Once upon a time there was a man who had a daughter. Her mother had died a few years ago and her father was afraid that his little girl was sometimes lonely.

So he married a lady who had two daughters of her own and, who he thought, would be kind to his little one. But as soon as the stepmother entered her new home she began to show her true character.

Her stepdaughter was so much prettier and sweeter than her own children that she was jealous of her and gave her all the hard housework to do, whilst the two sisters spent their time at parties and having fun.

The only pleasure the poor child had was to spend her evenings sitting in the chimney corner resting her tired body and this is why her sisters called her “Cinderella.” The sisters fine clothes made Cinderella feel very shabby; but in her little torn dress and dirty shoes she was a thousand times more lovely than they were.

One day the King’s son gave a grand ball to which he invited all the lords and ladies in the country and this included Cinderella’s two sisters. They were very excited and for days could talk of nothing else but the clothes they were going to wear and the people they hoped to meet.

When the great day finally arrived, Cinderella was kept busy from early till late, dressing the sisters, and fixing their hair. “Don’t you wish you were going to the ball?” one of the sister said to Cinderella.

“Yes I do,” sighed the poor girl, but the sisters just laughed. “A pretty spectacle you would be,” they said rudely. “Go back to your cinders, they are suitable company for a girl like you!”

The two sisters went to the ball as Cinderella went back to her chimney corner, and tried not to feel jealous. But the tears gathered in her pretty eyes and trickled down her sad little face.

“Why are you crying?” cried a silvery voice.

Cinderella jumped and looked up to see her fairy Godmother standing in front of her.

“I really want…” began Cinderella before her sobs stopped her.

“To go to the ball,” finished the Godmother. Cinderella nodded. “Well then, stop crying, be a good girl, and you shall go to the ball. Now quickly run into the garden and bring me the largest pumpkin you can find.”

A few seconds later Cinderella returned with a splendid pumpkin and with one touch of her godmothers magic wand it instantly turned into a golden coach.

“Oh! Godmother,” she cried, “it is so lovely!” Then she thought of her shabby dress but before Cinderella could realise what was happening her Godmother’s wand tapped her lightly on the shoulder and instantly she was wearing the most beautiful dress you have ever seen.

“Come, child,” said her Godmother, “or you will be late.”

As Cinderella moved, the firelight shone upon her dainty shoes.

“Are they made of diamonds?” she asked.

“No,” answered her Godmother, smiling; “they are better than that, they are glass, made by the fairies. And now go and enjoy yourself. Only remember, if you stay at the palace one second after midnight, your coach will vanish and you will be the little grey Cinderella once more!”

Cinderella arrived at the party and as she walked up the staircase there was a murmur of admiration. The King’s son rushed to meet her and led her into the ballroom, where the King whispered to the Queen that she must be a foreign Princess.

Cinderella danced with no one but the handsome young Prince all night. The two sisters could not recognise their ragged little sister and felt quite pleased and flattered when she briefly spoke to them.

The clock showed it was fifteen minutes till twelve and, remembering her Godmother’s warning, Cinderella  left the Prince and returned home. There she found her Godmother waiting for her. “It was lovely,” said Cinderella; “and there is another one tomorrow night, I would love to go!”

“Then you shall,” replied the kind fairy and, kissing her godchild tenderly, she vanished. When the sisters returned they found a sleepy little maiden sitting in the chimney-corner waiting for them.

They told her how the loveliest Princess in the world had been at the ball and had spoken to them and admired their pretty dresses.

“Who was she?” asked Cinderella, trying not to smile knowingly.

“We don’t know,” answered the sisters. “She wouldn’t say her name, though the Prince begged her to do so.”

The next night her Godmother appeared again and once more touched her godchild with the wand. “Now go and enjoy yourself” she told Cinderella, “but remember to leave before the clock strikes twelve.”

But the hours flew by so quickly that Cinderella forgot her promise until she happened to look at a clock and saw that it was on the stroke of twelve. Quickly she ran from the room and in her rush dropped one of the little glass slippers. The Prince hurried after her but when he reached the entrance the beautiful Princess had vanished.

The fire was out when Cinderella returned home and there was no Godmother waiting to see her, so she sat down in the chimney-corner to wait for her sisters to return. When they came in they could speak of nothing but the wonderful things that had happened at the ball.

The beautiful Princess had been there again, they said, but had disappeared just as the clock struck twelve, and though the Prince searched everywhere for her, he was unable to find her.

Cinderella listened in silence to all they had to say and, slipping her hand into her pocket, felt that the one remaining glass slipper was safe. It was the only thing of all her grand appearance that remained for her.

The following morning there was a great noise of trumpets as a procession passed through the town, lead by the King’s son. Behind him came a herald bearing a velvet cushion, upon which rested a little glass slipper. The herald then read a proclamation saying that the King’s son would wed any lady in the land who could fit the slipper upon her foot, if she could produce another to match it.

Of course, the sisters tried to squeeze their feet into the slipper, but it was no use, they were much too large. Then Cinderella shyly begged that she might try. How the sisters laughed when the Prince knelt to fit the slipper on the cinder-maid’s foot; but what a surprise when it fitted perfectly and the next moment Cinderella produced the other shoe from her pocket.

Once more she stood in the slippers and then the sisters saw before them the lovely Princess who was to be the Prince’s bride. At the touch of the magic shoes the little grey dress disappeared and in its place she wore the beautiful robe the fairy Godmother had given her.

The sisters hung their heads in shame but kind little Cinderella put her arms round their necks, kissed them, and forgave them for all their unkindness, so that they could not help but love her.

The Prince could not bear to part from his little love again, so he carried her back to the palace in his grand coach and they were married that very day.

So the poor little cinder-maid married the Prince and in time they came to be King and Queen and lived happily ever after.

The end