Musea World Exclusive!

A European reader of Musea - he chooses to remain anonymous at this time - has graciously allowed this zine a world exclusive. He has found a packet of letters from Queen Cendrillon, a Germanic queen circa 8th century A.D., that when translated and verified as authentic, was found to be proof that the Cinderella story we know as a fairy tale, is a historic event. This special issue of Musea proudly brings to the American public the true story of Queen Cendrillon - Cinderella!

Cendrillon

Introduction

On August 12 of last year my housekeeper awoke me from a sound sleep to tell me that she had discovered, by accident, a secret panel in the antique chest in the attic. She said that she had been taking some small boxes of old dishes up the stairs to store them, when she stumbled and fell against the side of a chair that apparently hit the chest in such a way that it triggered a hidden door.

She said that at first she thought she had chipped a piece off the chest (she knew how much I treasured it for its fine carvings, and superb workmanship). But after she looked at it more closely she could see that it was some kind of secret drawer. "Don't touch anything until I get there," I told her. I quickly dressed and joined her in the attic. On the side of the chest a little door about 4 inches square had opened, and had exposed a metal latch.

I carefully released the latch and to our surprise a larger drawer about the length of a shoebox gently slid open from the base of the trunk. Inside was a large packet of papers sandwiched between two thin boards, and wrapped in a long faded red cloth ribbon. I carefully removed the packet and noticed a musty fragrance. Around the sides of the papers were piles of dust particles that were probably the remains of wildflowers used to scent the secret drawer.

We then took the packet to the curator who sold me the chest. He slowly unwrapped the ribbon and removed the boards. Inside were about 15 thick sheets of paper or parchment. Each had a royal seal and was signed with the signature Cendrillon. But beyond that he couldn't speculate. I left the packet with him and through his work and the help of other experts, he managed to determine that the letters were the correspondence of Queen Cendrillon and her first born child, her son, Prince William. The letters had been carefully sealed and stored because of their importance to Prince William. They told in Cendrillon's own script the full story of how she, a woodcutters daughter, had met and fallen in love with Prince Martel (later King and father to William). Apparently the prince had treasured the story and had wanted to save it for all time. But what was most astonishing of all was that Cendrillon's story paralleled in almost every aspect the fairy tale of Cinderella!

My housekeeper suggested that I write the tale in a story form and publish it. This was indeed too great a discovery to keep silent about. So now I bring to you in a translation as close to the original as I can, the true tale of Cendrillon, beginning with the line common to all storytellers since:

ONCE UPON A TIME in the northern forests of now what is commonly called Europe, there was born to parents of meager means a son who grew up to be a woodcutter. The woodcutter was a hard worker who seldom took even an afternoon off. But one day in May, with spring fever in his bones, he decided to end his work early and celebrate the oncoming warm weather by going to the May Day festival held in his town. There he met and fell in love with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had soft eyes and long brown hair and when she danced she was as light as a feather in his rough calloused, black and blue-nailed hands. From then on through the summer he saw her every chance he had. There were suppers and hayrides and market days and Church Sundays, that they shared together until one night at the celebration of the end of harvest he took her aside and said in his bashful way, "Would you marry me, what?" "Yes."

And so after getting her parents approval they were married with both sets of parents, their aunts and uncles and all there friends and other relatives attending. After all the hoopla of the wedding was over they settled to a quiet life. The woodcutter continued with his work as his new wife took care of the chores around the house, of which her pride and joy was her garden. She grew the best turnips and cabbage in the village.

In the ninth month of their marriage a child was conceived and the mother's stomach began to grow and grow until a little girl was born near the third new moon of the next year. They named her Cendrillon. And with her birth came a happiness and joy that only a father and mother can know. In those days when a child was born the time of birth was recorded and the information was taken to a man who would, by using the time of birth, be able to tell many things about the life of the baby. He was called an astrologer and in those days people held astrolgers in high esteem as intelligent men.

Most of the people didn't understand what he did or how he did it, but however he did it he did seem to have a very deep understanding of people and how they fitted in with the cycles of the sun, moon and stars.

Woodcutter: Well what do you see?

Astrologer: Please don't rush me. The more time I take the more accurate it is.

Wood: What 's all this?

Astro: Just some figuring. Now leave me be for a minute. This takes concentration.

Wood: What's that for?

Astro: Now Ronald sit down!

And with that and the stern look that the astrologer gave, the woodcutter sat down and folded his big hands in his lap and bit his tongue until the astrologer said:
Astro: Uh huh.

Wood: What?

Astro: Ummmmmmmm

Wood: Well tell me what you see.

Astro: Ronald you are gonna be so proud of this little girl. Now I know what her mother looks like and this one here (he tapped the piece of paper in the middle of a circle with all kinds of symbols on it) is gonna be just as pretty if not more. She'll be a little taller than you, with big brown eyes, a slightly pointed chin, small nose and full lips. Her hair will probably tend towards your color more than her mothers. She'll be sympathetic, compassionate and adaptable - a pride to you booth. (The woodcutter was speechless.) But now I've got to be honest. Ronald you know with every good there seems to be some bad. Well this is the case here and 'forewarned is forearmed'. Now tell me Ronald what happened on the day of her birth?

Wood: Well it started out a normal day, but pretty soon there was a small storm brewing. It worried us some because it seemed to bring on her labor pains so much quicker. But soon the storm and winds stopped. Then within minutes Cendrillon was born. The midwife said it was an easy birth.

Astro: Well that's the way her life will be. I see here some problems in her childhood. They seem to center around other women in her life. Perhaps they will be jealous of her beauty and charm.

Wood: But that's impossible. You know my wife. She'll love and protect that child with all her might.

Astro: I know that. That's why even I am puzzled. But now whether that comes about or not it will all end well. This is the part I am excited about. After this tragedy with other women is over (it won't last very long) she will marry some one of great esteem, rank, and wealth.

Wood: How can that be? We're all poor farmers and craftsmen. The only man like that in this region is the king himself!

Astro: Well strange things, even magic things can come about when we least suspect them. Mark what I say.

So the woodcutter took these things home with him, gladness in his heart and warnings in his pocket. When he got home he told his wife of all the things that the astrologer had said, of how fair and sensitive Cendrillon would be, and how proud they would be of their future son-in-law. "He may even be royalty." Ronald said with pride. But he kept the warnings of the astrologer to himself, because he knew that his wife would have no room for such thoughts in her heart of gold. But she knew him too well.

"Now Ronald I know when you're holding something back from me. What is it?"

Well the woodcutter could see pretty quickly that he couldn't keep anything from his wife, good or bad, so he told her the rest of the prophesy. When he was finished his wife said,
"Now that just couldn't be. There's no possible way any jealous woman is going to bother our baby. Not while I'm alive!"

And so it was for 14 years.

For 14 years Cendrillon grew and grew and grew. She learned all there was to know about all the animals. She took care of them, nursed and sang to them when they were sick, and romped with them when they were well. She also helped her mother in her garden and even started a small radish garden of her own. And each day when her father would come home from work she'd rush out to greet him and with her small hand wrapped around two of his fingers, she would walk him home and tell him everything that she and her mother had done that day. Then they would sit down to a hearty steaming bowl of onion and turnip stew.

Well those were the good days, anyway. Sometimes Cendrillon was ornery. Sometimes she was selfish, and cranky, and stubborn. And sometimes she'd have fights with her mother and father when they wouldn't let her have her own way. But it wasn't too serious because they all loved each other even when they were mad at each other. And their fights didn't last very long. And a lot of those fights were just because she was hungry or tired. (Though at the time she wasn't wise enough to know that). Even her parents were cranky when they were hungry or tired. Now back to the story.

One day when the woodcutter had some time on his hands he went into town to look for a gift to surprise his wife and Cendrillon. Along the way he met the Astrologer.

Astro: Oh Ronald I'm glad I met you. I wanted to talk to you.

Wood: About what?

Astro: I found an eclipse

Wood: What does that mean?

Astro: Well in this case it means caution for you and your wife. Especially your wife.

Wood: In what way?

Astro: Traveling. It's important that your wife doesn't travel over the next six months unless it's an emergency. And this is why. There's a possibility that there is a danger to her health. And a lesser danger to you if you choose to travel.

Wood: What kind of danger?

Astro: I don't know. But I think it could be something like the plague, the black death. There have been rumors that it's starting up again. Something like that could be just what I'm talking about.

Wood: I don't like this at all.

Astro: Ronald, don't get more worried than you need to be. You know what I say 'Forwarned is forearmed'. A little precaution is all that we need to protect us. But we need to protect ourselves a little more than usual now.

These words were scary and sobering to the woodcutter but even more frightening was that unbeknownst to them the fever had indeed begun again and had traveled even faster than the rumor of it. Some traveling merchant of Cathay had spread it to a neighboring town by way of the main road. And there, though nobody knew it, the woodcutter's older sister had already contracted the disease.

And sure enough when Cendrillon's mother heard the news of her relative being sick she told the woodcutter that she would have to go see what she could do to help her get well. The woodcutter siad that he didn't like that one little bit. This was just like the astrologer said.

"That may be true but right or wrong, kin is kin. And I won't have her lying there without my care."

"Well what if I go instead?" said the woodcutter.

"If she does have the fever, you'd only bring it home. And besides you don't know as well as I do how to take care of these things. I can better help her and better protect myself if I go."

"I don't like it one bit. I'm going to come along and be with you."

"It's probably nothing a little nursing won't cure. You stay here with Cendrillon. And I'll be back as soon as there's some improvement." And off she went.

In a fortnight her sister-in-law was much better and she returned safe and sound. The woodcutter gave a big sigh of relief when he saw his wife, but their problems were not over.

Nothing happened for a few days, but then things changed. Cendrillon's mother started to get tired all the time. At first everybody thought it was just from the long trip, but after a while when she should have gotten better, she got worse. Finally they had to put her to bed. The astrologer came with the doctor, and some neighbor ladies that wanted to help. Each day someone was by her side, but nothing seemed to help. Then ugly sores began to appear. Cendrillon would wipe her mother's brow with cool water and talk to her and keep her company hour after hour, but that didn't seem to help either. Both Cendrillon and the woodcutter felt helpless. Nothing that they did seemd to help. Nothing. When the pain wasn't too bad and Cendrillon's mother could sleep, Cendrillon would go out to a small bench in the garden and say her prayers that her mother would be alright. But the fever seemed even stronger than everyone's prayers put together. Each day the fever inside her mother grew and grew worse and worse. Then on a rainy, foggy, wet, cold morning when even the fire in the fireplace wouldn't stay lit, Cendrillon's mother died.

And with her death came the death of the world of the woodcutter, because he loved her more than any other woman he had ever known.

When Cendrillon heard the news she cried. Her heart was heavier than the dark black stones that sank to the bottom of the clear creek.

Grief does strange things to people, and it affected the woodcutter very badly. After his wife's death he just stopped seeing people. The only person he ever saw was Cendrillon. And when he saw her he treated her in a different way than before. He didn't talk and laugh with her like he used to. He just kept everything to himself because it was so hard to talk about his wife's death. And somehow he thought that he could have done something to save her that he didn't. Though even the astrologer, and the doctor with all their knowledge couldn't do anything.

His wife's friend Mabel would often come over, clean up the cottage, and give the woodcutter advice whether he wanted it or not.

"Now listen to me, It's none of my business but I can't help but to speak up some. I see you day after day just moping around. That's not going to do any good for anybody. Now you go ahead and do that to yourself but you owe your daughter something better. She's a growing girl who needs a mother. I'd do it but you know I've got my hands full with my own children. Now, after church next Sunday you go meet some of the eligible ladies. Matter of fact I just happened to know one woman that would be just right for you..." The woodcutter had stopped listening to the neighbor after she had mentioned Cendrillon. That got him to thinking about her and how he had neglected her. So the next time he was in church he looked at all the ladies that were there.

Of those that weren't married, there weren't many that were attractive to the woodcutter. Most were too young and silly or too old and set. One woman he met was called Rachael. She was a farily attractive woman, sort of. She had hard features in her face, a hard jawline, high cheekbones, a small sharp nose, cold purple eyes, and black black hair. Rachael was a very difficult woman to understand. She would act very charming and kind. She'd say gallant things like 'Oh you're so handsome today' or 'My, don't we look nice'.And then a little later she would act very mean and yell and scream. Like when the butcher dropped some packages he was bringing over to her. She'd yell at him and chase him with her broom. Or when her two daughters, who I'll tell you about later, got into trouble she'd run after them screaming and yelling and pulling out her hair when she wasn't throwing her rolling pin or some of her tin plates, and all the time shouting out "I'm going to cut off your fingers and your noses if you don't stop that." What a dreadful thing to say!

Now you might think to yourself that this woman sounds awful. Why would the woodcutter be interested in her? Well let me tell you why. It's because he never saw that wicked side of her. It was like two people living under one skin.

When she was with the woodcutter she was oh so nice, sugar and spice. But there was a reason for this. She wanted to marry him. And she thought that was the way people were supposed to act. That was the way her mother acted around her father. But when her father was gone and her mother was alone and the butcher dropped some of her mother's packages, do you know what her mother did? She ran after him with a broom screaming and yelling. And do you know what happened when Rachael did something she wasn't supposed to do? Her mother ran after her screaming, and pulling her hair out and throwing her rolling pin, and yelling, and shouting out 'I'm going to cut off your fingers and your nose if you don't stop that.' It almost seemed like she was learning the lines for a play. She would watch how her parents acted and then act the same way when she had children of her own.

Cendrillon learned things from her parents the same way. But the things Rachael learned from her parents were mean things. She also learned to hide things inside. Sometimes her mother wouldn't yell she'd just stare and say Rachael, with her teeth grinding together like an angry dog. And Rachael wouldn't cry. She'd just keep all her feelings inside until she'd hold too much inside and just like a steam kettle she'd boil over. But not like the other kids. Instead of getting angry back she would get stomach aches, or sometimes she'd get dizzy spells, or sometimes she'd just wait and get mad at somebody she knew she could beat up. And when she grew up and became an adult she didn't change. She stayed the same. She was acting this same way with the woodcutter. She was hiding what she really felt and wanted to say.

Now if you were listening real close you heard me mention that Rachael had two daughters. Well let me tell you about that.

She got married when she was 16. Her parents didn't want her too, but she figured she'd show them a thing or two. And in that marriage she had two daughters. Now remember me saying about how she was like two people inside? Well her first husband met the second one soon after he married her. She was mean and ornery and she kicked him when he didn't do what she wanted him to do. And after she'd kick him, he'd yell 'waughhhhhhh Rachael stop that.' But she didn't. Finally he decided he didn't like his legs blue. And he didn't like her anymore. So while Rachael was pregnant with her second daughter he left town. Some say he went on a ship to China. But wherever he went he never came back. Rachael told everybody that he had died, so she could get another husband. That was a lie, but nobody knew that except Rachael.

Now back to the daughters. They were named Phyllis and Marsha, and they were terrors. They'd scratch each other, and pull each other's hair, and snitch each others' clothes, and not share, and whine, and slam doors, and cry and above all they had as bad tempers as their mother did. Rachael figured that if she had another husband maybe he could keep them in line and beat them harder. And maybe he could be rich too. Because if there was anything that Rachael and her two daughters agreed on, it was that they both liked fancy things. The frillier, and nicer, and more expensive, the better.

Now the woodcutter had a good heart but sometimes there was smoke in his head. And in his grief and preoccupation he didn't see what Rachael and her two daughters were really like. He began to think that she would be a good mother for Cendrillon. Not ony that but Cendrillon would have two live in playmates with Phyllis and Marsha. But Cendrillon knew better. She got her wits from her mother. The first time she met Rachael, Phyllis, and Marsha, she knew right away that she wanted that to be the last time too. But she didn't say anything to her father right away. She didn't want him to feel worse than he already felt, and besides she figured he would find out on his own soon enough.

But he didn't. Instead he asked Rachael to marry him, after a lot of subtle hints from her. She accepted and they got married. But this marriage was different. It was more like an agreement than a marriage. And what ever sparkle was in the woodcutter's eye when he married his first wife was extinguished by now. A candle wick with only smoke. After the marriage the woodcutter began to spend most of his time with his work. He left the house management to his new wife. That's when the trouble began.

Cendrillon tried to get along with her stepmother and stepsisters but it was no use. Whatever she did they said it was wrong. And since Cendrillon's father was gone all the time, there was no one she could turn to. Sometimes she just couldn't stand it and she'd run crying to her father. She would tell him what happened and then he'd come home and tell his wife not to treat his daughter that way. Then Rachael would apologize to the woodcutter and say that it never would happen again. Then as soon as he would leave it would happen again, and this time worse than before.

The woodcutter felt awful. The only reason he got married was so that his daughter would be happy, and here she was more sad than before. What could he do? The first thing he did was to have Cendrillon with him all day. That way he could protect her. Then he began to think. How could he get out of this mess. He finally decided to go to the city to see if he could get his marriage dissolved.

He told Cendrillon that she would have to put up with her stepmother while he was away, but that he wouldn't be gone for more than a few days. She gave him a kiss and waved goodbye, but he never came back. Some robbers ganged up on him on the main road, beat him, and stole everything that he had. Some other travelers chased the robbers away and tried to save his life but the robbers had been too violent. Two hours later he died. It all happened so fast that nobody could even believe it.

At the funeral Rachael told Cendrillon, "I don't want you to cry and embarrass me. I want you to stand up like a soldier and not cry."

But when her parent's friend, the astrologer, came over to tell her how sad he felt and how much he loved both her parents, and how good they were; she didn't feel like a soldier, she felt like a human being. She felt like a young girl, and so she acted like one, and she cried and cried. The astrologer held her in his arms until there was a big wet spot of tears on his shoulder and she couldn't cry anymore.

Now she was all alone because her stepmother and stepsisters didn't care about her at all. But that's not the worst of it. When it rains it pours and when Cendrillon got home that day, Rachael didn't say she was sorry that the woodcutter had died, she didn't even leave Cendrillon alone. She did what she did best. She started yelling:

"Cendrillon you go straight to bed without your supper because you've got a lot of work to do in the morning. There's going to be a lot of changes around here now that I'm the boss."

Pretty soon the only thing her stepmother or stepsisters remembered about her father was that he favored Cendrillon better than any of the rest of them and they were jealous, mean and jealous.

When Cendrillon woke up she found out that she had to do all the work. They didn't like her so they ganged up against her, three against one. And they complained about everything.

She didn't sleep very well, when she had time to sleep, and that was the best part of her day. She had all kinds of chores to do. She had to be the first one up. She had to get the fire going so that everybody else would be warm when they got up. Then she'd have to collect the eggs, milk the cow, and cook the breakfast porridge. Then set out the clothes that everybody would wear that day. After breakfast she'd have to clean all the dishes, and make the beds. Then she had to feed all the farm animals, go to the market and get the food for the days meal. Bake some bread, wash and mend all the clothes when they needed it. Fix the other meals. Dust the house and wash the floors, and do any errands that her stepsisters or stepmother wanted her to do. And when the fire finally went out she'd have to clean out the cinders. Then she'd go to bed, wake up and do it all over again.

When her stepsisters would talk to her they'd make fun of her and call her Cinder-lump because her clothes and face always were sooty and full of cinders. There's an old saying that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And so it was with Cendrillon. When her clothes got torn she didn't have time to mend them. They just seemed to get worse. And she began to get cuts and bruises on her hands and knees from the hard work. And the cuts and bruises turned to callouses and scabs after a while. When people would visit they'd wonder where Cendrillon was. All they could see was her stepmother, stepsisters, and a cinder girl that didn't look at all like Cendrillon used to look. There seemed to be no ray of hope for Cendrillon.

"Cinderlump this porridge is too cold."

Cinderlump the porridge burnt my tongue."

Cinderlump where are my clothes for today?"

Cinderlump I can't wear this again today. Go wash something and make it quick."

"Cinderlump there's dust on the mantel."

"Cinderlump keep your pets quiet. They're bothering me."

"Cinderlump clean out the fireplace again. There's a speck of dust left."

Cinderlump this. Cinderlump that. Never a moment of peace. Never!

But do you know what happens sometimes when everything is at their very darkest, when things are at their worst? That's just the time when something magical happens. A silver lining sneaks in.

One day while Cendrillon was sweeping the floor, she heard the voices of her two stepsisters just bubbling with news. Cendrillon wanted to hear what it was that they were talking about in the other room. When she listened she heard something about two new gowns, and she figured that meant more work for her. But what were they for? Then she began to sweep closer and closer to the door that separated her from her two stepsisters so she could hear better.

"I'm the most beautiful so the prince will dance every dance with me."

"You're fat and ugly and you have two left feet. The prince will take one look at me in my new gown and..."

"Start to laugh."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

Cendrillon thought they were both ugly. But she didn't care about that. She was too excited about the news about the prince. Then her stepmother yelled out from downstairs: "You girls stop that right away or I'll cut off your fingers and your noses." Then there was a silence for a little while, and then the two sisters sneered at each other and started at it again. Cendrillon listened very closely with her ear against the door. "I've never been to a ball. What's it for?"

"You dummy it's so the prince can dance with all the single girls in the country and find one to marry. It's going to be the biggest party ever held in the kingdom and everybody's going to be there."

With this somebody tapped on Cendrillon's shoulder. She turned around to see her stepmother glaring down at her.

"Back to work," she growled.

Then she went inside and slammed the door. But Cendrillon couldn't help but listen. "Mother did you hear about the ball?"

"Yes. It seems that the king's son, Prince Martel, has come of age. And he thinks the girls around the court are frivolous. So all the eligible girls are invited to come to the ball and dance with the prince."

When Cendrillon heard this she was so excited that her heart felt as happy and light as the birds that flew over her head. She remembered her stepsister's words, 'It's going to be the biggest party held in the kingdom and everybody (and cinder girls are somebody) is going to be there.'

Just then she heard footsteps coming toward the door, and it stopped her dream short. She backed away from the door just in time as her stepmother came out. She turned away from Cendrillon and started to go downstairs. Then she stopped and said, "Cendrillon come here. I don't suppose you heard anything about the ball did you?"

Cendrillon just froze because that's the way her stepmother talked just before she got into trouble.

"Well my dear the prince is giving a ball for all the eligible ladies in the kingdom. That means that there's much to be done to prepare my daughters to look their best."

Cendrillon could agree with that, but she wasn't going to say so.

"So there will be extra work for you in catering to their every need."

"Stepmother," said Cendrillon with a frog in her voice, "Do you think I could go to the ball too?"

"You?" said Rachael. Then she kind of sneered, "Why of course you can. That is if all your chores are done."

"Oh yes, I'll have them all done by the time of the ball."

Little did Cendrillon know that her stepmother had no intention of letting her go to the ball. She just told her that so that she would work twice as hard at her chores.

But Cendrillon didn't know that. She was as happy as she could be. Matter of fact you would have thought that that frog had jumped from her throat and entered her shoes the way she was dancing around with her broom in her hand, and singing a tune, just as if the prince himself was holding her tight in the palace ballroom with the orchestra playing a minuet.

Cendrillon didn't know that right now that gleam in her eye was like a cake cooking and rising in the oven. Her stepmother was going to come along and open that oven door way too soon and make her cake go flat as a pancake.

The ball was two weeks away and there were things to be done. The house had to be cleaned, and three gowns had to be made. Cendrillon asked about her gown.

"We'll have to do the others first."

And first to be done was Phyllis. That dress took 3 days beause Phyllis was fat and they had to work a lot of yards of cloth into that gown. She wanted a pink gown. So that is what she got.

Next came Marsha. She wanted a green dress. She was skinny so she thought she'd make up for it by putting a lot of sparkles on her dress. But when her gown was finished she looked like a cucumber with a face.

Then of course her stepmother had to have something new too. She wanted hers in black. It took Cendrillon four days to find a deep enough shade of black for the stepmother's gown.

Then all three tried on their new gowns. They all agreed that their new clothes made their old shoes look tacky and that just would not do to have a prince see them in old shoes.

Phyllis wanted pink shoes. And to tell you the truth you had to know a lot of high numbers to say what size she needed. She was fat in the feet too.

If Phyllis got to have pink shoes, then Marsha had to have green ones. Her feet were long and boney. And the shoes made her look worse than normal, but she didn't think so. And of course the stepmother wanted some too. She wanted hers pointed so she could kick people when she got mad.

Then the coach and the horse had to be washed and groomed. Because it just would not do to be seen in a dirty carriage, even though it would be at night when nobody could see the coaches anyway, let alone black dirt on a black horse on a black night. But that didn't matter to her stepmother. Not one bit.

Now you must remember all these chores were extra. Cendrillon still had cooking and cleaning to do. She asked her stepmother when she was to do her clothes.

"There is so much to be done Cendrillon, you'll have to do that on your own time."

Cendrillon had one dress that she cleaned up. It was just a simple tan colored thin linen dress. But it was all she had. Even with that how was she going to find time to wash her hair and bathe. And the way her stepsisters were talking, there wasn't going to be any room in the coach for their gowns, let alone Cendrillon.

Cendrillon began to suspect what her stepmother was doing and her hopes began to fall like the light of the sun at dusk.

That night when almost all her chores were done, she wrapped an old wollen shawl around her and went out into the night air and over to the stable to check on the horse. After a while she just sat down on the hay with the moon almost full falling on her shoulders, feeding some straw to the horse from her hand. Then it all hit her. All at once. And she began to cry.

She cried because she had tried so hard. She cried because more than anything in the world she wanted to go to the ball. She cried because she didn't know anything else she could do. She cried because she was tired. And after her eyes were empty, she wiped away the tears on her cheeks with her sleeve, brushed the hair out of her eyes, and went back to her room and slept.

After she got to sleep she began to dream. She dreamed that she was running through the snow, just as happy as she could be. And every once in a while she'd hide behind a tree and look behind her. Following her tracks in the snow was some man. He was laughing and chasing her because he wanted to kiss her. She'd pop out from behind cover with a start and startle him. And then run off to a new tree. The man kept yelling to her. "Come back. Come back. Don't leave me behind. I want to catch you."

But Cendrillon didn't really think she was leaving him. She felt that he could catch her if he wanted to. Besides, there was always her footprints in the snow. Then all of a sudden her dream popped like a bubble and it was over. And it wasn't a young man calling her, it was Marsha telling her to go get the fire started and breakfast on the table.

"Cinderlump!" She wanted to get back to her dream. "Cinderlump, it's the day of the royal ball. Hurry up, there are final preparations that must be done."

That was the busiest day of Cendrillon's life. She worked doubly hard to get her work done plus the work she had to do for her stepsisters and stepmother. But somehow she managed to get everything done and cleaned, even to the last cinder in the fireplace. Not only that but she managed to wash her hair, bathe, and press her dress. She felt that if she could keep her part of the bargain then her stepmother would have to keep hers. Finally they were already to go. Everybody was in the coach but Cendrillon. Her stepmother said, "Hurry up Cendrillon. Be quick if you're coming."

Cendrillon couldn't believe her ears. She ran as quick as she could and climbed into the coach.

"She's not going with us is she mother?" said Phyllis.

"A promise is a promise girls."

"But mother look at the way she's dressed. It'll embarass me to death!" "Now stop that girls. snappy girls like you won't win the heart of the prince." "But mother please." Then there was a pause. "Now girls listen to me. We're not going anywhere until you calm down." Then the stepmother sneered. "Maybe what you need is some tea to calm you down. Cendrillon go start a fire.!"

Cendrillon knew right away what had happened. First she'd have to build a fire. Then heat some water, for the tea. But then there would be ashes from the fire. And then her chores wouldn't be done and she couldn't go to the ball. And that's exactly what happened.

After they were through with their tea, Phyllis, Marsha and Rachael climbed back into the coach. The doorman closed the door and it caught Rachael's dress. The last thing Cendrillon heard was Rachael yelling at the doorman that she was going to cut off his fingers and his nose.

And the two stepsisters were singing. "Ha ha ha ha, Cinderlump doesn't get to go. We get to go, neh neh neh neh neh." Sometimes children can be just as mean as grownups. As the coach rolled off down the street, bits of dust followed them and settled behind them until they came to the turn in the road.

As soon as they were around the bend and couldn't hear her, Cendrillon stuck out her tongue at them. She didn't want to clean that stupid fireplace. They didn't even finish the tea she had to make for them. Then she stuck out her tongue again three times, once for each of them, Phyllis, Marsha, and Stepmother. - To continue - Click Here

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