Cinderella

CINDERELLA story is a fairy tale that teaches us the morals of kindness towards all, forgiving others for doing wrong, and never letting bad things ruin our hearts because we can still make good choices when faced with tough circumstances and unfair treatment.

There was once a gentleman, a widower, who took for his second wife a lady who was a widow with two daughters.

He, for his part, had a daughter by his first wife. The second wife was extremely proud and haughty in her demeanor, and

her two daughters had inherited their mother’s qualities. The gentleman’s daughter by his first wife was

most amiable and gentle, at which points she resembled her mother.

No sooner had the marriage taken place than the ill humor of the stepmother became manifest.

She became jealous of the good qualities in the child,

which made her daughters appear, by contrast, the more disagreeable

She put upon her all the meanest tasks and held her to them with inexorable severity.

The young girl had to clean pots and pans, scrub the floors and sweep the steps.

She was obliged to do all the servile work of the house, and be as a slave to her

half-sisters.

For a bed, she was given an old straw paillasse in an attic, where it was cold,

and where ran the rats, whereas her sisters occupied the best rooms in the house 

and feather-bed.

They also had in their rooms cheval glasses in which they could admire themselves

from top to toe.

The poor girl endured all without complaining. She did not dare to speak to her father

about it because he was completely under the thumb of his new wife. Moreover, 

he was much engaged in a business that carried him away from home for weeks

together, and she considered that if she were to speak to him about her treatment,

her step-mother and sisters would serve her still worse as soon as his back was

turned. 

When she had done her daily tasks, she was wont to creep into a corner of the

fireplace and sit among the cinders, for which reason her eldest sister called her

Cinder-slut, but the second who was not quite so ill-tempered as the other 

called her Cinderella.

Although poor girl, she was given the shabbiest clothes and the dirtiest occupation,

 she was a hundred times more beautiful than her sisters in their finest dresses. 

It happened that the king gave a ball, to which were invited all persons of quality. 

Amongst others, the two young ladies of the house received an invitation. 

No one thought of Cinderella,  

for no one knew of her existence; or if at any time they had known, 

they had forgotten her since she had been banished to the kitchen. 

The two daughters of the lady were greatly excited about the ball; 

they discussed how they should be dressed and how they would have their hair done

up, and what jewels they would wear.

‘For my part,’ said the eldest, ‘I will wear red velvet and lace, and a turban of red

and yellow, with an ostrich feather.’

‘And I,’ said the younger, ‘I shall wear sere green velvet and satin embroidered

with gold, and I will frizzle up my hair and tie it with amber silk ribbons.’

When the time approached, they made Cinderella lace them, patch them, paint them, frizzle them, and shoe them.

‘How would you like to be at the ball?’ asked one of the sisters of Cinderella.

‘As for me!’ answered she, “I do not think a king’s palace is the place for me,

nor would my sooty and soiled gown appear to  advantage in a ballroom.” ‘That is true

indeed,’ laughed one of the sisters.

‘That would be a rare joke to see you at the ball.’ 

‘And what a fool you would look if the prince asked you to dance the minuet,’  

said the other.

For two days before the ball, the two damsels ate nothing; 

they were desirous to have the smallest waists of any ladies who appeared and in

lacing them, Cinderella broke a score of laces before she had got them done up

tightly enough to satisfy their vanity. 

When it came to patching, the sisters were extremely particular.

‘ I,’ said one, ‘ will have a square patch on the top

of my nose. I think it will heighten my complexion.’

‘And I’, said the other, ‘ will have around one in the middle of my forehead.

It will make me so interesting.’ When the young ladies departed with their mother,

then Cinderella was left quite alone in the house.

She sat on a heap of ashes in the corner of the fireplace and began to cry.

Then all at once, the hearth opened, and up through it came a little woman with a red

cloak and a black pointed hat. This was her godmother, who was a fairy. The fairy

godmother asked Cinderella why she was crying.

Cinderella could only stammer, ‘I wish. Oh, I wish … I wish … I wish . . .’

‘I see clearly,’ said the godmother, ‘ that you also would like to go to the ball.

Is that so ?’

‘Indeed indeed I should,’ sobbed the poor girl. ‘Very well, then, so you shall.

Go into the garden and bring me a pumpkin.’

Cinderella at once went to pick the finest she could find.

It was yellow streaked with green.

She took it to her godmother but had no idea what would be done with it.

The fairy scooped out the inside, leaving only the skin.

Then she tapped it with her staff, and in a moment, it was changed into the most

beautiful coach, gold and green. ‘Now,’ said she, ‘bring me the mousetrap.’

Cinderella obeyed. In the mousetrap were six little mice. The fairy opened the door

and as the mice ran out, she give each a tap with her rod, and it was transformed

into a beautiful horse with a flowing mane and tail.

She then attached the six horses to the coach; the horses were all of a beautiful

brownish grey.

‘What are we to do for a coachman?’ asked Cinderella. ‘ Fetch me the rat trap,’

said the godmother.

The girl did as desired. In it were three rats.

The fairy took the fattest and with a touch of her wand, changed him into

a pompous and dignified coachman.

Then she said, ‘ Go into the garden, and you will there find six lizards behind

the watering pot. Bring them to me.’

No sooner had Cinderella done what was commanded than the fairy changed

them dexterously into six sleek lackeys, which mounted behind the coach

and hung on to it with all the grace and facility as if they had been bred to it. 

The fairy then said to Cinderella: ‘ There now, you are set up with a conveyance

in which  to go to the ball.’ ‘ That is very true,’ answered the girl, ‘ but, alas!

my clothes are so mean and soiled that I shall be ashamed to get out

of my beautiful coach.’

‘ That is easily remedied,’ said the fairy, and she touched the garments worn

by her godchild.

They were at once changed into the most splendid silk, studded with diamonds.

‘And now, to make you complete,’ said the fairy, ‘I’ll give you two glass slippers, the only

ones there are in the world.’

When Cinderella was thus dressed, she mounted her carriage and thanked her

godmother gratefully.

The good fairy said to her: ‘I am well pleased that you should enjoy yourself.

But remember to leave before midnight. If you remain a moment after the last stroke

of the clock, then your carriage will turn into a pumpkin, your horses into mice,

your driver into a rat, your flunkeys into lizards, and all your beautiful garments

will revert to the condition of dirty, patched rags.’

Cinderella promised her godmother to remember what she had said and to return

most certainly before midnight.

Then she started with a heart bounding with joy. When she arrived at the palace,

it was announced to the prince, the king’s son,  that a lady in the most splendid

equipage ever seen was at the gates, and that she would not give her name.

The prince at once ran out to salute her and invite her to the ball.

He gave her his hand to help her to descend and led her into the great hall where the

company was assembled.

Then a great silence fell on all. The dancers ceased dancing, the musicians ceased

playing, and the gossip ceased gossiping; all were eager to see the strange princess.

On all sides were heard whispers of, ‘What a radiant beauty! What superb jewels!

What an exquisite dress! Who could have been her milliner? What a style in the

doing of her hair! Who could have been her hairdresser?

What wonderful slippers, who could have been her shoemaker?’ 

The king, although old, could hardly take his eyes off her, and he whispered

to the queen, that except herself, he had never seen a greater beauty.

The queen, who was old and fat, accepted the compliment gracefully and smiled.

All the ladies observed Cinderella and endeavored to engrave in their memories

every detail of her dress to get their next ball dresses made like it.

The son of the king seated Cinderella in the most honorable place, danced with her,

and himself brought her refreshments.

As for himself, he could eat nothing, so taken up was he with attention to her,

and in admiration of her beauty.

Cinderella seated herself by her sisters and was very civil to them.

She gave them some of the oranges the prince had peeled for her and talked

to them most sweetly.

They were lost in astonishment and never for an instant recognized her.

Presently Cinderella heard the clock strike a quarter to twelve. 

Then she rose, made a graceful courtesy to the king and queen and the company,

and hastened away. 

On her return home, she found her godmother in the chimney corner.

She thanked the fairy for the favor granted her and begged that she might be allowed

to go to the ball at the palace on the following night, as the prince had expressly

invited her.

Whilst she was thus talking, she heard the coach drive up that conveyed home her

sisters and their mother.

She hastened to the door, opened for them, yawned and rubbed her eyes,

and said: ‘ How late you are! It must be passed one o’clock.’ ‘ Ah, ha!

‘ exclaimed her eldest sister, ‘ You have missed something.

There has been not only a most splendid entertainment but there arrived

at it a most illustrious princess, so beautiful, that she nearly came up to me.’

‘And to me,’ said the second.

‘And she was most superbly dressed; her taste was almost equal to mine.’

‘And to mine,’ said the second.

‘She was very civil to us and gave us some of her oranges.

Indeed for ease and graceful courtesy, I should say she came almost up to me.’

‘ And to me,’ said the second.

Cinderella listened to all that was said with great interest; she asked the name

of the princess.

But that said, her sisters ‘is not known; the king’s son did his utmost to find it out

and failed. He says he would give a great deal to know it.’

‘O dear, dear!’ said Cinderella, ‘I should like to see her; do, dear sisters, let me go

with you, tomorrow night, spare me some of your clothes.

I should like to see this princess.’

‘Hoity-toity! This is a fine idea!’ exclaimed the sisters.

‘ We should die of shame to be seen at a great ball with such as you and have it

known too that we were related.’ Cinderella expected this refusal.

She was not sorry. She would have been sorely embarrassed if the sisters had

consented to lend her their clothes and take her with them. The next evening

the sisters departed for the ball, and all happened as on the previous night.

This time Cinderella was even more splendidly dressed than on the first night. 

The king’s son was all the evening at her side and said to her the prettiest

things imaginable.

Cinderella was so happy that the time passed unobserved, and she forgot what her

godmother had said to her; so that she heard the first stroke of twelve when

she supposed it was only eleven o’clock.

Then she sprang from her seat and fled as swiftly as a fawn. The prince followed her,

but could not overtake her. 

However, on her flight, she let fall one of her glass slippers, and as the prince stooped

to pick it up, she vanished.

Cinderella arrived at home, panting, in her soiled and patched dress, on foot, without

coach and attendance, nothing of all her magnificence remained except the odd

glass slipper.

The prince inquired of the guards at the palace gate if they had seen a beautiful

princess pass, and which way her coach had gone; 

but they declared that no one except a scullery-maid had passed that way, and upon

looking for her coach, it was nowhere to be seen.

When the two sisters returned from the ball, Cinderella asked them if they had

enjoyed themselves, and if the beautiful lady had been there. 

They replied that she had but that she had fled at the stroke of twelve and had left

behind a glass slipper – the most lovely that could be conceived; that the king’s

son had picked it up, and that he had been quite disconsolate after she had

disappeared and had refused to dance or to eat or drink anything, 

but had sat in a corner, sighing and looking at the glass slipper.

On the following morning, the town was aroused by the blowing of trumpets, and,

upon the people coming out to know the occasion, 

they found the royal heralds with a chamberlain and guards and an attendant

carrying a crimson velvet cushion, upon which was placed the glass slipper.

The chamberlain announced that all single ladies were to try on the glass slipper

and that the prince had declared he would marry the one whom it would fit.

The slipper was tried first on the princesses, then on all the noble ladies, 

then on all the court ladies, but in vain. 

Their feet were too large. Then it was tried on in the town by the daughters

of the citizens, and the chamberlain brought it to the house of the sisters. 

The eldest saw at a glance that her foot would not go in, so she made an excuse, 

ran into the kitchen, and cut off her toes.

But even so, her foot would not fit into the shoe, and she was obliged to abandon

the attempt.

Then it was offered to the second sister. She saw at a glance that it was too small

for her foot, so she ran into the kitchen and cut off her heel. But even so,

she could not get her foot into the glass slipper.

The chamberlain was about to leave when he caught sight of Cinderella in the

chimney corner, and he requested her to try on the glass slipper. The sisters set up

a loud laugh and said the idea was ridiculous!

However, the chamberlain insisted on it, and no sooner was the glass slipper

put to her foot; then it slipped on as if made for it. 

The amazement of the sisters was great, but it was greater still when Cinderella

produced the other slipper the fellow from her pocket and put it on her foot.

Then the hearth opened, and through it rose the fairy godmother. She touched

Cinderella and her clothes became more beautiful and costly than those she had

worn at the balls.

Then her sisters recognized her as the princess they had seen and admired. 

They threw themselves at her feet and implored pardon for all the injuries

they had done her.

Cinderella raised them and kissed them, and said that they could make up for

the past by loving her for the future.

The fairy godmother then said that Cinderella must go to the court in splendid

equipage, whereupon, as by magic, the gilded coach drawn by six greys,

with the pompous coachman on the box and the six lackeys behind,

drew up at the door.

In this, she drove to the palace, where she was well-received by the prince,

who thought her more beautiful by daylight than by that of candles. 

A few days after, there was a grand marriage.

After that, Cinderella got her sisters to lodge in apartments in the palace, and after

a little urgency, two noblemen were persuaded to marry the sisters, who sincerely

promised and vowed on their side to be better-tempered in their married state than

they had been as spinsters.

And the noblemen promised and vowed, on their part, if they did not, they would give

them shabby clothes and smut their faces till they became amiable again.