Cinderella – a revised version

Germany

In the highlands of Germany, where snow fell all winter long, there lived a happy family. The family of 3 lived together in harmony; a mother, a father and their single daughter. One cold winters day, the mother fell ill with cancer. She started to believe in magic but she didn't tell her husband, instead as she lay on her deathbed, she called her daughter to her and said "I must leave you now, but I will look down on you from heaven. Plant a tree on my grave and when you need something, just shake the tree and I will help you get what you want. I only ask that you help your father and earn some money because he is not very rich and is not good with money. Goodbye" Then she closed her eyes and died. The girl, despite being a little disbelieving of her mother, planted a tree on her grave and watered it daily.

The girl's father wallowed in pity, for 15 days and 15 nights, he would not leave his room but instead he stayed there and read books and watched the television. The girl took charge of the affairs and paid for all the funeral costs and when the money began to run out she went a found a job at a builders business which was near her home. The people at the builders were surprised to see such a young person asking for a job but they took her on as a builder and were delighted to see that she was very strong and soon she became the best builder in the business. She began to earn more money than her father and he was very happy because he was still very sad.

One day her father met a rich woman who wanted to marry him. Despite the girl being unhappy with the marriage it went ahead because the girls new stepmother was very pushy.

The stepmother already had two daughters from her first marriage. The two daughters were mean, arrogant and nasty, like their mother. After the marriage the new family moved into the same house and they all got along well. Everyone helped to do the housework, even the girl's father, and everyone was happy. Things soon began to change though and the stepmother started getting angry at the girl. They gave her the nickname Cinderella.

Cinderella's step sisters teased her at school and took away all her friends. Cinderella was left all alone with only the birds for company. When she was at home the stepmother forced Cinderella to do work that she didn't like such as fixing the car and building cubby houses for her stepsisters. She forced Cinderella to complete all the tax files for the family and mow the lawns. Her stepsisters broke her iPod and computer and cut of her hair while she was sleeping. Cinderella was forever unhappy, but she could not leave because her step mother was very powerful and would find her easily.

King Frederick of Denmark announced to the media that he was having a birthday party! It was going to run for 3 whole nights in a row. Everyone at school was ecstatic about this announcement because 2 people from every high school in Germany and Denmark would be chosen to attend the party. There were rumours that the king wanted to get married! The party was going to be held in the grandest hall in Germany.

Cinderella knew that she wouldn't be invited and so didn't bother getting involved in all the hype. Cinderellas sisters however, were so pretty that they had a good chance of being selected!

On the last day of school before the holidays, the selectors came to Cinderella's school and to her horror they chose her 2 sisters! That might have been because of their pushiness....

The night of the party arrived and the whole of Denmark was watching the TV where it was being broadcast. Cinderella helped her sisters get ready for the ball, even though she wasn't very good at applying makeup! Before leaving the elder one said "Make sure you reorganize the study and complete all the taxes before we get home, otherwise you will not eat until you have finished!"

When her sisters had left, Cinderella went into the study. "Oh," she said with a sigh. "I'll have to sit here sorting papers until midnight, and I can't close my eyes no matter how much they hurt. If only my mother knew about this!"

Just as she began her work, there was a loud noise at the door. "Cinderella! I know you're in there! Open up!" Cinderella's heart leapt, it was her best friend, Sally.

"Sally! What are you doing here?" she exclaimed when she reached the door.

"Well, I came over to your house this morning and as I was climbing the fence I heard your stepsisters shouting at you that you had to sort all the papers in the study. That's ridiculous, why do you have to do all this?"

"They tell me I do, and I can't get out of it because they always know... they can do anything they like to me." Sally looked down at Cinderella, strong as she was she looked frail today.

"Well, never mind! I've brought help. All my brothers and sisters will sort the papers for you!" Cinderella watched as all 9 of Sally's brothers and sisters trooped through the door.

"Oh Sally! Thank you" Cried Cinderella.

They were finished in no time, Cinderella was so happy. "Come back to my house and we can watch the party on the TV. We can laugh at your sisters!"

When the sisters got home, they found Cinderella waiting for them at the front door. "How was the party?" She asked

"It was wonderful, amazing! The king is very nice but he's not a very good dancer."Said the elder one

"Still, I would like him to choose me!" The younger one said

"No he'll choose me!" Cinderella left them arguing and went to bed.

The next night, Cinderella helped the girls prepare for the party again. This time, after being so angry that she had finished the work the night before they told her to "sort out the garage and make sure that it is completely organised by the time we get back"

Cinderella set to work in the garage. It was a mammoth task – she doubted that she would ever finish. A loud banging on the front door wakened Cinderella from her gloom. Cinderella jumped up and ran to see Sally there again. "I figured you would need some help tonight as well..." Cinderella just hugged her.

When they had finished, Sally had another surprise. "Come here, I've got something to show you."

To her amazement, Cinderella saw a beautiful dress hanging in the hallway. Her mouth dropped open. "You're not serious?"

"Deadly. Come on, get dressed. You're going to PAAARTAE!!! Just make sure you're home before midnight."

The cab Cinderella was in pulled up at the gates of the grandest hall in Germany. King Frederick, the King of Denmark looked out of the window and thought that it was a foreign princess arriving. He rushed out to greet her. As they walked into the hall together all the TV screens pointed at Cinderella and all the other girls and boys at the party were jealous.

They danced together all night and time passed quickly. All too soon, Cinderella heard the clock chiming and said "sorry I have to go now." And with that, she was gone.

The sisters were in a bad mood when they returned home. "How was the party?" asked Cinderella

"No. A princess was there who danced with the prince almost the whole time, but no one knew who she was nor where she came from."

Cinderella had to get her sisters ready a third time. Her reward was an order to fix all the leaking taps in the house. The sisters knew Cinderella wouldn't be able to do this without any equipment no matter how amazing her feats of the previous nights.

Tonight, Cinderella called the plumber and asked them to fix the taps. Honestly her sisters were stupid sometimes! Sally arrived about an hour later with the most gorgeous dress ever seen. It was short and silky with colourful sequins around the top.

When Cinderella arrived, the prince was waiting for her at the stairway. They walked into the hall together. Cinderella had the time of her life and couldn't believe it when the clock started chiming. She started to run off, but this time the King was ready and stopped her. During the fight which followed Cinderella dropped her mobile and in the confusion managed to escape home.

The King was devastated. He wanted to marry this handsome girl. She was strong and spoke her mind – it was exactly the girl for him! The king searched throughout the city and throughout the country for the mysterious girl. No-one knew who she was. When he arrived at Cinderella's house he asked the sisters who had sent the last text message on the phone and what it had said. Despite guessing quite good messages they were wrong. The King said "Is there not another daughter here in this house?"

"No" said the mother "There is only my step daughter who didn't go to the party. Her arms don't fit into any dresses." She did not want to call her but the prince insisted. So they called Cinderella and when the King asked her about the message she answered straight away.

"Oh, it was from Sally and it said BE STRONG. U RULE!" The king couldn't believe his ears and checked the message on the phone again, even though he already knew it off by heart.

"Well my dear, if it suits you of course, you will be my wife." The stepmother and the two sisters turned pale with horror.

Cinderella walked out to the car with her hair held high. She was happy.

Thanks for reading ! I hope you enjoyed the story, it was for school but I thought it was OK. Please review!