Cinderella

Part One · The Girl in the Cinders

Once upon a time, a kind gentleman married for the second time. His new wife was the proudest, crossest woman anyone had ever met, and she had two daughters who were exactly like her. The gentleman also had a daughter of his own. She was gentle and sweet, just as her own mother had been, and she was the loveliest girl in the land.

The stepmother could not stand the girl's goodness, because it made her own daughters look even worse. So she gave her all the hardest work in the house. The girl scrubbed the pots, swept the stairs and polished the floors. At night she slept in a cold attic on a bed of straw, while her stepsisters slept in fine rooms with tall mirrors.

When her work was done, the girl liked to sit by the fireplace in the cinders and ashes to keep warm. Her clothes were always smudged with soot. So the older stepsister called her Cinderwench, to be unkind. The younger one, who was a little less rude, called her Cinderella. Yet even in her rags, she was a hundred times prettier than her sisters in their velvet.

Part Two · The Fairy Godmother

One day, the King's son announced that he would give a grand ball, and the two sisters were invited. They talked about nothing but dresses for weeks. "I shall wear my red velvet," said the older one. "I shall wear my gold flowered cloak," said the younger. They even asked her to fix their hair, because she had such good taste, and she did it beautifully.

"Would you like to go to the ball?" they teased her. "Oh, you are making fun of me," she said. "That is no place for me." "You are right," they laughed. "People would giggle to see a Cinderwench at a ball!" When their coach rolled away at last, she watched it go. Then she sat down by the fire and began to cry.

Suddenly, a kind old woman appeared beside her. It was her fairy godmother. "You wish you could go to the ball, don't you?" she said. "Yes," she sobbed. "Then be a good girl, and you shall go," said the old woman. "Run into the garden and bring me a pumpkin." She brought the biggest pumpkin she could find, though she could not think how it would help.

The fairy scooped out the pumpkin and tapped it with her wand. At once it became a splendid golden coach! Next she found six mice in the mousetrap, and with a tap they became six fine gray horses. A fat rat with long whiskers became a jolly coachman. Six lizards from behind the watering can became six footmen in shining green coats.

"There," said the fairy. "Now you can go to the ball." "But must I go in these dirty rags?" she asked. The fairy touched her with the wand, and her rags turned into a gown of gold and silver cloth, sparkling with jewels. Then she gave her a pair of glass slippers, the prettiest in the whole world.

"But keep this in mind," said the fairy. "You must leave before midnight. If you stay one moment past twelve, your coach will become a pumpkin again. Your horses will be mice, your coachman will be a rat, and your gown will turn back into rags." The girl promised, and off she rode, so happy that she could hardly breathe.

Part Three · Midnight

When she arrived at the palace, the whole ballroom went silent. The dancers stopped dancing, and the violins stopped playing. "Who is she?" everyone whispered. The Prince led her to the floor, and she danced so well that they all loved her even more. At supper, she sat beside her stepsisters and shared oranges with them. They did not know her at all.

At a quarter to twelve, she curtsied and hurried away. At home, she thanked the fairy and asked if she might go again the next night, because the Prince had begged her to come back. Soon her sisters arrived. "A lovely princess was there," they said. "She was so kind to us!" Cinderella just smiled and yawned.

The next night, she went to the ball again, dressed even more grandly than before. The Prince stayed by her side all night, and she was having so much fun that she forgot the time. Suddenly, the clock began to strike. Bong! Bong! Bong! It was midnight! She leaped up and ran out of the hall as quick as a deer.

The Prince rushed after her, but she was gone. On the palace steps, he found one tiny glass slipper that she had dropped. She got home out of breath, with no coach and no footmen, in her old rags. All that was left of her finery was one little glass slipper. The guards said they had seen only a poor girl running by.

Part Four · The Glass Slipper

A few days later, the Prince announced that he would marry the girl whose foot fit the glass slipper. His servants carried it from house to house, and every lady in the kingdom tried it on. At last they came to the stepsisters' house. The sisters pushed and squeezed and wiggled their toes, but their feet were much too big.

"May I try it?" asked Cinderella softly. Her sisters burst out laughing. But the servant looked at her carefully and saw that she was lovely, so he asked her to sit down. The slipper slid onto her foot as easily as if it were made of wax. Then she took the other glass slipper out of her pocket and put it on too.

At that moment, the fairy godmother appeared. With one tap of her wand, the rags became the finest gown of all, and now the sisters knew who the lovely princess was. They threw themselves at her feet and begged her to forgive them for being so unkind. She lifted them up and hugged them, and she said she forgave them with all her heart.

Cinderella was taken to the palace, and a few days later she married the Prince. She was as good as she was beautiful, so she brought her two stepsisters to live at the palace too. She even helped them find two kind husbands. Her godmother had given her a coach and a gown, but the gift that won everyone over, even her sisters, was her own kind heart.