CINDERELLA

mg|HERE was once a gentleman, a CINDER.
i] widower, who took for his second ELLA
wife a lady who was a widow with
two daughters. He, for his part, had
a daughter by his first wife.
The second wife was extremely proud
and haughty in her demeanour, and
her two daughters had inherited their mother’s
qualities.
The gentleman’s daughter by his first wife was
most amiable and gentle, in which points she
resembled her own mother.
No sooner had the marriage taken place than
the ill-humour of the stepmother became manifest.
She became jealous of the good qualities in the
child, which made her own daughters appear by
contrast the more disagreeable. She put upon
her all the meanest tasks, and held her to them
with inexorable severity. The young girl had to
clean pots and pans, to scrub the floors and sweep
the steps. She was obliged to do all the servile
work of the house, and be as a slave to her half-
sisters. For a bed she was given an old straw
paillasse in an attic, where it was cold, and where
ran the rats, whereas her sisters occupied the best
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