Cinderella #68 (1938)

Illustrated by Farnham, N. & Royt, M.

“Once upon a time, there was a girl called Cinderella.  Not many people could see that Cinderella was beautiful, for her clothes were ragged and dirty. She did not have any good times, for she had to work hard all day long. Cinderella had no mother.  She had only two ugly stepsisters.  The stepsisters were not kind to Cinderella.  They were often angry with her, and they made her do all the work.” They would not even let her have a proper chair to sit on. Instead, they made her sit right down among the cinders and ashes. “They called her a cinder girl.  That is how they came to give her the name of Cinderella.”  One day, the stepsisters were invited to a ball given by a prince.  Cinderella was not invited.  The night of the party came and the ugly stepsisters put on their fanciest dresses.  “They were still ugly, but the beautiful clothes made them feel very fine.”  When Cinderella said that she wished she could go to, they laughed and laughed at her in a very rude way. “When they had gone, Cinderella went back to her chimney corner.  She thought how fine it would be to go to the ball. She began to cry. Just then a voice said to her, ‘Why are you crying, my chiid?’ Cinderella looked up and saw a queer little old woman with a high hat on her head and a long cloak about her. ‘Who are you?’ asked Cinderella.  ‘I am your fairy godmother,’ said the queer little old woman.  ‘Tell me why you are cyring.”  When Cinderella told her fairy godmother that she wanted to go and dance at the ball, the fairy said, ‘You shall go.  But first you must have a coach to ride in.  Can we get a pumpkin in the garden? ‘ ‘Oh yes, Godmother, ‘ said Cinderella, as she ran into the garden.  ‘Here is a great big pumpkin.’ The fairy godmother “touched it with her wand.  At once the pumpkin was gone, and in its place there stood a fine golden coach. ‘Now, Cinderella,’ said the fairy godmother, ‘bring me the mousetrap.”  So Cinderella got it for her and they let the mice out.  They were soon turned into “six white horses to pull Cinderella’s coach.”  Next was a big rat from the rattrap.  As it ran out, the old woman tapped it with her wand, and “at once he was turned into a fat coachman.”  The coach and the white horses were ready, but Cinderella was not happy.  “She thought that a girl in rags could never ride in this fine coach.  The fairy godmother looked at Cinderella, too.  Then she touched Cinderella with her wand.  At once the rags were gone.  There stood Cinderella in a beautiful dress of soft white.  On her feet were little slippers made of glass.”  Now the fairy godmother told her to have fun at the ball, but that there was one thing Cinderella must do. “You must come home before twelve o’clock.  At twelve o’clock your coach will change back into a pumpkin, your horses will change into mice, and your coachman will change into a rat!  At twelve o’clock your beautiful dress will change into rags.”  Cinderella promised that she would come back before twelve o’clock. She thanked her fairy godmother for helping her get to the ball. Then “Cinderella said good-by to her fairy godmother and was off to the palace.  The sat in the coach in her soft white dress with the glass slippers on her feet.  The coachman  sat up in front, and the six white horses pulled the coach right to the palace door.”  The guard at the palace ran to tell the King, “There is a beautiful princess at the door in a coach of gold!”  The King’s son himself came to the door.  He gave Cinderella his hand and helped her out of the coach.  He took her in to the ball.”  Inside, everyone said, “ She is the most beautiful princess I have ever seen.”   Cinderella saw her two stepsisters but they did not see her.  The King’s son “asked her to dance again and again.  He would not dance with anyone but Cinderella.”  When the clock struck eleven, Cinderella remembered her promise to her fairy godmother. “So she told the king’s son good-by and got into her coach.”  At home, she told all about the ball and told her fairy godmother, “The prince is having another ball tomorrow night. He has asked me to come.’ ‘Yes, you shall go,’ said the fairy godmother.  ‘You shall wear a beautiful dress and the beautiful slippers.  But you must get home before twelve o’clock.”  Cinderella promised. “When the stepsisters came home from the ball, the fairy godmother was gone.  They found Cinderella in the chimney corner in her rags.”  They told Cinderella that a princess had come to the ball, and danced all night with the prince. “But a ragged cinder girl like you would not even know how beautiful a princess can look!” The next night, everything happened as before.  As soon as the ugly stepsisters had gone, the fairy godmother appeared.  She changed another pumpkin into a coach, six more mice into horses, and another fat rat into a coachman. “The King’s son met Cinderella at the door of the palace.  He thought that she was the most beautiful princess he had ever seen.”  They danced all evening long.  Cinderella “was having such a good time that she did not look at the clock.  She did not hear the clock strike ten. She did not hear the clock strike eleven.  Then the clock began to strike twelve.  One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve!” Cinderella had to run and the prince ran after her.  But he could not catch her.   “Down the stairs ran Cinderella.  She ran so fast that she lost one of her little glass slippers.” But it was too late. When she got outside, her coach was gone.  Her horses were gone.  The coachman was gone.  She looked at her dress and saw that it had changed back into rags.  She still had one glass slipper.  She ran home.  “The next day the King’s son called the soldiers.  ‘You must find my beautiful princess,’ he said.  ‘I will make her my wife, and she shall live in my palace forever.  Take this little glass slipper.  Have every girl in the land try it on.  The that the slipper fits will be my wife.  Take the slipper and find her.  Then bring her to the palace.” The soldiers walked all over the land looking for the princess.  When they came to Cinderella’s house, “the stepsisters sat down to put on the slipper.  But their feet were much too big. Cinderella in her rags looked on.  ‘Le me put on the slipper.’ The stepsisters told the soldiers that she was only a cinder girl, and they told Cinderella to go away. But “the soldiers looked at Cinderella and they looked at the slipper.  ‘Put it on if you can.’ they told her.  Cinderella sat down in the chimney corner.  She put the little glass slipper on her foot.  ‘It fits!’cried the soldiers. ‘The slipper fits Cinderella!”.  And then Cinderella put on the other glass slipper.  “You are the beautiful princess!’ said the soldiers. ‘Come with us to the palace!’  Just then the fairy godmother came in. She touched Cinderella with her wand.  At once Cinderella’s rags were turned into a beautiful dress.”  Now everyone said that Cinderella was the loveliest girl they had ever seen.  “Cinderella went to the palace, and the prince made her his wife.  Cinderella was as good as she was beautiful.  So she let the stepsisters come and live in the palace too.” 

From The Wonder-Story Books Reading Foundation Program.  Huber, M.B, Salisbury, F.S, & O’Donnell M. (1938) After the Sun Sets. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson and Company 

Notes: This book is long out of print.  I found it at the Berkeley Public Library book shop, and paid $1.50 for it. Other stories included in the book are: Aiken-Drum, the Brownie, Pat and the Fairies, Change About, Snow-White and Rose-Red, and Snip the Tailor. For vintage fairy tales try:Cinderella (Vintage 1982 Whitman edition), or Favourite Goodnight Stories ; Vintage Three Bears, Cinderella, Gingerbread Man, Puss in Boots, Elves & Shoemaker. 

Montessori Connection 6-9: Number Words

1. Read Cinderella and look for the part where the clock is striking twelve.

2. Make a booklet with 12 pages.

3. On each page, write the number and then spell it.  

4. Draw a picture for each page. You can draw 1 princess, 2 shoes, etc. 

Montessori Connection 9-12: American History Timeline

1. Read this Cinderella story. 

2. It was in a book that helped children learn how to read in the year 1938.  

3. Make a timeline of the 20th century.  Mark 1900 at one end, and 2000 at the other end. 

4. You can mark inventions, the years that famous people were born, or other things that interest you. 

5.You can show Maria Montessori, 1915, comes to San Francisco, CA as part of the Pan-Pacific Exposition. 

6. Find something else that was happening in 1938.

7. Find out what year your grandparents were born in, and add it to the timeline.