![]() ![]() "Yes," cried Cinderella, with a great sigh. This godmother of hers, who was a fairy, said to her, "You wish that you could go to the ball is it not so?" I wish I could." She was not able to speak the rest, being interrupted by her tears and sobbing. Her godmother, who saw her all in tears, asked her what was the matter. When she lost sight of them, she started to cry. They went to court, and Cinderella followed them with her eyes as long as she could. They were continually in front of their looking glass. Then they broke more than a dozen laces trying to have themselves laced up tightly enough to give them a fine slender shape. They were so excited that they hadn't eaten a thing for almost two days. "It would make the people laugh to see a Cinderwench at a ball."Īnyone but Cinderella would have fixed their hair awry, but she was very good, and dressed them perfectly well. "Alas!" said she, "you only jeer me it is not for such as I am to go to such a place." As she was doing this, they said to her, "Cinderella, would you not like to go to the ball?" Indeed, she even offered her services to fix their hair, which they very willingly accepted. They also consulted Cinderella in all these matters, for she had excellent ideas, and her advice was always good. They sent for the best hairdresser they could get to make up their headpieces and adjust their hairdos, and they had their red brushes and patches from Mademoiselle de la Poche. "And I," said the youngest, "shall have my usual petticoat but then, to make amends for that, I will put on my gold-flowered cloak, and my diamond stomacher, which is far from being the most ordinary one in the world." "For my part," said the eldest, "I will wear my red velvet suit with French trimming." They talked all day long of nothing but how they should be dressed. This was a new difficulty for Cinderella for it was she who ironed her sister's linen and pleated their ruffles. They were mightily delighted at this invitation, and wonderfully busy in selecting the gowns, petticoats, and hair dressing that would best become them. Our young misses were also invited, for they cut a very grand figure among those of quality. It happened that the king's son gave a ball, and invited all persons of fashion to it. However, Cinderella, notwithstanding her coarse apparel, was a hundred times more beautiful than her sisters, although they were always dressed very richly. Only the younger sister, who was not so rude and uncivil as the older one, called her Cinderella. When she had done her work, she used to go to the chimney corner, and sit down there in the cinders and ashes, which caused her to be called Cinderwench. The poor girl bore it all patiently, and dared not tell her father, who would have scolded her for his wife governed him entirely. She slept in a sorry garret, on a wretched straw bed, while her sisters slept in fine rooms, with floors all inlaid, on beds of the very newest fashion, and where they had looking glasses so large that they could see themselves at their full length from head to foot. She scoured the dishes, tables, etc., and cleaned madam's chamber, and those of misses, her daughters. She employed her in the meanest work of the house. She could not bear the good qualities of this pretty girl, and the less because they made her own daughters appear the more odious. No sooner were the ceremonies of the wedding over but the stepmother began to show herself in her true colors. He had likewise, by another wife, a young daughter, but of unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world. She had, by a former husband, two daughters of her own, who were, indeed, exactly like her in all things. Once there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen. The story on this page is the story of Cinderella in its original form, as translated from the story written in French by Charles Perrault in 1697. It was quickly translated into English and, of course, we know that the English-speaking world loved the stories - especially the story of Cinderella - as much as the French did. But Charles Perrault recorded the story with wit and style and his book was an immediate success. ![]()
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