Lost & Found
Cinderella first washed dirt off her face and hands. She combed her hair neatly and adjusted her dirty rags as decently as she could. Then she slowly came down the steps and bowed before the prince.
The prince, though found her to be very good looking, could not recognize her, as her attire was entirely different from that of the ball.
When she asked why she was called out, the prince said, “Lady! As you know, 1 have been searching for an unknown lady who had left her shoe behind at the palace. I wish to trace who she is. You are the last one to try on the shoe. Please check if it fits you.”
With her heart pounding hard, Cinderella looked at her golden shoe that was handed over to her by the prince. When she looked at her mother and sisters, they had an amused look on their faces. They were hardly able to control their laughter, because the ladies were sure that the golden shoe could never fit their Cinder maid’s foot.
Slowly, Cinderella sat down on a stool and pulled her foot out of her old, wooden, worn-out shoe. She then placed her tender foot in to the golden shoe as the prince looked at it eagerly. To the prince’s delight, her foot slipped in to the shoe perfectly and looked as if it was made for her and her alone.
While her wicked stepmother and sisters looked at her in disbelief. The prince too couldn’t believe that she was the one he had been searching for and looked in to her face more intently.
When he was almost sure that she was the one, Cinderella got up from the stool and walked in to the kitchen passing the stunned family. She reached for the other shoe that she had hidden in the kitchen loft and came back with it.
Even more stunned to see another shoe in Cinderella’s hand, her stepmother and sisters could not believe that Cinderella was the beautiful princess they saw at the ball. Her mother’s face turned pale with horror and she just couldn’t imagine that her stepdaughter was the lucky one to become the future queen.
She stood there along with her daughters, dumbstruck. Cinderella, then gracefully put on both the shoes and stood before the prince with a smile, confirming that she was his bride. Just as they looked at each other, Cinderella’s Godmother, the fairy came in and touched her with the tip of her wand.
To everyone’s surprise, she was immediately clad in the richest and magnificent clothes they had ever seen and looked more beautiful than how she looked on the evenings of the ball. The prince, who could not believe his eyes, at once sprang towards her and took her hand in to his, as if he feared that she would go away again.
The stepmother and the sisters who by then realized that she was none but the fine, young princess whom they had admired endlessly in the ball, begged for her pardon immediately.
They fell at her feet and rendered apologies for treating her so awfully. But the kind and good-natured Cinderella nurtured no hard feelings for them and pardoned them even before they asked for-giveness. While she embraced them affectionately, she also told them that she had always loved them.
Now, the prince who was watching them all was not only bowled over by her beauty but also by her good nature too. He at once knew that she was his true companion who had all the qualities and grace to become the future queen of the kingdom.
Seeking the permission of Cinderella’s parents, the prince took her on his horse to introduce her to his parents, the King and the queen. As they rode on the horse happily towards the palace, the birds from the hazel tree flew to them and sang,
“Oh prince, Check this out
There is neither a toe nor a heel that’s cut.
The shoe is not too tight
This bride is true and right.”
The royal couple was only too happy that their son had found his right match and blessed them wholeheartedly. Cinderella who remained as humble as she was before, not only won the love of the royal couple but also her parents and sisters. The prince admired her more and more as ne came to know her virtues one after the other. After a few days, the Prince finally proposed to marry Cinderella, to which she readily agreed.