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io8 CINDERELLA. |
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lie on, and when the weather was cold she would creep into the ashes on the warm hearth, and get so black and smutty that they gave her the name of Cinderella.
It happened one day that the father was going to a fair and he asked his two step-daughters what he should bring back for them as a present.
"A beautiful dress," said the eldest; "a pearl necklace," ?aid her sister.
"And, Cinderella," asked her father, "what will you have?"
" Father," she replied, " please bring me the first twig that strikes your hat on your way home."
So the father bought for his step-daughters a beautiful dress and a pearl necklace, and, as he was returning home, he rode through a shrubbery, where the green bushes clustered thickly around him, and a hazel twig stretching across his path struck his hat. Then he stopped, broke off the twig, and carried it home with him.
As soon as he reached the house he gave his step-daughters the presents they had wished for, and to Cinderella the hazel twig froiD the hazel bush. She thanked him for it even more than her sisters had done for their beautiful presents, and went out immediately to her mother's grave, where she planted the hazel twig and wept over it so much that her tears fell and softened the earth.
The twig grew and became a beautiful tree, and Cinderella went three times every day to pray and weep at the grave ; and on each visit a little white bird would perch on the tree, and when she expressed a wish, the bird would throw down whatever she wished for.
After a time the king of the country gave a grand ball, which was to continue for three days. All the beautiful young ladies in the land were invited to this ball, so that the king's son might make choice of a bride from amongst them.
The two step-sisters, when they heard that they were invited, knew not how to contain themselves for joy. They called Cinderella in haste and said, " Come and dress our hair and trim our shoes with gold buckles, for we are going to the ball at the king's palace."
"When Cinderella heard this she began to cry, for she was fond of dancing and she wanted to go with her step-sisters, so she went to her step-mother and begged to be allowed to accompany them.
" You, Cinderella!" cried her step-mother, " so covered with |
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