Cinderella

Once upon a time, there lived a rich man with his young daughter. His daughter was a very sweet and kind girl, just like her late mother.

When he remarried, his new wife had two daughters and they became a family of five.

After their wedding, it became clear that the stepmum had a bad temper. She did not appreciate his daughter’s kind and thoughtful manner. Her own daughters were mean and selfish, and she made them look even worse.

The stepmum treated his daughter very badly, giving her all the chores to do. Every day the young girl had to cook, clean, sweep and do anything that her stepmum and sisters ordered her to do.

They made her sleep on a dirty old mattress in a small attic room at the top of the house, while her stepsisters had the largest bedrooms, with beautiful furniture, and the comfiest beds.

Even though she was treated so badly, she never complained. If she did try to complain to her dad, her stepmum would only give her more chores to do and make her more miserable.

When she had finished all her work, she would sit by the chimney in the corner of the room among the cinders. Because of this her stepsisters decided to give her the nickname ‘Cinderella’.

Even though Cinderella wore torn dirty rags, usually covered in soot, her beauty and kindness always shone through.

One day it was announced that the prince was having a party and everyone in the town was invited.

The stepsisters were very excited and ordered Cinderella to wash and iron their dresses for them to wear to the party.

The stepsisters talked about nothing else but the party, their dresses and how they would style their hair. Cinderella, being the kind girl she was, even offered to do their hair for them.

Cinderella wished she could go to the party, but her stepmum would not allow it. She told her everyone would laugh at her.

When the day of the party arrived, Cinderella watched them all leave and began to cry.

At that moment, her fairy godmother appeared and asked what was making her sad.

Cinderella told her about the party and how her stepmum treats her every day. The fairy godmother knew exactly what to do.

She asked Cinderella to go into the garden and pick a pumpkin, find 6 grey mice, 1 rat, and bring them back to her.

Cinderella brought the fairy godmother all the things she asked for, and with one tap of her magic wand she turned the pumpkin into a sparkling carriage, the mice into 6 magnificent horses, and the rat into a carriage driver ready to take her to the party.

‘What about my old clothes?’, Cinderella cried, ‘I cannot go to the ball in these old rags’.

The fairy godmother waved her magic wand and transformed her old and stained clothes into a beautiful, jewel covered dress. It was the most amazing dress she had ever seen. Her tattered shoes became delicate glass slippers and her hair was made up like a Queen.

Cinderella climbed into the carriage ready to go to the party. But before she left the fairy godmother gave her a word of warning:

‘As the clock strikes midnight, everything will turn back to how it was.  The pumpkin, mice, rat and her old clothes would reappear as the magic wears off’.

Cinderella promised to leave the ball before midnight, and away she went in the horse drawn carriage. She was the happiest she had ever been.

When she arrived and entered the party, the prince saw her straight away and could not believe how beautiful she was – he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Nobody knew her name or where she came from, even her stepmum and stepsisters did not recognise her.

As she enjoyed the party, dancing the night away with the prince, time went by and before she realised it, it was nearly midnight! She remembered what the fairy godmother had said and left the party as fast as she could.

She was in such a hurry that as she was running down the stairs one of her glass shoes came off.

When she got home, she told her fairy godmother all about the party. When her stepmum and stepsisters finally arrived home, Cinderella pretended she had just woken up and they didn’t suspect a thing.

The stepsisters told Cinderella all about the beautiful girl arriving at the party and dancing with the prince all night. They told her that the prince was so upset after she left in a hurry and how he spent the rest of the night holding on to the glass shoe she had dropped, wondering who this beautiful girl was.

The following day it was announced that the prince wanted to marry the owner of the glass shoe and wanted to find the girl it fits.

He went around every girl in the town, trying on the shoe and could not find the owner of the shoe.

When the prince arrived at Cinderella’s house, the stepsisters were eager to try on the shoe and tried desperately to make the shoe fit. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t squeeze their feet into it. Then Cinderella asked if she could try the shoe.

Her stepsisters laughed at her, but the prince insisted every girl in the town must try the shoe. It fitted her perfectly, and Cinderella pulled the other shoe out of her pocket.

Everyone was shocked that Cinderella was the girl the prince was looking for!

At that moment the fairy godmother appeared and with one tap of her wand, Cinderella’s rags once again transformed into the jewel covered dress. The stepsisters then recognised her as the beautiful girl at the party and begged for her forgiveness for treating her so badly.

Being the kind girl she was, Cinderella forgave her stepsisters.

A few days later, Cinderella and the prince were married, and they lived happily ever after.