Once upon a time there was a man whose first wife had died, and so he married again. His new wife was very bad-tempered and she had daughters who took after her.

The man already had a daughter, and she was kind and gentle and beautiful. So the stepmother and her daughters were jealous of her, and soon they made her life as miserable as they could.

They gave her all the dirty work in the house. She scrubbed and dusted all day long while her new sisters sat around polishing their nails and looking at themselves in the mirror. At the end of the day huddled among the cinders by the chimney in the kitchen, trying to keep warm. The ugly sisters gave her the nickname “Cinderella”.

One day the king of the land gave a great ball for his son, the prince. The hansom prince was supposed to pick a bride, some people said.

“You have to curl our hair Cinderella” yelled the evil sisters. “If we are going to have a chance at the prince, you have to make us beautiful”. “If only I could go to the ball” Cinderella sighed while she was curling her sisters hair.

“What are you going to do at a ball? You are ugly and have no manners” said her sisters and laughed so ugly that she wanted du pull their hair. But when her sisters were mean to her she just continued with her work.  She had so much to do so she had no time to find a dress or get ready for the ball. When she realist that, she started to cry and ran up on her room.

When she got up on the room she got a big surprise. Her mice friends had made a dress for her with laces, silk bands, pearls and beautiful fabrics. It was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen. But when she got down in the hall her sisters saw her and said “What? Are you going to the ball”“Yes I am” said Cinderella with her little voice. Her sister started to laugh and destroyed her dress.

Eventually the sisters came up off the ball, and Cinderella was sitting alone by the fire with her little white cat. “you are the only friend I have in the world” she wept. But she was she wrong. She had forgotten her godmother, the good fairy who always looked after her. Suddenly the fairy stood in front of her, bathed in a bright, white light. "Why are you here and crying, Cinderella?" She asked gently. The magic wand sparkled in stardust where she held it high above her head. "Because I so dearly want to go to the ball" "I know what you want, my child. And that is why I came - to meet all your needs” Cinderella gasped as she stared horrified at the gleaming white creature. "Yes, now you finally get the reward because you've been so kind and patient, dear Cinderella" 

 Then the good fairy said "Go into the kitchen garden and pick a pumpkin." A pumpkin, thought Cinderella surprised. What should I do with it? Then she touched the pumpkin with her wand and said bibbeti bobbeti boo. To Cinderella's great surprise, it grew bigger and bigger, until it was a beautiful carriage. A carriage covered with silk bans and silver, and with the beautiful dark blue curtains for the windows" Such a carriage can only be a princess run in," said Cinderella. "But it must be good horses to pull it?" "Be patient, Little Cinderella, I am not finished yet. Go look for the mouse cage, where you will find what we need" 

In the cage there were six young mice. Cinderella let them out one by one, and the good fairy touched every little mouse head with a magic wand and said bibbeti bobbeti boo. The six gray mice were immediately turned into six white horses. 

"Such a great vehicle needs a talented driver," said the fairy. “Shall I see if there are rats in the rat trap?" Asked Cinderella. "Maybe you can make a rat into a coachman?" "I can do that," answered the fairy. Cinderella found three large rats in the trap and picked out the biggest and most impressive, which immediately turned into a really nice driver with uniforms with silver buttons and all. 

"We must have some lackeys as well. Go and get some frogs down by the pond, commanded the fairy,"they can probably be turned into some great lackeys" When cinderelle came back with the frogs the fairy touched their heads with her magic wand and said bibbeti bobbeti boo. And the most beautiful lackeys stood there. "See now everything is folded and ready," said the fairy, and was about to put down the Wand ... 

"But my dress?" said Cinderella. "I can`t go in this dress, my sisters destroyed it. And my stepsisters are dressed in their finest dress!" But suddenly her rags turned into the most beautiful dress, studded with sparkling beads, silk bands, laces and pearls.

"And here you get the very last gift," said the fairy, and handed her a pair of glass shoes. They were the most beautiful shoes Cinderella had ever seen. "But you must promise me one thing, Cinderella: You must be back here before the clock strikes twelve. Are you too late, the carriage turned into a pumpkin, the horses to gray mice, coachman to a rat and lackeys to frogs. "I promise, I promise," cried Cinderella. So she sat down in the fine carriage that brought her to the castle. 

As soon as the prince saw Cinderella, he hurried to welcome her. Never before had he seen anything so beautiful. "You shall be my special guest," he whispered tenderly in her ear. "I will not dance with anyone but you." 

"Who is she? Where does she come from? She must be a real princess from a far country" said the other guests. Even with her ugly stepsisters stared amazed at the unknown beauty. The orchestra stopped playing as Cinderella entered the ballroom, but they soon started again. Light as a feather Cinderella danced in the prince's arms. But not for a moment she forgot what the good fairy had said. When the clock turned eleven forty-five, she tore out of the prince's arms and ran down the palace stairs without looking back. In that moment the prince relist that he didn’t get her name. He ran after her but she was gone. But then he came over her glass shoe on the palace steps. "the girl who fits this shoe, will be my bride," he declared. 

The next day he asked all who belonged to the castle, if they had seen  the beautiful princess who had run away so suddenly. "We saw only a ragged poor girl who ran down the stairs," said one of the servants. "We also saw a huge, huge rat who disappeared into the woods," said another. The prince was unable to forget the beautiful girl with the glass shoes, and he continued to look for her. He commanded the pond to go around to all the houses in the city. They should let all the young girls to try the shoe. None were passed, said the prince. 

On all square and in all the streets read the royal servants, the prince's command. They did not go beyond a single house but they could not find a single girl who had such small feet that she got on her glass shoe. Finally they came to where Cinderella lived. Cinderella was commaned to hide away in the kitchen. Both of her sisters tried to squeeze their feet into the shoe. But their feet were too big to fit on the lovely little glass shoe. "Is there no more girls in this house?" Asked the king's servants. "only Cinderella," said one sister. "But she's just a simple servant girl, so she does not count." "Everyone must try the shoe," replied the servant, "go and get her immediately!"

Cinderella stretched out her little foot - and see! The shoe exactly fit! At that moment the good fairy appeared with her magic wand, and suddenly Cinderella was dressed in the most beautiful dress. Then the bad step sisters realist that it was Cinderella who had been the mysterious princess at the ball. And so kind and good as Cinderella was, she forgave her sisters for all the evil they had done to her. 

The royal servants brought Cinderella to the castle and straight into the arms of the prince who loved her so much. "Finally I found you." He cried happy. Finally, wedding bells rang for the two, there was happiness and joy throughout the country, and the prince and Cinderella lived happily ever after.