The story of Cinderella exists in many versions and her name is translated as

in Icelandic, but the fairytale most likened to the Cinderella story is called

. There are many theories about the Cinderella story as it appears to have ancient roots. The earliest version comes from

and dates to

The various version have been significantly researched starting with

in

In the 1950's,

wrote her doctorate by comparing

different versions of the story and believes

it originated in

and arrived in Northern Europe via

.

Stúpusögur are very old in Iceland, spanning back many hundreds of years and folklorist

has written an article about them called

where she comes to the conclusion that there are

main types of stjúpusögur.

The first one is about step-mothers who place a curse on royal children who don't like them and is called

and the other is about step-mothers laying down curses on royal children who refuse sexual advances and is called

.