Cinderella (Brothers Grimm)
Short summary
A fairy-tale kingdom, medieval times. A rich man's daughter promised her dying mother to remain good and pious. After her mother died, her father remarried a woman with two beautiful but cruel daughters. They forced the girl to work as a servant and sleep by the fireplace, calling her Cinderella.
When her father went to a fair, Cinderella asked for a hazel branch, which she planted on her mother's grave. It grew into a tree where a white bird granted her wishes. The king held a three-day festival for his son to choose a bride. The stepmother made Cinderella pick lentils from ashes before she could attend, but birds helped her complete the impossible task. Still refused permission, Cinderella went to the tree where the bird gave her golden dresses. She danced only with the prince but fled each evening. On the third night, the prince spread pitch on the stairs, catching her golden slipper.
The stepsisters mutilated their feet trying to fit the slipper, but birds revealed their deception. When Cinderella tried it on, the shoe fit perfectly.
That is the true bride! ...took Cinderella on his horse and rode away with her.
At the wedding, doves pecked out the stepsisters' eyes as punishment for their wickedness.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Mothers death and the cruel stepfamily
A rich man's wife fell gravely ill and, sensing her approaching death, called her only daughter to her bedside. She gave her final blessing, telling the child:
Dear child, be good and pious, and then the good God will always protect thee, and I will look down on thee from heaven and be near thee.
After her mother's death, the maiden visited the grave daily, weeping and remaining pious and good. When winter passed and spring returned, the man took a second wife. The new stepmother brought two daughters of her own into the household.
The hazel tree and the royal festival
The stepsisters were beautiful in appearance but cruel in heart. They forced the maiden into servitude, mocking her and making her work from dawn to dusk. They took away her fine clothes, dressed her in rags, and gave her wooden shoes.
Because she always looked dusty and dirty from sleeping in the ashes by the fireside, they called her Cinderella. When her father went to the fair, he asked what gifts his daughters wanted. The stepsisters requested beautiful dresses and jewels, but Cinderella asked only for the first branch that knocked against his hat on the way home.
The first ball and magical transformation
The father brought back the requested gifts, giving Cinderella a hazel branch. She planted it on her mother's grave, watered it with her tears, and it grew into a beautiful tree. Three times daily, she sat beneath it and prayed, and a white bird would grant her wishes. When the King announced a three-day festival for his son to choose a bride, the stepsisters prepared eagerly.
Cinderella begged to attend, but her stepmother set an impossible task: sorting lentils from ashes in two hours. Cinderella called upon the birds for help, and they quickly completed the task. However, the stepmother refused her again, setting an even harder challenge of sorting two dishes in one hour. Though the birds helped again, the stepmother still denied her permission, leaving with her daughters for the festival.
The second ball and escape to the pear tree
Alone, Cinderella went to her mother's grave and called to the hazel tree:
Shiver and quiver, little tree,
Silver and gold throw down over me.
The bird threw down a magnificent gold and silver dress with silk slippers. At the festival, no one recognized her, believing her to be a foreign princess. The prince danced only with her, refusing all other partners. When evening came and she wished to leave, he followed her, but she escaped into the pigeon-house. The prince waited for her father and told him about the mysterious maiden, but when they broke open the pigeon-house, no one was inside.
On the second night, Cinderella received an even more beautiful dress. Again, the prince danced with no one else, but when she tried to leave, he followed her. This time she escaped by climbing a pear tree in the garden behind the house, moving so nimbly that the prince lost sight of her. When her father cut down the tree at the prince's request, she was nowhere to be found.
The third ball and the golden slipper
On the third night, the bird provided the most splendid dress yet, along with golden slippers. At the festival, everyone was speechless with astonishment at her beauty. The prince danced with her exclusively, and when evening came, he was determined not to lose her again. He had used a clever stratagem, covering the palace stairs with pitch. As Cinderella fled, her left golden slipper stuck fast to the pitch. The prince retrieved it and declared that only the woman whose foot fit this slipper would become his wife.
Meanwhile, Cinderella had returned home, given her beautiful clothes back to the bird, and resumed her place among the ashes in her gray gown, with only a dim oil lamp burning on the mantelpiece when her family returned.
The slipper test and deception of the stepsisters
The next morning, the prince arrived with the golden slipper. The stepsisters were delighted, believing they could easily fit into it. The eldest tried first, but her big toe was too large. Her mother handed her a knife, saying she would have no need to walk once she became queen. The maiden cut off her toe, forced her foot into the shoe, and went to the prince. However, as they rode past the hazel tree, two pigeons warned him of the deception, revealing the blood in the shoe. He returned the false bride and demanded the other sister try.
Recognition, wedding, and justice
The second sister's toes fit, but her heel was too large. She too cut off part of her foot, but the pigeons again revealed the deception. When the prince asked if there were any other daughters, the father mentioned only a kitchen-wench left by his late wife. Despite the stepmother's protests, the prince insisted on seeing her. Cinderella washed her hands and face, then tried on the slipper, which fit perfectly. The prince recognized her as his true bride.
As they rode away together, the white doves confirmed she was the true bride. At the wedding, the stepsisters tried to curry favor with Cinderella, but divine justice prevailed: the pigeons pecked out their eyes as punishment for their wickedness and falsehood, leaving them blind for life.