The minutes flew by. Finally the big clock in the hall struck twelve. Down the steps she flew, but it was too late. In her haste she lost a slipper on the steps which was picked up by the prince. As she ran her lovely clothes were again rags.
She walked home but was very tired when she reached there and sat in the cinders and cried. When her sisters came home they could talk of nothing but the beautiful maiden who came to the ball and danced with the prince.
The prince was very unhappy because he could not find the beautiful maiden. He kept the glass slipper and traveled the land over trying to find whose foot it fitted. The ugly sisters tried it on but it was entirely too small.
At last Cinderella spoke up and said, “Let me try on the slipper.” The sisters laughed at her, but the prince insisted that she be allowed to try. When the slipper was put on her foot it fitted exactly. The prince then said, “You are the princess for whom I am looking.” And so they were married and lived together in the great castle.
THE THREE LUCKY SONS
It matters little what we have to start with, the great thing to consider is what we shall do with it.
Once upon a time a man called his three sons to him and said: “My sons, I am getting old and cannot long be with you; I have no gold, nor lands, nor houses to give you, but you shall have what I have left.” So he gave one a cock, one a scythe, and one a cat. The oldest son took the cock and started out on his travels. Soon he came to a place where nobody had ever seen a cock.
“What can he do?” they all asked. The oldest son told them the cock would crow at certain hours, and was as good as a clock. He would call everybody an hour before sunrise, and if he crew in the daytime the weather would change.
All the people admired the cock and lay awake at night to hear him crow. The next day they asked what the cock was worth.