Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful girl named Cinderella. This is how her story began.
“Isn’t our daughter lovely?” said her father.
They were in the garden watching Cinderella playing. Her mother smiled affectionately. Despite her graceful smile, her face was as pale as a ghost. She knew that sooner or later she would have to leave her family that she loves forever but her husband refused to believe it. He was determined to find a cure for his beloved wife. He searched for the best doctor in the land but all was vain as no one could find a cure for her disease. She tried her best to look in the pink of health and cuddled at him. They sat in the garden together holding hands while Cinderella was chasing butterflies and giggling gleefully.
“Dear, if I were to…,” she tried to say something but he immediately put a finger on her pale lips.
“Don’t say that, you’ll be fine. Don’t give up darling. Trust me,” he stroked her hair as the wind blew her thin blonde hair.
She shook her head, “But when I do, please find a mother for Cinderella. I want her to feel a mother’s love even though I would not be there for her.”
“I’ll never do that. Please don’t force me to do something I don’t want.” She did not say another word after that.
Days passed by as Cinderella’s mother became weaker. She could not enjoy her daily leisure walking around the garden. She lay in bed most of the time looking out the window.
“Why are you smiling, mother?” Cinderella asked.
“Nothing in particular,” her mother smiled weakly. She caressed her daughter’s hair lovingly.
“I love you, mother,” Cinderella smiled.
It was a cold night when her mother said weakly,” Dear...”
“Please, please don’t go. I need you,” he cried. She held his hand and squeezed it gently.
“Find a mother for her,” she kept on saying. He finally nodded. She died on the night of December as the first snowflake fell upon the roof. Cinderella was despaired and became even more depressed when her father remarried. She felt betrayed and sad. She cried and cried all night until her voice were hoarse. Over a period of time, her lovely voice became hoarse and ugly whenever she sang.
Cinderella had a stepmother who was kind and beautiful. Her daughters, Drizella and Anastasia were no different from their mother. But Cinderella’s heart was conquered with so much hatred until there was no room for love. She envied her stepsisters even more as they did not have any difficulty in producing a lovely melody when they sing.
Soon after that, her father died. He was too depressed for the loss of his wife. He took his own life one night when everyone was asleep. Cinderella felt as lonely as ever. She sat in her room for days crying and forbid anyone to enter her room. Her mother did all she could to comfort her but Cinderella turned away. She hated her stepmother so much and blamed her for ruining their lives. Weeks passed. Cinderella finally accepted her life but she became a bad-tempered girl. She ordered her maids to do things out of their capability. She yelled at them, kicked at them and used inappropriate languages. Soon, all of the maids and butlers quit their jobs.
Cinderella made her stepmother and stepsisters as maids in the house. They followed her orders obediently.
“Your stepfather needs our help to take care of Cinderella. She is hurt inside,” their mother would remind them.
“But mother, she’s spoiled and arrogant. How will she ever change? She even moved us to stay in the attic. It’s not fair. Aren’t we family? “Anastasia grumbled while scrubbing the floor.
“She’ll realize it one day. Be patient,” Drizella answered.
“Why are you talking? Too much free time, is it?” Cinderella yelled from above the stairs.
Drizella and Anastasia did not dare to rise up their heads. They continued scrubbing the floor.
Cinderella tugged on Anastasia’s hair until she screamed in agony.
“That will teach you. Now get back to work. You haven’t mended my clothes yet,” she said and left.
Anastasia cried on Drizella’s lap as she consoled her. Yes, it was undeniable that Cinderella was beautiful but she was evil and wicked. Drizella continued to comfort her sister and sang a song they both loved. Among the two, Drizella had a lovely voice and a fair complexion. She was also kind towards everyone.
Meanwhile at the palace, the King was petrified and worried whether he would have a chance to see his only son got married. He longed for a grandchild and now was the perfect age for the prince to get married. Her late wife loved to sing and according to his perception, only a girl who had a voice so lovely was qualified for his son. The prince was a handsome hunk. He had a dark wavy hair and his eyes were deep turquoise. It was hard not to fall in love with the prince but he had no interest in any of the women he met. Like his father, he too wanted a girl that could do a duet with her.
“Hah! I have an idea!” The king suddenly had an epiphany in his meeting with his son. “We will have a singing competition and every eligible maiden must participate.”
And so, flyers and announcements were issued everywhere across the kingdom. Cinderella ran into the house jumping up and down, “Whoever wins the singing competition will get to marry the prince! “ Cinderella exclaimed.
“But you can’t sing!” Anastasia blurted out.
“Yes I can!” Cinderella shrieked and tried to sing but everyone knew she couldn’t. She stormed into her room and locked the door. She was dumbfounded. She wanted to marry the handsome prince, but how?
Suddenly, an odd-looking woman dressed in black that appeared out of nowhere was in front of Cinderella. The woman was tall and skinny and she had a weird scar on her saggy cheeks.
“Who are you, you ugly thing?” She looked at the woman in disgust.
“How dare you! I am your fairy godmother and I’m here to help you.”
“Huh!” She scoffed, “You look more like a witch to me. What can you possibly do?”
“Well, if you are questioning my abilities…” in an instant the witch-fairy godmother pulled up her sleeves and whispered something under her breath and poof! Cinderella transformed into a white rabbit. The nervous rabbit hopped up and down in panic. Her eyes pleaded for the fairy godmother to change her back.
“That will teach you a thing or two,” she laughed and transformed Cinderella to her own self.
“Oh my goodness. Oh, fairy godmother. Will you please help me,” Cinderella pleaded.
“That’s what I’m here for, my dear. Now listen closely. I have an idea that I think will just work. I’ll make Drizella invisible and she can sing while you mime her. She has a wonderful voice and….”
“What’s mime?” Cinderella interrupted.
“It is when you act like you are singing and another person sings for you. It’ll be popular in the 21st century. A lot of singers do it. For example, Britney Spears,” her godmother explained.
Cinderella nodded but she could not figure out why people would do such a thing and how her fairy godmother knew the future.
“Wait a minute, why can’t you just make mend my voice?” Cinderella asked.
“Oh, now would you look at the time. I must be going. But remember, you must sing before 12 o’clock. As the clock strikes 12 my spell will be broken.”
“Before 12! Can’t you upgrade your spell?” Cinderella asked but the fairy godmother ignored her and vanished.
On the day of the competition, Cinderella managed forcing Drizella to follow her fairy godmother’s plan. With Drizella invisible by her side, she went up for registration. There were hundreds of determined women signing up for the competition. Cinderella was the 180th.
Cinderella waited impatiently as one by one was rejected by the king. It was half past 11 when the 170th participant got into the room and ran out crying as she was rejected cruelly by King Simon Cowell. Cinderella was getting anxious as it was almost 12 o’clock. Suddenly, the fairy godmother came and cursed the nine participants into having diarrhoea. They ran to look for the toilet and fought to get inside as there were only three toilets available. They pushed and screamed to get into the ladies room.
Cinderella was called up. She ‘sang’ melodiously that made the king dazed in awe. Even the prince fell in love with the voice. Suddenly, the tower clock stroke 12 and Drizella suddenly re-appeared beside Cinderella. Shocked, Drizella ran out of the room as fast as she could. The prince did not know what happened but he was eager to see the beautiful girl that ran away. He did not know why but he had a feeling that she was the one singing. Meanwhile, the clueless king was dumbfounded as Cinderella ran away ashamed.
“Wait!” The prince called up but Drizella was too frightened to stop. She did not want to be punished by the king. She ran as fast as she could but dropped her slipper. Without the knowledge of Drizella, her jolly and plump fairy godmother appeared and put a spell on the slipper so that only she can fit it perfectly. Out of breath, the prince took the slipper and was the determined to marry the girl. The king agreed. He announced that whoever could fit the slipper would marry his son.
In some other dimension, Cinderella’s fairy godmother and Drizella’s were in a duel.
“You should not have interfered,” Cinderella’s fairy godmother yelled and threw a blast of fire towards her foe.
Drizella’s fairy godmother shielded herself with mountains of snow. The two fought using all the magic powers that they had. Drizella’s fairy godmother shot a special bullet made out of unicorn’s tail and stainless steel with a gun and killed Cinderella’s fairy godmother instantly.
Back in the real world, the prince finally arrived at Cinderella’s house. She locked up Anastasia and Drizella in their rooms; afraid that either one of them would speak the truth and spoil her plan.
“Good evening,” Cinderella pulled up her sweetest smile she could manage. The prince smiled back. His smile could make every maiden in town melt like butter. Without wasting any more time, she tried on the slipper but it could not fit her even though her foot size was similar to Drizella’s. Drizella’s fairy godmother arrived quickly after the battle and freed Drizella.
Disappointed, the prince was about to leave the house when Drizella called up.
“Wait your highness. Please! Can I try it on?” Drizella smiled shyly.
The prince slipped on the slipper on her and of course it fitted her perfectly.
“I knew it was you,” the prince smiled.
Drizella married the prince and lived happily ever after. But what happened to Cinderella? Well, there are no happy endings for evil and bad-tempered people. She will have to change her attitude and learn how to appreciate of what she has. Will she ever find her happily ever after? Well, that is a different tale to be told for another day because this is what really happened in “CINDERELLA”.
The end
