The Cinderella story is very-very old, maybe a thousand year old. First, parents told the story to their children at bedtime. The children grew up and they told the story to their kids. Then 400 years ago a writer in Italy wrote the story in a book. It became popular in England and France, too. The story has many versions in movies and books, too.

This is how the story goes:

Once upon a time there was a wealthy man in a village. He had a wife and a small daughter, Ella. The wife got ill and died. The man didn’t know how to raise a child. He thought the little girl needed a new mother. He married another woman, who already had two daughters. The man thought that it is a good idea to give sisters to his daughter.

After a while the man also got ill and died. The stepmother and the stepsisters suddenly changed, they were not nice to Ella anymore. They took away Ella’s beautiful clothes and forced her to wear old, worn clothes. What is worse, she had to do hard work all day. She became the maid of her stepsisters. Her bed was in the attic, as the stepsisters took her bedroom, too. The attic was very cold. In wintertime Ella slept in the cinder, because it was warm.

Do you know what cinder is? When wood burns in the stove, it becomes cinder. It is like a grey-black powder, in fact dirt. Of course, when the girl slept in the cinder, she got dirty. Her face was covered in cinder, and it made the stepsister laugh. They called her Cinder-ella.

One day the king of the country decided to hold a ball and choose a wife for his only son, the prince. He invited every girl. The stepsisters were happy, they hoped that the king would choose them for the wife of his son. Cinderella also wanted to go. Her stepmother told her that she can go if she finishes all the work she gives her. The stepmother poured two bowls of lentils into the cinder and told Cinderella to pick the lentils out in an hour. Cinderella thought it was impossible, but two white pigeons came through the window and helped her. They just did pick, pick, pick, and gathered all the lentils in the bowls.

Cinderella went to her stepmother happily, but the stepmother said: No, Cinderella, you don’t have nice clothes, you are not coming with us. The two stepsisters dressed up nicely and went to the ball with their mother.

Cinderella went to the garden and started to cry bitterly. ‘Why are you crying?’ she heard. She looked up. It was a little old woman with a wand in her hand. Cinderella said that she wanted to go to the ball, but she doesn't have nice clothes. “Oh, I can help with that,'' said the old woman. She waved her wand and Cinderella’s old clothes turned into the most beautiful ball dress and glass shoes. She was very happy, but the old woman said, ‘this magic will last only until midnight. Then your dress will turn back to the old clothes. You have to come back home by midnight.

When Cinderella entered the ball room, everybody looked at her. She was so beautiful. The prince wanted to dance with her all night. She enjoyed herself, and nearly forgot about time. But when she saw the clock, it was midnight soon, she quickly ran out of the ball room. She ran so fast that she lost one of her shoes. He reached home and her clothes turned back to the old ones. She went to sleep on the cinder.

The prince wanted to see the girl again. He found her glass shoe. It was very small. He said he would marry the girl whose foot fits in the glass shoe. The king’s men went from house to house and tried the shoe on each girl’s foot, but they all had bigger feet.

They arrived at the house of the stepmother. The stepsisters tried to put on the glass shoe, they wanted to be the wife of the prince, but their feet were too big.

“Is there any other girl in this house?’ asked the king’s man. “Nobody,'' said the stepmother. Then the king’s man noticed Cinderella in the cinder. ‘And she?’ he asked. ‘Oh, she is only a maid’, the stepmother replied.

But the man wanted to try the shoe. He put it on Cinderella’s foot, and it was a fit!

The prince came soon and he recognised the beautiful girl behind the cinder. He took her and they got married soon.

Cinderella became a princess and they lived happily ever after.

• Can you tell the story in short?
• What do you think about his father?
• What do you think about his stepmother?
• What do you think about glass shoes? Can we walk in glass shoes?