Cinderella and the Three Enchanted Gifts Part 1

Once upon a time, Cinderella lived a quiet and happy life with her mother and father.

Their home was not a palace, nor were they especially wealthy, but it was filled with laughter, kindness and Love.

Then Cinderella's mother died.

For a long while, her father was heartbroken. Eventually, believing his Daughter needed a mother in her life, he married again.

Unfortunately, his new wife was a cold and cruel woman who brought her two equally unpleasant sons to live with them.

Cinderella's two new stepbrothers were lazy, selfish young men who quickly discovered that they could order Cinderella around.

"Wash my shirt!"

"Clean my boots!"

"Make my breakfast!"

Their mother encouraged them.

Before long, Cinderella was doing almost everything in the house.

Then tragedy struck again.

Cinderella's father died suddenly under mysterious circumstances.

With him gone, her stepmother took complete control of the household.

Cinderella became little more than a servant in what should have been her own home.

One cold morning, Cinderella was on her hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor when there came a knock at the door.

An elderly travelling peddler stood outside, carrying a large wooden box.

"Ribbons! Buttons! Needles! Pegs!" she called. "All the little things a household needs!"

"I'm sorry," Cinderella said. "I haven't a penny."

The old woman smiled.

"Then I shall be on my way."

Cinderella noticed how tired and cold she looked.

"Wait," she said. "I cannot buy anything, but you're welcome to warm yourself by the fire. I can give you a cup of tea and some bread."

The peddler looked surprised.

Cinderella had almost nothing, yet she was willing to share what she had.

They sat together beside the kitchen fire, drinking weak tea and eating dry bread.

Afterwards, the old woman reached across the table.

"Give me your hand."

Cinderella hesitated before holding it out.

The peddler studied her palm.

"I see sadness behind you," she whispered. "But happiness ahead. One day, Cinderella, you will have wealth, a family and someone who loves you with all his heart."

Cinderella smiled politely.

She didn't believe a word of it.

The old woman noticed.

"You don't believe in fortune-telling?"

"I believe in magic," Cinderella admitted. "I'm simply not certain that magic believes in me."

The old woman's eyes twinkled.

"Oh, child. Magic has been watching you for a very long time."

She opened her wooden box and removed two round pink buttons.

"Secretly sew these inside your stepbrothers' shirts. They will make those two considerably more helpful around the house."

Then she produced a beautiful golden ribbon.

"And the next time your stepmother orders you to arrange her hair, tie this ribbon into it."

"What will it do?"

The old woman smiled mysteriously.

"It will reveal the creature hiding inside her."

Before Cinderella could ask what that meant, the peddler gathered her things and disappeared down the road.

That evening, Cinderella secretly sewed a pink button inside each stepbrother's favourite shirt.

The following morning, they put them on.

Almost immediately, something extraordinary happened.

Both brothers began to change.

Their rough features softened. Their hair grew long, their figures transformed, and even their clothes magically reshaped themselves until two bewildered young women in neat maid uniforms stood in the bedroom.

But the buttons had changed more than their appearances.

For the first time in their lives, they felt an overwhelming desire to be useful.

One grabbed a broom.

The other rushed towards the kitchen.

"We haven't cleaned the windows!"

"And the breakfast isn't ready!"

Cinderella stared in amazement.

Within an hour, the floors were polished, the beds were made, the washing hung outside, and a hot breakfast waited on the table.

Cinderella couldn't help smiling.

The old peddler had certainly kept her promise.

But the golden ribbon was even more powerful.

A few days later, her stepmother sat before her dressing table.

"Cinderella! Come and braid my hair!"

"Yes, Stepmother."

Cinderella carefully brushed the woman's hair before tying the golden ribbon.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Then—

POOF!

The chair was suddenly empty.

Sitting amongst the stepmother's discarded clothes was a plump ginger cat wearing the golden ribbon around its neck.

"MEOW!"

Cinderella stared.

The cat stared back.

Then Cinderella remembered the peddler's words.

It will reveal the creature hiding inside her.

Cinderella burst out laughing.

Without her stepmother controlling the household, the truth about Cinderella's father's property was finally discovered.

The house, land and money had rightfully been left to Cinderella.

At last, everything that should have been hers was returned to her.

Her former stepbrothers remained transformed and, thanks to the enchanted buttons, became the household servants. Cinderella made certain they experienced plenty of the hard work they had once forced upon her.

As for the ginger cat, Cinderella kept her too.

Life became peaceful again.

Then, one winter, Cinderella received an invitation to a magnificent royal ball.

There were no pumpkins, no glass slippers and no midnight deadline.

Cinderella simply put on her finest dress and went.

There she met the prince.

They danced once.

Then twice.

Then again and again until neither noticed that almost everyone else had left the ballroom.

By morning, Cinderella remembered the old peddler's prophecy.

One day you will have wealth, a family and someone who loves you with all his heart.

The following year, Cinderella married the prince.

When she moved into the castle, she brought her unusual household with her—including her servants and one particularly bad-tempered ginger cat wearing a golden ribbon.

The servants discovered that castle life involved a great deal of sweeping, polishing, washing and cooking.

The cat discovered that nobody would provide luxurious dinners for her either.

"If you're hungry," Cinderella told her, pointing towards the castle cellar, "I hear we have plenty of mice."

"MEOW!"

Years passed.

Cinderella and her prince had six children and grew old together.

She never again knew hunger, loneliness or cruelty.

Yet sometimes, sitting beside the great fireplace with her children and grandchildren around her, Cinderella remembered the mysterious old peddler who had appeared at her kitchen door when she had nothing in the world except a little tea, some dry bread and a kind heart.

Cinderella never discovered who the old woman really was.

A witch?

A fairy?

Or perhaps someone who simply believed that kindness should occasionally be rewarded with a little magic.

Whatever the truth, Cinderella never forgot the lesson she had learned that morning:

Kindness costs very little—but sometimes it can change an entire life.

And Cinderella lived happily ever after.

Her servants and her ginger cat?

Well...

That is another story.