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The Sleeping Beauty

~v NCE on a time there were a King and a Queen who Q were very sad because they had no children: sad beyond words. But at long aod at last a daughter was born to them, and the kingdom was filled with joy. The King held a great Christening feast, and to it he invited all the Fairies who were in his kingdom at that time — there were seven of them — hoping that each would give the Princess a magic gift, as was the custom of Fairies in those days. 4 beautiful golden casket that held aknife, fork andspoon, ~ At the great feast each Fairy found in her place a ~AJ, AJ/ also of gold, but set with diamonds. But suddenly, as ~ they were all sitting at the table, the door flew openand fç in hobbled a very old Fairy who had not been invited. j\~j~It was fifty years since anyone had seen her, and she had been so silent in her tower in the forest all this time that everyone believed that she must be dead or en- ~A chanted. The King ordered a place to be set for her: but he 54, could not give her a casket of gold like the other Fairies, for only seven had been made. The old Fairy was furious at this, muttering that the King should suffer for insulting her, and the little Princess should receive no better gift than she had done. ‘ Heating this, the youngest of the Fairies slipped quietly away from the table and hid herself behind the curtains near the cradle so as to make sure that she was the last to give her Christening gift to the Princess. Very soon the feast was over and the Fairies crowded round the cradle to give their presents. The gift of the first was that she should be the most beautiful Princess in the world; and the next that she should have the wit of an angel; the third that she should be perfectly graceful in all that she did; the fourth that she should dance divinely; the fifth that she should sing like a nightingale, and the sixth that she should play all musical instruments perfectly. Then it was the old Fairy’s turn, and hobbling for- ward,her head shaking with malice as much as with age, she screeched: ‘Princess, you shall prick your hand with a spindle, and die!’ When they heard this terrible gift, everyone fell a-trembling, and the Queen sod the ladies burst into tears.

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But at this moment the youngest Fairy stepped out from behind the curtains and leant over the cradle. ‘Take comfort, dear King and Queen,’ she said in her gentle voice. ‘Tour daughter shall not die. True, I can- not quite undo the Christening curse of a Fairy so much older than myself; but I can make it milder. The Prin- cess shall indeed prick her hand with a spindle; but instead of d) ing, she shall fall asleep for a hundred 4’ years. But at the end of that time a Prince whom I shall choose will come to wake her and to win her hand.’ This comforted thr King and Queen. But nes ertheless they were sorely troubled at the thought of the hundred years’ sleep. So the King made a law that no one in his kingdom, on pain of death, was so use or possess a spindle, nor any part of a spinning-wheel; and all that were there at the time were carried into she market places and burnt in honfirrs. Timr went by, and the Princess grew up as beautiful, and as talented as the Fairies had promised. And, even when she was sixteen years old, she had never seen ntr heard of a spinning-wheel, nor knew how thread was spun. One day, however, when the King and the Queen were away from home, the Princess was exploring the oldest part of the castle where she had never been before. At the top of a dusty, twisty stair she found a little room where an old woman sat spinning all by herself, and had never heard of the King’s law against spindles. ‘Little old woman, what are you doing?’ asked the Princess. i ‘I am sptnntng, my dear child,’ answered the old woman, who had no idea who it was speaking to her, and svas shocked at her ignorance. ‘Oh, what fun it looks!’ cried the Princess. ‘However do you make it work? Do please let me try!’ So the Princess took the spindle from the old woman. But no sooner had she done so than, either through overhastsness or by the magic of the wicked Fairy, she pricked her hand and at once fell to the floor as if dead. The old woman, very surprised at this, tried to rouse she Princess. But finding that she could do nothing, she began shouting for help. Soon people came running from all over the castle; and when they saw the Princess lying on the floor like osse dead, they tried every remedy from cold ssater to precious drugs but all in vain. Presently the King arrived home at the castle; and when he learnt what had happened, he remembered the Christening curse and the promise of the Youngest Fairs. So he ordered the Princess to be carried down saso the finest room in the castle and laid on a bed embroidered with gold and silver. There she lay, beautiful as an ar’gel, with rosy cheeks

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A and coral lips, breathing softly, so that all could see that she was not dead, but oniy fallen into the magic ~sleep which was to last a hundred years. Meanwhile, the fairy who had saved her life was twelve thousand leagues away in the kingdom of Mata- kin. But a Dwarf in seven-league boots set off at once to tell her what had happened; and she arrived after an hour’s journey in her fiery chariot drawn by dragons. ‘You have done well,’ said the Fairy, when the King showed her the Princess lying in her best robes on the royal bed. ‘But I shall do better. A hundred years from now, when she wakes all alone in this old castle, the Princess will be afraid. So I shall put all within it to sleep likewise—-except you and the Queen, who have the rest of your kingdom to think about.’ So she went through the castle, touching everything and everyone with her wand the soldiers, the cooks, ~ the servants, the maids of honour, the pages, even the horses in the stable, the dogs in the courtyard and even httle Poppet, the Princess’s spaniel, who lay beside her on the bed. All slept under the fairy charm, nor might any of them wake before their mistress, but must all do so when she did, so as to be ready to wait upon her. And the Fairy cast the magic sleep over the whole castle, even down to the fire in the kitchen, with the pheasants and partridges turning on the spits in front of it, and the very smoke comnig out of the chipiney. So the King and Queen kissed their sleeping daughter goodbye, and went away from the Castle, to live at their palace in a great city at the other end of the kingdom. They would have set a guard about the castle, but hardly had they left itbefore the Fairy waved her wand once more, and the trees in the park round it grew thick and tall; brushes and briars and thoms grew between them until only the very tops of the castle towers could be seen—and that only from a long way off. The Sleeping Wood. as it came to be called, was so thick, and the brambles and hawthorns so sharp, that no one could push through them, or come near the castle. In this way the castle remained unvisited for a hun- dredyears, until one day there came aPrince from a near- by country, wandering by himself in quest of adven- tures. He saw the towers peeping out above the tall trees, and stopped to ask what the mysterious castle was which was so well guarded by the dark, fearsome wood all about it. ‘Ah,’ said one man, ‘that is an ancient, ruined castle, haunted by ghosts.’ ‘Not so,’ said another. ‘Witches live there. Or there at least they fly on broomsticks to hold their dreadful sabbaths.’ ‘No, no,’ exclaimed a third. ‘That castle is the home 1\~:1 r r~ -~

of anOgre; and to it he takes any children whom he can catch, so that he can eat them at his leisure. For only he knows the secret spell to open a way through the Sleeping Wood.’ The Prince shuddered when he heard this; for his own mother was the daughter of an Ogre, though the King did not know this when he married her. But at this moment a very aged countryman came up to him andsaid: ‘Noble Prince, it is now fifty years since my father told me the story of the Sleeping Wood, as hr heard it from his father. My grandfather, who would be more than a hundred years old ifhe were alive now, said that in that castle lies the most beautiful Princess in all the world, held in an enchanted sleep. And at the end of a hundred years she is to be woken by the Prince for whom the Fairies intend her.’ The Prince was filled with eagerness at these words. Already he seemed to love the Sleeping Beauty who lay enchanted in the castle; already he felt sure that he was the Prince for whom the Fairies were guarding her. So he advanced alone into the wood; and to his joy the trees and brambles opened a path in front of him as he went, but closed again behind him so that no one else could follow. He came at last into the courtyard of the castle, and ~ paused to look on a scene which might have filled the bravest with horror. A terrible and unnatural silence rested over everything: no bird sang, no leaf stirred in the wind —but everywhere lay the bodies of men and animals who seemed to be dead. But a glance showed him that all were held by the enchanted sleep; for their faces were still plump and rosy, there was still wine in the cups which some of the guards were holding; and when he went into the kitchen, the game on the spit was still fresh and tender. Up the suits went the Prince, past guards who stood sleeping at their post, past rooms where ladies sod gentlemen of the court slept sitting or standing as if caught suddenly and unexpectedly by the spell ofsleep. And at last he came to a chamber all decorated with gold, where he saw sleeping upon a bed the loveliest sight he had ever seen: a Princess who seemed to be about sixteen years old, so beautiful that she seemed divine. The Prince drew near, trembling at the sight of so much beauty, and knelt down beside her. And as he did so, the enchantment came to an end, the Princess woke from her long sleep, and looking up at him with sweet, eager eyes, exclaimed: ‘Is it you, my Prince? You have been a very long time in coming.’ The Prince was filled with delight at these words, and scarcely knew how to show his joy and grautude.

116 But he managed to tell her that he loved her better than his own life; and after that she did most of the talking having had so long sn which to dream of what she would say at her awakening. In the meantime, all the castle had woken with the Princess, and everyone went on with what they had been doing a century agojustas ifnothing hadhappened. But as they were not in love, they had time to realise that they were ravenously hungry; and at length the chief lady in waiting summoned up her courage to knock at the Princess’s door and tell her that dinner was served. So the Prince helped the Princess to rise; and she was ready dressed for dinner in her most magnificent clothes. But the Prince took care not to tell her that she dress was a hundred years out of date, and had not been fashionable since his grandmother was a girl. They went to dinner in the great hail of the castle where the musicians played long-forgotten tunes as well as if they had not been a hundred years without practis- ing. And after dinner the Prince and Princess were married in the Chapelof the castle by the very Chaplain who had christened her; and she was given away by the chief Lady in Waiting, who had once been her nurse. Nor did the Princess have any sleep that night— for indeedshe was in no need ofsleep. In the morning the Prince told her that he must -~ 1 return to his father’s court, while she remained in the castle, for their marriage must be kept a secret for reasons of state. He rode away, and the forest closed behind him to keep his Princess safe. When the King asked him where he had been, he replied that he had lost his way in the forest, and found shelter with a charcoal-burner who had fed him on cheese and brown bread. The King, who was old and who suspected evil in no one, believed every word he said; but the Queen soon began to have her doubts, when the Prince went out hunting nearly every day, and had always some excuse for not returning untli next morning. ‘I’m sure you must be married in secret,’ the Queen kept saying. But the Prince did nor dare to tell her, particularly after his two children, the Princess Aurora ) and the Prince Jourdain were born. He kept them and his wife hidden in the castle in the Sleeping Wood, for he was afraid lest children about the palace might tempt the Queen to remember that she had been born an Ogress. For it was still whispered about the Court that whenever she saw children passing by, the Queen felt an Ogrish desire for the terrible diet on which she had been brought up. At last, however, the King died. And then the Prince became Kin~$iapseifbe had no choice but to lead his Queen outs~f~ $ltepingWood and bring her to his 1 117

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capital, where she made a splendid entry riding between her two lovely children, by now aged four and three. Hardly was he crowned, when war broke out whh a neighbouring country, and he was forced to march out against the King of Cantalabutte, leaving the Queen Mother to rule the kingdom. She promised faithfully to take special care of her daughter-in-law, the new Queen, and her two pretty little grandchildren. But not many months had passed before she was seited with a horrible craving for the food of Ogres. So first of all she sent her daughter-in-law to spend the summer in a country house among the woods, together with the two children, so that there would be no one by to prevent what she intended. Then, after a few days, she went to visit them, and as soon as she arrived went straight to the kitchen and said to the Head Cook: ‘I have a mind to eat little Princess Aurora for my dinner tomorrow.’ ‘Alas, madaml’ cried the Head Cook. ‘It must be as I say,’ replied the Queen Mother (and now she spoke in the voice of an Ogress with a great longing for her favourite meat). ‘And I wish to eat her cooked a-la-Sauce-Robert!’ The unhappy man, knowing well that he could not risk playing tricks with an Ogress, took his biggest knife and went up to little Princess Aurora’s room. When she saw him she came dancing towards him laughing with glee, and she flung her arms round his neck and begged him for some sugar-candy. On this he burst into tears, dropped his knife, and carried little Princess Aurora away to his wife, who had rr in their lodgings at the further end of the yard. — hen he went to the sheep-pens and killed a lamb which he cooked so well and dressed wnh such excellent Sauce Robert that the Queen Mother swore she had never eaten such a good meal in her life. But about eight days later she came to the kitchen again and said to the Head Cook: ‘Today I will eat little Prince Jourdam for my dinner. Be sure that you serve him a-la-Sauce-Roberel’ The Cook answered never a word. But though he rook up his big knife, he went to find the baby Prince only to carry him away to the cottage at the other side ofthe farmyard where he nught join his sister in hiding. Then he cooked ayoung kid, very soft and tender, and served it to the Queen Mother with her favourite Sauce Robert without which no Ogre’s banquet is complete. All was well so far. But in time the Ogress Queen grew hungry again; so she came into the kitchen and said to the Head Cook: ‘Today I will eat the Queen in the same Sauce-Robert in which her children tasted so good!’ Now the Head Cook was in despair. For what animal could he find that would taste like a beautiful young Queen of twenty-one — (not to mention the hundred years during which she had been asleep)? So he went to the young Queen’s room with his biggest knife in his hand, and told her what the Queen Mother had com- I-i manded him to do. I ‘Do it do it at once,’ sobbed the wretched young Queen. ‘Kill me and cook me, so that I may go to join my poor children whom I loved so tenderly. Oh why did not the Fairy let me die when the spindle pricked my hand?’ ‘No, your majesty,’ cried the poor Head Cook, all in stars himself, ‘you shall not die, and you mustnot blame she Fairy. But you shall see your children again. Come with me to my cottage beyond the farmyard, for I have hidden them there alive and well. And I will try to deceive she Ogress by cooking a young hind out ofthe deer park and serving it in a fricassee a-la-Sauce- Robert.’ So he sook her to his cottage, and left her there quite r rrssosrd to happiness at the sight of her children, while he went so cook the hind in the usual Sauce Robert. And she Queen Mother ate it with as much enjoyment as if it had really been the young Queen herself. ,•1 But one day as she wandered about the farm, hoping to find more children to eat a-Ia-Sauce-Robert, the Queen Mother heard little Aurora crying in the Head Cook’s tottage; and listening at a chink in the shutter she heard the Queen’s voice comforting her, and Prince Jourdain joining in the conversation. Then her rage knew no bounds, and she even forgot her hunger. But in the terrible voice ofan Ogress bent on murder, she commanded her servants to place a large tub in the middle of the courtyard by the house. Then she filled it with toads and vipers and snakes of all sorts, and bade the servants bind the Queen, the little Prince and Princess, and the Head Cook and his wife, and throw them all into the tub with their hands tled behind them. Terrified ofthe Ogress, the servants did as they were told, and were just about to begin throwing her unfor- tunate victims into the tub, when the King rode suddenly and unexpectedly into the courtyard and cried in a terrible voice: ‘What is the meaning of this?’ And at his voice, the Ogress his mother stepped back- wards and fell head-first into the tub, and was immedi- ately easen (without any Sauce Robert) by the ugly meatures with which she had filled it. The King could not but be sorry at she death of his mother; bus he was soon comforted by his beautiful wife and his two pretty children. And they all lived happily ever afterwards.

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--4 can I do, when I have killed my Cat and sold his skin to make gloves, except dir of starvation?’ Ar this, Master Puss, who was listening, exclaimed: PiS in BOOTS ‘Dear Master, you can do better than sell my skin. Indeed, if you’ll ask no questions, but do whatever I suggest, I believe that I can make your fortune for you.’ The young man was charmed so hear his Cat speak so sensibly and hopefully, and he readily agreed to do whatever he was told. ‘Rightl’ exclaimed Puss, taking command. ‘If you can get me a stout pair of boots and a sack, all will be well.’ The Miller’s son procured these without difficulty. 4’) Puss pulled on the boots, which fitted admirably, slung the sack over his shoulder, and set out for a big warren nearby, where the rabbits were very plentiful. Outside the largest burrow hr lay down with his head on one

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side as if he had brokenhis neck: hut first hr placed she sack open beside him. Presently a fine rabbit came along, saw the dead cat, and popped into the sack to eat the bran and lettuce leaves which Puss had placed there. Up jumped Puss, pulled the strings at the mouth of the sack, and the rabbit svas fairly caught. That evening Puss presented himself at the door of HERE was once a Miller who had three sons; and the Palace carrying a fine brace ofrabbits, and demanded rf when he came to dir he had nothing to leave them to see the King. Charmed wish the impudence of this but his Mill, his Ass and his Car. So he left the Mill to strange Car in Boots, the chamberlain led she way, and his eldest son, the Ass to his second son, and the Puss laid the rabbits at the Royal fret, saying: youngest had to be contented with the Cat. ‘Your Maiesty, here is a present from M - Lord the ‘Whatever shall I do!’ cried the youngest son. ‘It’s Marquis of Carabas!’ 5 all s ery well for my brothers: they can set up business The King was delighted, and gave orders that Puss together with the Mill and the Ass. But as for me, what was to hr admitted whenever hr called.

120 And Puss was not slow to avail himseif of this in- presented his master to she King as ‘My Lord the Mar- vitation. He poached game daily inthe King’s woods and quis of Carabas’, His Majesty wai so delighted with fields, and would appear at the Palace evening by his handsome and noble appeasance that he invited him evening so present a fine fat pheasant or a brace isf into the carriage to join him and the Princess. partridges as a present from ‘My Lord the Marquis of Meanwhile Puss ran on ahead. Very soon he came to Carabas’. Nor did he often go away without some pres. a fine hayfield where many farm-hands were raking up ens, which he always took home to she Miller’s son. she hay and piling it into cocks. One evening he came to him in great excitement: ‘Good people!’ cried Puss, his whiskers curling, ‘the ‘Oh, Master, Master!’ he mewed. ‘Do just as I tell you tomorrow, and your fortune is indeed made. Go down and bathe in the river—-and leave all the rest so me! The King and his only child the Princess will drive that way as noon. You must be in the water when they arrive. Then leave it to me—and don’t be surprised at whatever happens!’ Next day, accordingly, the Miller’s son went down to the river, took off his torn and shabby old clothes, and slipped into the water.

Puss at once took the clothes away and hid - them. Then he waited behind she hedge until the Ring’s carriage appeared, when he ran our on so the road, mewing loudly and crying: ‘Help! Helpl My Lord the Marquis of Carabas is Ia drowning!’ Seeing the Cat in Boots who had so often brought him presents, the King gave orders for his servants to hasten to the river side. King is coming this way. He ixsure to stop and ask who ‘Alas! Alas!’ cried Puss, as he led the way. ‘Wicked this fine field of hay belongs to. And if you do not say robbers caught My Lord the Marquis of Carabas and that is belongs to My Lord the Marquis of Carabas, stole everything he had, even his clothes. Then they I will have you all chopped as small as mincemeat!’ threw him into the river so drown.’ On went Puss, and when the Royal Party arrived, and The servants very soon pulled the young man out of the King stopped to admire the hay and ask so whom it the water, while apageboy was sent running back so the belonged, all the labourers in the field answered: Palace for a suit of the Royal Clothes. And when Puss ‘It belongs so My Lord the Marquis of Carabas!’

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‘Very fine hay you have, Marquis!’ remarked the King, looking with some respect at his handsome young King, and his guest smiled and bowed with becoming guest, who smiled and bowed with such becoming humility. humility. Meanwhile Puss had come to a fine comfield where Meanwhile Puss was on ahead, and had come to the many more farmhands were cutting the ripe corn with Castle where lived the wicked Ogre who really owned their sickles, binding it into sheaves, and setting the all the farmiands round about. This Ogre was as cruel sheaves up in stooks. and greedy as he was wicked, and his servants lived in ‘Good people!’ cried Puss, his tail straight up behind terror ofhmi: for on the smallest excuse he would have him, ‘the King is coming this way. He is sure to stop them killed and served up for his dinner. And no one could fight against him, for he had the power of turning himself into any animal he chose all in a moment and even the bravest men felt they would have no chance against a roaring lion or a savage tiger or a raging wild elephant. Up to the Castle came Puss, strode over the draw- bridge, showed his teeth at the guards, and went straight into the hall where the Ogre sat. I,.

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‘Hallo!’ growled the Ogre. ‘Who are you, and how dare you tome into my Castle?’ ‘Oh my lord! Oh your eminence!’ mewed Puss bowing to the very ground. ‘I am a poor traveller out to see the wonders of the world. And though I come from far away, I have heardabout you since I was a kitten. They tell me that you can change on an instant into whatever animal you please. Is this true? I can hardly believe it!’ and ask who this fine field oftom belongs to. And ifyou ‘Believe it?’ roared the Ogre, ‘I’ll show you!’ do not say that it belongs to My Lord the Marquis of A moment later there was only a great roaring lion Carabas, I will have you all chopped as small as mince- in the room, while Puss was spitting and hissing with meat!’ terror on the Castle roof. On went Puss, and when the Royal Party arrived, and Presently he came cautiously down (the more so the King stopped to admire the tom, and ask whose it because roof-climbing in boots was not easy)to find the was, ail the farm labourers answered: Ogre in his own shape once more. ‘It belongs to My Lord the Marquis of Carabas!’ ‘Noble and mighty sir!’ mewed Puss. ‘Forgive me for ‘Very fine corn you have, Marquis!’ exclaimed the doubting your powers. You are far more wonderful

122 than I ever imagined.. - Yet forgL-o cnc doubt which ‘Marquis, I ktiow ofno one whom 1would rather have still lingers. Anyoste so great and fine and powerful as as a son-in-law than yourself. If my daughter is willing, your Royal self might be expected so change into so let the wedding take place immediately.’ noble an animal as a lion. But I can’t really believe that The Princess was indeed willing; and so the Miller’s you could turn into some small, mean, worthless crea- youngest son was made a Prince. And in course of time ture such as a mouse. That, I feeL certain, is quite they became King andQueen, and ruledwell and wisely. impossible.’ - As for Puss in Boots, the Master Car, he became a ‘Impossible!’ yelled the Ogre. ‘You miserable animal, person ofgreat importance about the Court, and never I’ll show you!’ A moment later there was no Ogre to be again did he have to catch mice and rats. Never, that seen, but only a little brown mouse scuttling across the is, except for his owes diversion! floor. Only for a moment, however. Puss was not a Cat for nothing. He arched his back, pounced—and gobbled it up in a trice. And that was she end of the wicked Ogre. Then Puss called together all the Ogre’s servants and said: ‘I have killed your cruel and wicked master. But a

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new master is coming who will treat you kindly and generously, All you have to do is to say that this Castle belongs so him—to My Lord the Marquis of Carabas— and all will be well for you. . - Bus if you do not say this, I wlll have you all chopped as small as mincemeat!’ So it came about that when, in the soft glow of the evening, the King drove over the drawbridge and was welcomed by lines of servants In magnificent liveries, Puss, with great ceremony opened the carriage door for him, and said: ‘Welcome, your Majesty! Welcome to the Castle of My Lord the Marquis of Carabas P ‘This too, Marquis!’ cried the King. ‘Truly you are I ) worthy to be amember of the Royal Family!’ And after the most magnificent dinner he had ever eaten,the King was so sure of it that, seeing she young man and the Princess already holding hands, he said:

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——4 ready to do what she was told with a willing smile. But often she was so tired and cold that she would sit down among the cinders and ashes in the chimney corner which was the only place in the house that she could fete//a call her own. The elder sister and the stepmother called her the Cinder-slut; but the younger step-sister, who was not quite so rude, called her Cinderella and this verysoon became her name. And although she had only a ragged HERE was once agentleman who married for his old dress to wear while her step-sisters flaunted in silks T secondwife awomanwhowas the proudest andmost and satins, she was a hundred times handsomer than conceited ever seen. She had two daughters of her own either of them. who took after her in all things, but he had already At last it happened that the King gave a Ball, hoping a daughter who was just as different from her step- that the Prince his son would meet at it a Princess with sisters as she could possibly be. For she had a sweet whom he might fall in love. All the daughters of neigh- temper, was as modest as she was beautiful, and was bouring kings were invited, and also the daughters of kind and loving to everyone. the Lords and Barons, the Knights and the Gentry of The two disagreeable girls and their mother very the Prince’s own country and amongthem Cinderella soon showed themselves in their true colours. They and her two step-sisters. could not bear the good qualities of the poor, pretty ‘But of courseour Cinder-slut can’t go to a ball at the girl, but made her sleep in the garret on a heap of straw Palace!’ cried the two with one voice, and that was the and work all day washing the dishes, making the fires last that Cinderella heard of her invitation. But not by and waiting on them, while they lived in fine rooms and any means the last she heard of her step-sisters’ invit- slept on comfortable beds. ations. They talked of nothing else for days, discussing The poor girl bore all this meekly, and was always what dresses they were to wear, and giving Cinderella endless work sewing and ironing for them. When the great day came, Cinderella had even less peace, for she must help her step-sisters to dress, and do their hair for them as well as all her usual jobs about the house. ‘Don’t you wish you were coming with us?’ asked the younger sister. ‘Alas, you are only making fun of me,’ answered 1

Cinderella, her eyes filling with rears. ‘All the fine turned each into a fine horse of a mouse-coloured ladies and gentlemen would laugh at me — for I have dapple-grey. snly these rags.’ ‘What about a coachman?’ asked her Godmother. ‘Yes, wouldn’t they just laugh to see a Cinder-slut at ‘Wouldn’t a rat make a fine coachman?’ asked Cin- a ball!’ jeered the elder sister. And Cinderella sighed, derella, her eyes sparkling with excitement. ‘There’s but went on dressing her hair just as well as she knew sure to beone in the rat-trap in the cellar.’ how, and doing everything she possibly could to help Very soon the rat with the biggest whiskers had been the selfish pair. rumed into a fat, portly coachman, and six green At last they set off for the Palace, and when Cinder- lizards out of the garden into dapper footmen with ella could no longer see them she went back into the green liveriesembroidered in gold. kitchen, sat down in the hearth and sobhed bitterly. ‘There!’ tried the Fairy Godmother. ‘Now you have ‘What is it, my dear?’ asked a kind voice, and looking all that you need to take you to the Ball. Are you not up Cinderella saw her Godmother standing before her. pleased?’ ‘It’s-—it’s onlyrhat I do sowish—but I knowlcan’t,’ ‘Oh yes, indeed!’ tried Cinderella, full of excitement. sighed Cinderella. ‘But my clothes ... Must I go to the Ball in these rags?’ ‘You wish you could go to the Ball at the Palace? Is Her Godmother said nothing, but she touched the that it?’ old dress with her wand, and in a moment Cinderella ‘Yes, dear Godmother,’ sighed Cinderella. was clad in cloth of gold, her hair shimmering with ‘Well, you’re a good girl, and I’ll see what I can do,’ diamonds, and on her little bare feet a pair of glass said her Godmother. ‘You didn’t know I was a Fairy, slippers, the prettiest in the whole world. did you? Ah, how wise your poor dear mother was when ‘Now off you go,’ tried the Fairy, ‘and enjoy yourself she asked me to look after you—and how well you have as you deserve. But remember one thing: you must not deserved what I am now most delighted to do for you. stay after midnight, for it you stay a moment longer your Now Cinderella, run into the garden and fetch me coach will be nothing but a pumpkin, your horses little a pumpkin.’ mice, your coachman a tar, your footmen green lizards, Off went Cinderella, those the biggest pumpkin she could find, and brought it to the door where her God- mother stood waiting. The Fairy had but to touch it with her wand for it to turn into a fine coach, glittering with gold. ‘Now the mouse-traps,’ said her Godmother, and Cinderella soon came bark with six live mite whom she let out one by one — when a rap from the magic wand and your clothes only the ragged old dress you know so they said. ‘There came the most beautiful Princess in well.’ the world, and nobody knowswho she is, and the Prince Cinderella promised her Godmother so obey her,and was quite heartbroken when she left suddenly without off she set for the Palace. When she arrived the Prince saying goodbye. And she showed us special favours, himself came down to receive her, and led her up into sharing her oranges and citrons with us.’ the Ballroom where everyone ceased dancing to stare ‘She must be very beautiful,’ said Cinderella. ‘How in amazement at this Unknown Princess who was so I wish I could come to the Ball tonight. Dear Mistress much lovelier and more beautifully dressed than anyone Charlotte, could you not lend me your second best else there. dress?’ The Prince made himself her chief partner; she ‘Lend my clothes to a dirty Cinder-slut like you!’ danced divinely, and he was already head over heels in cried the elder step-sister, ‘I wouldn’t be such a fool!’ love with her by she end of she evening. When she was That night the two step-sisters again set out for the not dancing, Cinderella went and sat with her step- Palace, and as soon as they were gone, Cinderella’s God- sisters, who did not recognise her for a moment. She mother pus our her Fairy powers once more and sent was particularly kind so them, sharing with them the Cinderella to the Ball in an even more gorgeous dress, candied oranges and citrons which the Prince had but still with the pretty little glass slippers. given her. When she arrived the Prince was waiting for her, and When she heard the clocks chiming a quarter so spent all the evening with her, saying pretty things to twelve, Cinderella slipped quietly out of the Ballroom, her between the dances. And Cinderella was so much in and awayhome to the dusty corner ofthe kitchen where love with him too that she forgot to look at the clock, her sisters found her in her usual rags when they came until suddenly midnight began to strike. home as day was breaking. Then she remembered her Godmother’s warning and ‘How long you have stayed!’ she exclaimed, yawning fled away as nimbly as a deer. The Prince ran after her, and rubbing her eyes. but could not catch her. All he found was one of her ‘If you’d been there, you’d have kept awake all right,’ little glass slippers which came offas she ran down the stairs into the courtyard. ‘Has a beautiful Princess passed this way?’ cried the Prince when he reached the Palace doors. ‘No one has come by,’ answered the guards, ‘except a poor wench dressed in rags and with bare feet, who must have been helping the sculiions.’ Cold and frightened, Cinderella ran through the night and got home to her corner in the kitchen long

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•1 0 . . • 2 —‘ ,-~ / ~L before her step-sisters. But nothing remained to her of made of wax. The two step-sisters stated in amazement: all her finery except one little glass slipper which she but their wonder was greater fat a moment later when had caught up and clasped to her breast. Cinderella took the second Glass Slipper out of her ‘Did you have a good Ball?’ she asked her step- pocket and put it on her other foot. sisters when they tame in as the cocks were crowing. Then, as she rose and rurrseyed before the Royal Herald, her Godmother tame in and with a touch of her wand gave Cinderella even more wonderful clothes than r ‘Andtonight?’‘Shewaswastheindeed,beautifulandUnknowneven motePrincesslovely therethan ever,’again before, and richer jewels to set off her beautiful hair. they answered. ‘But she left suddenly as the clock struck Now the two sisters knew her for the Unknown twelve, and the Prince spent all the rest of the night Princess who had been so kind to them at the Bali, and looking for her. He’s very much in love with her, for he they flung themselves at her feet, begging her to forgive held in his hands one of her little glass slippers, and them for all their unkindness and cruelty. nothing would part him from it.’ Cinderella raised them and kissed them tenderly: The Prince was indeed very much in love, and not ‘I forgive you with all my heart,’ she said. ‘All I many days later his heralds came marching through the desire is that you should love me always.’ land,blowing their trumpets and proclaiming that the Then the Herald led her away to the Palate where the Prince would marry whoever the glass slipper fitted Prince found her so much sweeter and more beautiful perfectly. They tried the Princesses and the Duchesses, than he remembered that nothingwould satisfy him but the Marchionessos and the Viscountesses, and the to marry her immediately. And Cinderella, who was as daughters ofKnights and Squires. And at last they tame good as she was beautiful, insisted that her step-sisters to the house of Cinderella’s father. should tome to live in the Palace as well, and very soon Full of eagerness, the step-sisters tried to forte their found them husbands among the great lords of the fret into the Glass Slipper, but all in vain. Court. ‘Lee me try, too!’ begged Cinderella in her gentle voice. The step-sisters burst out laughing, and made cruel jokes about the Cinder-slut who wanted to marry the Prince. But the Royal Herald said: ‘It is but just that this pretty maiden should try. My lord the Prince said that every girl should make trial of the Glass Slipper. So Cinderella sat down, and the Herald slipped it on to her foot, where it fitted as perfectly as if it had been

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