Cendrillon

Cinderella

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A gentleman marries a second wife, the proudest woman ever seen, with two daughters just like her; his own young daughter is gentle and good. The stepmother gives her the lowest work of the house; she sleeps in the attic on a straw mattress while her sisters have fine rooms and mirrors, and she sits in the ashes by the hearth, so the house calls her Cucendron, and the younger sister Cendrillon. The king's son gives a ball; the sisters dress for it, Cendrillon irons and does their hair, and they mock her. When they have left she weeps; her godmother, a fairy, sends her for a pumpkin and turns it into a gilded coach, six mice into horses, a bearded rat into a coachman and six lizards into lackeys, her rags into a gown of gold and silver, and gives her glass slippers, warning her to leave before midnight. At the ball everyone falls silent at the unknown princess; the prince does not leave her, she shares oranges and lemons with her sisters, and leaves at a quarter to twelve. At home she pretends to wake when her sisters come in, hears them praise the princess, and asks Javotte to lend her a yellow dress; Javotte refuses. At the second ball she forgets the hour, flees at the first stroke of midnight and loses a glass slipper, which the prince picks up; she arrives home in her rags with only the other slipper. The prince has it proclaimed that he will marry the girl whose foot fits the slipper; it is tried on princesses, duchesses and the whole court, then on the two sisters, in vain. Cendrillon asks to try; the gentleman finds it fits like wax, and she takes the other slipper from her pocket. The godmother makes her clothes finer than ever; the sisters beg her pardon, she forgives them, marries the prince, lodges her sisters at the palace and marries them to two great lords. Perrault's two morals: graciousness is worth more than beauty, and gifts are vain without a godfather or godmother.

Retold from Histoires ou Contes du temps passé (Claude Barbin, Paris 1697): Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre by Charles Perrault (public domain).