Cinderella

A rich man’s wife fell ill, and when she felt that her end was near she called her only daughter to her bedside.

“Dear child,” she said, “stay good and say your prayers, and God will always stand by you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be close to you.”

Then she closed her eyes and died. Every day the girl went out to her mother’s grave and wept, and she stayed good and true. When winter came, the snow spread a little white cloth over the grave, and when the spring sun had drawn it off again, the man took another wife.

The woman brought two daughters into the house with her. They were beautiful, with fair faces, but they were spiteful and black at heart, and now a hard time began for the poor stepchild.

“Is that silly goose to sit in the parlour with us?” they said. “Whoever wants to eat bread must earn it. Out with the kitchen maid.”

They took away her pretty clothes, put an old grey smock on her and gave her wooden shoes.

“Just look at the proud princess, how grand she is!” they cried, and they laughed and led her off into the kitchen.

There she had to do heavy work from morning till night. She got up before daybreak, carried water, lit the fires, cooked and washed. On top of that the sisters did her every unkindness they could think of. They mocked her, and they tipped her peas and lentils into the ashes so that she had to sit and pick them out again. In the evening, when she had worked herself weary, there was no bed for her. She had to lie down beside the hearth in the ashes, and because she always looked dusty and grimy, they called her Cinderella.

One day the father was going to the fair, and he asked his two stepdaughters what he should bring back for them.

“Beautiful dresses,” said the one.

“Pearls and jewels,” said the other.

“And you, Cinderella,” he said, “what would you like?”

“Father, break off for me the first twig that knocks against your hat on your way home.”

So he bought beautiful dresses, pearls and jewels for his two stepdaughters, and on the way back, as he rode through a green thicket, a hazel twig brushed past him and knocked off his hat. He broke off the twig and carried it with him. When he reached home he gave the stepdaughters what they had wished for, and to Cinderella he gave the twig from the hazel bush.

Cinderella thanked him. She went to her mother’s grave and planted the twig on it, and she cried so hard that her tears fell on it and watered it. And it grew, and became a fine tree. Three times a day Cinderella went and sat beneath it, and wept and prayed, and every time a little white bird came to the tree. Whenever she spoke a wish aloud, the bird threw down to her whatever she had asked for.

Now it happened that the King held a feast that was to last three days, and every beautiful young woman in the land was invited, so that his son might choose himself a bride. When the two stepsisters heard that they too were to appear, they were in high spirits, and they called Cinderella.

“Comb our hair,” they said, “brush our shoes and fasten our buckles. We are going to the feast at the King’s castle.”

Cinderella did as she was told, but she cried, because she would gladly have gone to the dance with them, and she begged her stepmother to let her go.

“You, Cinderella?” said the stepmother. “You are covered in dust and dirt, and you want to go to the feast? You have no clothes and no shoes, and you want to dance!”

But Cinderella kept on asking, until at last the stepmother said, “I have tipped a dish of lentils into the ashes for you. If you have picked them out again in two hours, you shall come with us.”

The girl went out through the back door into the garden and called:

Come, tame pigeons and turtledoves,all you birds beneath the sky:the good ones in the pot,the bad ones in the crop.

Then two white pigeons came in at the kitchen window, and after them the turtledoves, and at last all the birds under the sky came whirring and swarming in and settled around the ashes. The pigeons nodded their little heads and began, pick, pick, pick, pick, and then the others began too, pick, pick, pick, pick, and they gathered all the good grains into the dish. Scarcely an hour had gone by before they were finished, and they all flew out again.

The girl carried the dish to her stepmother, glad, and sure that now she would be allowed to go to the feast. But the stepmother said, “No, Cinderella, you have no clothes and you cannot dance. They would only laugh at you.”

And when Cinderella cried at that, the stepmother said, “If you can pick two dishes of lentils clean out of the ashes for me in one hour, you shall come with us.” And she thought to herself, “She can never do that.”

When the stepmother had tipped the two dishes of lentils into the ashes, the girl went out through the back door into the garden and called:

Come, tame pigeons and turtledoves,all you birds beneath the sky:the good ones in the pot,the bad ones in the crop.

Then two white pigeons came in at the kitchen window, and after them the turtledoves, and at last all the birds under the sky came whirring and swarming in and settled around the ashes. The pigeons nodded their little heads and began, pick, pick, pick, pick, and then the others began too, pick, pick, pick, pick, and they gathered all the good grains into the dishes. Before half an hour was over they were finished, and they all flew out again.

The girl carried the dishes to her stepmother, glad, and sure that now she might go to the feast. But the stepmother said, “It is no use. You are not coming with us, because you have no clothes and you cannot dance. We would be ashamed of you.” With that she turned her back on Cinderella and hurried away with her two proud daughters.

Now that nobody was left at home, Cinderella went to her mother’s grave under the hazel tree and called:

Shiver and quiver, little tree,throw gold and silver down on me.

Then the bird threw her down a dress of gold and silver, and slippers embroidered with silk and silver. She put the dress on as fast as she could and went to the feast. Her sisters and her stepmother did not know her, and thought she must be some foreign king’s daughter, so beautiful did she look in the golden dress. They never thought of Cinderella at all. They believed she was sitting at home in the dirt, picking lentils out of the ashes. The King’s son came to meet her, took her by the hand and danced with her. He would dance with nobody else, and he never let go of her hand, and if anyone came to ask her to dance, he said, “This is my partner.”

She danced until evening, and then she wanted to go home. But the King’s son said, “I will come with you and see you home,” for he wanted to know whose daughter this beautiful girl was. She slipped away from him, though, and sprang into the pigeon house. The King’s son waited until her father came, and told him that the girl nobody knew had jumped into the pigeon house. The father thought, “Could that be Cinderella?” and they had to fetch him an axe and a pick so that he could break the pigeon house apart. But there was nobody inside. And when they came into the house, Cinderella was lying in the ashes in her dirty clothes, with a dim little oil lamp burning in the chimney corner, for she had jumped down quickly from the back of the pigeon house and run to the little hazel tree. There she had taken off her beautiful clothes and laid them on the grave, and the bird had carried them away again, and then she had gone back to the kitchen in her grey smock and sat down in the ashes.

The next day, when the feast began again and her parents and stepsisters had gone off once more, Cinderella went to the hazel tree and said:

Shiver and quiver, little tree,throw gold and silver down on me.

Then the bird threw down a dress far grander than the one the day before. And when she came to the feast in that dress, everyone was astonished at her beauty. The King’s son had waited until she came, and he took her by the hand at once and danced with nobody but her. When the others came and asked her to dance, he said, “This is my partner.”

When evening came she wanted to leave, and the King’s son went after her to see which house she went into. But she sprang away from him, into the garden behind the house. A fine tall tree stood there, hung with the most splendid pears, and she climbed up between the branches as nimbly as a squirrel, so that the King’s son did not know where she had gone. He waited until her father came.

“The girl nobody knew has slipped away from me,” he said, “and I believe she has climbed the pear tree.”

The father thought, “Could that be Cinderella?” and he had the axe brought and cut the tree down, but there was nobody in it. And when they came into the kitchen, Cinderella was lying in the ashes as usual, for she had jumped down on the other side of the tree, had carried the beautiful clothes back to the bird on the little hazel tree, and had put on her grey smock again.

On the third day, when her parents and sisters had gone, Cinderella went once more to her mother’s grave and said to the little tree:

Shiver and quiver, little tree,throw gold and silver down on me.

This time the bird threw down a dress more splendid and shining than any she had worn yet, and the slippers were all of gold. When she came to the feast in that dress, nobody knew what to say for wonder. The King’s son danced with her alone, and if anyone else asked her to dance, he said, “This is my partner.”

When evening came Cinderella wanted to leave, and the King’s son wanted to go with her, but she got away so quickly that he could not follow. He had used a trick, though. He had had the whole staircase smeared with pitch, and as she ran down it the girl’s left slipper stuck fast there. The King’s son picked it up, and it was small and dainty and all of gold. Next morning he took it to the man and said, “No one shall be my wife but the one whose foot this golden shoe fits.”

At that the two sisters were delighted, for they had pretty feet. The elder went into her room with the shoe to try it on, and her mother stood beside her. But she could not get her big toe in; the shoe was too small for her. So her mother handed her a knife and said, “Cut off the toe. When you are Queen you will not have to walk anywhere again.”

The girl cut off the toe, forced her foot into the shoe, bit back the pain and went out to the King’s son. He lifted her onto his horse as his bride and rode away with her. But they had to pass the grave, and there on the hazel tree sat the two doves, and they called:

Coo and peep, coo and peep,there’s blood inside the shoe.The shoe is far too small for her,the true bride waits for you.

He looked at her foot and saw the blood welling out of it. He turned his horse around, brought the false bride home again and said that she was not the right one, and that the other sister was to put on the shoe. So this one went into her room and got her toes into the shoe well enough, but her heel was too big. Her mother handed her a knife and said, “Cut a piece off your heel. When you are Queen you will not have to walk anywhere again.”

The girl cut a piece off her heel, forced her foot into the shoe, bit back the pain and went out to the King’s son. He lifted her onto his horse as his bride and rode away with her, but as they passed the little hazel tree, the two doves were sitting on it, and they called:

Coo and peep, coo and peep,there’s blood inside the shoe.The shoe is far too small for her,the true bride waits for you.

He looked down at her foot and saw the blood running out of the shoe and standing red all the way up her white stocking. So he turned his horse and brought the false bride home again.

“This is not the right one either,” he said. “Have you no other daughter?”

“No,” said the man. “There is only a scrawny little kitchen girl my late wife left behind. She could not possibly be the bride.”

The King’s son said that she was to be sent up to him.

“Oh no,” the mother answered, “she is far too dirty. She is not fit to be seen.”

But he insisted, and Cinderella had to be called. First she washed her hands and face clean, then she went in and bowed before the King’s son, who held out the golden shoe to her. She sat down on a stool, drew her foot out of the heavy wooden shoe and put it into the slipper, and it fitted as though it had been made for her. And when she stood up straight and the King’s son looked into her face, he knew her for the beautiful girl who had danced with him, and he cried, “That is the true bride!”

The stepmother and the two sisters were horrified and went pale with rage, but he lifted Cinderella onto his horse and rode away with her. As they passed the little hazel tree, the two white doves called:

Coo and peep, coo and peep,no blood inside the shoe.The shoe is not too small for her,the true bride rides with you.

And when they had called it, they both came flying down and settled on Cinderella’s shoulders, one on the right and the other on the left, and there they stayed.

When the wedding with the King’s son was to be held, the two false sisters came, hoping to flatter their way in and take a share of Cinderella’s good fortune. As the bridal pair walked to the church, the elder sister was on the right and the younger on the left, and the doves pecked out one eye from each of them. Afterwards, as they came out again, the elder was on the left and the younger on the right, and the doves pecked out the other eye of each. And so, for their wickedness and their lies, they were punished with blindness for as long as they lived.