CINDERELLA AND THE VISITING PRINCE

Once upon a time, in a faraway place, there was a very strange country. I don’t mean that the country itself was strange – It was the people who lived there who were strange. The women all had teeny tiny little feet. Their feet were so small they could hardly stand up. 

From the time they started school, these girls had had to wear shoes that were too small.  And of course their feet couldn’t really grow. When they grew up, their feet were so small they could hardly walk. Instead, they kind of hobbled around. They couldn’t even stand up without holding on to someone or something. The result was that these women often needed a big strong man to be there for them to lean on. 

The strangest thing of all was that the women actually liked it that way! They liked men being so solicitous about their well-being. The men in this country were just as strange as the women. They actually liked having women leaning on them all the time. It made them feel big, and strong, and important. 

If a man ever felt nervous or inferior, he would find a woman somewhere who was wobbling around all by herself. He would then rush up to help her. That enabled him to forget all about how nervous he was feeling about himself. And the woman would think he was wonderful. 

So the women all continued to grow teeny tiny little feet so the men could all feel important. 

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But there was one girl in one family who was different. Her name was Cinderella. Cinderella’s mother had died when Cinderella was just a little girl. A few years later, her father married a woman who had two daughters of her own. None of them were nice to Cinderella. 

Shortly after that, Cinderella’s father died. The mean old step-mother continued to dote on her own daughters, and treated Cinderella very badly. She made her do all the work around the house. She never gave her anything nice. She never told her she loved her and appreciated her. 

But worst of all, the wicked step-mother would not let Cinderella wear those tiny little shoes that would make her feet small and dainty! She thought that if Cinderella’s feet were huge and ugly, no man would ever want to marry her. She would have to stay right there at home for the rest of her life, and continue to do the housework for everybody else. 

So the two step-sisters grew up like all the other girls, and poor Cinderella grew up to be very different. Everyone else thought her feet were huge, but in fact, they were just normal.  Even so, the step-sisters laughed at her and made fun of her. They told her that no man would ever want to go out with her or marry her. 

One day, the king and queen gave a great party for a visiting prince from another country.  The prince was looking for a bride who would live with him in his own country. All the young women in the whole country were invited to the ball. 

Cinderella, of course, didn’t even think about going, but she did help her two step-sisters get ready. 

When they were gone, her fairy godmother appeared and made it possible for Cinderella to go to the ball also, with a beautiful dress, coach and helpers. 

When she walked in to the ballroom, everyone stopped and looked at her. She looked different from everyone else at the whole ball! She was dressed nicely, of course, but the amazing thing was that she was smiling! You see, the other girls in that country didn’t smile very much. Walking on those tiny feet made their feet sore. So the girls were irritable and fussy most of the time, and didn’t smile very much. 

But Cinderella had big normal feet. It didn’t hurt her to walk, so she smiled easily. 

Cinderella also walked funny. At least, her walk was different from that of the other girls. She didn’t wobble. She didn’t need someone else to lean on. She could stand up all by herself.  She was certainly different from all the other young women! 

None of the native men who were there wanted to dance with Cinderella. They wanted to dance with women who made them feel important, and Cinderella didn’t look like she needed anybody. 

But the visiting prince had been dancing all evening with irritable wobbling women, and he hated it. When he saw Cinderella walk so confidently, he rushed up to her, and they danced together for all the rest of the evening. 

Suddenly, the clock struck twelve, and Cinderella remembered the fairy godmother’s instructions. She ran so fast from the ball that one of her slippers fell off on the front steps. 

This was not a glass slipper! Who ever heard of such nonsense?! It was made of soft comfortable leather that made her feet feel good. 

The next day, the prince sent his squires throughout the country to find the young woman whose feet were big enough to fit the slipper. Finally they came to Cinderella’s house and discovered that she was the mysterious guest. 

The prince was delighted to find her, and that very afternoon, they got out of that crazy place.  Eventually they married, and had a reasonably happy life together. Like any other couple, there were issues now and then – but none of those issues involved Cinderella feeling inferior.