Cinderella Retold

by cheetahlee

Daughter of a nobleman, it's no wonder she became one of the 5 great women! Please R&R!

As someone else said, if you recognize it, it's not mine! I took several of the dramatizations and combined the elements I liked, added some background, and voila. The lady who lived Happily Ever After worked hard to get there!

Please, R&R. This is my first posting.

CL
***Cinderella Retold***

**Introduction **

Once upon a time (I'm told that's how to start a tale - actually it was only a couple of years ago), I was born in a large house at the outskirts of the capital city of the First Kingdom, near the forest. It was a lovely old estate, and I was very happy living there. Mine was indeed a fairy- tale childhood. My father was ambassador-at-large for our king, and this job took him out of our Kingdom quite a bit. In his absence, mother was a loving teacher, and we spent many hours together with the nanny, playing in the garden about the house, exploring the forest. The only child of the king's head huntsman, she took me often to visit in her home. There I learned about the forest, the water, the wildlife, how to ride and shoot, and how to care for things injured. She told me stories about the gypsies and the strange creatures in the deep woods, although I never got to meet them. (Gredda told me that the time I traded some fresh fruit for a knife, the other man was really a wolf. I remember he was tall, and elegant, and very polite, but did not look as I thought a wolf would look. I was still quite small.)

My mother taught me well the ways of the household, as was her duty, and often sent me into the kitchen to observe and assist the cook. Cook Martine, however, was a red-faced fun-loving girl, and we would sometimes get into flour battles. At those times, I would emerge from the kitchen giggling, covered in white from head to toe. This would earn us both a scolding, and it would be awhile before Mother sent me there again.

On one very special occasion, we were invited to the palace for a banquet, given by the royals to honor my father for having dissuaded the Troll King from waging war against us. (In fact, he persuaded King Ruly to open trade with our kingdom, convincing him that he would profit greatly from the trade, while war could only make everyone poorer. I still remember the marvelous tools and leathers he brought back to us from that country.) For two weeks prior to the banquet, Mother and Father schooled me in etiquette, proper dress, table manners, and the proprieties one observes before royalty. As I recall (being only eight or nine at the time), the food was very good, the hall was filled with candles and sparkling crystal, and the gentlemen-in-waiting wore the most curious red coats. I met the prince who looked to me to be simply a very well-behaved young man, though he did have very nice blue eyes.

It was the following winter that Mother became ill, and I watched the vitality seeping out of her diminishing form. I waited on her hand and foot, bringing her anything I could, reading to her in my halting treble, and, at the end, feeding her.

Father took very few assignments, and stayed nearby as much as he could, but all of our hope and tender care couldn't provide whatever it was she needed, and she died early that spring. We buried her in the garden, underneath the crocuses and late snow. Father left home soon after that, and was gone for most of the summer. His letters were few and short; his loneliness must have run deep, but I, soaked with grief and unspoken questions, spent those long days mourning my own loss.

I spent much of my time in the forest, picking the wildflowers for mother's grave, and, when my heart overflowed with grief, crying into the spring at the end of the path. The day he returned, I met him in the parlor, and he took one look at my face and gathered me into his lap, vowing to me, "I'll never leave you like that again, dear Ellen." And so, for the next four years, I went everywhere he did. He tutored me in the evenings, and I learned much about geography, the different governments and peoples we visited, literature and science, and several languages. I would have been absolutely ruined by the indulgence of those we visited, but my father made me do things for myself and always to treat others with respect and honor. In spite of no mother, I was very happy with things the way they were, and would have changed nothing about our lives, if it had been up to me. I had a father who was now my life, and I loved him with my whole heart. But quite often I heard others saying to my father, "Thomas, that girl should have a mother, and there's no question about it." I would think to myself, *But I have a mother, how could I have another?* Then father would reply "Quite right, quite right. I'll soon do something about it." And I would look at him curiously.

Unfortunately, he took their advice, and began seeing a widow from the Fourth Kingdom, and before I was thirteen, I had a stepmother and two stepsisters about my own age. Now, step-relatives are not bad in themselves, but this trio was certainly something, well, atypical -Josella and Mina, the two girls, were usually at each other's throats, but, soon came together in a noxious alliance against me. Audrone, my stepmother, treated me with hypocritical kindness when my father was around, and hostile indifference when he was not. Perhaps I should have mentioned it to him, but I had been taught to respect my elders and not to question or criticize them.

Soon after they were married, my father again took me on another trip, as was his custom, but when we returned, we met with such icy antagonism that he decided to take the whole family with him the next time. I had always traveled with a simple bag or two, and it was easy for just the two of us to travel together, but with each of them taking four or five traveling cases and a trunk, it became such a ponderous operation that Father gave it up after the first try, and went back to traveling alone. After all, I had a mother to look after me now.

He wrote often, but it was clear the letters had been opened and read before I got them. It also seemed that he stayed away more and more. And the presents stopped coming, but my step-sisters received them. It seems that Audrone made him feel guilty for buying them for his own daughter, and that he now owed them, instead, to his stepdaughters now. I don't know how she accomplished this, but she was very adept and manipulative with my father, and he did so want to please her.

Shortly before I turned fifteen, and when father was away, Audrone had me sweeping the floor in the foyer when a messenger came to the door. "Madame Piper? "

"Yes?" she replied, gliding in from the parlor. " A message from the king, Madame." He handed her an envelope, sealed with wax, edged in black. I watched her face, and may have been mistaken, but I'm almost sure I saw a sly, triumphant smile flit across her face, but it was gone as soon as it came. She paid the messenger, and closed the door, then opened the letter smoothly and took out the message.

In a voice as calm as a stagnant pond, she announced to me, "Your father has been killed in a hunting accident. They are sending his body back for burial." And she left the foyer.

**Cinderella Emerges**

I disappeared into the woods, and it was two days before I made my way back to the house. Winter was almost upon us, and my sweater and cloak had soon proven inadequate against the gusts of cold air. By that time, I had left most of my tears in the pool by the spring, amid the fallen autumn leaves.

If I had thought the weather was cold, I soon thought it balmy compared to the reception I found at home. Home! I rapidly discovered that very little of it was to be my home any longer. Audrone met me at the top of the staircase, violet eyes blazing. "So, ungrateful wench!" she screamed. "You finally consent to come back to us! As if it wasn't enough for a grieving widow to put up with the sorrow of the loss of her husband, but to be so ill-used by his daughter is more than anyone could stand! " and slapped me hard across the face. I stared at her, dumbfounded, never expecting such an attack. I turned and fled to my room. But upon arrival, I found that it, too, had changed dramatically. The drapes blocked out all sunlight; it was cold and very nearly empty. I walked around it slowly, unwilling to believe everything was gone, remembering each piece of furniture, each pretty thing I'd brought back from abroad. I whirled around when I heard her in the doorway.

"Where are all my things?" I demanded.

She looked at me icily. "Such a ridiculous child. Your father left us in such poor condition financially that I had to sell most of your things and close up your room to save on heat," she said with grim satisfaction. My chin quivered slightly, but I refused to let her see me cry. " And where am I to sleep?" I asked, in a voice not quite steady.

"Why, Ellen," she smirked, "down in the kitchen where you have so many friends, and near the fire, where you will be nice and warm." The girls had joined her in the doorway, and giggled to themselves.

"What about their room?"

"Oh, Ellen, their room is so small, you can hardly think it would hurt to keep it open," (their room, of course, was twice the size of mine) "and they've had all their things since they were tiny and couldn't bear to part with them." She smiled this time, a cruel a look as I'd ever seen. "Now, run along, dear."

I set my jaw and marched past them, down to my new quarters. It was just after the first snow when my father's body arrived, and we held the funeral in the garden, where we laid him beside my mother. Audrone put on a fine performance, weeping loudly and leaning on the deacon for support. Mina and Josella begged off, noisily swearing they had terrible colds and couldn't be expected to stand out in such weather. I stood aside, looking down at the snow, watching the tracks my tears made in it.

Shortly thereafter, I found all of the servants had been let go, "simply because we can't afford them," declared Audrone. All, that is, except John, our butler (for, no matter how "poor" you are, you must have a butler in order to keep up appearances). I soon found myself doing the marketing, the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry, and waiting hand and foot on my stepsisters. In fact, it wasn't long before I noticed many of my nice things, which had reportedly been sold, in my stepsisters' room. When I mentioned it to Audrone, she fixed me with a frigid gaze and remarked "Why, whatever are you talking about, Ellen?"

I quickly dropped the subject.

Many times that winter, I had to sleep near the fire, and the wind often swept down the chimney and blew the cinders onto my clothing, and soon, Mina started calling me "Cinderella," and Josella, of course, imitated her big sister. They sometimes sang it to me as they danced around the kitchen, poking fingers into my desserts, and I came to regard it as my own name.

True, I had very little time to myself, but early Sunday mornings, I went to mass at a little chapel on the outskirts of our town. Actually, our group was so small, that the friar just gave us a talk and communion, we would say the rosary together, and we would share our difficulties with one another and encourage and support each other. Many times, when the weather was fine, we would go into the forest and he would teach by the stream there. Those were the mornings I loved the best. I took our family Bible from the parlor (it was never missed), and secreted it in my quarters, reading from it often late at night. This definitely made my life bearable, and taught me that life was indeed unfair, but that it had its own purposes. I suppose I read the story of Joseph in slavery and prison at least once a week.

What most surprised me was that I learned to enjoy many aspects of my new duties. I learned of a large group of people, farmers, shopkeepers, laborers, artisans and so forth, that I'd never known before. On my daily trips to market, I met lots of people in worse situations than my own. Many times I watched over the children of careworn mothers while I gave them a chance to do some marketing on their own. One of our favorite activities, the children's and mine, was to sit down near the riverbank and look up at the castle rising above the trees in the distance, imagining what went on there. Our sovereigns were good and kind people, and many times in play, the children would imitate the pomp and circumstance we pictured there. Their fondest pastime was sitting, hugging their knees, and listening to my poor tale of my one visit there so long ago.

Many of the shopkeepers were sympathetic to my situation, knowing, as all people in small towns do, what had happened in my family, and knowing what kind of woman Audrone was. The women, knowing my wealthier beginnings, showed me how to do my work better and more quickly than my insufficient imagination had thought possible. I learned much about making a dish tasty, making it go a long way, and how to sew a seam so you couldn't even tell it was there.

I found out that my parents had been very popular among our neighbors, and their kindnesses and small generosities were more numerous than I had guessed as, one after another, the townspeople came to me and related what benevolences had been given them, in the name of love and our Lord, by my dear parents. I felt that the family mantle had now fallen on my shoulders, and I strove to be as kind and helpful as possible, and found it, surprisingly, to be quite a lot of fun, this business of doing good! I discovered that there is born in our hearts the ability and longing to help others, but we ignore it until situations demand its unearthing.

But those times with others were infrequent, as the household duties kept me occupied most of the day and part of the night. It seems our poverty extended only as far as *I* was concerned, as my step-sisters were given music lessons, tutors, party dresses, shopping trips, and more sweetmeats than they could possibly eat -- sometimes behind my back, but most of the time it didn't seem to matter to any of them whether I saw or not. My stepmother was a firm believer in "spare the rod and spoil the child" where I was concerned, and she was determined that I would not be spoiled, by any stretch of the imagination. Quite repeatedly, when she felt I was too slow, or too careless, or disrespectful, I felt the flay of her riding crop across my shoulders. Thinking back, I suppose I could justly be blamed with being disrespectful, because indeed, I had no respect for them at all.

It was at those times, after receiving a particularly thorough drubbing and tongue-lashing (I don't know which one hurt the worst), that; I would retreat to my kitchen and fling myself onto my straw pallet, vowing through my tears to pack up and leave. I would go to another kingdom, perhaps the Second, become a governess for Red, somehow make a life for myself. But always, something whispered in my heart and told me to wait, for all things would work out for good. I'd sit up, dry my tears, and (still wondering why) continue my chores; and soon, I would find myself singing again.

**The Invitation**

It was May of my eighteenth spring and I was out sweeping the flagstones by the main entrance when another royal messenger drove up. "You, girl!" he called to me from his carriage .

"Yes sir," said I, walking the rest of the way down the drive.

"Are you attached to this household?" he asked, haughtily.

I looked up at him and sighed. "1 live here, if that's what you mean."

"Don't put on airs with me, little skirt, if you know what's good for you," he spat at me, nose in the air. "I ...am a messenger of the King." *Release the pigeons,* I thought but held my tongue. "Here," he thrust an envelope at me, "deliver this to your master and mistress, and be quick about it!" He turned to the man at the reins and shouted, "Drive on!" and they were gone.

I shook my head at him as they drove down the road, then addressed my attention to the envelope. This time, instead of edging in black, it was edged in gold, with the royal seal in purple and a gold ribbon emerging from the seal. I turned it over and saw it was addressed to "The Family of Sir Thomas Piper. "

I ran up to the house and flung open the door, calling, "Stepmother! Stepmother!"

She glided to the top of the staircase. "What is all the fuss, Ellen?"

"A letter for us all, from the king, I believe, Mum," I told her, quickly going up the stairs.

"Well!" she exclaimed, a look of satisfaction on her face, "It's about time that arrived! Give it to me!" She snatched it out of my hands as she descended the stairs, calling, "Josella! Mina! Come here immediately!"

The girls eventually arrived in the sitting room where Audrone paced back and forth impatiently. She exclaimed, eyes flashing. "It's finally arrived! Our invitation to the ball! Listen:"

Your presence is humbly requested at a Celebration and Ball

this following August 30,

Year of our Lord ____

to be held in the Honor of our Royal Highness, the Crown Prince Phillip

Future King of the First Kingdom

Governor or the Lone Isles,

Duke or Westlington,

Conqueror or the Northern Giants,

and Author or the Agreement of Westbury,

to which we owe this time of Peace.

The Ball will be held in the Castle Proper, and will commence promptly at

Six O'Clock in the Evening.

Libations and a Small Cuisine shall be served.

Formal Attire Required

It was signed by both Stephan and Amanda.

I had been listening at the doorway, and now stepped into the room. "Oh, Stepmother, may I please attend as well?"

Audrone turned around with a look on her face that told me she'd quite forgotten I existed. Both girls broke into great guffaws and laughed until tears ran down their faces. "Oh, Cinderella!" Josella managed to say through her hooting, "I can see it now! 'Good evening, Your Majesty. Pardon my dustcloth while I dance with you!"'

"Dance with the Prince?" cried Mina. "She'd probably have to dance with her broom!" And both of them started up all over again.

I stood with my head bowed and my teeth clenched, scraping the broomstick with a thumbnail, and I felt my cheeks redden. Audrone spoke up. "Now girls, settle down." She turned back to me. "Why, of course you can come, Ellen." Her daughters looked up at her aghast. "That is, of course," and her eyes traveled across my worn dress, "you can find something appropriate to wear." The girls snickered again. "Now, leave us, and prepare a luncheon. We'll dine early," and here she placed an arm around each of her daughters' shoulders, "so we can go into the city to shop."

As I curtsied and started to leave, the girls began to chatter noisily about the prospect of visiting the palace. But I heard Audrone tell them, "Hush now. That's not even the best part." I halted just outside the door, and I could feel her glancing about to see if I was gone. "It has been noised about in the shops that the purpose of the Ball is to find a wife for the prince! "

"Oh, Mother! Do you really think so?"

"Of course, my dears. Prince Phillip is already in his 2Sth year and no bride in sight. And I understand he's so headstrong that he won't hear of an arranged marriage, but wants to choose his own bride."

"Well," I heard Mina interrupt, "I'm sure I could cure him of any bullheadedness in a hurry!"

"That is not your concern, Daughter. First things first, and that means that first you have to catch him --then tame him!"

And then Josella, "But just think of the possibilities, Sister! Pheasant and champagne every day! Bathing in milk! Ropes of pearls and diamonds! And beautiful clothes for every hour in the day..."

I left in the middle of her hedonistic musings, and proceeded to the kitchen, wrapped in musings of my own. Poor Prince Phillip! I hoped he had the good sense not to choose either of *them* for a wife! *But then,* I thought, *if he did, the other two would probably move to the palace, and I would have my home again!* I knew that we weren't so very poor as she kept telling me, and I could live quite comfortably on whatever was left of my father's fortune . As I prepared a tray of cold meats, cheese, breads, and the like, and heated up the water for tea, I started thinking about what I could possibly wear. To be truthful, since Father's death, I hadn't gotten one new stitch of clothing at all.

Hmm. What about the one I was wearing at the funeral?

After I served my "family," I raced back down to the kitchen and dug my salvaged trunk out of the corner beside the fireplace. In it was the black dress I'd worn when we buried my father, which Audrone had purchased for me as a concession to the neighbors present at the funeral. Black was not a very appropriate color for summer, but then... I picked it out of the wrappings I had laid it in over three years before, and shook it. The satin rustled nicely. If I could get some trim, take off the sleeves and the velvet, perhaps some accents in white or silver. ...I ran to the sewing box and started in.

**The Preparation**

For the next few months, the whole town was buzzing with the event. In fact, the Ball became the line of demarcation for whatever was happening in the area. "We have to get this and that done before the Ball." "It can wait until after the Ball. Do such-and-such first." The candle maker worked night and day for weeks to fill the order that came from the palace. Wine arrived from the southern coast of the Kingdom. Dressmakers were "at their wit's end," as they told me, attempting to finish everyone's new party clothes. Carts full of foodstuffs and decorations arrived at the palace night and day. And no one had time to stop and talk.

It was no different at the Piper corner of the kingdom. The days were filled with the talk of "what we'll see, who we'll meet, what they'll have to eat and drink" at the Ball. It had also become quite an event in my life, though mainly vicariously. You see, the sisters had me sewing up their gowns, and, at least once a day, trying a new hairstyle on them. Actually, this turned out to my advantage, because Mina would be wearing a red satin gown (which, she said, would go "divinely" with her nearly black hair), and Josella a white satin gown (which, I said, would go dreadfully with her freckles and unruly red hair --though not out loud). But I was able to save a good bit of each color for remaking my black gown. Then, when doing their hair, I acquired a lovely string of cultured pearls and a pair of combs that Mina tossed at me when she decided they were "just too old fashioned to bear anymore!"

In the period following the arrival of the invitation, I allowed myself once --only once --to dream about meeting the Prince Phillip myself and marrying him, but, it was a beautiful dream just the same.

The rest of the time, my dreams centered around having my home for myself again. So you can well believe I put *all* of my dressmaking skills into the manufacture of those two gowns. I designed them to pull in here, push up there, exaggerate the good points and cover up the bad ones. My own gown was turning out to be better than I had hoped, the black setting off the white and red trim stunningly. (But how would it look with auburn hair? I dared not even think about that.) As to my attitude about the Ball, well, that rose up in my mind like the goal of Heaven itself. I just had to go! And sometimes, sometimes -- I would wonder if the King ever remembered my father, and if so, did they ever think of me?

The big day finally arrived, and I was awakened before dawn by the jangling of the servant's bell. Mina ordered a hot bath in the sunken tub with lots of scented soap. Josella demanded a huge breakfast, as she was "famished to the point of starvation!" and their mother had a long list of errands for me to run. By noon I had finished the errands and made lunch. Then it was time to start getting ready for the Ball. Now, you might well wonder what three women can find to do for four hours in preparation of a big event. But, just the same, they had me running back and forth between rooms constantly. I finally got everyone's hair done and make up on. Then they all wanted their party shoes shined one more time. Audrone had had her own dress made in town, and the lavender silk distinguished beautifully with her violet eyes. She was a very handsome woman, and would fit in well with the lords and ladies, I thought to myself. And the girls? Well, I'd done my best. I sincerely hoped it was good enough. Actually, to be fair to them (and to myself), they really didn't look that unattractive!

It was after five o'clock and they were ready and waiting for the coach to come around. I ran down to the kitchen, and quickly washed my face and arms (having bathed before the trio awoke). I soon had my dress and slippers on (also saved from years back). (The slippers were only slightly too small.) I brushed out my long red-brown hair and simply put it up in a loose knot on top of my head and secured it with the discarded but pretty combs. The string of pearls went about my neck. I needed some long gloves and a fan to make it complete, but of course I would have to do without.

I was about to head back upstairs when a knock came at the kitchen entrance. I answered it and found a delivery cart waiting just outside the door, loaded with boxes of freshly picked goods "Pardon, miss," said the lad, who stood with hat in hand, obviously startled by my appearance. "We was ordered to bring these 'ere."

"Oh, well, come and put them on the table." And soon, the long kitchen work table was elbow deep in freshly-harvested vegetables --potatoes, celery, carrots, onions, cucumbers, rich, black country dirt still clinging to a lot of it. As soon as the boy left, I hastened up to the parlor, where the others were waiting for the coach. Audrone was staring out the window, tapping her foot in an all-to-familiar manner, and the girls were standing in front of the far mirror, exclaiming about their dresses (which they had neglected to do when I had dressed them), and checking their hair for the umpteenth time. I stood in the doorway and said, "I'm ready now, too."

They turned to me in unison, surprise quickly replacing annoyance on their faces. For a just a precious fleeting moment, I saw my comeliness reflected in their unguarded expressions. But only for a moment. The girls turned to their mother, all four corners of their mouths turned into an instant frown, and wailed, "MOTHER!!"

Audrone held up her hand for silence. "Now daughters, we did say that Cinderella could accompany us if she wore something suitable. And, that dress is quite lovely, dear."

"Thank you, Stepmother."

"Wherever did you get it, dear child?"

"It was the gown you bought for me for my father's funeral. I simply altered it."

"Oh, and a lovely job you did, too, dear," she murmured as she walked slowly around me, assessing me like a race horse. I watched her eyes grow flinty, and felt cold inside. The soft susurrus of her lavender gown seemed suddenly quite loud. "But, Mina darling," she said quite gently, "aren't those your pearls our little Cinderella is wearing?"

Mina's eyes flashed. "Yes, you little thief! How dare you into my room and take what doesn't belong to you!" She ran up to me and yanked them off my neck. The string broke, and pearls scattered to the four corners of the parlor. "And my combs, too!" She tore them from my hair, and it tumbled down my back. I started to run from the room, but Josella darted in front of me.

"Satin from *my* gown, you trollop!" and she tore the white from my dress with long ripping sounds.

"And from mine, too!" agreed Mina, and she joined in.

I dodged in every direction, trying to get away, but they were relentless, pulling and tearing from every side. Buttons flew in one corner, colored satin in another, and ribbons in still another. I felt as though they were tearing my own skin off. When they were finally finished, I stood wearing only tatters, unable this time to stop the tears from overflowing the dam. My stepsisters stood with smug looks on their faces as I straightened my back and with as much dignity as my tattered state could afford me, started out the door.

Audrone came up behind me at the door and put her hand across my shoulder. I halted, suppressing a shudder . "Now, Cinderella," she purred in her silkiest voice, bending down toward my ear, "we knew you would feel awkward and out of place at an occasion such as this one. And just so you wouldn't feel left out with nothing to do, I ordered some vegetables for you to clean while we're gone. I'll be holding a dinner party in a few days, and we'll need them. Bye bye, dear."

Father's coach finally arrived, driven by our butler and a hired footman, and they were soon gone.

**Fairy Godmother**

I don't know how I got back to the kitchen. Sobs seemed to wrench me apart, pouring out uncontrollably. Tears I had held back for years overflowed their weir and made it impossible to see. I finally threw myself onto the hearth and wept until I could weep no more. Still sniffling, I eventually got up, took off my tatters and threw them on the rag pile, for that was all the dress was good for anymore after the assault and battery. I put the shoes back in the trunk and put a clean but much- repaired dress on. Ignoring the work for me on the table, I went out the back door and sat on the stoop, bowed my head to my knees, and wept again, self-pity engulfing me. My two faithful friends, the dogs, came over and whined in sympathy with me.

I had only been there a few moments when I heard a warm and kindly voice saying, "Well now, what are you doing here, tonight of all nights?"

I looked up from my damp knees to see a lady. A lady? Yes, she was that, but certainly much more. She was tall, and lithe, dressed in a simple earth-colored dress and a sky-blue cloak. Her face had a look of great age and eternal youth. And thinking back, I can never remember what her hair looked like --was it silver or brown? Long or short? I don't know, but it seemed to frame her face like a halo. I completely forgot about my woes. "Who are you?" I gulped.

"Well, that differs from person to person," she said matter-of-factly, sitting down next to me. "I'm the one who persuaded your father to tutor you in all phases of living. And I'm the one who whispered to your heart to stay home, and not run away as you often planned." She turned her head to look at me, and I felt a thrill run through me. "You've heard of angels?"

"Of course."

"Ah, good. You see, I work for your angel."

"My --my angel?"

"Yes. I'm sort of what you might call a godmother to you."

"Godmother?" I parroted again, at a loss for words.

"Yes, dear. Or, fairy godmother, if you prefer. Many do." She paused, scratching the dogs behind the ears.

"Oh." I cleared my throat, trying to think again. "Well, uh, what can I do for you, Madame?"

"Ah, there you have it wrong. It's not what you can do for me, but what I'm here to do for you." She stood again, straightening her cloak, her skirts moving about her like falling waters. "Things certainly didn't go the way I'd planned around here this evening."

I stood too. "What did you plan, Lady?"

"My dear Ellen, you must go to that Ball this evening and meet someone. I cannot allow you to miss it!" She harrumphed angrily. "1 certainly didn't count on them being as malicious as all that. It quite caught me by surprise."

The dogs had now finished looking her over, and were sniffing about at the hem of her garment. They vigorously wagged their tails as if she were an old friend and they expected some treat from her. "But, Lady," I gulped again, not far from tears, "I have chores to finish before they return!"

"Oh, pooh," she sniffed, and waved her hand with a complicated twirl toward the house. "I know all about your chores and your many supposed duties. Go and look."

I'm afraid I gaped at her. "At what?"

"In the kitchen. Go and look."

Quite unsure of myself, I hesitantly opened the door to the kitchen, then, wide-eyed, stepped inside. The fire was blazing. The floor and walls gleamed. Every pot shone at me from the racks. On the table lay neat piles of freshly cleaned vegetables. "You'll find the entire house is spotless," she chuckled from behind me. "Even the tapestries and the attic." Despite instructions from Audrone, I had steered clear of the attic for years because of its endless accumulation of dust and cobwebs. And one could never clean the tapestries enough. She continued, counting off on her long delicate fingers, "The woodboxes are full, the clothes are laundered, pressed and put away, the flowers are weeded, the windows washed. Is there anything else you need to do tonight, dear?" I stared at her, dumbfounded, not daring to disbelieve her; I shook my head.

"Now," she continued, looking through her cloak, "I will need a few things from you..." She was looking up her sleeves now. "I wonder where I put that thing. ..AH!" And with a sheepish expression, she reached behind her back and pulled out a long slender white -- rod? wand? which seemed to glow even in the early evening sunlight. "As I was saying, since I am a little unprepared, I'll need you to get me a few things."

"Anything I can, Godmother," I smiled, beginning to enjoy myself.

"Good," she said with a broad grin. "I knew you would! That's why I picked you to work for!" She placed a hand to her forehead. "Let's see. You'll need some way to get there, and someone to drive you. How about a pumpkin?" I thought I'd heard her wrongly.

"A what, Lady?"

"A pumpkin, dear. You know, sort of round, orange, with indentations all the way around. "

"Oh, yes, I know what you mean. Wait here." I ran to the garden. It was early for pumpkins, but I had planted early and there had been no frost, so several little ones lay scattered among the vines. I quickly brought the largest one I could find to her.

"Now, have you some toads in that garden of yours? You do? Bring me two of them." I ran again to the garden and chased down a couple of toads for her, placed them next to the pumpkin, and put a bowl over top of them, to keep them from hopping away. I stood breathlessly, awaiting her next odd request

"Let's see, your two dogs will do nicely for the drivers. Hmm. Horses. That's right. Ellen, do you have some mice somewhere?" Mice? Yes, we did have some in the trap in the pantry .I soon brought them out to her. "Now, let's take them all out to the front drive."

I picked up the bowl with the toads and she took the pumpkin and mousetrap around to the front. We set them down, first toads, then pumpkin, then she placed the dogs by the pumpkin (I first wrested a wooden spoon from the smaller one, who wanted to play), and mice alongside the dogs. She looked carefully in all directions. "No one watching? Good. Now, stand back, dear."

Suddenly, without warning, we were in the middle of a hurricane. I screamed and clapped my hands over my ears. The Lady was unmoved. The atmosphere charged until it seemed ready to explode, but what was happening in front of me was more amazing than the weather! The pumpkin was growing, transforming, as were the dogs, the toads, the mice. Sparks seemed to fly allover them as they grew. And grew. And GREW.

And suddenly, it was over. I heard the Lady say, "Ah! Very good indeed." But I couldn't look at her, for before me stood the results of her efforts.

The coach and four was magnificent. It had retained the basic shape of the pumpkin, but it was now covered with gold, as were the softly cushioned seats inside and the uniforms of the frogs-turned-footmen and dogs-turned- drivers. The mice, now four impatient horses, were gleaming, snowy white, with exquisite trappings of gold and red. They champed their bits and stamped the grassy turf in nervous excitement. As I watched in total wonder what had happened, my eyes again filled with tears, only this time tears of happiness; just to see such beauty was more than I'd ever dreamed. I laughed aloud and clapped my hands.

"And now," called the dear woman, "off to the Ball!" The footmen jumped from the coach and went round to the door and stood at attention.

I bit my lower lip. "But, dear Lady," I whispered, looking down at the worn dress and my bare feet, "I am not dressed."

"What?" she asked distractedly, as she turned to look at me. She looked surprised and then smiled wryly. "Little one, all I saw was your sweet loveliness, and I totally forgot." I'm afraid I smiled at her bashfully. She raised her wand. "And so, a dress fit for a queen!"

Now I was caught up in the whirlwind. A thousand thousand tiny pricks flew over my body, and when it was over, I looked down. I was wearing a gown the likes of which had never been seen in our kingdom. It was of golden satin and delicate white lace. Long white gloves covered my arms with diamond bracelets at the wrists. I went over to the fountain, and looked in the still water. More diamonds sparkled at me from my bosom and throat. Delicate jewels hung from my ears. My own hair was swept up under a beautifully fashioned powdered wig that sparkled with jewels. My wooden spoon was now a golden fan. And my bare feet? I looked under the skirts and petticoats.

"What are they, Lady?"

"Glass slippers, Ellen." I couldn't speak. I threw my arms about her waist and would have cried, but the tall woman gently pushed me away. "No time for that now dear. You don't want to keep him waiting!" I shook my head and dabbed at my eyes, and let the footman help me into the coach. She closed the door and said to me, "Now remember, keep a close eye on the clock! You must be home by midnight; for at the stroke of twelve, everything becomes as it was."

"Yes, dear Lady!" I called to her. "And thank you so very much!"

Midnight! Well, that was hours and hours away! I glanced at the town clock, and saw it was barely after 6:00 then.

**The Ball**

As I look back on the ride to the castle, it gets very confusing, because it seems that it took only a moment or two, but also that it took forever. I heard every sound, smelled every smell, saw every color, and tasted joy at every turn. The very air was suffused with the delicious Presence that was such an intimate part of my life. I was amazed, enthralled, delighted, exalted and humbled. It was with this feeling of quiet confidence and humility that I arrived at the castle. Coaches were standing all about the drive, attendants standing about in groups, passing the time together. We stopped directly in front of the stairway to the entrance. Strains of music floated on the balmy evening air from the party within. The footmen jumped down and attended my door. I instructed them, "Wait here. We will leave before midnight."

As I turned to mount the stairs, I noticed the other drivers staring at my coach with open-mouthed disbelief. I giggled, wondering what my footmen and drivers might have to say to them, should they try to strike up a conversation!

A gentleman-in-waiting offered me his arm as I ascended the stairs, my heart beating rapidly. I could feel the blush at my cheeks. He released me by the door, and bowed as he indicated I should continue. I followed the path of attendants, and soon I was at the entrance to the ballroom. And there I stood, awed by the kaleidoscope of beauty and colors on the floor below me. And as I stared, not even breathing, the herald, who had surely been jaded by the innumerable procession of lovelies gone before me that evening, stared at me for a few seconds before asking my name. I told him simply, "Ellen."

He turned to the resplendent crowd below in the ballroom and announced, in his largest possible voice, "The Princess Ellen." (You see, my fairy godmother had certainly done a royal job on me!) The orchestra was between pieces when I arrived, and chose that moment to begin the next. Forcing myself to breath as I started down the stair (which had surely been designed for Grand Entrances), I became aware of faces that had turned to glance in my direction, then turned to stare unabashedly. The low din of conversation quickly subsided as I descended until there was no sound but the swish of my gown and the strains of a soft waltz. As soon as I reached the foot of the stairs, the buzz started up again with renewed furor, as though a large hive of bees had been released into the room.

I had never been the object of admiring glances before, except from my dear father when I was small, and I found it acutely embarrassing. I concealed my blushes behind the golden fan as I looked around at the gorgeous ladies and gentlemen. I was soon surrounded by dashing young men. In fact, they were dashing at me from all corners of the room, introducing themselves at a bewildering rate. They offered me beverages, kissed my hand, asked to dance, asked my name, my country, where I was from, who was my family. Looking back on it with the eagle eye of hindsight, I realize it was probably not my attractiveness that inspired all of that delightful attention, but the herald's inappropriate introduction of me as "Princess." In the meantime, many of them were quite handsome and they soon had me laughing at their antics and jokes. It wasn't difficult, however, to see the angry looks coming from some of the young ladies at the behavior of their escorts, and I was about to excuse myself when the crowd parted.

I saw a young man dressed in gold and white, as I was. He wore this opulence with an easy grace. His frame was tall and well shaped. His face was very pleasing to look at, but it was his eyes that captured all of my attention. In their dark blue depths I saw a richness of intelligence, of feeling and expression, of tenderness and resolve. Here was someone I truly wanted to know.

In my eyes, all others faded from sight. Behind me somewhere, I heard one young fellow remark, "Good evening, Sire." I simply waited. He moved toward me and took my hand. "Good evening, Princess."

His voice matched his eyes. I murmured, "Good evening," and gave him a small curtsy.

He smiled warmly. "Have you come to court the prince, also?" he asked with some amusement. I smiled back at him.

"Oh," I replied, "Is that truly the reason for the ball, for the prince to find a wife?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes in mock disbelief. "Yes, it was the king's idea. Invitations were sent to every young gentlewoman in the Nine Kingdoms inviting her and her family."

"I'd heard some speculating about it, the poor boy." He laughed and took my arm in his, leading me toward the porch through the French doors. "Yes, most of the young ladies here are after a king for a husband. "

"I would think," I remarked shyly, after a pause, "that it would be a very difficult position to fill, having a king for a husband."

"You do?"

"Yes. One would have to love her husband and her country both with enough passion to allow him the time to rule it well."

His face sobered, and he looked up at the moon rising over the garden wall. "I believe that a queen should be able to rule as well as the king."

I looked up at him in surprise. "That is a novel idea for a man to possess."

"Do you disagree?"

I laughed. "Why no, my lord. I've thought so for years."

He stopped and turned me to face him. "Have you really?" I looked at him in wonderment, and he, in turn, examined my face with a searching look. I felt my blush returning -- again -- under his warm, feeling gaze, when he suddenly asked, "Would you like to dance?"

I nodded, and he took me in those strong arms and swept me onto the dance floor. I don't remember much about what dance it was, or even what melodies were played. I just heard the music pouring from my heart. His eyes never left mine as we waltzed around the ballroom. Thinking back, we must have attracted many looks and whispers, but I never saw or heard any of them. I do remember becoming a little more aware when we passed near the dais where the King and Queen were seated, and something in the back of my mind shouted at me to pay deference to them, but I couldn't take my eyes off the marvelous young man who held me so masterfully in his arms. As we passed by, I caught King Stephan saying to his wife, " --would make a wonderful queen, don't you think --"

The waltzes were over much too soon, and he invited me out into the garden. Fireflies still gleamed in all the bushes and trees. A nightingale had finished tuning up and burst into song. All of the late summer flowers were in full bloom --just for that evening, my dazzled senses told me. We strolled onto a wide lawn where he again took me into his arms, and we danced, oh so softly, and oh so slowly, as he hummed a sweet melody in my ear. I found my cheek next to his, and closed my eyes, and danced, and listened.

We walked again after that. And talked. He started to ask about me, but I dared not speak of my kitchen and scullery-worn hands. Instead, I got him to speak about himself, and he told me of his training in war, in law, in music and poetry, in property management, in science, his dreams for bettering and serving his Kingdom, the faith he'd cultivated and grown in since childhood, and I felt my heart swell and nearly burst with affection. Occasionally, the tower clock chimed.

We sat on a stone bench amid the flowers, and the starlight fell on his bright eyes as he spoke of a family, grandchildren for his parents, his brothers and sisters. I noticed from his conversation he was obviously a man of wealth and position.

And we laughed together. His dry wit nearly had me laughing to tears several times. The opportunity for true conversation had beset me so few times the past three years that I simply overflowed with questions, observations, and verbal ingenuity. Sometimes, my shyness would overtake me, and I would murmur an apology, but he would encourage me to continue.

Then, during a lull in our discussion, he leaned toward me, his deep blue eyes searching my face, reading me, and --dare I believe it? --loving me. His head tilted toward mine, and his lips searched out my own. I poured all the feeling of a lifetime into that kiss, and I felt him tremble beneath my hand. Or was it I who was trembling? A hundred years or so later, he released me and took my hand. Then I saw my ring on my gloved finger.

It was a ring I had received from my father a year before he died. My stepmother disapproved of his buying it, but he ignored her on that point, at least. It was a pretty, petite, marquis-shaped sapphire on a slim silver band. I had never taken it off since that day. I suppose it was the most precious thing I owned, but that wasn't saying much, considering my situation at home. Anyway, it was very precious to *me*. I sat quietly for a moment, thinking.

**Midnight**

I suddenly remembered. "Oh, what is the time?"

Glancing at the clock behind me, he replied, "Almost midnight. Ellen, I want to--"

I started up from the bench. "Oh, my lord, please listen, for there is little time." I took the ring from my hand and held it toward him, saying, "Please accept this as a token of my deepest admiration and affection. I am young, my lord, but I have seen much. Please think me not too bold when I say that I know my own heart, and that I am most fond of you. You have made my life richer for this evening."

His expression grew even more tender as he took both my hands in his, and kissed them. "Thank you very kindly," he said softly.

"You're very kindly welcome, sir," I whispered, touching his cheek, my heart catching in my throat.

The clock struck once.

I looked up at the tall majestic tower in alarm. Midnight! As I fled from him, I cried out, "Goodnight, my lord! Please give my regrets to the prince!" and speedily threaded my way through the garden toward the palace. I heard him call my name, but I dared not stop. It struck two. And three. I flew up the stairs to the portico and through the French doors.

The clock struck again. I sped across the ballroom and halfway up the grand stairway, scattering lords and ladies who looked on stunned, when it struck five. The servant saw me coming and had the door open. He shouted, "Make way! Make way!" as I passed him, and found all the others had the doors open, also. It struck six. Then seven. I was out the main gateway and on my way down to the coach when it struck again.

The footmen were waiting for me, but as I flew down the staircase, in my haste, a slipper flew from my foot. I would have stopped to get it, but the unstoppable clock struck nine. I leaped into the coach and shouted to them, "Fly! Fly!" and, with a crack of the whip, we were off, as an arrow out of a bow. The coach was out of the drive and started down the road when the clock struck ten. Then eleven. We were out of view of the castle, near the artisans' shops in the town.

At twelve, I found things happening so fast about me that I could not follow them all, but soon came to myself as I stopped my tumbling alongside the road, a rather used and sorry looking pumpkin a few feet away in a rut, four mice scattering in different directions, two garden toads looking for a new home, and my faithful dogs by my side, sniffing about me to see if I was alright.

I shook my head to clear it. I was in my old dress and apron, now soiled from the roll in the street. Had it all been a dream?

I looked down at my hand, and the ring was gone. Then it *had* happened. The ring was a hard thing for me to part with, but I knew I'd done the right thing. I moved to get up when I noticed my other clue. On my left foot was a glass slipper.

The slipper! This one hadn't disappeared! .Then the young man I'd fallen so completely in love with was real

also --.

Startled, I rose to my knees -- The young man! I never found out his name!

All these revelations came crowding in on one another and left me numb. I stood up, wooden spoon in one hand, and glass slipper in the other, took a deep breath and started down the road barefoot, trying to sort out my thoughts.

Yes, it was right that I should not know his name, for my present status as housekeeper, maid, cook and laundress did not really admit wealthy suitors. There was a phrase I had read many times, that it is "better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." Hadn't he opened my mind to new ideas, taught me about a whole new world of relationships and purposes? And of course, filled my heart with a sweet feeling I'd never even imagined before? It was like finding a whole new sense, when eyes, tongue, ears, nose and hands no longer were enough.

I had just settled down to that conclusion when I heard hoof beats coming down the road from the direction of the palace, and coming quite rapidly. I withdrew into the shadow under the trees alongside the road, and waited, but not for long. I soon saw about four or five horsemen rounding a curve, coming at full gallop. As they passed my position, I saw my young man in the lead, riding a magnificent black steed. My heart reached out to him, as I imagined the anguish he might be feeling in his young poet's heart.

It took until nearly dawn to reach my home. I went in through the pantry door, and stirred up the coals in what was left of the fire, and built a new one. I curled up on my straw pallet, but wasn't at all sleepy. I lay there, remembering how he looked, what he said, and ever again and again, how he kissed me.

**After the Ball**

It was sometime past sunrise that my stepmother and stepsisters arrived. It was immediately after that that they rang my call bell in the most agitated manner possible, signaling that something was bothering them. As I quickly pulled my hair back and put on a clean apron, I wondered absently how they had managed with the poor prince. Then, I ran up to the foyer. I could hear them complaining before I got there. "Where is that worthless girl?" Audrone was saying.

Mina chimed in, "Probably sleeping late, as usual. It's a wonder anything ever gets done around here, mother. She has absolutely no consideration for other people!"

"Who cares about her. you silly thing," retorted her sister. Josella's voice practically dripped with petulance. "I would give my eyeteeth to know who was that rude thing that took up all of Prince Phillip's time and attention! Why, he'd barely met us when she came through the door and snatched him up, and I was just beginning to tell him about my consumption last winter!"

"'My consumption! My consumption!"' mocked the other. "Who cares a fig about your consumption, Josella: I had begun to recite my newest poem to him! He was thrilled. He couldn't keep his eyes off of me."

"Quiet, girls," admonished my stepmother. "Cinderella," she said to me, as I entered the foyer, "you've been neglecting your duties again. See to our ball dresses, make ready our beds, and heat up some herbal tea for the three of us."

"Yes, mum," I murmured as I followed the girls up the stairs, very curious to hear more about the rude stranger and the prince.

My stepsisters lost no time. "Well, Cinderella, did you have a nice evening?" They both giggled.

I kept my eyes lowered, afraid I would reveal something. "Yes, miss."

"Oh, good," chimed in the other. "But it's such a dreadful shame that you missed the ball. It was SO-O-O-O grand. And everyone there was so beautiful and treated us divinely. I do believe I met a duke or lord or two that might do for a husband."

"But you met the prince?" I asked.

"Oh, yes! He is so handsome and aloof," gushed Josella, primping herself in front at the mirror. "I just know we would have spent hours and hours together if that other goat hadn't butted in like that."

"I tell you again, sister, it was *I* he was interested in. My curtsy was much more graceful than yours, you clumsy little donkey..."

And they continued in that vein while I undressed them and turned down their beds. I then did the same for my stepmother, and left for the kitchen. When I got back with the tea, they were both in bed, but the conversation had returned to the prince and the rude stranger. As I entered their room with their teacups on a tray, Mina was brushing her black hair, saying, "...will admit that she was attractive, in a childish sort of way."

Josella tugged at her red braid petulantly. "He was probably dazzled by her wealth. Have you ever seen such jewels? I have never heard of a man yet that wasn't weak for money ."

"Well, weak for money or not," sneered Mina, "it wasn't very dignified for him to go rushing headlong after her the way he did. And extremely ill- mannered of her to leave in such a fashion!"

I was standing at the door, waiting for them to ask for the tea, and repeated, stupidly, "Leave in such a fashion?" I looked back and forth between their annoyed expressions. What were they telling me?

"Yes, you stupid goose." Then she laughed condescendingly. Josella spoke up. "Of course, you wouldn't know anything about it, would you?" The girls shared a look of disdain. "This simpering princess arrived late wearing the gaudiest of clothing, and snatched up the prince, then disappeared outside with him. No one saw either of them for the rest of the evening." She glared in her sister's direction. "The gentlemen-in- waiting saw to that. Kept everyone out of the garden. At midnight or so, she ran like a deer through the ballroom, and the prince came through only a moment later calling for his menservants and horses, but it seems she just got into her coach and drove away like the wind, and they never found it."

"They said it was made of gold!" inserted her sister.

"Then, they came back and found the silly thing had lost a glass slipper, of all things, in her haste to get away! "

"And then," Mina interrupted again, "he vowed before his father and mother that he would find her, and marry her and only her."

I barely heard the last part of their tale for the roaring in my ears. My limbs grew numb, and I felt the tray, cups, and teapot go crashing to the floor.

Both girls screamed as though I'd loosed a snake into the room, then cried out in wildly offended voices, "Mother! MOTHER!"

Audrone strode into the room, looking more imperious than ever when she saw the ruin on the floor. She fixed me with a cold stare and spoke in a low voice, "Cinderella! This will never happen again. Clean it up. Bring other cups." She spoke slowly as she measured each word. My shoulders ached with the thought of her laying the crop to them, and I nodded mutely, and fled the room.

As I prepared the new tray, I spilt a lot of water because of my trembling hands. I had met the Prince! I had talked and walked with the Prince! I had kissed and fallen in love with the Crown Prince!

When I arrived at the girls' room with the new tray and the bucket and cleaning cloths, they had already fallen into a fitful sleep, dreaming, I suppose, of jewels and running princes. I cleaned up the mess I'd created and went into Audrone's room. She was sitting up in bed, stroking her cat with measured, even, graceful movements. Once again, I thought how the dear cat was worthy of a better mistress.

"Close the door, little one, and draw the curtains." I did as she bade me, shutting out the clear morning light, and the room grew dark, and quiet. A clock ticked softly in a far corner of the room. "Now come, and stand here." I made my way hesitantly across the floor, trembling now for an entirely different reason, and set the tray down. Her eyes probed me from top to bottom.

"Why Cinderella," she said, kindness oozing falsely in her tone, "where's your father's ring?"

I looked down at my naked finger, the ring's impression still clearly showing. "I must have lost it, mum," I replied, not daring to say any more .

Moments passed before she spoke again. "It was such a shame that you couldn't join us at the ball, child."

Her duplicity was so appalling that my cheeks flamed again. I was careful to keep my eyes lowered. "Y -yes, Stepmother."

" And what did you do last night, dear?"

"I cleaned the vegetables and w-walked the dogs along the road, Stepmother." Best to say as close to the truth as possible.

"I see," she replied, in a manner that led me to infer that she saw much *much* more indeed. Her sharp violet eyes stared at me from under their black lashes. "Now, girl, I want you to know that I hope you are telling me the truth, and not lying." Her deadly soft voice now lost all pretense of kindness, and fell to just above a whisper. "Because if you aren't, I'll make you wish you had never...even...lived!"

**At the Palace**

The castle was in an uproar. Phillip had summoned couriers from all over First Kingdom, and even hired tradesmen's apprentices for the task. Scribes were copying onto the royal stationery the body of the message that was being sent to all the Nine Kingdoms, to every royal house, to every wealthy landowner or merchant in each country. Horses were being equipped, victuals prepared and packed for the long journeys, letters of passage being readied. Fortunately, from all the latest reports, no one was at war at the time, and so the messengers would have no more trouble than usual getting through. Their instructions? Find Princess Ellen!

Phillip progressed from station to station, organizing, checking, advising, encouraging, and generally pulling things together. By early afternoon, all of the messengers had departed in their various directions. Phillip stood, looking out the window of his chambers toward the east, the direction anyone saw she had taken last. In one hand he carefully held the glass slipper. Around his neck, the tiny ring hung on a silver chain.

King Stephan paced the room behind his son. "Phillip," he asked, exasperated, "is all of this charging about really necessary? I mean, that was the whole point of the ball, so you could meet all kinds of suitable young women, find one and marry, and let me retire and enjoy my grandchildren in the middle of Happily Ever After, since it seems you don't want to reign without a partner and a queen."

"Father, we've been through all this already. You know I'm not the fanciful romantic type, but this girl has stirred my very soul!" He wrung his hands. (His mother shook her head - he had actually wrung his hands!) "As I've told you, we talked for hours. She is wise and good, and would help me to reign with justice and fairness. She would be very good for the Kingdom. And after meeting her, Father, no other woman will ever be 'suitable' for me."

The king started to argue back, but was cut off by the gentle voice of his wife, who had been standing at the doorway and overheard them. "Stephan, are you so old as to forget our own courtship? Your father also thought you were wasting your time, but you persisted and won me. Do you expect your own firstborn to do any less?"

"But Amanda--"

"Now, hush, my love," she admonished. "Go, and get some sleep. It's been a very long night. Remember, you have to meet with the governors this evening." The king looked back and forth between the two of them, threw up his hands in a gesture of familiar surrender, and left the room, mumbling about "this younger generation." She went over to her son, who had turned back to the window, and touched him lightly on the shoulder. "Phillip," she asked softly, "is she really all you say?"

He turned to her, an expression of torment on his face. "Mother, she is that and a good deal more." He sighed, and closed his eyes. "Why? Why did she run from me? She wasn't frightened. Just..." He sighed, giving up. "I don't know."

The queen moved over to a couch. "Come and sit down, son."

He went over, and sat down on the floor and put his head on her knees, something he hadn't done since he began his training for manhood. "I didn't know I could feel like this, Mother. I didn't know anything like it existed." He looked up at her with a small frown. "Why didn't you tell me what it was like?"

She laughed softly. "Now that you've found love, what do you suggest that I might have said?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it again and sighed. "You're right. There are no words for it. By last night, I had resigned myself to picking anyone, just to please you and Father. I thought I could find someone that I liked, and that would be the end of it. Then *she* came in, and I wasn't even going to look, until the entire room came to a standstill. Even if she hadn't been the most beautiful girl in the place, I needed a good excuse to extricate myself from those two dreadful sisters." He sighed again. "Then, I met her, and she stole my soul." Amanda smiled down at him with warm affection, and, stroking his hair, hummed an old lullaby while he fell asleep.

**The Aftermath**

News of the prince's search flew across the kingdom like a swift wind, and there was again a great deal of speculation in the market place as to who the beautiful stranger might have been. But, as time passed even this gossip grew stale, and conversation turned to other things. I never mentioned any part of that amazing unforgettable night to anyone --not about my own dress, their destruction of it (who would it have helped?), and of course, nothing about my dear Godmother (who would have believed it?). But I did seem to spend more time with the two dogs, and we became fast friends.

Around the house, there was, at first, much loud complaining about this strange princess, and everything that happened that wasn't to their liking was quickly blamed on her, from the cold rain on shopping day to clumsy fingers during music lessons. Then, toward the end of the winter, this too faded.

After all, wasn't Audrone actively seeking husbands for her daughters? Twice a week, a carriage came and took them into the capital for lessons in embroidering, grace, manners, the art of small talk, all the things a gentlewoman is supposed to know, you see, in order to manage her household. And, of course, they had to practice some of their new skills in "household management" on the butler and myself. I managed to hold my tongue. *After all, someday soon they will be gone* I kept telling myself.

By the way, the dinner party Audrone was supposed to be planning for those vegetables never materialized. So, I made a perfectly huge batch of stew and served it for breakfast, dinner and supper, until they complained about the lack of variety in their diet, then took the rest to some of my poorer friends in town.

I hid my other slipper in the cupboard with the cleaning supplies (no one ever went there), and sometimes, when I was feeling particularly lonely and the dogs just weren't enough company, I would take it out and go out on the scullery step, and remember, and pray for him. Come to think of it, I suppose I did change somewhat because of meeting him. Things didn't bother me so much. And the girls weren't able to hurt me as badly with their ridicule, for I knew there was someone who loved me for who I was, someone I would willingly die for.

In accordance with her search, Audrone invited many families with young men to our house for dinner parties to meet her daughters. For these occasions, she broke down and bought me a pretty little servant's dress to be worn while waiting table. It was on many of these occasions I actually felt sorry for the girls. If the young man was the least bit good-looking, Mina could be found blustering at him in a most obnoxious manner, and Josella would blush until her face was the color of her hair and her freckles disappeared, and then stammer all evening .

It was nearly a year before all the couriers returned from the other Kingdoms with the news that no one ever heard of a Princess Ellen or even a young maid of position that stood about so high with auburn hair and green eyes. The gossip in the market place was that the prince was at his wit's end. As I mingled with the crowd, several of the merchants and some of my acquaintances did give me curious looks as though they were piecing things together, but I saw them shrug and pass it off.

It was early in September that I was returning to the market with a group of children, when I heard shouts coming from the far end of the square. We hurried toward them, but a large crowd was gathering and we were pushed toward a monument near the center of the square. I hustled the children together and warned them to hold hands with one another so they wouldn't get hurt or lost. Then, because the crowd and hubbub seemed to be moving in our direction, I had them all step up onto a higher step that ran around the statue, and I looked out over the crowd. It was then I could make out what they were shouting. "Long live the prince!" "Long live Prince Phillip!" "Long live the king and queen!"

Indeed, up the cobblestone street and through the market square rode the prince himself with several of his servants who were trying to keep the enthusiastic crowd from crushing him. It wasn't all that rare for the royal family to ride among us, but to see the prince by himself *and* on horseback was almost unheard of. He waved to all of us.

I stood, rapt, not daring to move, watching him progress across the open square on his beautiful black mount. Standing where I was, I reached about head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd. Holding two little hands in mine, I could not even wave. Suddenly, when he was barely a stone's toss away, he looked over toward the statue and our eyes met. For just a second, the rest of the population disappeared and I couldn't move. The prince turned to speak to his companion. Then suddenly, I was jostled off my perch by some eager boys, and the children and I were pushed off into the crowd and back to the other side of the market place and I saw him no more.

**The Slipper**

"I tell you, Nicholas, it was Ellen!"

Phillip paced back and forth across the room while his valet and best friend looked on. "But you said yourself you only saw her for a second. How can you be so sure?"

"I would know those sea green eyes anywhere, and I was right about her hair being auburn. It shone like dark copper with the sun on it today!"

"Alright, alright," said his friend, folding his arms. "Suppose it was she out there today. Why didn't she approach you?"

"A strong man couldn't have gotten through that multitude today, let alone a young woman--"

"So you say, then why doesn't she send word to the palace?"

Phillip stopped his pacing. "I don't know."

"Suppose she's already married."

The prince looked sharply at his friend, a look of pain suddenly crossing his face. "There were children with her." His jaw set stubbornly. "I want to hear it from her."

Nicholas sighed in defeat. "But suppose--"

"I'm through supposing!" he shouted vehemently. "I've just gone through a year of supposing, and searching in every place imaginable!" He started pacing again. "I have gone everywhere this year; peace talks, treaty negotiations, trade conferences, dinners of state, border openings. Then today," he closed his hand around the ring which had never left its place over his heart, "I see her not ten miles from my own home, and she disappears again." He turned to face the other way. "Nicholas, I never got to tell her that I loved her."

"Yes, Sire," his friend murmured, "so you've told me."

Phillip glanced over at the pedestal covered in glass at the tiny slipper enshrined within. Then, he looked at it more intently, and Nicholas could see an idea forming in his head. The prince walked over to it, and slowly took it out. "My friend, here is the key to the solution to my dilemma."

"A shoe?"

"Not just a shoe, a slipper. A tiny glass slipper. The royal shoemaker told me that he'd never seen workmanship like this before, but he was certain that the slipper had been made expressly for that foot, and would fit no other."

Nicholas looked skeptical. "That's...very interesting."

"Don't you see," said the prince, gathering energy, "if I publish it about that I'm going to try this shoe on every feminine foot in the Kingdom and marry the girl that it fits, it might just draw her out."

His friend nodded reluctantly. "It might."

***************************

Soon the news reached our town of the latest development in the continuing chronicle of the prince and his mysterious lady. The subject was reopened with heated debate in the marketplace. It seems Prince Phillip was going to go about our own town and try this glass slipper on every girl's foot, and marry the first one that it fit. My hopes were dashed, for I knew it would fit someone else long before he ever reached our house. But in the meantime, feet were soaked and massaged, nails were pared and calluses removed, and advice on beautifying the lower extremity was jealously passed about.

The prince started at the other end of town, and day by day, his progress was noted among the merchants and vendors. The town sparkled with a scrubbing like it had rarely had before, and I suspect every house was wearing its finest, both inside and out. As for our house, Josella and Mina were frantic. If it were possible, their feet would have shrunk several sizes from all of the soaking and rubbing they and I had done. Unfortunately for them, they both had rather large feet, and no amount of tight wrapping at night seemed to make them any smaller. I personally was a mass of confused feelings. I wanted to see him desperately, of course, but would he want me, would he not instead despise me, seeing I was only a maid and a drudge? For months I had imagined what I would do if we ever came face to face, but now all of my dreams seemed so unreal, and I was left floundering in my imagination and indecision.

**The Visit**

It was late afternoon. The carriage proceeded to the next house along the outlying road. Prince Phillip wearily turned to his friend. "Well, Nicholas, I thank you for accompanying me on this wearisome task. I think I've seen enough feet to last for several lifetimes. Thank God they're not the nicest part of a woman, or I would give this up immediately." He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. "Oh well. Who's next on our list?"

Nicholas consulted a parchment. "Next is the house of Sir Thomas Piper, hmm, late emissary of the king."

"Piper. Oh yes, my father still speaks very highly of him. He wishes he had a dozen more like him. I met Sir Thomas and his wife and daughter once when I was younger at a banquet Father held in his honor, I believe." He smiled to himself. "As I recall, his daughter had lovely green eyes, too. I was quite smitten with her for several years after that, though Father never allowed me to contact her." He sighed. "She must be a lovely young lady by now."

***************

I had risen early that morning and bathed and washed my hair. As it happened, I had little to do that day because we had had word that the prince might be by the house that very afternoon, and Audrone spent most of that time coaching the girls --just one more time --on how to behave and what to say. I took out my slipper from the pantry and secreted it in my apron pocket, then had a long walk in the garden, picking apples, trying once more to sort out my feelings. It was late that afternoon when I was gazing out over the wall to the drive that I felt someone looking at me. I glanced up at the house, and saw Audrone staring at me from the bay window, her eyes narrowed.

I returned to the kitchen.

When the prince and his servants arrived at the door, the butler answered, and directed them to the parlor where the three ladies were waiting. Then Audrone took him aside and said, very quietly, "See that Cinderella stays in the kitchen."

The butler was not a very bright man, and it never seemed to puzzle him that his former mistress was now only a fellow servant to be dealt with. When he came into the kitchen, I looked up and asked, "What is it, John?"

"The prince and his party are in the parlor."

I jumped up. "They are? Then I must go there at once!" In that moment of epiphany, I knew I had to see him and tell him all the truth, and let him know who and what I was, and suffer whatever the consequences were. I had to put on that slipper! I ran to the doorway, but John reached out and grabbed my arm and held me as a struggled to leave the room. "No! No!" I screamed .

"You have to let me go!"

"Now missy, it's no use fightin' me like this. You just wait here until them folks is gone, and then you can ask the ladies what 'appened." He had me by the elbows and we wrestled for several minutes. I twisted and turned and lost the pins in my hair, and it fell down across my face. Suddenly, I stomped on his foot, and he howled in pain and released me, and I flew up the stairs.

Nicholas spoke to Audrone, "Are there any other ladies in this household?"

She curtsied deeply, "No, your lordship. We're sorry we could not help you, and wish you Godspeed in your search." Both daughters sat sulking on the settee.

Nicholas picked up the slipper from the footstool and started to lay it on the cushion he carried as he turned to move toward the door. At that point, Audrone's foot slipped out in front of him and he tripped, and started to fall. She quickly brought her hand up as if to aid him and break his fall, but she struck his arm, and it flew upward, and the slipper sailed into the air.

I reached the rear entrance to the parlor just in time to see it fly upwards, almost striking the high domed ceiling, and fall, fall, turning and sparkling in the late afternoon light coming through the windows, and crash on the tile floor into a thousand glistening pieces.

I must have screamed. All eyes in the room turned toward my doorway as met Audrone's look of triumphant satisfaction. I didn't stay to listen to her turn and apologize obsequiously, nor to hear the servant absolve her of guilt and apologize to the prince. I ran from the house, out into the garden, and over to the well, crying again from disappointment the way I'd only cried once before. My hair fell down across my cheeks and my tears into the well.

**************************************

"Little maid, may I have a drink?"

I blinked, and swallowed my sobs, realization flooding me. *His voice! He must have followed me to the garden!* I dared not look at him. "Yes, Sire." I lowered the bucket, then drew it up again and took out a dipper of water. Turning to him with eyes lowered, I handed it to him.

"Your hand trembles, little one."

"Yes, Sire."

He drank the water and handed me the dipper. "Thank you very kindly."

"You are very kindly welcome." I replaced the dipper and, hair still hiding my face, I turned my back to him.

"Have you been hiding from us? I don't believe you tried on the slipper...Ellen."

I turned to face him, tears still dimming my sight. "Phillip!" And then I was in his arms, holding him like I had longed to for a year. He clasped me to his heart with tenderness and fervor. His hand caressed my hair. "So it really was you all along. Your stepmother told us you were abroad studying."

"I know." And then he kissed me.

Another hundred years or so later, I heard someone clearing his throat. We looked up and saw Nicholas standing at a discreet distance. "I take it you've found her?"

But at that point, Audrone burst past him. My soul shriveled at the sight of her. She commanded, "Cinderella! Get back in that kitchen, and don't ever let me catch you--"

"Excuse me, Madame," Phillip said quietly, "but you're going to have to keep a more civil tongue in your head when you speak to the queen, or you will have no tongue at all." My eyes found his face and courage flooded back into me.

She sputtered a few seconds, obviously trying to catch her breath. "But, you can't marry her! She didn't put on the slipper!" She smiled triumphantly, eyes blazing at me with new animosity.

Phillip looked to his friend. "I'm afraid that the proclamation did read that you would marry the one that the slipper fit," Nicholas told him. "That must be why she broke it."

Phillip looked at her, then him, then me. "But now we have no slipper!"

"Oh," I said, suddenly remembering, "but look, I have the other!" I dug into my apron pocket and pulled it out. Audrone suddenly looked very ill, but the prince's servants cheered as he placed it on my bare foot, a perfect fit.

**Epilogue**

The rest is mostly history, but I will fill in some of the details. When we arrived back at the palace (with me still wearing my worn housedress), Stephan and Amanda treated me like a long-lost member of the family. When they asked why I was dressed so, I replied that I'd bean acting as servant and housekeeper in our home because of the poor straits Father had left us in.

The king looked surprised, and objected. "But Miss Piper, I know your father invested wisely, and was an excellent money manager, thus accumulating a large fortune. We've also been sending you a goodly sum every month as a pension for his excellent services to the crown, by way of your stepmother, to help you at school. Didn't you know this?"

I sighed. "No sire, but I would like to take care of things there myself, if I may." I was granted this privilege, and Audrone did not lose her head for extortion from the crown.

The wedding was really extraordinarily. The actual ceremony took place in the chapel, attended by all the courtiers and surrounding royalty; but, at my urging, the celebration was held in the town square so I could see and thank all of my friends who numbered among the common people. I'm sure my godmother was in attendance, for late in the afternoon, as the westering sun sank low in the sky, a full rainbow decorated the clear blue sky in the east. Then, when we returned to our chambers, we found a full size color portrait of the two of us dancing in the gardens in the starlight.

As promised, the king soon abdicated in favor of Phillip, and our coronation took place around Christmas. I never saw such celebration before or since, and never expect to again. Phillip is indeed a wise and just ruler, and the people respect him greatly.

I had our lawyers and accountants go over my father's will and financial affairs, and finally got everything straightened out. The house was attached to the crown, and Audrone and the girls were put on a fair, but considerably reduced allowance. The staff assigned there was from the palace, so I was sure they would not be mistreated. I also assigned the palace messenger to work directly for Audrone. I felt they deserved each other.

Mina eventually married a local blacksmith, and I felt so sorry for the man that I had Phillip send him all of our business. He soon took on several apprentices, and did quite well, so she made out all right after all.

Soon after, Josella married a nearsighted but successful little silk merchant, and started having children. She's one of the best dressed women in the kingdom.

And us? We're expecting our first child soon. Stephan and Amanda are thoroughly enjoying retirement, acting only as advisors and indulgent grandparents with Phillip's nieces and nephews. Our kingdom is prosperous and peaceful, and I think I'll stop here.

I just love happy endings.