Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful lady by the name of Cinderella. As her parents had died, she lived with her step-mother. The step-mother had two daughters of her own and hence she was biassed towards them. She always ill-treated Cinderella and all 3 of them used her as a servant in their home. However, Cinderella was innocent and she did not know that she was being abused.
One day, the royal messenger of the king came into town saying that the prince was looking for a bride to marry and so he was arranging a dance party in order to select his bride. The entire town was in a festive mood and that evening, all the young ladies went to the dance party dressed in their best attire. Cinderella’s step-mother and her 2 daughters too dressed up and left for the party. Cinderella too wanted to come along, but the evil step-mother said that the prince would not be interested in marrying a servant and went away.
Cinderella sat crying and did not know what to do and at this time a beautiful lady appeared in front of her. She introduced herself as the fairy godmother and said that she would be happy to help Cinderella to attend the dance party. The fairy godmother swung her magic wand and turned a pumpkin nearby into a beautiful carriage. She changed 6 mice into 6 horses and made a rat into a coachman. Then she turned the ragged clothes of Cinderella into a beautiful flowing robe that dazzled like the stars in the sky. Then she gave her a pair of glass footwear that was so splendid in nature. As Cinderella boarded the carriage, the fairy godmother warned her that the carriage, horses and the coachman would take their original forms when the clock strikes midnight. Cinderella noted this mentally and left for the dance party.
At the dance party, Cinderella was instantly noticed by the prince and soon she was envied by all the other ladies there. The prince danced with her throughout the night and Cinderella did not notice the time flying by. They both had fallen deeply in love with each other. Suddenly she caught a glimpse of the clock and saw that it was nearing midnight. She immediately fled the party and in her hurry, one of her glass footwear slipped from her foot and was left behind. She did not realise this and went back home. The prince however was missing her and he searched all over the palace for her and finally, he found the glass footwear which she had left behind. Taking it in his hand, he started to think how he could find her once again.
The next day, the prince’s guards came into town with the glass footwear and they asked all the ladies who attended the party yesterday to try on the footwear to see if it fit them. This was a search organised by the prince to locate Cinderella. Everyone tried to somehow fit their feet in the footwear, but it was of no use as their feet were either too big or too small for the glass footwear. Finally, it was Cinderella’s turn and when she slipped her foot in, the glass footwear was a perfect fit for her.
Her step-mother was extremely jealous of this and told the guards that she did not come to the ball yesterday and hence this was not possible. The guards then raised their weapons and told her to be out of the way unless she wanted to disobey the king’s orders and get punished. The step-mother got scared and immediately moved aside, allowing Cinderella to go through. After that, the prince was married to Cinderella and both of them lived happily ever after!