A Cinderella Story

Lady Tremaine loved her children, her two daughters, but she did not have much affection for children in general. Despite this dislike, she married her darling John Tremaine, as her love for him greatly overcame her distaste for children that were not her own.

This decision came to haunt Lady Tremaine when her dear John died. The sickness that took him was unexpected and sudden, and before the Lady could blink, she was at her John’s funeral, and was stuck with the responsibility of John’s detestable little daughter.

Ella, her name was, and she was a spoiled little thing, always asking for more than she needed and wanting to spend money on newer, nicer clothes. It was incredible how Ella was the same age as the Lady’s delightful daughters and yet was so much more spoiled and immature. While Lady Tremaine ignored this attitude with ease when John was alive, choosing to focus on her own lovely daughters, Lady Tremaine needed to watch the money now, and would not tolerate little Ella’s unnecessary requests.

She figured out the remedy to the child’s selfishness at the breakfast table one day, as she informed the serving girl that the porridge and eggs were unsatisfactory and needed to be completely re-done immediately. The serving girl, who could only be a few years older than Lady Tremaine’s own daughters and the dreadful little Ella, was appropriately polite and apologetic, and went to remake breakfast with no whining at all.

If only Ella was like that, the Lady had thought. Serving girls were always so polite. They took up no space at all, and were generally much less of a bother than other children were.

That was how her idea had started out, and very soon after the original realization had Ella in servants' clothing and assigned her to be the responsibility of one of the other serving girls. The surprising part was that Ella made a very good servant. She was timely and neat, and while Lady Tremaine would not admit it, an excellent cook.

As Ella became more efficient at her chores, and took on more duties, Lady Tremaine had another brilliant idea. While her dear John had left her with a very sizable amount of money, Lady Tremaine liked to cut costs whenever possible, to ensure her wonderful daughters fine clothes and food and whatever else they should desire. Paying servants to do household work was an expense she had previously determined to be necessary, as Lady Tremaine had a weak constitution and would be doing no chores, and her daughters were indeed much too young to be working. But now that little Ella was becoming so very efficient, why should Lady Tremaine keep a full paid staff?

Lady Tremaine was immensely proud of her brilliant idea, as now she didn’t have to pay any servants yet still didn’t have to do any housework. Ella—or Cinderella, as Lady Tremaine’s daughters had started calling the girl—was becoming much less spoiled as time passed, learning to be polite and follow instructions. She was not perfect, and still asked for incredibly unreasonable things every now and then, but her attitude was much improved.

The years passed, and Lady Tremaine’s beautiful daughters grew into truly amazing young women. They were of marrying age far too fast, in Lady Tremaine’s opinion. Cinderella had grown up rather well too, into a fine servant who was a wonderful addition to the household, so long as she held her tongue.

Lady Tremaine was very satisfied with her life. She and her daughters were rich enough, and soon they would be married off, hopefully to wealthy men so the Lady could relax in her old age and know her daughters were cared for. So of course she was delightfully surprised when her eldest, Anastasia, came home with the news that the Prince himself was hosting a ball to find a wife.

Preparations for the ball made the next few weeks very busy, and Lady Tremaine was incredibly stressed trying to get only the best fabric, the best colors for her darling daughters. What helped her stress was ensuring that the seamstresses and the hairdressers knew exactly what she wanted. Some servants could be so incredibly useless, and the Lady had to explain herself in detail quite a few times. What did not help her stress was Cinderella asking if she could go to the ball.

A ridiculous request, if she had ever heard one! And on the day of the ball, no less!

Lady Tremaine’s daughters laughed heartily at Cinderella. Drizella, the Lady’s second daughter, snidely said, “You? At a ball? In what, your stained dresses?”

Lady Tremaine ignored her daughter’s question and simply told Cinderella, “You would shame my family in those clothes and I cannot waste money on nice fabric for a serving girl! How shameful indeed.”

Cinderella simply turned to Lady Tremaine and said, “I have a dress already, that I didn’t take any of your money for. Your money that came from my father anyways.”

Lady Tremaine’s daughters gasped and laughed more. Anastasia rushed upstairs to search for the offending dress as Drizella exclaimed, “A dress! Indeed, I’m sure you do. Does it have ash stains on it too?”

Looking at little Cinderella, Lady Tremaine found herself irrationally angry. How dare she presume to be a part of the household, a part of fine society? How dare she bring up her darling John? So, to sate her anger and to ensure Cinderella would not feel too upset and therefore complete subpar housework, Lady Tremaine thought of a compromise.

She picked up a sack of birdseed and emptied it in the fireplace. “Of course you can go to the ball. As soon as these seeds have been picked up and put back into that sack, you may attend. Don’t use the broom please, it will scatter ash everywhere.”

Cinderella stared at the Lady, and for a very brief moment, Lady Tremaine felt guilty and a little bit afraid. But Cinderella said nothing and got to picking out the seeds. The chore was for her own good, after asking something so outrageously selfish she was lucky that she had a chance to go at all. It would teach a little bit of humility

Anastasia came bouncing back down the stairs, towing a ripped up dress. “Oops!” She said, throwing the dress on top of the seeds and ashes, “Looks like you can’t wear this dress after all. How sad.”

Cinderella just picked up the dress and folded it to set aside.

“Let’s go, girls,” Lady Tremaine said. They could not be late to the ball when the Prince himself was looking for a bride.

--

First the ball went horrendously, and now the Prince is searching for some mystery lady he doesn’t even know the name of? Lady Tremaine has been so terribly stressed lately, but the last few days have really topped it off. Her wonderful daughters barely danced with the Prince once each, and now they were being looked over for a girl so uninterested she couldn’t even be bothered to stay for the whole dance.

At least the Prince would be coming today, so she could get one of her daughters to marry him then. Her daughters did have rather large feet, but Lady Tremaine was sure they could wear a shoe a bit too small for a short time, if it meant life as royalty.

They greeted the Prince outside, and hid Cinderella away doing chores upstairs. He was a very courteous young man, charming and handsome, and Lady Tremaine was very excited that one of her daughters would soon marry him.

Anastasia went first, as the oldest, and could not fit her foot in the shoe. “Oh, you know,” she told the Prince, “dancing really makes my feet swell.”

The Prince laughed good-naturedly, but turned to Drizella next. Her foot also did not fit.

“It is true, that the feet swell after a long ball,” Lady Tremaine said, “And I do remember Anastasia talking for hours that night about what a wonderful dancer you were.”

“I’m sure, my Lady, but I danced with many girls that night,” the Prince said, “And if that is all the women in the house, I must be on my way. You have been so very hospitable.”

“Yes, that would be all of us. You certainly don’t remember Anastasia? You talked a great while during those dances.”

The Prince smiled, and kissed the Lady’s hand, and was about to leave when he stopped and turned around. How wonderful, he must have changed his mind!

“Who is that singing?” Asked the Prince, “I thought there were only three ladies in this house.”

Lady Tremaine listened for a moment, and then cursed Cinderella for her careless noise. “Oh, that is just our serving girl, Cinderella. Don’t mind her, I did tell her to be quiet.” To Lady Tremaine’s great outrage, instead of being on his way, the Prince asked for Cinderella to come down and try on the shoe.

Cinderella came quietly, and curtseyed nicely in front of the Prince. At least she wasn’t being horrendously rude, as she had been the day of the ball. The Prince knelt in front of her and then—

The shoe fit.

Cinderella almost left before Lady Tremaine managed to get herself together. “Wait, Cinderella!” The girl turned to look at her, from her seat next to the Prince in his carriage, “Do come and visit, won’t you? We will miss you so dearly and I know the girls would really adore visiting the castle more often.”

Cinderella laughed. At what, Lady Tremaine was not sure.

“I don’t think I will be seeing you or your daughters again,” Cinderella said.

How rude! Before Lady Tremaine could respond, the carriage was leaving and Lady Tremaine was left standing outside her house, down a servant and with no daughters engaged. What a spoiled brat indeed, after all Lady Tremaine has done for her, she just runs off with no regard or guilt. Such a shame she never learned anything from Lady Tremaine’s attempt to fix her spoiled manners.

By Linden Skalak