her finery but one of the little slippers, fellow to that she
dropped. The guards at the palace gate were asked if they had not
seen a Prinecess go out.
They said they had seen nobody go out but a young girl, very
meanly dressed, and who had more of the air of a poor country
girl than a gentlewoman.
When the two sisters returned from the ball Cinderella asked them
if they had been well diverted and if the beautiful Princess had
been there.
They told her yes, but that she hurried away immediately when the
clock struck twelve, and with so much haste that she dropped one
of her little glass slippers, the prettiest in the world, which
the King's son had taken up; that he had done nothing but look at
her all the time at the ball, and that most certainly he was very
much in love with the beautiful person who owned the glass
slipper.
What they said was very true, for a few days after the King's son
caused it to be proclaimed, by sound of trumpet, that he would
marry her whose foot this slipper would just fit. They whom he
employed began to try it upon the Princesses, then the Duchesses
and all the Court, but in vain. It was brought to the two
sisters, who did all they possibly could to thrust their feet
into the slipper, but they could not effect it.
On the following morning there was a great noise of trumpets and
drums, and a procession passed through the town, at the head of
which rode the King's son. Behind him came a herald, bearing a
velvet cushion, upon which rested a little glass slipper. The
herald blew a blast upon the trumpet, and then read a
proclamation saying that the King's son would wed any lady in the
land who could fit the slipper upon her foot, if she could
produce another to match it.
Of course, the sisters tried to squeeze their feet into the
slipper, but it was of no use--they were much too large. Then
Cinderella shyly begged that she might try. How the sisters
laughed with scorn when the Prince knelt to fit the slipper on
the cinder maid's foot; but what was their surprise when it
slipped on with the greatest ease, and the next moment Cinderella
produced the other from her pocket! Once more she stood in the
slippers, and once more the sisters saw before them the lovely
Princess who was to be the Prince's bride. For at the touch of
the magic shoes the little gray frock disappeared forever, and in
place of it she wore the beautiful robe the fairy Godmother had
given to her.
The sisters hung their heads with sorrow and vexation; but kind
little Cinderella put her arms round their necks, kissed them,
and forgave them for all their unkindness, so that they could not
help but love her.
The Prince could not bear to part from his little love again, so
he carried her back to the palace in his grand coach, and they
were married that very day. Cinderella's stepsisters were present
at the feast, but in the place of honor sat the fairy Godmother.
So the poor little cinder maid married the Prince, and in time