This is pretty much the way I tell this story to my child.
Once upon a time, there was a Princess named Cinderella who didn’t know that she was a Princess. Her evil step-mother moved the family to this new city far from where she had been born, so no one knew her or her evil step-mother and her three evil step-sisters. They were all very mean to her and made her clean everything up and do the laundry and fix all the food, wouldn’t help at all and made fun of her a lot. They even made her wear a dirty, torn up dress and didn’t let her have any shoes!
Well it so happened that there was a Prince who lived in the city too and he needed to find a girl to marry, but he didn’t want to settle for just any girl, she had to be just right for him. His dad, the King, had tried to set him up with a Princess from another Kingdom, but when she saw that he wasn’t very handsome, she screamed and ran away. He really wasn’t very handsome on the outside, in fact he kind of looked like a frog! But that’s another story. The point is, he was a really nice guy, very kind and loving. The kind of person that people like to call ‘Beautiful on the inside.’
So, the Prince decided to throw a big party, called a ‘Ball,’ with a live band and dancing, clowns and apple-bobbing, barbeque and lots of juice and soda-pop, and even pony rides. He invited all of the single girls in the Kingdom to his Ball and, of course, their mothers.
The big day arrived and Cinderella’s evil step-sisters and her evil step-mother were all beside themselves thinking about what a great time they were going to have eating barbeque and riding ponies and drinking soda and planning on how they were going to make the Prince notice and marry one of the evil step-sisters. In fact the evil step-sisters got into a fight about it and got their party dresses torn and their hair messed up. They yelled and hollered and said mean things to Cinderella till she got their dresses fixed back up and re-brushed their hair and got their ribbons all straightened up.
As the time to go got closer, Cinderella went to her evil step-mother and asked if she was going to get to go too because she really wanted to get out and drink some soda-pop and ride a pony or three. Her evil step-mother just laughed and, with a meaner face than usual, said, “Bigfoot!” They called her ‘Bigfoot’ because she had really, really big feet, “You aren’t going anywhere, why you would trip over your own huge feet and besides that you’re too ugly to be seen in public!” Which was a flat-out lie because Cinderella was a very beautiful girl (under all the dirt and grime). So they left her at home and went on their way up the road to the party.
A few minutes after they left, Cinderella was in the garden beside the house, crying and feeling sorry for herself when up popped a lady fairy from out of nowhere! Scared out of her wits, Cinderella leaped to her feet and exclaimed, “Hey! Where did you come from? Aren’t you that Tinker-something person? Where’s that boy from your story if you are?” The fairy lady laughed and said, “No, I am a fairy and I think she was a pixie. I am your Fairy Godmother. I was there the day you were born and Christened and have been watching over you for your whole life, just like your angel-mom has.” Cinderella said, “That’s so wonderful! I remember my dad telling me that my mom went to be an angel and was watching over me when I was little, before my evil step-mother took me away.” Her Fairy Godmother told her that it was all true and that there wasn’t really time to talk right now because if Cinderella wanted to go to the party they had a lot of work to do!
Her Fairy Godmother flew all around her, looking at her dress and hair and bare feet then flew back a few feet in front of her and hovered there thinking for a few minutes and looking very serious. Finally she waved her magic wand over Cinderella’s hair and *POOF* it was clean and perfectly fixed and the rag she had tied over it became a beautiful sparkly tiara. She said, “There, that will do.” Next, she told Cinderella to turn around slowly and waved her wand over Cinderella’s dress as she turned. *POOF* the old torn and dirty dress became a beautiful full ball gown.
Now back in those days, soda-pop came in glass bottles. Noticing that Cinderella was barefoot, her Fairy-Godmother told her to go look in the trash heap and see if she could find two empty bottles that were pretty clean. Cinderella ran to where she kept stuff for recycling and got two empty Mountain-Dude bottles out of the glass bin and brought them back to her Fairy-Godmother. “Will these do?” She asked. Her Fairy Godmother said, “Perfectly! Just lay them on the ground side by side.” After Cinderella laid the bottles down, her Fairy-Godmother waved her wand over them and *POOF* they changed into a pair of glass slippers which fit perfectly when Cinderella slipped her feet into them.
“Next,” her Fairy-Godmother said, “We need to get you a ride if you are going to make it on time. Fetch me that pumpkin in your garden.” Cinderella ran to the garden and grabbing the pumpkin in question, hurried back to her Fairy-Godmother. As Cinderella approached, her Fairy-Godmother told her to, “Put it in the road, won’t you. Just there, that’s a good girl,” pointing at a spot of road by the curb.
As she placed the pumpkin by the curb, her Fairy-Godmother saw two white mice and a cricket in the brush across the road. Pointing at them, she said, “You lot! Yes the three of you, come here and stand by the pumpkin.” The two mice ran to the pumpkin while the cricket in one large hop, HOPPED across the road and landed right on top of it. “Very nicely done!” said the Fairy Godmother, “Nice, indeed! Just perfect if I may say so. OK, hold still now.” and waved her wand over the pumpkin, two mice and yes, the cricket too… and *POOF* they turned into a beautiful pumpkin-colored coach, two beautiful white horses in harness and a smallish man with long legs in the driver’s seat at the reins. Cinderella was standing there just completely amazed! She had her hands at her cheeks and was bouncing up and down in her glass slippers in excitement.
“In you go, dear.” Said her Fairy-Godmother, “Don’t stand here gawking now, you’ve a Ball to get to and a Prince to meet. Go on.” and Cinderella curtsied to her Fairy-Godmother and ran to the carriage. As she was climbing in, her Fairy-Godmother told her, “One more thing, Cinderella. This is most important. You have to leave the Ball by Midnight.” Cinderella had gotten into the carriage by then and sat down. Holding the door, she asked, “OK, but why?” Her Fairy-Godmother replied, “Because when the clock finishes ringing Midnight, the carriage, horses, coachman and your fine new clothes will all return to what they really are.” Cinderella said, “OK Fairy God-mother, I won’t forget. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.” Cinderella was a good girl and always remembered to say thank you. Her Fairy-Godmother said, “It was my pleasure child. Remember, I’m always here for you.” With both Cinderella and her Fairy-Godmother waving goodbye, the horses pulled the coach into motion, headed to the Ball.
She got to the palace just in time for the Ball. Her coach pulled up to the entrance and let her out and went on to park with the other coaches. Knowing about the midnight deadline, the cricket-driver turned the coach around and backed the mice-horses into a front row parking space where they would be able to see Cinderella coming down the steps.
A large man in a bright red, black and gold uniform was standing at the entrance, “Excuse me Mistress, the prince has stationed me out here to give all of the young ladies a message as they enter. Although the prince is in there, he won’t introduce himself as the prince. As far as you will know, he could be any one of the boys you see.” Cinderella listened to the man and responded, “How strange, but alright. Thank you so much good Sir!” With that, she went on towards the open entryway.
Cinderella went through the doors into a huge, brightly lit room. One like she didn’t remember ever seeing before. It was all painted in white and off-whites, even the fireplace, which was the biggest fireplace she had ever seen, was made of white marble. There was a beautiful curved staircase to the left with a deep red carpet going up the steps. The parts that held the rail and the edge of the staircase were all done in a cream color and wood carved to look like ivy and covered with gold on it.
Looking around again, Cinderella noticed that there were columns all along the walls and they were all cream colored with gold ivy on them too. The floor was wood and polished so well that you could see your reflection in it.
Across the big room, called the ‘Ballroom,’ and against the far wall was a stage with a band on it, playing really good dance music. To the right was a refreshment area with cookies and cake and pies and ice cream and every flavor of soda-pop she could imagine! There were lots and lots of people in the Ballroom, dancing and talking and the girls were all wearing the prettiest gowns and the boys had on the nicest clothes she had ever seen boys wearing. She wondered how they kept them so clean because she knew that boys were just naturally messy and she had heard they even had cooties.
Cinderella felt out of place and really shy. She kind of believed the lies her evil stepmother and evil stepsisters told her about how ugly she was.
Just as she was about to run away, this very handsomely dressed but very ugly boy came out of the crowd and asked her if she would like anything to eat and drink and would she mind if he walked her around. It wouldn’t have been right for her to just run away now, since he was standing there so politely. She nodded and said, “Yes, it is so nice of you to ask. I would be honored if you would walk with me and if you’d like, you could eat with me too and we can talk.” The ugly boy’s face split open into a wide grin and all of a sudden, he didn’t seem nearly as ugly as she had first thought.
They went over to the snack bar and got hotdogs and a soda-pop then sat at a table nearby to eat. Cinderella had noticed that everyone nodded or sort of half bowed to the boy walking with her and that he responded with a wave or nod of his head each time. She decided not to ask him about it, though, thinking it must be just a Palace custom or something.. The huge smile never left his face.
They sat and ate and talked and had fun, telling each other knock-knock jokes and stuff, then decided to go and get an ice cream. As they were standing at the edge of the crowd, eating the last of their ice cream, the boy asked her if she would like to dance or go ride ponies or something. She said that she loved ponies and wanted to get one someday and would love to go riding. But since she was wearing a ball gown and didn’t bring any shorts or jeans to change into, that they should maybe just dance instead if that was Okay with him.
The boy bowed and took her hand and, grinning, said, “My pleasure, my lady.” And with that, they went off onto the dance floor and had lots of fun dancing to every song the band played. As Cinderella danced with the boy, she realized that she didn’t see him as ugly anymore, but in fact, he was quite charming and handsome in his own way. She was amazed by that thought. She also noticed that everyone else who was dancing always gave them room and seemed to nod and smile at them.
All of a sudden, Cinderella heard a huge clock somewhere start to bong out the hour, *BONG!*. “what hour is it?” she asked the boy, “Why Midnight. The clock only bongs at *BONG!* midnight.” Cinderella’s face turned pale and she said, “You’ll have to excuse me, I have to be home at Midnight!” *BONG!* As she let go of the boy’s hand and started to run for the exit, he asked, “But what is your name? Will I see you again?” *BONG* Running, she replied over her shoulder, “I’m so sorry! I have to go, now!” She was running through the door when the next *BONG!* came. The not so ugly boy was trying to fight his way through the crowd to follow her. Her driver saw her come out of the Palace from his perch on top of the coach and got it going right up to the bottom of the steps down from the porch. When Cinderella started down the steps, she was in such a hurry that she wasn’t minding her footing and just as she heard *BONG!* she twisted her ankle and halfway fell down. She got back up and ran into the open door of the coach and yelled, “GO! Go now!”
As the coach lurched into motion, she saw the actually quite nice-looking boy running across the porch and stop at the steps, bend over and pick something up. It was one of her glass slippers! “Oh no!” she thought, that is going to turn back into a soda-pop bottle right in his hand! But her Fairy Godmother, watching invisibly from above, had a different idea and gave the slipper an extra *POOF* with her wand and fixed as a glass slipper permanently.
Just as the coach turned a bend in the road, Cinderella faintly heard the clock strike it’s last midnight *BONG!* and then, *POOF!* she was sitting on the road and right in front of her, the pumpkin was a pumpkin again and there were the two white mice and sitting on top of the pumpkin was a cricket and a coke bottle was rolling from near her foot to the curb. She sighed and got up, put the bottle in one pocket of her raggedy torn up work dress, politely asked the mice and cricket if they would like a ride home. It was the least she could do since they had so kindly given her a ride to the Palace. The mice scampered into the other pocket of her dress and the cricket hopped onto her shoulder. Picking up the pumpkin, Cinderella trudged home, wondering which one of the boys had been the prince and if she had seen him.
Now the boy, who actually was the prince after all, was standing on the porch, holding the glass slipper in his hand when his dad the King walked out and put his hand on the Princes shoulder. “What are you going to do now, son? Have you found the girl you want to marry?” The Prince looked sadly up at the King, “Yes I think so, dad, but I don’t know her name or where she lives.” The King said, “Well, that could be quite a problem! Maybe you should pick one of the other girls.” The Prince determined, “No, dad, I’ll take this slipper and try it on every girl in the Kingdom till I find the one it fits!” The King answered, “What if it fit’s a lot of girls?” The Prince held the slipper up and said, “Look at this, dad, it’s really large, I bet your foot would about fit in there. There can’t be but one girl in the whole Kingdom with feet this large. I’ll get it all arranged, starting tomorrow and get to looking as soon as I can.” The King grinned, “That’s my boy. Come, let’s get everyone out and go get some sleep.” With that, the King and the Prince went back into the Ballroom and told everyone it was time to go and that they hoped everyone had fun.
It took a week to get a list of all of the girls in the Kingdom who were the right age and to send notices throughout the whole Kingdom that the Prince would be searching for one particular girl. The Prince was anxious and pacing the halls of the Palace the whole time, wishing everyone would just hurry up!
Finally, the Monday a week after the party, the Prince and his helpers started out, looking for the girl that the slipper would fit. He went to the farthest corners of the Kingdom first and worked his way back toward home.
The house where Cinderella lived with her evil stepmother and evil stepsisters was the last house the Prince would get to. By the time he got there, he was really discouraged. One of his helpers had the evil stepsisters sit on the couch and take their shoes off so the Prince could try the slipper on each one of them. It was pretty obvious to him that it wasn’t going to fit any of them and it didn’t. The Prince looked like he was about to cry. “ I guess that is all of the girls in the whole Kingdom.” One of his helpers was looking through pages in his notebook. “Wait a minute, your Highness. This says that there are four girls living in this house, not just three.” Looking at the evil stepmother, the Prince asked, “Where is this fourth girl and why are you hiding her from me?” Cinderella’s evil stepmother looked kind of sick, “Your Highness, she is only a housekeeper and wasn’t even at the Ball last week! We had her home, cleaning the place up.” The Prince said, “I don’t want to hear any of your excuses, woman, bring me this fourth girl right now!” So her evil stepmother ran to get Cinderella because she had locked her in her room.
“Here she is your Highness, as you can see she is nothing but an ugly thing, fit for nothing more than doing laundry and dishes and barely fit for that.” Her evil stepmother said while pushing Cinderella towards the Prince.
Cinderella was amazed and speechless, the Prince was the boy she had spent eth evening with at the Ball. She remembered how ugly she had thought he looked. Now he just looked tired. She sat on the couch and tentatively held her foot out for the Prince. He saw that her foot looked to be a match for the slipper and tried it on her. It was a perfect fit!
The Prince saw that this really was the girl he had gotten to know at the Ball, hiding under the old clothes and dirt smudges on her face and hands. He took Cinderella’s hand and gently pulled her to her feet.
Just then, Cinderella’s Fairy-Godmother suddenly appeared to everyone in the room, *POOF!* She startled everyone except Cinderella who said, “Oh never mind, it’s safe, she just likes to make a dramatic entrance. Everyone, this is my Fairy-Godmother.”
Her Fairy-Godmother waved her wand and *POOF!* Cinderella was clean and beautiful with her hair all done up, wearing a Princess dress and tiara and even had her nails done. “Prince harming, let me introduce you to Princess Cinderella. She was kidnapped from her daddy’s Kingdom and put under a forget spell by this evil old hag and her evil daughters because they were jealous of her grace and beauty.”
Prince Charming kissed Cinderella’s hand and said “Delighted.” Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the evil stepmother and evil stepsisters edging toward the back door. He straightened up and pointed to them and said, “Men, arrest these three, put them in jail and send a messenger to Cinderella’s daddy telling him that we have found her and arrested her kidnappers. Meanwhile my dear, you will be safe in our Palace if you wish.”
Cinderella and Prince Charming spent a month walking together in his Palace gardens and going for picnics. Prince Charming gave Cinderella a beautiful white horse that looked just like his and they added horseback riding to their activities.
Finally, one afternoon, Cinderella’s daddy got there and gave her a big hug! He shook Prince Charming’s hand and Prince Charming’s dad and him went into the King’s study to talk.
Prince Charming and his dad threw a big dinner party that night to honor Cinderella’s dad getting there and in the middle of the party, Prince Charming stood up and took Cinderella’s hand. He said, “Cinderella, I have come to deeply admire and respect you over the time we’ve known each other and I’ve fallen in love with you. Would you consider being my wife?” Everyone clapped at that and the two Kings grinned at each other. Cinderella stood up and said, “Prince Charming, your name does fit you so well. The first time I met you, I only saw an ugly boy at first, but then your personality, who you are, began to shine through and I began to see the wonderful person you are. You are well named because you are the most Charming man I have ever known. I would be deeply pleased to be your wife.” With that, the whole room erupted in cheers and whistles. After a few minutes the two Kings stood and raised their hands. The crowd got quiet to hear what they would say, because it was the Kings who decided who their sons and daughters would marry back then. Prince Charming’s dad looked at Cinderella’s dad and said, “What say you, my old friend?” Cinderella’s dad grinned at his daughter and felt his heart swell with pride. He said, “Today, I am not losing a daughter but gaining a son and a fairer son and more Charming a man, a father could never hope for, You have my blessing!” Once again the crowd cheered and whistled their agreement. Holding up his hand to quiet everyone down, Cinderella’s dad turned to Prince Charming’s dad and said, “What say you, old friend? Shall our children and Kingdom’s be wed?”
Prince Charming’s dad looked at Cinderella and Prince Charming, then raising his voice he said, “Today, I am not losing a son but gaining a daughter. A fairer, more gracious and lovely daughter, no man has ever had, you have my blessing as well!” This time as the crowd cheered and whistled, the two Kings hugged each other, smiling with joy and Cinderella and Prince Charming hugged each other too.
When it got to be midsummer, they had the wedding, it was a grand wedding and at the reception, they had more soda pop for everyone and cakes and cookies and ice cream and a big outdoors dance with a live band and this time, they even had bounce houses and slides for everyone to play on.
And after that, Cinderella and Prince Charming lived happily ever after.©FCPierce 01/05/12
