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“You have been careless,” she said. “Yet I am pleased to see that you have managed to keep, at any rate, one-half of your godmother’s gift. ” I think she meant by this that whereas all the rest of Cinderella’sadornment had been contrived out of something other than it was, the two glass slippers had been really produced out of the Fairy’s pocket. They alone had not vanished at the stroke of midnight. “But what has become of the other one?” her godmother asked.

Cinderelladid not know for certain, but fancied that she must have dropped it in her hurry to escape from the palace.

“Yes, you are careless,” repeated the Fairy; “but decidedly you are not unlucky. ”

And with that she vanished, as the bell sounded announcing the sisters’ return.

They were not in the best of humours, to begin with. Cinderellaasked them if they had again found the ball enjoyable, and if the beautiful lady h
ad been there. They told her yes; but that on the stroke of twelve she had taken flight, and so hurriedly that she had let fall one of her small glass slippers, the prettiest in the world, which the King’s son had picked up. They added, that this indeed was the first cause of their delay; for, seeking their carriage, they had found the entry blocked, and the Princein the wildest state of mind, demanding of the guards if they had not seen a Princess pass out. The guards answered that they had seen no one pass out but a ragged girl, who looked more like a country wench than a Princess. Amid this to-do, the sisters had with difficulty found their coach; and then, within two miles of home, a wheel had come off and the coach had lurched over, in a thunderstorm, too; and they had been forced to walk the rest of the way, the one with a bruised shoulder, and the other (which was worse) with a twisted ankle. But, after all, the dance had been worth these mischances and sufferings; and, said they, harking back, the Princewas undoubtedly deep in love, for they had left him gazing fondly at the slipper, and little doubt—mysteriously as she chose to behave—he would make every effort to find the beautiful creature to whom it belonged.

They told the truth, too. For a few days after, the King’s son had it proclaimed by sound of trumpet that he would marry her whose foot the slipper exactly fitted.

At first they tried it on the Princesses of the Court:

Then on the Duchesses:

Then on the Marchionesses:

Then on the Countesses and Viscountesses:

Then on the Baronesses:

And so on, through all the ladies of the Court, and a number of competitors, who, though they did not belong to it, yet supposed that the smallness of their feet was an argument that their parents had very unjustly come down in the world. The Prime Minister, who carried the glass slipper on a velvet cushion, was kept very busy during the next few weeks.

At length he called on Cinderella’stwo sisters, who did all they could to squeeze a foot into the slipper, but by no means could they succeed.

Cinderella,who was looking on and admiring their efforts, said laughingly:—

“Let me see if it will fit me. ”

Her sisters began to laugh and mock at her, but the Prime Minister, who had come to make trial of the slipper, looked at Cinderellaattentively, and seeing how good-looking she was, said that it was but just—he had orders to try it upon every one.

He asked Cinderellato sit down, and drawing the slipper upon her little foot, he saw that it went on easily, and fitted the foot like wax. Great was the astonishment of the two sisters; but it was greater when Cinderellapulled from her pocket the other little slipper and put it upon the other foot. On top of this came a rap at the door, and in walked the Fairy Godmother, who, by a touch of her wand upon Cinderella’sclothes, made them still more magnificent than they had been before.