Cinderella's first ball
Three months after their holiday the countess and her daughters came back from town in high spirits.
"Apparently the king is organising a magnificent feast for his son's twenty-fifth birthday and all the best families in the land will be invited," said Bernardine.
"We'll need new clothes and jewellery, won't we mother," said Clotilde.
Both girls were jumping up and down with glee and the countess was no less enchanted with the idea of new, expensive clothes.
Sure enough, two days later the official letter was delivered. It read:
The king and queen have the honour of inviting
Countess du Bellefleur and her daughters
Bernardine, Aurore, Clotilde and Sandrine
to the ball in honour of
the 25th birthday of their son
prince Eiríkur.
The countess read the letter at breakfast and Aurore immediately said, "Does this mean that Cindy can come too?"
A storm of protest was the answer.
"Mother, she cannot be serious. That filthy girl cannot come with us."
"She'll embarrass us, mother, and the prince won't come to us."
"We won't have enough money to buy anything decent for ourselves if we have to dress her too."
"She's just not fit to be seen in public."
"Quiet, girls," answered the countess. "I'm sure Aurore didn't mean it. Did you now, child?"
"It was just a question as her name is on the invitation."
"I'm sure that is a mistake. The king and queen cannot have known about her reduced circumstances or they wouldn't have invited her. This invitation is only meant for my daughters and me and of course you, Aurore, as my stepdaughter. So nobody will mention Cinders name anymore in connection with the ball, or tell her that she is invited. After all, we don't want to give the girl false hopes, do we."
The three girls answered, "Yes, Mother; No mother," in agreement, but Aurore was already thinking about a plan to include Cindy despite her stepmother's orders.
First she asked the countess: "Could the seamstress in my grandmother's village make my dress? She knows the sort of thing I like. And it would be cheaper. The money I save can be added to the spending money of Bernardine and Clotilde."
Of course any scheme that meant more money for her little angels always found favour with the countess.
"Of course, my dear," she said. "You'll only be sitting in a corner all evening anyway."
Then Aurore wrote two letters. The first letter was to the seamstress with precise descriptions of the two dresses she had to make. She wrote: "The dress in green silk is to be sent over in time for the ball. The other dress has to be brought here on the day of the ball. Mr. Dodier will contact you with further details."
The second letter she wrote to Mr Dodier, her financial adviser with instructions for the day of the ball.
Despite their mother's orders Bernardine and Clotilde told Cindy about the invitation to the ball. They delighted in disappointing her.
"Can you imagine? Your name was actually on the invitation. But of course you're not allowed to go. We can't be seen with the likes of you."
Cindy went to her stepmother and begged her, "Please, can I come with you to the ball. Just to look at the guests. Please, oh, please."
"I'm not taking a bag of Cinders to the ball with me. I won't be the laughing stock of the town."
But as Cindy kept asking her she finally said, "You can go if all these tasks are finished," and handed a long list of useless tasks to Cindy. Then she gave the girl a big sack of peas and continued, "When you finished your tasks, I want you to sort this sack of peas by hand. When that is finished, and not before, can you go with us to the ball. Now go and do your work."
It was hopeless and Bernardine and Clotilde, who had heard everything, sniggered. That would stop Cinders from being a nuisance at the ball.
Aurore had heard and seen everything. She waited and waited until finally late that day the countess and her daughters went into town to buy some more jewellery for the ball. As always she found Cindy over her ears in work.
"Cindy, I've come to talk about the dance next week."
"I cannot go. Look at how much work I still have to do."
Aurore grabbed the list and read it. The most urgent jobs had already been done. Then she said to Cindy, "There are only a few items left that really need doing. We can certainly finish them before next week. The rest are just jobs stepmother wrote down to make up the list. The spare rooms for instance, the cleaner has only done them this week. She won't notice if you skip that or any of these." And Aurore crossed out most of the items on the list.
"What about the peas that need sorting?"
"I've already taken care of that. We'll swap this bag with a bag that's already sorted. She doesn't know what we already have in the storeroom. The bag of unsorted peas I'll take to someone who'll be glad with them."
"Then I'll be able to go with you."
"No, you won't. She'll find something else for you to do. But this is what we'll do."
And Aurore told Cindy what she had planned to get her to the ball.
It was a very simple plan. On the day of the ball Aurore left with the countess, Bernardine and Clotilde for the ball. The coach was well on its way to the castle when another coach arrived drawn by six beautiful white horses. The coach itself was creamy white with gold decorations and had once belonged to Dame Emelyne. Inside were three people: Aurore's adviser with his wife and the village seamstress. They had brought a magnificent dress with matching shoes and anything else that was needed to get a girl ready for her first ball. The two women helped Cindy to get ready. Then they told her that she had to be home by twelve o'clock, as they had to be back in the village by morning. Cindy could hardly believe that she was really on her way to the ball sitting in the sumptuous interior of cream leather and cream velvet cushions.
Meanwhile the countess had arrived at the ball. Sparkling in competition with the crystal chandeliers she entered the room, followed by her daughters equally decked out in too much glitter and glimmer. They went straight to the royal party and were introduced, "Countess du Bellefleur with her daughters Bernardine and Clotilde."
"Your Majesties, I'm so honoured to be here. My daughters could hardly sleep; they are so exited about meeting His Majesty, the prince."
The girls giggled and their mother gave them a look that would have frozen a volcano.
"Why don't you start the dance with one of these pretty girls," said the king.
"If you insist, father."
The prince did not enjoy this ball at all. All these girls that looked at him like a cat at a mouse. He didn't want any of them for a wife at all. From what he had seen so far, not one could put a coherent sentence together. And now he had to start the ball with a walking Christmas tree. He reached out his hand towards Clotilde, who had a more genuine smile, but Bernardine pushed her sister out of the way, grabbed the proffered hand an dragged the prince triumphantly to the dance floor. And so the ball started.
Aurore, who'd come in after her stepsisters, was looking up at the splendour of the painted ceiling when a man's voice said, "Can I have the first dance, and the second, and the…"
"Conrad! I didn't know the king's hunters would be invited as well."
"It's because of the overwhelming amount of girls who want to become the future queen. The king needed men to console the disappointed candidates. I hadn't expected you though. You never looked like a prince-hunter to me."
Aurore could hear he was disappointed.
"I didn't come for the prince. I came for the decor. My father told me that this is the most beautifully decorated castle in the country."
"It is. I'll show you around."
The relief in his voice nearly made her laugh out loud.
"Ok, after the first dance and the second dance and…" Devilish lights glittered in her eyes. Conrad led Aurore to the dance floor holding her tight. Nobody was going to take her from him. Dancing with Aurore to the enchanting music of a waltz, Conrad was overwhelmed by his feelings for her and gently kissed her hair. She looked up at him. No, he wasn't mocking her, or teasing her. Finally Aurore knew her stepmother had been wrong. Not every gentleman prefers blondes.
The ball had been going an hour. The prince had done a quick tour of the floor with every eager prospective bride. He was sitting with his parents begging them not to make him choose a bride from among the assembled beauties. Not one had interested him. He looked at the candidates standing around. He looked at each and every one of them and then he saw the most beautiful woman in the world. A queen, surely, who outclassed the rest with ease. The prince went to her, invited her for the next dance, and never changed partners again.
It was close to twelve when they stopped dancing. The prince wanted to introduce her to his parents but she said she had to go. She quickly slipped away. The carriage was waiting. The mysterious queen stepped inside and the coach left. She disappeared in the night without a trace. The prince didn't even now her name.
Soon after the ball ended. When they arrived home the countess and her daughters found Cinders asleep in an easy chair in the kitchen. To vent her anger at the strange queen who had spoiled the ball for her girls, the countess shook Cindy awake and slapped her so hard, that the red mark of her hand took two days to disappear. For a moment Aurore feared that Cindy had been seen at the ball. She soon knew that was not the case. The countess and her daughters couldn't imagine that anybody would dare to defy their orders.