AT number system There were scholars and there is a classification system for fairy tales Check out AT number system at Antti Aarne the Aarne Thompson system catalogues some 2500 basic plots from which for countless generations European and Near Eastern storytellers have built their tales As Europeans and Near Easterners travelled to the New World the Far East Africa and other distant places their tales migrated as well often flourishing in their new environments Hence the Aarne Thompson system encompasses tales found around the world Cinderella is classified as 510A see Cinderella so is Rhodopis and Ye Xian Rhodopis is recognized as older than Ye Xian hence Windling s comment is unqualified and misonformed and should honestly not be included in an encyclopedia at all That means you should stop editing the article Regards