There once was a large cottage in the farmlands where a rich merchant lived. He had a wife who had traded her life with their daughter, a beautiful little girl with wide blue eyes and golden hair as soft and fine as silk threads.
The daughter had grown in a very happy childhood where she was allowed to go into town and view the pretty dresses her father bought for her. She went into bakery shops that offered her sweet buns and toffee cake. She explored the forest in her expensive dress and her father never worried about anything at all. He was happy and that was all that mattered.
One day, when the girl neared adolescence, the father grew worried and concerned. Who would teach the girl how to be a proper lady? He was the only influence in her life and allowed her to do whatever she wished—and that included rumbling and tumbling into the mud and dirt in her pretty dresses. So it was decided that he would marry a woman of high social standing—a woman who would teach her how to be a proper lady and who would show her a real mother-daughter relationship that the girl never had.
A year later, he hastily married Lady Cia. The woman and her two daughters—Lady Kotake and Lady Koume—moved in with large trunks parked at the back of the carriage. They were filled with Gerudo silken dresses, Goron jewels, Zora sapphires, and large amounts of rupees.
As Lady Cia stepped out of the golden carriage, she looked over the place with a sneer, for she had lived and grew in a large castle with stone walls. Here, the wild life grew all over—on the walls, on the windows, on the roof and on the gates. It looked sloppy and dirty. She did not see the beauty of it nor the charm.
Zelda, the daughter, gave up her large room for her two new sisters. She greeted them with a smile and a curtsy. Like their mother, the girls sneered at her, for they were envious of her natural beauty. They had to cover up themselves in globs of make-up to look pretty and work extra hard in keeping off extra meat on their bones. Because of Zelda's effortless looks, the girls had grown spiteful of her and made fun of Zelda whenever she were around them. They said her eyes were too big, her nose too small, her lips as gigantic as Lord Jabu Jabu's. This hurt Zelda badly, and she grew frightful of Kotake and Koume and their constant teasing.
Her father was oblivious of the bullying happening around his home. Mostly because he was gone most days of the year selling and trading his goods at Castle Town, Zora's Domain, and Death Mountain. And when he returned, he was still smitten with the lovely Lady Cia's good charms and good looks. Kotake and Koume would behave around him and ignore Zelda completely. Zelda, being bullied and even more frightened of the vicious ladies, remained quiet as her family stole away her father. Few words were exchanged between them during these visits.
Then, on her eighteenth year, her father returned while Cia, Kotake and Koume were away. This was the chance we he spoke to her finally and not under the spell of Cia's gaze.
"Zelda!" he called to her. He came out of his carriage bearing a large suitcase stuffed with sheets. "How are you, daughter?"
And she grinned widely, enjoying this rare moment of happiness. "Father!" cried Zelda, and she rushed forth out of the house, forgetting to close the door on her way. "Father!" she cried again for good measure, and then, ensuring that she wasn't dreaming, she stuffed her face into his chest and smelled the familiar scent of dried mint leaves and tobacco. She wrapped her arms around him and withdrew her face from his chest, looking up at him with a smile. "Did you get what I requested?"
"Yes," he replied, and he withdrew from her arms and dug into his pants' pocket. At last, he retrieved a twig. "You wanted a twig that brushed off my hat first, yes?" he said strangely, for it was odd that she had wished for such an unusual request. The other girls had asked for jewels and dresses, but Zelda asked for something simple.
"Thank you, Father," she said, and kissed him on the cheek. She went around the carriage and picked up other suitcases full of rupees which clinked together each step she took to the door. Together, father and daughter unpacked it empty and set up his riches in his study.
"Where are your sisters and your mother?"
"At a ball," said she, "with another lord and lady."
"My dear daughter," he said, "why are you not with them?"
"I do not like dancing very much."
"You are as elegant and graceful as a flower in the wind. I dare to say that you underestimate yourself," said he, and he patted her on the head. She smiled again, a rare thing to happen these days when she usually cried herself to sleep at night, and when her lower lip quivered in fear and sadness at the vile words she received from her step-sisters.
However, their brief moment was ended when the sound of hooves echoed outside on the road. It could be no other than Lady Cia and Kotake and Koume.
At once, her father exited the study and greeted them eagerly, like a dog to its master.
"Darling!" he called.
"Darling!" she called back. Cia stretched her hand and he kissed it. "Do you have what we asked for?"
"Yes, yes," he said, and with hurried hands, he withdrew platinum ice and fiery red dresses from his suitcase. He presented them to Kotake and Koume. Greedily, Kotake stole both dresses and the daughters bickered until Cia silenced them with a raised hand.
"Kotake, take the red one. Koume, the blue. Now, what else have you bought?" she turned her attention to the father.
"Jewels and pearls for the girls. There are plenty, so take your choice and keep them," he smiled with a kind heart.
The girls ignored him as they tore the chest open and splattered the jewels everywhere, constantly nagging at each other on who would get what.
Zelda sighed. It was like this every day. Although she knew she was cruel for wishing for something so evil, she had always dreamed that her father never remarried, just so then she would have never met such wicked step sisters.