Cinderella is the heroine of a European folk tale told in thousands of variants around the world. She is a young girl mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, who is rescued by a prince and rises to marry into royalty. Her best-known form in English comes from Charles Perrault's 1697 French tale Cendrillon, and her name is also used as a word for an underdog or unexpected success.

The story has very old roots. The Greek tale of Rhodopis, recorded by Strabo, is among the oldest known ancestors, and Giambattista Basile and the Brothers Grimm later wrote their own versions. Folklorist Marian Roalfe Cox catalogued 345 variants in 1893. In Perrault's version, the fairy godmother, the pumpkin coach and the glass slipper are the details most people remember.

This faithful version keeps to the familiar tale, so the person who ends up texting her is usually someone who enjoys a classic story told with warmth and a little hope. Readers who like underdog stories, or who want to talk about how old fairy tales changed over the centuries, will find her an easy conversation to start.