{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_10830/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_10830","id":"gutenberg_10830","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10830","summary":null,"tags":["Category: British Literature","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales"],"text":"[Illustration]\n\n\nHEWET'S\n\nHOUSEHOLD STORIES\n\nFOR LITTLE FOLKS\n\nILLUSTRATED\n\nW. H. THWAITE\n\nENGRAVED BY THE BEST ARTISTS.\n\n\nVOL I.\n\nCINDERELLA\n\n\n\n1855\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Frontispiece]\n\n\n\n\nCINDERELLA;\n\nOr,\n\nTHE LITTLE GLASS SLIPPER.\n\n\nThere once lived a gentleman and his wife, who were the parents of a\nlovely little daughter.\n\nWhen this child was only nine years of age, her mother fell sick.\nFinding her death coming on, she called her child to her and said to\nher, \"My child, always be good; bear every thing that happens to you\nwith patience, and whatever evil and troubles you may suffer, you will\nbe happy in the end if you are so.\" Then the poor lady died, and her\ndaughter was full of great grief at the loss of a mother so good and\nkind.\n\nThe father too was unhappy, but he sought to get rid of his sorrow by\nmarrying another wife, and he looked out for some prudent lady who might\nbe a second mother to his child, and a companion to himself. His choice\nfell on a widow lady, of a proud and tyrannical temper, who had two\ndaughters by a former marriage, both as haughty and bad-tempered as\ntheir mother. No sooner was the wedding over, than the step-mother began\nto show her bad temper. She could not bear her step-daughter's good\nqualities, that only showed up her daughters' unamiable ones still more\nobviously, and she accordingly compelled the poor girl to do all the\ndrudgery of the household. It was she who washed the dishes, and\nscrubbed down the stairs, and polished the floors in my lady's chamber\nand in those of the two pert misses, her daughters; and while the latter\nslept on good feather beds in elegant rooms, furnished with full-length\nlooking-glasses, their sister lay in a wretched garret on an old straw\nmattress. Yet the poor thing bore this ill treatment very meekly, and\ndid not dare complain to her father, who thought so much of his wife\nthat he would only have scolded her.\n\nWhen her work was done, she used to sit in the chimney-corner amongst\nthe cinders, which had caused the nickname of _Cinderella_ to be given\nher by the family; yet, for all her shabby clothes, Cinderella was a\nhundred times prettier than her sisters, let them be dressed ever so\nmagnificently.\n\nThe poor little Cinder-wench! this harsh stepmother was a sore trial to\nher; and how often, as she sate sadly by herself, did she feel that\nthere is no mother like our own, the dear parent whose flesh and blood\nwe are, and who bears all our little cares and sorrows tenderly as in\nthe apple of her eye!\n\nIt happened that the king's son gave a ball, to which he invited all the\nnobility; and, as our two young ladies made a great figure in the world,\nthey were included in the list of invitations. So they began to be very\nbusy choosing what head-dress and which gown would be the most becoming.\nHere was fresh work for poor Cinderella: for it was she, forsooth, who\nwas to starch and get up their ruffles, and iron all their fine linen;\nand nothing but dress was talked about for days together. \"I,\" said the\neldest, \"shall put on my red velvet dress, with my point-lace\ntrimmings.\" \"And I,\" said the younger sister, \"shall wear my usual\npetticoat, but shall set it off with my gold brocaded train and my\ncirclet of diamonds.\"\n\n[Illustration: CINDERELLA DRESSING HER SISTER'S HAIR.]\n\nThey sent for a clever tire-woman to prepare the double rows of quilling\nfor their caps, and they purchased a quantity of fashionably cut\npatches. They called in Cinderella to take her advice, as she had such\ngood taste, and Cinderella not only advised them  well,  but offered to\ndress their hair, which they were pleased to accept. While she was thus\nbusied, the sisters said to her: \"And pray, Cinderella, would you like\nto go to the ball?\"\n\n\"Nay, you are mocking me,\" replied the poor girl; \"it is not for such as\nI to go to balls.\" \"True enough,\" rejoined they; \"folks would laugh to\nsee a Cinderella at a court ball.\"\n\nThese two step-sisters were very cruel to Cinderella, and ill-used her\nmuch. Ah! what sweet friends are our own born sisters!--there can be no\nsubstitutes like them in the whole wide world.\n\nAny other but Cinderella would have dressed their hair awry to punish\nthem for their impertinence, but she was so good-natured that she\ndressed them most becomingly. Although they disdained her, and while\nthey would themselves make a great figure in the world, sought to\ndegrade and lower her, see how the lovely disposition of Cinderella\nshines out. Although she was not allowed to go to the ball of the king's\nson, she not only advised them well how they could array themselves to\nappear to the best advantage, but she even--what greatness of heart to\ndo that!--with her own hands dresses their hair, and in the most\nbecoming manner her delicate taste can suggest.\n\nThe two sisters were so delighted, that they scarcely ate a morsel for a\ncouple of days. They spent their whole time before a looking-glass, and\nthey would be laced so tight, to make their waists as slender as\npossible, that more than a dozen stay-laces were broken in the attempt.\n\nThe long-wished-for evening came at last, and these proud misses stepped\ninto the carriage and drove away to the palace. Cinderella looked after\nthe coach as far as she could see, and then returned to the kitchen in\ntears; where, for the first time, she bewailed her hard and cruel\ndegradation. She continued sobbing in the corner of the chimney, until a\nrapping at the kitchen-door roused her, and she got up to see what had\noccasioned, it. She found a little old beggar-woman hobbling on\ncrutches, who besought her to give her some food. \"I have only part of\nmy own supper for you, Goody, which is no better than a dry crust. But\nif you like to step in and warm yourself, you can do so, and welcome.\"\n\"Thank you, my dear,\" said the old woman in a feeble, croaking voice.\nShe then hobbled in and took her seat by the fire.\n\n\"Hey! dearee me! what are all these tears, my child?\" said the old\nwoman. And then Cinderella told the old woman all her griefs; how her\nsisters had gone to the ball, and how she wished to go too, but had no\nclothes, or means to do so.\n\n\"But you _shall_ go, my darling,\" said the old woman, \"or I am not\nQueen of the Fa\u00ebries or your Godmother. Dry up your tears like a good\ngod-daughter and do as I bid you, and you shall have clothes and horses\nfiner than any one.\"\n\nCinderella had heard her father often talk of her godmother, and tell\nher that she was one of those good fa\u00ebries who protect children. Her\nspirits revived, and she wiped away her tears.\n\nThe fa\u00ebry took Cinderella by the hand, and said, \"Now, my dear, go into\nthe garden and fetch me a pumpkin.\" Cinderella bounded lightly to\nexecute her commands, and returned with one of the finest and largest\npumpkins she could meet with. It was as big as a beer barrel, and\nCinderella trundled it into the kitchen, wondering what her godmother\nwould do with it. Her godmother took the pumpkin, and scooped out the\ninside of it, leaving nothing but rind; she then struck it with her\nwand, and it instantly became one of the most elegant gilt carriages\never seen.\n\nShe next sent Cinderella into the pantry for the mouse-trap, bidding her\nbring six little mice alive which she would find in the trap. Cinderella\nhastened to the pantry, and there found the mice as the fa\u00ebry had said,\nwhich she brought to the old lady, who told her to lift up the door of\nthe trap but a little way and very gently, so that only one of the mice\nmight go out at a time.\n\nCinderella raised the mouse-trap door, and as the mice came out one by\none, the old woman touched them with her wand, and transformed them into\nfine prancing dapple-gray carriage horses with long manes and tails,\nwhich were tied up with light-blue ribands.\n\n\"Now, my dear good child,\" said the fa\u00ebry, \"here you have a coach and\nhorses, much handsomer than your sisters', to say the least of them; but\nas we have neither a postilion nor a coachman to take care of them, run\nquickly to the stable, where the rat-trap is placed, and bring it to\nme.\"\n\nCinderella was full of joy, and did not lose a moment; and soon returned\nwith the trap, in which there were two fine large rats. These, too, were\ntouched with the wand, and immediately the one was changed into a smart\npostilion, and the other into a jolly-looking coachman in full finery.\n\nHer godmother then said, \"My dear Cinderella, you must go to the garden\nagain before I can complete your equipage; when you get there, keep to\nthe right side, and close to the wall you will see the watering-pot\nstanding; look behind it, and there you will find six lizards, which you\nmust bring to me immediately.\"\n\nCinderella hastened to the garden as she was desired, and found the six\nlizards, which she put into her apron and brought to the fa\u00ebry. Another\ntouch of the wonderful wand soon converted them into six spruce footmen\nin dashing liveries, with powdered hair and pig-tails, three-cornered\ncocked hats and gold-headed canes, who immediately jumped up behind the\ncarriage as nimbly as if they had been footmen and nothing else all\ntheir lives.\n\nThe coachman and postilion having likewise taken their places, the fa\u00ebry\nsaid to Cinderella, \"Well, my dear girl, is not this as fine an equipage\nas you could desire to go to the ball with? Tell me, now, are you\npleased with it?\"\n\n\"O yes, dear godmother,\" replied Cinderella; and then, with a good deal\nof hesitation, added, \"but how can I make my appearance among so many\nfinely-dressed people in these mean-looking clothes?\"\n\n\"Give yourself no uneasiness about that, my dear; the most laborious\npart of our task is already accomplished, and it will be hard if I\ncannot make your dress correspond with your coach and servants.\"\n\nOn saying this, the old woman, assuming her character of Queen of the\nFa\u00ebries, touched Cinderella with the magic wand, and her clothes were\ninstantly changed into a most magnificent ball dress, ornamented with\nthe most costly jewels. The fa\u00ebry took from her pocket a beautiful pair\nof elastic glass slippers, which she caused Cinderella to put on, and\nthen desired her to get into the carriage with all expedition, as the\nball had already commenced.\n\nTwo footmen opened the carriage door, and assisted the now beautifully\ndressed Cinderella into it. Her godmother, before she took leave,\nstrictly charged her, on no account whatever to stay at the ball after\nthe clock had struck twelve; and then added, that if she stopped but a\nsingle moment beyond that time, her fine coach, horses, coachman,\npostilion, and footmen, and fine apparel, would all return to their\noriginal shapes of pumpkin, mice, rats, lizards, and mean-looking\nclothes.\n\nCinderella promised faithfully to attend to every thing that the fa\u00ebry\nhad mentioned; and then, quite overjoyed, gave the direction to the\nfootman, who bawled out in a loud and commanding tone to the coachman,\n\"To the Royal Palace.\" The coachman touched his prancing horses lightly\nwith his whip, and swiftly the carriage started off, and in a short time\nreached the palace.\n\n[ILLUSTRATION: CINDERELLA'S ARRIVAL AT THE PALACE IN HER ELEGANT GILT\nCARRIAGE, WHICH ATTRACTS GENERAL NOTICE AS IT DRIVES UP TO THE MARBLE\nPORTICO; OF WHICH INFORMATION IS COMMUNICATED TO THE PRINCE, WHO HASTENS\nTO THE DOOR AND WELCOMES CINDERELLA, HANDS HER OUT OF THE CARRIAGE, AND\nGRACEFULLY LEADS HER INTO THE PALACE, WHERE THE NOBLES WELCOME HER AS A\nPRINCESS.]\n\nThe arrival of so splendid an equipage as Cinderella's could not fail to\nattract general notice at the palace gates; and as it drove up to the\nmarble portico, the servants in great numbers came out to see it.\nInformation was quickly taken to the king's son, that a beautiful young\nlady, evidently some princess, was in waiting. His Royal Highness\nhastened to the door, welcomed Cinderella, and handed her out of the\ncarriage. He then led her gracefully into the ball-room, and introduced\nher to his father, the king. The moment she appeared, all conversation\nwas hushed, the violins ceased playing, and the dancing stopped short,\nso great was the sensation produced by the stranger's beauty. A confused\nmurmur of admiration fluttered through the crowd, and each was fain to\nexclaim, \"How surpassingly lovely she is!\" The ladies were all busy\nexamining her head-dress and her clothes, in order to get similar ones\nthe very next day, if, indeed, they could meet with stuffs of such rich\npatterns, and find workwomen clever enough to make them up. \"What a\nlovely creature! so fair!--so beautiful!--What a handsome figure!--how\nelegantly she is dressed!\" Even the prince's father, old as he was,\ncould not behold her with indifference, but wiped his eye-glass and used\nit very much, and said very often to the queen, that he had never seen\nso sweet a being.\n\n[Illustration: CINDERELLA IS PRESENTED BY THE PRINCE TO THE KING AND\nQUEEN, WHO WELCOME HER WITH THE HONORS DUE TO A GREAT PRINCESS, AND IS\nTHEN LED INTO THE ROYAL BALL-ROOM.]\n\nThe king's son handed Cinderella to one of the most distinguished seats\non the da\u00efs at the top of the Hall, and begged she would allow him to\nhand her some refreshments. Cinderella received them with great grace.\nWhen this was over, the prince requested to have the honour of dancing\nwith her. Cinderella smiled consent; and the delighted prince\nimmediately led her out to the head of the dance, just about to\ncommence. The eyes of the whole company were fixed upon the beautiful\npair.\n\nThe trumpets sounded and the music struck up, and the dance commenced;\nbut if Cinderella's beauty, elegant figure, and the splendor of her\ndress, had before drawn the attention of the whole room, the\nastonishment at her dancing was still greater.\n\nGracefulness seemed to play in all her motions; the airy lightness with\nwhich she floated along--as buoyant as thistle-down--drew forth a\ngeneral murmur of admiration. The hall rang with the loudest\nacclamations of applause, and the company, all in one voice, pronounced\nher the most elegant creature that had ever been seen. And this was the\nlittle girl who had passed a great part of her life in the kitchen, and\nhad always been called a \"Cinder-wench.\"\n\nWhen the dance was ended, a magnificent feast was served up, consisting\nof all delicacies: so much was the young prince engaged with Cinderella,\nthat he did not eat one morsel of the supper.\n\nCinderella drew near her sisters, and frequently spoke to them; and in\nher goodness of heart she offered them the delicacies which she had\nreceived from the prince:  but they did not know she was their sister.\n\nWhen Cinderella heard the clock strike three-quarters past eleven, she\nmade a low courtesy to the whole assembly and retired in haste.\n\nYou see how fortune befriends the good-hearted, and even out of such\nunpromising material as a pumpkin and mice, can make a coach and six,\nwith which to honor her worthy favorite. So Cinderella goes to the ball;\nbut to teach her to be diligent and faithful in her engagements, her\nfa\u00ebry godmother enjoins upon her that she return home at twelve. Native\nbeauty and grace attract the princely heart; and while the king's son\npays no heed to her pretentious sisters, he is all grace and\ncondescension to little Cinderella. Obedient to her engagement with her\ngodmother, she returns in all the splendor and honor of the coach and\nsix.\n\nOn reaching home, she found her godmother; and after thanking her for\nthe treat she had enjoyed, she ventured to express a wish to return to\nthe ball on the following evening, as the prince had requested her to\ndo.\n\nShe was still relating to her godmother all that had happened at court,\nwhen her two sisters knocked at the door. Cinderella went and let them\nin, pretending to yawn and stretch herself, and rub her eyes, and\nsaying, \"How late you are!\" just as if she was waked up out of a nap,\nthough, truth to say, she had never felt less disposed to sleep in her\nlife. \"If you had been to the ball,\" said one of the sisters, \"you would\nnot have thought it late. There came the most beautiful princess ever\nseen, who loaded us with polite attentions, and gave us oranges and\ncitrons.\"\n\nCinderella could scarcely contain her delight, and inquired the name of\nthe princess. But they replied that nobody knew her name, and that the\nking's son was in great trouble about her, and would give the world to\nknow who she could be. \"Is she, then, so very beautiful?\" said\nCinderella, smiling. \"Oh, my! how I should like to see her! Oh, do, my\nLady Javotte, lend me the yellow dress you wear every day, that I may go\nto the ball and have a peep at this wonderful princess.\" \"A likely\nstory, indeed!\" cried Javotte, tossing her head disdainfully, \"that I\nshould lend my clothes to a dirty Cinderella like you!\"\n\nCinderella expected to be refused, and was not sorry for it, as she\nwould have been puzzled what to do, had her sister really lent her the\ndress she begged to have.\n\nOn the following evening the sisters again went to the  court ball, and\nso did Cinderella, dressed even more magnificently than before. The\nking's son never left her side, and kept paying her the most flattering\nattentions. The young lady was nothing loth to listen to him; so it came\nto pass that she forgot her godmother's injunctions, and, indeed, lost\nher reckoning so completely, that before she deemed it could be eleven\no'clock, she was startled at hearing the first stroke of midnight. She\nrose hastily, and flew away like a startled fawn. The prince attempted\nto follow her, but she was too swift for him; only, as she flew she\ndropped one of her glass slippers, which he picked up very eagerly.\nCinderella reached home quite out of breath, without either coach or\nfootmen, and with only her shabby clothes on her back; nothing, in\nshort, remained of her recent magnificence, save a little glass slipper,\nthe fellow to the one she had lost.\n\n[Illustration: CINDERELLA DANCING WITH THE PRINCE IS ADMIRED FOR HER\nGRACEFULNESS. THE CLOCK STRIKES TWELVE: SHE HAVING FORGOT HER\nGOD-MOTHER'S INSTRUCTIONS, IS ALARMED, FLIES OUT OF THE BALL-ROOM--HER\nGORGEOUS APPAREL IS CHANGED INTO THE DRESS OF A CINDER-WENCH, AND HER\nSPLENDID EQUIPAGE INTO A PUMPKIN, RATS, MICE AND LIZARDS.]\n\nThe sentinels at the palace gate were closely questioned as to whether\nthey had not seen a princess coming out; but they answered they had seen\nno one except a shabbily dressed girl, who appeared to be a peasant\nrather than a young lady.\n\nOn this second night, as you have taken notice, dazzled by worldly show\nand the pleasing flattery of her royal lover, Cinderella over-stays her\ntime, and is compelled to make her way back to her father's house on\nfoot and in rags--an everlasting lesson to all the pretty little\nCinderellas in the world to keep their word, and to act in good faith by\nsuch as befriend them. Never mind--her heart is in the right place--she\nis a charming good creature; and although virtue goes home in rags, it\nwill leave some token behind--some foot-print by which it can be known\nand traced wherever it has once walked. We shall hear from that little\nlost glass slipper again!\n\n[Illustration: CINDERELLA RETURNED SHABBILY DRESSED.]\n\nWhen the two sisters returned from the ball, Cinderella asked them\nwhether they had been well entertained; and whether the beautiful lady\nwas there? They replied, that she was; but that she had run away as soon\nas midnight had struck, and so quickly as to drop one of her dainty\nglass slippers, which the king's son had picked up, and was looking at\nmost fondly during the remainder of the ball; indeed, it seemed beyond a\ndoubt that he was deeply enamored of the beautiful creature to whom it\nbelonged.\n\nThey spoke truly enough; for, a few days afterwards, the king's son\ncaused a proclamation to be made, by sound of trumpet all over the\nkingdom, to the effect that he would marry her whose foot should be\nfound to fit the slipper exactly. So the slipper was first tried on by\nall the princesses; then by all the duchesses; and next by all the\npersons belonging to the court; but in vain. It was then carried to the\ntwo sisters, who tried with all their might to force their feet into its\ndelicate proportions, but with no better success. Cinderella, who was\npresent, and recognized her slipper, now laughed, and said, \"Suppose I\nwere to try?\" Her sisters ridiculed such an idea; but the gentleman who\nwas appointed to try the slipper, having looked attentively at\nCinderella, and perceived how beautiful she was, said that it was but\nfair she should do so, as he had orders to try it on every young maiden\nin the kingdom. Accordingly, having requested Cinderella to sit down,\nshe no sooner put her little foot to the slipper, than she drew it on,\nand it fitted like wax. The sisters were quite amazed; but their\nastonishment increased tenfold when Cinderella drew the fellow slipper\nout of her pocket, and put it on. Her godmother then made her\nappearance; and, having touched Cinderella's clothes with her wand, made\nthem still more magnificent than those she had previously worn.\n\n[Illustration: THE HERALDS OF THE COURT ANNOUNCE THE PROCLAMATION THAT\nTHE PRINCE WOULD MARRY THE LADY WHOM THE GLASS SLIPPER FITTED.\nCINDERELLA TRIES ON THE SLIPPER, WHICH FITS HER DELICATE FOOT, TO THE\nGREAT ASTONISHMENT OF HER FAMILY.]\n\nHer two sisters now recognized her for the beautiful stranger they had\nseen at the ball; and, falling at her feet, implored her forgiveness for\ntheir unworthy treatment, and all the insults they had heaped upon her\nhead. Cinderella raised them, saying, as she embraced them, that she not\nonly forgave them with all her heart, but wished for their affection.\nShe was then taken to the palace of the young prince, in whose eyes she\nappeared yet more lovely than before, and who married her shortly after.\n\nCinderella, who was as good as she was beautiful, allowed her sisters to\nlodge in the palace, and gave them in marriage, that same day, to two\nlords belonging to the court.\n\n[Illustration: MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE AND CINDERELLA.]\n\nThe amiable qualities of Cinderella were as conspicuous after as they\nhad been before marriage.\n\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nThis series of FAIRY STORIES has for generations been listened to and\nread by Children with an inexpressible delight, which other books have\nfailed to afford them.\n\nThe extravagance of the Stories--the attractive manner of telling\nthem--the picturesque scenery described--the marvellous deeds\nrelated--the reward of virtue and punishment of vice, upon principles\nstrictly in accordance with ethical laws, as applied to the formation of\ncharacter, render them peculiarly adapted to induce children to acquire\na love for reading, and to aid them to cultivate the affections,\nsympathies, fancy, and imagination.\n\nThe principle, that good examples only should be imitated, has been lost\nsight of in the Pictorial embellishment of these standard Fairy Stories,\nupon the assumption that indifferent pictures are good enough to give\nfirst impressions of Art to Children. If this holds true then language\nand morals of a questionable cast will subserve the same ends; but the\nfallacy of this dogma  notwithstanding, no one upon reflection will\ndeny.\n\nThat this edition of these Stories may be more perfect than any other\nextant, the publisher has embellished it with exquisite specimens of\nhigh Pictorial Art, from which Children may derive those correct ideas\nthat will mature into the beautiful and grand.","title":"Cinderella","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":4091}