Once upon a time, in a land far, far away there lived a princess named Kat and a pauper named Cindiarella, but she went by Ella. Princess Kat was the prettiest of the pretty. She had long blond hair, sparkling blue eyes, fair skin, and freckles that looked as if angels had kissed her cheeks. Every girl wanted to be her, and every boy wanted to be with her. While Kat was a “sight” for sore eyes, Ella was more of a “fright.” Her dull, frizzy hair, pale skin and hunched back made her less of a desired choice. If people only cared about what was on the inside and not the out, Ella would be considered more beautiful than Kat. But that wasn’t the case in the land that was far, far away.
In order to help pay off her parents' debts to the royal family, Ella had to work as a servant for Kat. Day after day Kat ordered Ella around and paraded her around as her own personal ‘freak show.’ After months and months of this public humiliation, Ella broke. She ran into her room crying, praying for some Fairy Godmother to come and save her from the miserable life she was living. As the tears fell and the prayers were prayed, the room remained empty. It was then when she realized if she wanted things to change, her fate was in her own two hands.
Ella had all the power in the world to have revenge on Kat if she truly desired. She prepared Kat’s hair, makeup, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and knew every nook and cranny of the castle, but revenge was not what she desired. What Ella desired was a change in Kat's heart. So she spent hours thinking of how to make Kat nice, scribbling away on more paper than one could count. After hours and hours, she finally had it; Ella was going to pretend like the world was going to end. Surely if Kat thought the world was going to end tomorrow, then she would stop being so mean to people.
So the next morning Ella woke up at dawn in order to put her plan into motion. As she watched the sun rise over the hilltops, creating an orangey-pink glow, she felt within her that it was going to be a good day. Once she made it to Kat’s room she burst through the doors frantically screaming, “KAT. KAT. YOU HAVE TO GET UP. YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE.. OH MY GOSH. KAT!!” Irritated Kat pulled off her eye mask and yelled at Ella. She had never been disturbed in that manner before, and she was furious her beauty sleep had been interrupted. Huffing and puffing, Ella began to tell her story of how the world was ending. She said earlier that morning she had heard a crash in her room and when she looked down the floor was splitting. She followed the crack all the way to the road that led straight to the castle doors.
Kat stared at Ella confused. She said, “Ella, what on earth does an earthquake have to do with the world ending?”
Ella replied, “Don’t you know that people say when the world ends the earth will be split in half, and people will be separated by the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’? The bad people will fall into the cracks of the earth and never be seen again!”
Kat was then struck with fear. She looked at Ella and said, “I DON'T WANT TO DIE. I’M GOING TO FALL INTO THE CRACKS FOREVER.” So to calm her nerves down Ella reminded Kat that they had 24 hours before the end of the world really happened, which gave Kat 24 hours to change her fate.
Instantly, Kat had a light bulb go off in her mind. If she were nice to Ella for the next 24 hours surely she wouldn't fall into the cracks. So, with her sweet blue eyes she looked at Ella and apologized for all she had done to her. Ella, being as sweet as she is, accepted the apology, but reminded Kat that actions spoke louder than words. So Kat took Ella in as her best friend for the day. The two girls did everything together. Kat fixed up Ella’s frizzy hair, hunched back, and gave her new clothes to wear. She paraded through town with Ella on her arm and told the whole world Ella was the coolest girl in town. The strange thing was, as the girls continued their day together, Kat forgot more and more what her initial intentions were with Ella. She actually started viewing her as a friend.
By the time evening came around Kat looked at Ella and said, “Ella, I truly am sorry for parading you around as a ‘freak show’. At first today I was just being nice to not fall into the cracks forever, but now I really do consider you a best friend. I hope you can forgive me.” Ella was filled with excitement and gave Kat a big hug, because her plan actually worked! Kat was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. The two girls went their separate ways and had a peaceful night's rest. The next morning when Kat realized the world hadn't actually ended she ran to her friend Ella's house and gave her a huge hug while screaming, “ELLA. ELLA. ELLA. THE WORLD DIDN’T END! WE STILL GET TO BE FRIENDS.”
The two girls in the land far, far away lived happily ever after.
Author's Note: So the story of the Foolish, Timid, Rabbit is mainly centered around a rabbit who thinks the world is going to end because a coconut fell from a tree, but he thought it fell from the sky. He then frightens all the animals and convinces them the world is 'breaking,' until the lion comes along and realized it was just a coconut that had fallen. I thought it would be interesting to offer a story that gives a character a reason for pretending like the world is going to end. I created a story of a 'least of these' character who wanted her bully to have a change of heart, so she convinced her the world was going to end. I think fairytale type stories always allow for simple, fun creativity, so I decided to go that route! When editing for the portfolio I didn't change anything except for the name of my characters. I wanted the fairytale to relate to the subject in some way, so I changed the names of the characters. The pauper became a play off of “Cinderella” by making her name c{India}rella. I did however, shorten her name to Ella for the rest of the story to simplify when reading and typing.