Fairy Tales in Different Cultures: Anklet for a Princess: A Cinderella Story from India

Today we are going to explore a Cinderella story from India called Anklet for a Princess by Lila Mehta and adapted by Meredith Brucker. First of course we will learn a bit about India. 

Source

India is a country in Southern Asia. It is the seventh largest country in land and the second most populous country in the world. It has over 1.2 billion people living in it. It is the most populous democratic country. Having had historic trade routes as well as the ancient Indus Valley Civilization it has a long history. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism are four world religions that began in India. 

Source

From the mid-nineteenth century until 1947 India was under Great Britain rule. In 1947 the country gained its independence from the United Kingdom. The struggle for independence was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi. In 1991 India became one of the fastest growing economies, however it still faces challenges of poverty, corruption, illiteracy, malnutrition, and terrorism. It has the third largest standing army and is a nuclear state.

Traditional Indian Society had a hierarchy called castes. In 1947 India declared untouchability illegal and has since enacted other anti-discriminatory laws. However in rural India many of the castes still exist. In urban society however they are not considered important. Family values are very important in India and a majority of Indian residents have arranged marriages which they have consented to. (Source)

Now onto our wonderful story!! According to the author's note, Ancient Indian societies believed the underwater world was ruled by snakes and dragons. These creatures were known to reward people who made offerings to them or that they took pity on. The snake itself was a symbol of strength and might. It also was a symbol for wealth, prosperity and royalty. Many East Indian dances contain movements inspired by the snake movements and reflect its importance to the culture.

In this story, it was a time when men had more than one wife since a large family was needed to work the farms. A man had two wives who each had a daughter.  Cinduri was one of the daughters. Shortly after her birth both of her parents died during a cholera epidemic. She was left with the other wife and daughter. They did not like farm work, so Cinduri had to do it all while they went on carriage rides and to visit friends. 

One day while Cinduri was at the pond getting fresh water, a large white snake with a red gem on its forehead sprayed water on her and spoke to her. The snake was upset when he heard she did all the work and was given little to eat and rags to wear. He magically made a plate of food appear for her and fed her and then said he would be her godfather and make her life easier from this point on.  He taught her a song to call him when she came to the pond and he would feed her and get her the best water from the deepest part of the pond and would help her in any other way he could.

The stepmother got curious as to why Cinduri looked like she was eating more and came back from the pond happy. She had her daughter, Lata, follow her. The snake scared Lata, but she stayed and watched and then ran home to report about the snake to her mother.

On her way back, Cinduri saw a messenger from the king. She ran home to tell her stepmother and half-sister.  The crown prince would be at their village for the ninth night of the Navarati Festival. The Navarati Festival is where the young people gather at harvest time in an outdoor pavilion to meet their friends and dance for nine evenings. Many of the young people hope to meet their future spouse there. Stepmother would not allow Cinduri to attend the festival. Cinduri watched as her half sister and stepmother dug through the trunks of family treasures for finery to wear and headed out on the ninth night to meet the prince. 

Cinduri did her chores, but then ran toward the lake to talk to her Godfather Snake. She told him about the festival and how she wanted to go. He gave her his red gem and showed her how to move and when she finished she was dressed more beautifully than she had ever seen anyone dressed including two beautiful anklets. Before she left he warned her the magic would end at midnight so she had to leave before then.

When she arrived at the festival she turned many heads and the prince came over and asked her to dance for him. She used the moves her godfather snake had shown her. They spent the evening together until he said it was almost midnight and he needed to light the aarti for the ceremony and asked her to accompany him. She ran off saying she must leave but in doing so she lost one of her anklets which the prince picked up.

The prince told his father about the beautiful woman he fell in love with and said he would marry no one but her. The search was on to find who could fit into the small anklet. The prince traveled to each village with the anklet and asked the young woman to come try on the anklet at a pavilion. Cinduri asked to go with her stepmother and half sister, but they said she could not go until all her chores were done and they gave her more than usual. She knew the prince would not still be there. Then she remembered she still had the magic gem of her godfathers. She held it and moved like he had taught her and all of her chores were magically done and her dirty dress had become clean without a patch on it. Off she ran to the pavilion. Just as she arrived the king said it was time to move on to the next village, but the prince caught sight of Cinduri and said just one more. He reached for her to come forward and try on the anklet. She did and pulled the other one out of her pocket and put it on. They were soon married and the king had a palace built for them. Cinduri told the prince about her special godfather and he had a pond built next to their palace so she could bring him to live with them and keep blessing them. 

When her stepmother and half sister had to do all the work for themselves, the farm fell into disarray. The animals wandered off and eventually they went and wandered the countryside begging.

For this story we made some egg carton snakes to represent Godfather Snake. We had big plans to make anklets, but never quite got them done. I also had planned to make a Cinduri peg doll, but alas, she did not get done either.  For our snakes, we painted an egg carton white and connected them with a pipe cleaner. We then added a tongue for the snake and glued the red "jewels" onto their heads.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures--The Talking Eggs

Since this is Memorial Weekend in the USA, I thought I would take time to do another American version of Cinderella. But first, I would like to thank all the veterans and soldiers who have put their life on the line to protect our freedom and all of their families. I saying prayers for all of you.

Today I am going to feature The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci. This book is adapted from a Creole folktale which was originally in a collection of Louisiana stories by Alcee Fortier. It appears to have European roots and is expected to have been brought to America by French immigrants and spread orally throughout the American South due to different versions (Cajun or Gullah overtones).

Source

First a bit about Louisiana. Louisiana is a southern state that borders the Gulf of Mexico. Its capital is Baton Rouge and its largest city is New Orleans. Most of the state's land is formed from sediment by the Mississippi River. Louisiana is have multicultural, multilingual urban areas. The state has been strongly influenced by the French, Spanish, Native American and African cultures. Before the Louisiana Purchase, it was French and Spanish colonies. Louisiana has long hot humid summers and short mild winters. It is prone to tropical cyclones, hurricanes, and tornadoes.  (Source)

Now onto our book. The Talking Eggs is not your typical Cinderella. In fact there is no prince figure in the story and for that matter no male in it at all. There are also no stepfamily members. The story starts with a poor (very poor) woman and her two daughters, Rose and Blanche. Blanche is the youngest and is sweet and beautiful. Rose is like her mother--always putting on airs and very lazy. Their mother has Blanche do all the work around their house while she and Rose sit on the porch fanning themselves and discussing how they will become rich and go to grand parties in the city with beautiful gowns. 

One day Blanche is sent to the well for water. While there an elderly woman asks her for some water before she dies from the heat. Blanche of course gives her some and calls her auntie. The old woman thanks her, blesses her and leaves. Blanche returns home with the bucket of water, but Rose complains that it is hot and pours it out. Then the mother and Rose scold, yell and hit Blanche for not doing a simple task like bringing her sister some cold water to drink. Blanche runs away into the woods. She begins to cry since she has no place to go and does not want to go back home. 

The elderly woman appears and asks her why she is crying. Blanche tells her how her mother and sister were treating her for something that was not her fault. The elderly woman says she can come home with her and she will give her dinner and a bed to sleep on one condition--Blanche must not laugh at anything she sees at the house. Blanche promises not to laugh.

The plants seem to move out of their way while they walk to the woman's house (and move back behind them). Then Blanche sees a house with a two-headed cow with corkscrew horns in its yard. Blanche finds it strange, but holds true to her word and does not laugh. When they enter the yard there are chickens of every color running around and they do not cluck, but sing like mockingbirds. Again, Blanche does not laugh.

Inside the woman tells Blanche to start a fire. Blanche does right away. The woman in the mean time removes her head, so she can do her hair. This frightens Blanche a bit, but figures the woman has been nothing but nice to her, so she ignores it. The woman puts her head back on and then gives Blanche a beef bone. Blanche looks at it thinking there was not much to it, but asks if she should make soup with it. The woman tells Blanche to look at the pot she put it in and there is already a thick stew. Then the woman gives Blanche one grain of rice to grind. Blanche does this even though she wonders why she only needs to grind one grain, but as she does the rice multiplies to plenty for them. They have a wonderful meal together and then the woman takes Blanche out to the porch to see the magical rabbits dancing. Blanche falls asleep out there. 

The next morning the woman asks Blanche to milk the cow. The two-headed cow is happy with Blanche and gives her the sweetest milk Blanche has ever tasted. The woman and Blanche have a lovely breakfast. Then the woman tells Blanche she must go home, but since she has been so good and kind she has a gift for her. She tells Blanche to go to the hen house and take some eggs, but only to take the ones that say "Take me" and to leave the ones that say "Don't take me." She tells Blanche to throw the eggs over her left shoulder on her way home and they will become gifts. Blanche does this. In the hen house, every nest is full of eggs. Some are gold, silver and jeweled while others look like ordinary eggs. The ordinary looking eggs are the ones that say "Take me." Blanche does what the old woman told her and she only takes those even though she would love to take one of the fancy eggs. On her way home she throws the eggs over her left shoulder as instructed and receives silver and gold coins, silk dresses and even a carriage and pony to pull it. 

Her mother and Rose are amazed when she gets home. Her mother makes Rose help her bring the things in and the mother cooks dinner for them for the first time since Blanche was old enough to cook. They get the story of the old woman out of Blanche. While Blanche is sleeping, the mother tells Rose to go find the auntie the next day and get her to give her some of the eggs. Rose does not want to, but her mother explains there is not enough for the two of them with just Blanche's things. Rose goes, but she is not nice to the old woman. She laughs at the cow and chickens and then is mean about the bone. The bone does not become a thick stew. She laughs at the one grain or rice so they do not have rice to eat. Then when the woman takes off her head, Rose grabs it and says she will not give it back until she gives her the eggs. The woman tells her she is wicked but tells her about the eggs with the instructions to throw them over her right shoulder on the way home. 

Rose leaves the woman's head on the porch and runs to the hen house. She sees all the beautiful ones and hears them say "Don't take me," but she takes them anyway. She throws them over her right shoulder as soon as she is out of view of the house and the eggs turn into snakes, toads, yellow jackets and a hungry wolf. She runs home with all of the creatures following her. When her mother sees her, she tries to protect her with a broom, but then the creatures go after her as well. They both run into the woods. When they finally return, they find a note from Blanche saying she has taken her gifts and moved to the city. Blanche remains as nice as always.

One of the nice things about this story are the lessons built into it. There is the lesson of what is on the inside matters and not the outside. There is the lesson of being kind and doing as asked. I did not make a peg doll for this story as Blanche is not a princess and Hazel seems to only really enjoy the ones that look more princesslike. Instead I used some of our eggs and decorated them more. Which would you choose? The ones you were told to take that are ordinary or the ones you were told not to take that are beautiful and look like they are worth a lot?

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures--Egyptian Cinderella

Today I am going to share with you a version of Cinderella from Egypt. Now the most fascinating thing to me about this story is there is some historical truth to it. According to the Author's Note at the end of the book: the fact that there was a Greek slave girl named Rhodopis and she married the Pharaoh Amasis and became his queen. This is one of the oldest Cinderella tales and it was first recorded by the Roman historian Strabo in the first century B.C.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures--Domitila

Ok, in honor of Cinco de Mayo (one day late) we will do another Mexican Cinderella. This one is called Domitila and the version we read was adopted by Jewell Reinhart Coburn. We had big plans to do lots of Mexican crafts to share with you for Cinco de Mayo, but it didn't happen. I have realized two things, the weather is nice so we want to be outside and Hazel needs time just to play with her toys right now, so most of the crafts will wait until after her school and classes end. Since we shared Adelita, another Mexican Cinderella, two weeks ago, we will not share all the information about Mexico. However I thought it would be fun to share a bit about Cinco de Mayo. 

Cinco de Mayo is Spanish for the fifth of May. It is a special holiday in Mexico because it commemorates the day Benito Juarez, who was president of Mexico, led his followers to a temporary victory on May 5, 1862 against the French army led by Archduke Maximilian of Austria in Pueblo. The French did eventually succeed to throw out Juarez, but after pressure from the United States, France withdrew and Maximilian was executed. Juarez returned to Mexico and remained president until his death in 1872.  (Source: Fiesta! Mexico's Great Celebrations by Elizabeth Silverthorne )

Now onto our story for this week: Domitila! One of the things I love about this book is on every other page is a picture and on the word pages there is a beautiful trim with a Spanish phrase on top and the English on the bottom. Each phrase is a piece of good life advice or saying.

On a rancho in the Mexican state of Hidalgo lived a poor farmer and his wife with their only child, a daughter named Domitila. The family worked hard and were very happy together. Her mother always told her, "Do every task with care, and always add a generous dash of love."  Together they built the bricks for their adobe casa. One day there was a very bad storm their house was destroyed and Domitila's mother became ill. Their small corn patch was also destroyed. Her father sent Domitila to the governor's mansion since he heard they were paying well for cooks there and her money could help feed them until they could grow some more corn. 

While cooking in the governor's mansion her cooking skills were recognized and she became the second cook. One night she was in charge of cooking dinner for the abuela and the eldest son of the governor.  The arrogant son was upset at what she served and called for her. The abuela told him to try the food first and he loved it.  The next morning he expected food just as good, but during the night Domitila had been called home since her mother was gravely ill. 

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She arrived home too late to see her mother. She stayed with her father in mourning. In the meantime, the eldest son decided to find the mysterious cook.  He only knew she was a great cook, lived on a rancho in Hidalgo and made beautiful leather pieces. He rode all over Hidalgo in search of her.  An evil widow sent him on a wild goose chase and then went to Domitila's father's casa so she could trick the governor's son into marrying her daughter.

While visiting Domitila's casa, the evil widow ends up tricking Domitila's father into marrying her. Now Domitila has to serve her evil stepmother and lazy stepsister.  Domitila discovers what it is like to work without happiness and love. 

Meanwhile, the governor's son smells the delicious delicacies of Domitila's at the fall fiesta. The women at the fiesta tell him all about Domitila and where to find her. Sure enough he finds her and falls in love with her. They get married and the evil widow and her daughter run away. Domitila's father joins the happy couple at the governor's mansion where they all live happily.

I loved the positive messages throughout the book and that Domitila worked to help her parents. She did not need rescuing by the governor's son. I really enjoyed this story.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures--Adelita

In preparation of Cinco de Mayo, we thought we would feature the Cinderella stories from Mexico. The first this week. So today we will "travel" to Mexico. Since I have been to Puerto Penasco, Mexico, I will share a few of the pictures I have from my trip.

Mexico is rich with history. Pre-European contact Mexico had many advanced cultures like the Aztecs, the Mayans. In 1521 Spain conquered what is now Mexico and colonized it calling it New Spain. The territory became Mexico in 1821 following its independence. It took its name from its capital city, Mexico City. Mexico City is built on top of the ancient Aztec capital México-Tenochtitlan. The official name of Mexico has changed with government changes. It is now Estados Unidos Mexicanos which translates to the United Mexican States.

Mexico is the fifth largest country in the Americas and the thirteenth largest independent country in the world. It is the eleventh most populous country and is the most populous Spanish-speaking country. It comprises of 31 states and a Federal District (the capital city). Mexico is the 23rd largest tourism based income in the world. The vast number of tourists come from the United States and Canada. (Source)

Now onto our story! This week we are sharing Tomie dePaola's Adelita.  This book has Spanish phrases throughout it with the English translation following the phrase. At the back of the book, there is a list of all the Spanish used and their meanings and pronunciations. This is a story based on the Cinderella story, but is not an original one to the region.

The story begins describing the father and the mother, Adela, and Adela telling the father they are going to have a baby. He sends for the woman who took care of him as a child and has been with his family since she was a girl. Her name is Esperanza. Adela becomes ill following childbirth and only gets to hold her daughter once before dying. The father names the baby Adelita after her mother. Adelita grows into a beautiful young woman under the care of Esperanza and her father. They both love her very much.

Coloring Pages came from Coloring.WS

One day the father announces he is going to remarry. He brings the woman and her two daughters to meet Adelita and Esperanza. Esperanza does not like them immediately, but Adelita is happy for her father. Adelita has to share her father now, but does not mind since he seems happy. Unfortunately he soon dies and Adelita is left an orphan. Her stepmother begins to show her true colors and jealousy over Adelita. She moves her from her beautiful bedroom to a room in the attic, and she now only is given hand-me-downs for clothes. The stepsisters are also mean to her. Adelita spends much of her time in the kitchen with Esperanza. 

One day the stepmother comes into the kitchen to say she will no longer keep Esperanza since she is spending too much on the household and Adelita can do the work since she is always helping anyway. Esperanza and Adelita beg her not to send Esperanza away, but she does. Adelita is saddened and now must do all the hard work herself. One day at breakfast the stepmother announces they have been invited to a fiesta at the Gordillo's ranch. The girls are very excited since they both would like to marry Javier Gordillo. Adelita asks if she may go as well since she and Javier were childhood friends. She is told she would be an embarrassment to the family and she must stay home. She helps the stepsisters prepare for the party and watches the family leave.

Adelita is weeping in the kitchen when she hears a soft knock on the door. It is Esperanza. She had a dream about Adelita not being allowed to go to the fiesta and has come to help. She takes her to the storeroom and shows her a trunk of her mother's things. They find a beautiful white dress and a red rebozo. Adelita quickly washes and dresses and Esperanza braids her hair and puts it up with ribbons and flowers. Then they use the cart Esperanza borrowed to take her to get there.

Adelita turns heads when she arrives. Senor Gordillo comes to meet her and asks who she is. She tells him she is in disguise and to call her Cenicienta, Cinderella. Javier takes one look and falls in love with her. They dance and talk all night. When he expresses his love to her Adelita becomes nervous and runs away. The next day all the stepmother and stepsisters can talk about is the mysterious Cenicienta at the fiesta. The stepmother tells them Javier is going to go house to house to look for her so her daughters have another chance to impress him. Before going to help her stepsisters, Adelita runs to her room and hangs her mother's rebozo out of the attic window. 

Javier sees the rebozo and runs to the house asking where she is. The stepmother calls in the stepsisters and Javier says they are not the one he means. The stepmother says they are the only ones there, but then a voice form behind says there is one more. Adelita has changed into her mother's dress and rebozo again and comes down the stairs. She tells Javier who she is and of course he remembers his childhood friend. He asks her to marry him and she says since she is an orphan he should ask her stepmother. Her stepmother gives her permission and they are married. Esperanza comes to take care of them as she always had. Everyone is happy.


And that is the first of our two Mexican Cinderella stories. I think I gave our peg doll a bit too much hair. Oh, well.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures--The Salmon Princess

I'm happy to say I finally got around to doing my fairy tale post for this week. This week we are traveling to Alaska. I picked this story this week since Monday was Patriots' Day here in Massachusetts. Patriots' Day is a day to remember the Battles of Lexington and Concord which were on April 19, 1775 and were the start of the American Revolution. Now in Massachusetts it is celebrated the third Monday in April and there is a re-enactment of the Battle of Lexington in Lexington and the Boston Marathon is run. Plus school vacation week is always the week of Patriots' Day here in Massachusetts. I figured since the holiday represents the start of the fight for the United States to become a country it would make sense to share one of the versions from the United States and since I own this copy (I couldn't get it from any of the libraries here), I went with it. This is one of the stories that was definitely adapted for the area and not originally from there.

Source

A bit about Alaska. Alaska is the largest state of the fifty states but is the fourth least populous. It was purchased from Russia for $7.2 million or about two cents per acre in 1867 and became the 49th state in 1959.

To see the size of Alaska Source

Alaska has many islands as part of its state. Approximately 65% of Alaska's land is owned and managed by the U.S. Federal Government. The southeast region of Alaska is the only region where the daytime high temperature is above freezing during the winter. Alaska has a rich history and culture including the Native Americans. I am not going to go into all of that here. Alaska's industry is domineered by oil, natural gas and fishing industries. It is also known as The Final Frontier. (Source)

Now onto our story. Today we are looking at The Salmon Princess by Mindy Dwyer. In this story there is a fisherman who lives with his wife and daughter. The daughter is named Cinder for the spark in her grey eyes and her red flaming hair. His wife and daughter are in charge of cleaning and smoking the salmon for them to sell. The mother teaches their daughter how to do it and they love to sing old songs together while doing it. 

Coloring Page available at Kidzone

One winter the mother dies due to illness. The father remarries and the new wife has two sons who help with the fishing, but the new wife refuses to dirty her hands with the fish so the daughter is left to do the work. Since the new wife is mean, the daughter does not completely mind until one day the father announces a festival on the next island and the stepmother says Cinder cannot go since there is so much fish to clean (after all now they have three fishermen and only one person cleaning and smoking). Cinder was upset when the family left her behind, but there was a lot of fish. While she was in her favorite place under a cedar tree where she always went to do her work, an eagle flew over head and dropped something. Cinder thought it was a fish, but when it came to the ground she realized it was a beautiful dress that looked like it was made out of threads from the moon. The eagle circled around one more time to tell her that she must return the dress before the sun came up since the fibers would be invisible in the light of the sun. 

Cinder put on the dress and wished she had nice shoes, but since she did not she was glad the dress covered her boots. At the festival she sold some of her smoked salmon and used the money to buy as many raffle tickets as she could. She wanted to win the grand prize of silver bars, so she could get away from all the work. Then she danced with a nice young man. They danced until the sun was about to come up at which she ran off remembering the bird's warning. He chased after her. Her boot got stuck in a net and she dropped her raffle tickets and lost her boot, but jumped in her family's small boat and rowed back home. The nice young man found the boot and raffle tickets, but did not know how to find her. Everyone around this area wore similar boots as these. Then when one of her raffle tickets was the winner he vowed to find her within the 24 hours she had to claim the prize. 

State Flower is Forget Me Not: Coloring Page available at Kidzone

He searched all the neighboring islands and then a bird guided him to her family's dock. The brothers tried to lock her in the smoke house so they could claim her prize to get a new fishing boat, but the young man pursued on finding her and let her out. He recognized her right away and they got married. Now the young man was the son of the owner of Salmon King which Cinder said made him the Salmon Prince. He said she was his Cinderella and when they got married she became the Salmon Princess. They lived further north away from the salmon industry until the Salmon Prince inherited his father's business. 

So that is the story of the Salmon Princess or the Alaskan Cinderella. I know I would love to see Alaska some day. I hope to take Hazel there eventually.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures--Perrault's Cinderella

In honor of our "trip" to France with Around the World in 12 Dishes, I thought we would feature Charles Perrault's Cinderella. When I introduced this series I gave a little history on Perrault's version. The version I shared however was more of the Disney one that I grew up with rather than Perrault's.  Before going on the story, we will talk a bit about France.

Source

France is located in Western Europe with several overseas territories and regions. It is the largest country in Western Europe and the third largest throughout Europe. It has the nickname l'Hexagone (the hexagon) because of its shape. France is a developed country with the world's fifth largest economy. It is the wealthiest country in Europe. French residents have the longest life expectancy, a high standard of living including the best health care according to World Health Organization and a high level of public education. It is also the most visited country in the world with 79.5 million tourists a year. (Source)

The translation of Cinderella I am using came from The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault by Neil Philip and Nicoletta Simborowski. We had taken this out to get some French stories to go with our French dishes. It is the first time I had read a real Perrault version.

The story begins with a man with a young daughter of his own marrying a haughty, stuck-up woman who has two daughters exactly like her. The woman takes a dislike to the man's daughter since she is so good and beautiful and it makes her daughters look even worse. She gives the man's daughter all of the worst household chores. The girl does them all without complaint. She knows her father would scold her for complaining. When she finishes her work she would retire to the chimney, so her stepsisters took to calling her Cinderbutt or Cinderella. (The younger one called her Cinderella since she was not quite as mean as her elder sister). Cinderella was also given a room in the attic on a shabby mattress while her stepsisters have beautiful bedrooms with the latest beds.

One day  the prince invites the stepsisters to a ball.  They are so excited and try on many gowns and outfits to decide what to wear. Cinderella offered to do their hair for them and of course they accepted. They teased her while she did their hair by asking her if she would like to go to the ball. Once they left, she watched them until they were out of sight and then she began to weep. Her godmother came by and asked why she was weeping. She was crying too hard to tell her, so her godmother asked if it was that she wanted to go to the ball. The godmother told her she would send her. She sent Cinderella to get a pumpkin. Cinderella looked for the finest pumpkin she could find. The godmother hollowed it out and then tapped it with her wand (she was a fairy afterall) and it changed into a beautiful gilded carriage. She changed mice into horses, a rat into a coachman and lizards into footman. Then she changed Cinderella's dress into a beautiful gown made from silver and gold fabric. She warned Cinderella that she must leave by midnight or everything would be back to what it was. She promised and went off to the ball.

The prince as told a princess no one knew arrived and he went at once to greet her. He even helped her out of the coach. Cinderella made quite the entrance on the prince's arm. Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at her beauty. She was given a seat next to the prince and he danced with her as well. She even took time to go talk to her stepsisters, but they did not recognize her. She left before midnight and was telling her godmother about the ball and how the prince asked her to come the next evening as well when her stepsisters came home. They were so excited to tell her about the beautiful mysterious princess. 

The next evening the stepsisters went off to the ball and then Cinderella went off in a gown even more beautiful than the one the night before. The prince did not leave her side all evening and she was having so much fun she lost track of time until she heard the first chime of midnight. She ran out and lost one of her glass slippers.

The sisters came home and told her again about the mysterious princess and how upset the prince was after she left. A few days later, there was a trumpeted announcement that the prince would marry the woman whose foot fit the glass slipper. After trying it on all the princesses, duchesses, etc., the servant came to the stepsisters. They tried to force their foot into it, but could not. Laughing Cinderella asked to try it on. The servant noticed her beauty and said she should. Of course it slipped right on. Her stepsisters were shocked and even more so when she pulled out its mate from her pocket. They begged her forgiveness for how they mistreated her and she forgave them. She even brought them to the palace with her and had them marry lords. The prince and Cinderella were also married the same day.

For crafts I made Hazel a clothespin doll and shared again some of the pictures we colored the other day.