Cinderella ran down the staircase of her house as fast as she could after her mice friends found the key to the attic room her cruel stepmother locked her in. She had to stop the grand duke from leaving without giving her a chance to try on the glass slipper, which was her slipper when she danced with Prince Charles at the royal ball last night.
"Do you have any other daughters?" The grand duke asked Cinderella's stepmother, Lady Tremaine, after the two ugly and mean stepsisters Drizella and Anastasia failed to squeeze their big ugly stinky feet into the little delicate glass slipper.
"No, your grace." Lady Tremaine replied, as Cinderella reached the room from upstairs. Lady Tremaine tried to hide Cinderella by standing in front of her.
"Wait, please don't go!" Cinderella called to the duke.
The grand duke was delighted to see Cinderella; she looked like the girl the prince had danced with at the ball.
"A figure of your imagination." Lady Tremaine said.
"I want to try on the slipper." Cinderella said. Cinderella sat down in a chair in the front living room and the grand duke signaled for the footman to bring the glass slipper on its pillow to her. While the footman hurried over, the wicked stepmother stuck out her ebony cane and tripped the footman, causing him to fall and drop the glass slipper. It fell on the hard marble tiles of the mansion's floor, and broke.
"Oh no!" cried Cinderella and the grand duke. The footman glared angrily at the treacherous stepmother.
"So sorry, your grace, an unfortunate accident." Lady Tremaine said smugly smiling an evil smile.
"No, no, now what shall I do? The grand duke moaned in despair. "All is lost! The king, what will he say? What will he do?"
"Don't worry, I have the other slipper." Said Cinderella. She took the matching glass slipper out of her apron pocket and handed it to the duke. The duke was so overwhelmed with relief he kissed the precious glass slipper. He tried it on Cinderella's right foot, and it was a perfect fit!
"At last, we have found the prince's true bride!" The grand duke said.
"That's impossible!" Lady Tremaine protested.
"But I wanted to marry the prince! It's not fair!" Anastasia and Drizella began to whine and cry when they saw that their chances of marrying Prince Charles were over.
"Come with me, my dear, I believe Prince Charles is very eager to see you." Said the grand duke.
"Oh how I have longed for this day!" Cinderella exclaimed. "Goodbye stepmother, Anastasia, Drizella, and know that I forgive you for the way you have treated me, because forgiveness sets the heart free to love."
Cinderella followed the grand duke and footmen to the carriage waiting outside. The footman helped her into the carriage. Cinderella said goodbye to her old life of drudgery forever as she rode off to the castle to meet her handsome, kind, charming gentleman prince who would marry her and make her a princess.
King George of Alberta had finished his breakfast and was relaxing with a cup of coffee on the castle veranda overlooking the lovely garden while reading the Bible. The stout, aging king wore a white suit resembling a military uniform, with golf braid and buttons down the front. On his balding head was a gold crown. He had a thick white mutton chop mustache. When King George finished his cup of coffee and set the cup down, a guard came into the room and bowed before delivering his message.
"Good morning Sir Edmund. Do you have something important to say?" The king asked the guard.
"Good morning your majesty. Yes I do have good news for you. Grand Duke William has found the girl Prince Charles is in love with, the young lady whose foot fits the glass slipper. He has arrived at the castle with her. Unfortunately your majesty, she is not what we expected. It appears, sire, the girl is a- a servant!"
"What! A servant girl marry my son?! We shall see about this!"
Just then, another guard rushed into the room. "Your majesty, your son, Prince Ferdinand, who was gone for a long time, has returned to the kingdom and the castle. He has not returned alone, sire, but brings with him his bride, a beautiful princess from our neighboring kingdom whom he rescued from certain death."
"Well, at least my eldest son knows to bring home a princess and not fall for servant girls." King George said. "But I swear the maiden at the ball looked just like a princess in that sparking pale blue silk dress with the long white gloves and glass slippers. Where would a mere servant find clothes like that? I suppose as a maid she could have stolen them from her mistress to have a night of fun at the ball. Where is Charles? I will meet with him and his servant girl first. I think that Ferdinand and his princess will want to rest and refresh themselves before they see me. "
Cinderella was awed by the size and grand design of the castle. She had seen it last night at the ball but then it had been dark and she had not been able to make out all the details she could see in the light of day. It was magnificent. She followed the grand duke through the castle, having trouble keeping up with him because she kept pausing to stare at all the wonderful beautiful décor of the castle. Grand Duke William took her to a parlor room with portraits of deceased members of the royal family and lots of chairs, love seats, and couches. Cinderella sat down in a powder blue chair and looked at a portrait on the wall across from her. Grand Duke William went to fetch Prince Charles.
The portrait was of a pretty, slim, middle-aged woman with dark auburn hair, fair skin and cornflower blue eyes. She wore a medium blue velvet dress trimmed with a collar of white lace around her shoulders with a sapphire and diamond brooch in the center at her bosom. Her auburn hair was swept up into a fancy twist on the top of her head and crowned with a sapphire and diamond tiara, she had on a matching necklace and earrings. Cinderella wondered who she was. The lady's portrait was placed in a noticeable spot of importance.
Prince Charles came rushing through the door. "It's you!" Cinderella stood up and hurried to meet him. They ran into each other's arms.
"Why are you dressed in old servant's clothes? I would clad my beautiful lady in fine dresses and jewels, not rags. Tell me who you are, I want to know everything about you." Prince Charles said.
"Well," Cinderella paused, not sure how to start. "I must be truthful; I have lived in my stepmother's house as her maid for several years."
"Did you say your stepmother? Why should she treat you as maid? Shouldn't you be part of the family? What about your father? I have heard of jealousy among stepfamilies and stepparents preferring their own natural children to their stepchildren, but it is outrageous to make a stepchild into a servant."
"You see my mother died when I was a baby, and when I was a young child my father had a lot of pressure on him to remarry so that I would have a mother. He thought that I needed a mother himself, so he started to court several different ladies and search for a lady who would make a good wife and mother for our estate in the country.
"He had a friend who employed a governess to educate and watch over his three young sons. Her name was Lady Tremaine, she was a widow and had two young daughters of her own, Anastasia and Drizella, who are my age. While visiting his friend my father met Lady Tremaine, and he decided to hire her to be my governess. Later on, he fell in love with her and decided to marry her.
"Unfortunately, things went downhill after that. My father soon became ill, and my stepmother convinced him to change his will while he was feverish. He left the house and lands to Lady Tremaine, and most of the money too. I lost my inheritance because my stepmother tricked my father into changing his will as he was dying. All I had left were some possessions of my mother's in an old attic room.
"So I stayed in the house as a maid, a servant to my stepmother and step sisters. I lived in the little attic room and the mice and birds were my only friends. Wait, there was Bruno the dog, he's such a sweet, good old hound, and there's the horse who is a good and faithful friend.
"When my family received the invitation for the royal ball, Anastasia and Drizella were very excited, but I was the one who was most excited of all, although I did my best not to show it. It meant one magical evening with no more dirty dishes, no more filthy fireplace filled with ashes and soot, no more preparing tomorrows meals or feeding the cat, dog, horse and all the barn animals, no more sweeping and mopping the floors, no more closing curtains and blowing out lights and being alone in the dark wishing the endless work and chores would stop and that I could be someone else and be somewhere else and be free from the scolding harsh nagging voice of my cruel witch of a stepmother and my bratty selfish mean stepsisters telling my what to do and never being satisfied with all the hard work I do to please them. Anyone else would appreciate my work, I am the only servant, it is my house, I clean it for them, and they have no right to be there."
"So for one magical evening I could be free, I could be a princess and have my dreams come true, find someone to love and respect me, and it happened, all thanks to my fairy godmother."
"Your fairy godmother? They exist?" The prince was baffled.
"Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but there are fairies out there, and fairy godmothers, like guardian angels, that help people when they are in trouble. In my case, my stepmother said I could go to the ball if I got all my chores done, which I barely managed to do since she piled on more work helping her and my vain fussy stepsisters get ready for the ball. When I reached my little attic room exhausted from the days labors my mouse friends had a surprise for me. These had fixed up and old pink linen party dress that was my mother's it had been in a trunk in the attic for years, and now the mice and birds had fixed it up like a new dress. I put it on and put on the beads they found and a ribbon in my hair and ran downstairs to catch up with my stepsisters and stepmother. "
However it seemed the mice had borrowed some cast off things of my mean stepsisters, who now claimed they were stolen, my stepmother pointed out the old sash and beads and ribbons that Anastasia and Drizella had said they didn't want anymore earlier that day. So they ripped up my dress, tearing off the beads and sash and ribbons so that my dress was hopeless mess of rags. I couldn't go to the ball like that.
"I ran into the garden, overwhelmed with sorrow and despair, my heart was broken. How could they do this to me? I felt hopeless. All I wanted was one evening of freedom away from all my shores. I wanted one night where I felt like a grand lady instead of my stepmother's slave, an evening of happiness and fun, of splendor and beauty and romance. I cried and cried, it was hopeless, nothing would ever be right, I was doomed to misery as a drudge forever under my wicked stepmother's rule of tyranny in this big old house where once I had been happy when my father was alive.
"The fragrance of the roses in the bushes around me grew very strong and sweet and I saw and felt bubbles and some sparkling starry substance, was it stardust or fairy dust? It fell down around me like a glowing shower and I heard a voice say "Nothing is hopeless, child. Here I am your fairy godmother."
"I looked up and saw a short plump old woman in a sky blue cloak with the hood up over her white hair and sky blue robes matching the cloak. I had no idea who she could be; it looked as if she had just stepped out of heaven.
"'Who are you?' I asked her. 'Why, I am your fairy godmother child, like I said. I'm here to make your dreams come true. Now wipe those tears away dear. Let's see, I heard some mention about a ball.' she said to me. So I told her how much I wanted to go to the royal ball. My fairy godmother was quite amazing; she pulled her wand out of thin air. I know it looks just like a thin stick of peeled white wood, but it is a magic wand full of power and with it she changed a pumpkin into a fine carriage, the mice into horses, and the real horse into the coachman, and Bruno the dog into a footman. As for me, she changed my rags into a splendid ball gown, pale ice blue and white silk and satin with tiny crystal beads to dazzle like stars on the skirt and bodice of my gown. A blue satin headband with mother of pearl ends over my ears, long white satin gloves and shining glass slippers. I went to the ball and met you, my sweet prince, you remember the rest. For once I felt beautiful and admired; everyone thought I was a princess. You know the rest." Cinderella smiled at Prince Charles as she put her arm around him.
King George was heard pounding down the hall with heavy footsteps. He opened the door to the parlor, a bit annoyed.
"What's going on here? I demand to know EVERYTHING about this girl my son is so in love with that he wants to marry her.
Cinderella sighed. She would have to tell her story again. Perhaps not just to the king, but to everyone she meets at the castle, everyone would want to know who she is, how she came to be at the ball, what her feelings are for the prince and what her plans were for the future. She knew this for sure. She loved Prince Charles with all her heart and soul and would let nothing, not even the king himself, or her evil stepmother, separate her from her beloved prince she would do anything to prove that she was worthy of being the prince's bride.