Page images
PDF
EPUB

"Now run again into the garden," she said to Cinderella, "and you will find six lizards behind the watering pot. Bring them hither."

This was no sooner done than with a stroke of the fairy's wand they were changed into six footmen clothed in lace livery, who jumped up behind the coach and sat side by side as sedate and dignified as though they had never been anything but trained footmen.

"Well, my dear," said the fairy godmother, "is this not such an equipage as you would like to have to take you to the ball? Are you not delighted with it?"

"Yes," said Cinderella, with hesitation, "but must I go there in my kitchen rags?"

In reply, her godmother touched her with the wand, and her rags were instantly changed into the most wonderful gown and clothing, bedecked with more costly jewels than had ever been seen on one person. To all this was added a beautiful pair of glass slippers.

"Now," said the fairy, "set forth for the palace. Go and enjoy yourself, but remember, on no account whatever must you stay at the ball after the clock strikes twelve. If you stay but a single moment after that time, your coach will again become a pumpkin, your horses, mice, your footmen, lizards, and your fine clothes, filthy, ash-covered rags."

Cinderella promised faithfully to do as her godmother wished, and almost wild with joy, drove away to the ball.

In some way the prince had been informed that a great princess whom nobody knew was to come to the ball, and as soon as Cinderella arrived in her

carriage he presented himself at the door, helped her out and led her into the ballroom.

When Cinderella entered the room a silence fell upon every one present, and the dancing and music stopped while everybody gazed in admiration at the remarkable beauty of this unknown princess. "How handsome she is!" was the whisper which ran around the room. Old as he was, the king himself could not take his eyes from her, and said again and again to the queen, "She is certainly the loveliest creature I have seen in a long time."

The ladies did not admire her face so much, but tried to see how her clothes were made, so that if they could find such beautiful material they might provide themselves with fine dresses, though some of them doubted whether anybody could be found to make them so well.

When the king's son led her out to dance, she was the center of still greater admiration, for no one had ever seen such graceful movements. A little later, when the rich supper was spread, many of the guests spent most of their time in watching the wonderful stranger, and as for the prince himself, he gazed at her so constantly that he was not able to eat even a morsel of the delicious foods that he liked best. As it happened, Cinderella was seated between her two sisters, and she took the greatest pains to make herself agreeable, and insisted that in all cases they should be served first. Both were much charmed and elated to think that the strange and beautiful princess paid them so much attention. In fact, their heads were quite turned by her delicate flattery.

While they were still conversing, the clock struck the quarter before twelve, and Cinderella rose hast

ily to her feet and sweeping them all a graceful courtesy, hurried from the room as rapidly as she could. When she got home she thanked her godmother a thousand times for the delightful evening she had had, and said that she would give anything she had in the world to be able to go to the ball again the next day, as the prince had invited her.

She was just saying this to her godmother when a light rat-a-tat-tat was heard at the door, and Cinderella ran and opened it.

"How late you have stayed," said she, yawning and stretching herself and rubbing her eyes as though she had just awakened from sleep, though in truth she had felt no desire to sleep since her sisters left, early in the evening.

"If you had been at the ball," said the elder sister, "you would not have been asleep. One of the guests was the handsomest, yes, the most beautiful princess I have ever seen, and you have no idea what attentions she paid to us. The prince was very polite to her, and gave her oranges and sweetmeats, which she always divided with us."

"What was the name of the princess?" asked Cinderella, scarcely able to contain herself with joy.

"Nobody was able to find out who she was, and the king's son was extremely grieved and has offered a large reward if any one can tell him where she came from."

Cinderella smiled and said, "How beautiful she must be, and how fortunate you were. Oh, how I wish I could see her for a single moment. My dear sister, please let me take the yellow gown that you wear every day, that I may go to see her."

"The idea!" said the sister. "Lend my clothes

to a kitchen wench! Do you think for a minute I would be such a fool? No, no, Miss Forward, you mind your own work in the kitchen, and leave us to attend to princes and balls."

Cinderella was not much surprised at the answer she received, and indeed was a little relieved, for she had no idea what she could do if the dress were lent to her.

On the second day the sisters appeared again at the ball, and there, too, was Cinderella, but with even more magnificent clothes than those she had worn the night before. The king's son was always by her side and was continually saying to her the most polite and pleasing things imaginable. The charming young lady was moved by the attention she received, and her heart grew warm at the flattery. In fact, she became so absorbed in the prince and in all the beautiful things that she saw about her that she had entirely forgotten what her godmother had said about her returning at midnight.

She was never happier than when the clock began to strike, but as she counted the strokes, one, two, three, and on till she came to twelve, her joy changed to terrible alarm. She jumped to her feet and ran out of the room, as fleet as a deer. The prince, surprised at her strange behavior, followed and tried to overtake her, but Cinderella's fright made her run much faster than her pursuer, so she soon left him out of sight. But in her great haste she lost one of her glass slippers and dared not stop to recover it. When the prince came in he saw the fragile thing, picked it up and carefully preserved it. Cinderella reached home tired, out of breath, in her old ragged clothes, without either coach or footmen, and

with nothing left of her magnificence but the mate of the glass slipper she had dropped.

In the meantime, the prince had questioned all

[graphic][merged small][subsumed]

the guards at his palace gates, asking if any had seen a magnificent princess pass out. The guards replied that no princess had passed the gates, and that they had not seen a single creature except a

« PreviousContinue »