Cinderella's "fur slippers": literary hoax?

From the Straight Dope Archives, 1998 (you have to scroll halfway
down):


Dear Cecil:

In your column on Chinese foot binding, you mentioned that small feet
have been prized in many cultures, using as an example "Cinderella's
tiny glass slipper." While your point is well taken, you missed a
chance to mention the story behind Cinderella's unusual footwear. In
the original folktale, Cinderella wore (in French) une pantoufle en
vair (a fur slipper). Because the word vair was uncommon, the 17th-
century French translator thought it was verre (glass). Cinderella has
been wearing glass slippers ever since. --Foot Fetishist, via the
Internet

Dear Foot:

Great story. It appeared in the Encyclopedia Britannica at one time,
and the French writer Balzac believed it. But the consensus among
folklorists is that it's, well, folklore.......

(much more detail below)

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a981023.html

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