Prologue
Once upon a time, there was a world ruled by apes, while humans were trod down in poverty and servitude.
In this world, there was a tiny kingdom, peaceful and prosperous and rich in romance and tradition. In this kingdom, a young ape gently born, only scion of a wealthy family, fell in love with a human woman, and earned her love in return. Against the wishes of his family, they were wed.
They lived together in a stately chateau, and were soon blessed with a child, a little daughter whom they named Cinderella. Although he loved his wife and daughter very much, the gentle-ape was sad, because Cinderella looked entirely human, and it was whispered that she was not his daughter at all. His sorrows only increased when his wife died, leaving him and Cinderella alone.
Although he was a kind and devoted father, who gave his beloved child every luxury and comfort, he felt acutely the lack of a mother's care for Cinderella, as well as the absence of any friends her own age, for the ape children of Cinderella's class avoided her. And so he married again, choosing for his second wife a widow of good family, with two daughters just Cinderella's age, by name Anastasia and Drizella.
It was upon the untimely death of this good ape however, that the Stepmother's true nature was revealed: cold and cruel, she hated humans, and had no intention of loving one as her own child, the equal of her own child. Cinderella was abused humiliated, and finally forced to become a servant in her own house. And yet, through it all, Cinderella remained ever gentle and kind, for with each dawn she found new hope that, someday, her dreams of happiness would come true.
Author's Note: I don't even know where this idea came from, but hopefully you'll join me as I make a go of it and see what happens. The story will initially follow the plot of the 1950 Disney film, then continue on beyond that. The apes I have in mind are more the very human-ish ones from the original Charlton Heston movies, rather than the very ape-like ones from the Andy Serkis films, but as you will see there will be a bit of a mixture of both. There will be no actual Planet of the Apes characters (at least that isn't the plan right now) but some of the names will be used (so the prince will be named Ash, after Blue Eyes' friend from Dawn of…and instead of the King we will have the Caesar, etc.
