her, she turned to animals for companionship. She would feed them and dance and sing to them when no one was watching, until one night when her master caught her in the act.
He saw the talents that Rhodopis had to offer and with that he granted her with a pair of beautiful rose-red slippers. The slippers were very rare and valuable and sparked jealousy for the other servant girls. The more envious they were the more they took it out on Rhodopis and demanded her to complete even more tasks until she no longer had the time to embrace her dancing talents and was exhausted. One day Kipa, the chief of the servants announced they would all be travelling to visit the Pharaoh of Memphis at his huge event of celebration. Rhodopis was discouraged to hear that she was ordered to stay behind to complete chores but the morning of the big event, she made her way down to the river to watch their departure in hopes she could join too. The three servent girls set off on their journey in their boat, the first one wearing a blue bead necklace, the second wearing bracelets, and the third a multi-coloured sash around her waist. As they left she was filled with sadness and returned to her chores singing softly. As she worked, a mighty falcon swooped down from the sky and grasped one of her rose-red slippers into his clutch. He then flew up high into the sky and disappearing out of sight. Feeling defeated, she went back to her chores.
The falcon with the single slipper made its way all the way down the Nile until it reached the city of Memphis where the big celebration was being held. After spotting the Amasis, The Pharaoh of Memphis, the falcon swooped down to drop the slipper into his lap and behold, Amasis was astonished. "The god Horus sends me a sign!" he said,  and with this he states that every maiden in all of Egypt must try on the rose-red slipper in order to find his queen, in order to fill the gods desires.
Amasis set off on his journey to find the owner of the slipper going to great lengths and searching every inch of Egypt, but was out of luck when no one could perfectly match the fit. He called upon his royal barge to do everything in his power in finding his Queen, and as the barge crept closer to Rhodopis, she became scared and retreated into the bushes. The servant girls excitingly tried on the rose-red slipper forcing their feet into it eager to impress the Pharaoh, but he was not convinced. He was so frustrated he was about to turn home and call off the search when he spotted Rhodopis hiding in the bushes. "You must try on the slipper." Amasis said as the other servent girls watched with envy. The slipper was a perfect match and Amasis was overjoyed. The servant girls argued and protested that her enslavement and ethnic background could surely not make her the queen but Amasis declared "She is the most Egyptian of all," for the reasons of her eyes being green as the Nile, her hair as feathery as papyrus, and her skin pink like a lotus flower, and with that, Rhodopis and the Pharaoh rejoiced together and lived happily ever after.

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Cinderella was a young girl of the purest intentions stuck living with her evil step-mother and her two despicable step-sisters. Her step-mother despised Cinderella and forced her to do unpleasant house work while the step-sisters were treated with great care and granted with high-quality things. Even though Cinderella was dressed in rags and forced to do laborious work, it could not hide her magnificent beauty that the step-mother and step-sisters so utterly envied. One day the news spread about the Prince throwing a ball and the step-mother and step-sisters busied themselves preparing for the special night. As the final day came, Cinderella watched sadly as they rode off in the distance to the royal ball. Hearing her sad sobbs, Cinderella's fairy godmother appeared to help her. She granted her with everything she needed to attend the ball turning a pumpkin into her carriage, mice into horses, and a rat into her coachman. She also turned her dirty rags into a stunning gold and silver dress along with two glass slippers, but on one condition that she must return by midnight or else she would turn back into herself. Cinderella was the most popular girl at the ball and charmed the prince with her beauty. She returned each night and went home by midnight and remained a mystery to everyone including the prince. One day after running away to return home from the ball, her glass slipper fell off her foot and was found by the prince. A search was set out across the land to find the prince's maiden until one day after much voyaging, she was found and the glass slipper was a perfect fit. The step-sisters and step-mother begged her for forgiveness now knowing she was a princess. The prince was thrilled to of found his princess despite her status as a house maid, and a few days later they were married and lived happily ever after.

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Asia Society. (2022). The History of Korean Beauty Part 3: Joseon Dynasty. Asia Society. https://asiasociety.org/korea/history-korean-beauty-part-3-joseon-dynasty

Ladner, M. (2021 April 12). Hanbok: an Introduction to South Korea's National Dress. Culture Trip. https://theculturetrip.com/asia/south-korea/articles/hanbok-an-introduction-to-south-koreas-national-dress/

The editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2021, Feb 8). Horus Egyptian God. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Horus