For me, Cinderella was always one of my favorite fairy tales and it has followed me all the way from my childhood until my teenage years. If you like this story as much as I do, then keep reading!

Author
Cinderella is one of these stories that have existed for hundreds of years. It is not possible to accredit it to a single author and has evolved over time and through different ways of telling it. The first known variant is the story of Rhodopis which was created between 7 BC and AD 23. It was originally about a slave girl from Greece who gets married to the king of Egypt. In 1634 the first version in Europe was published by Giambattista Basile in Italy. In 1697 the version that is most known to us was published by Charles Perrault called “Histories ou contes du temps passé”. Where I am from, the Brothers Grimm are probably the most known children’s books authors which is why I am also most familiar with the version “Aschenputtel” published in 1812.

Summary
The story is about a girl called Cinderella who lived with her stepmother and her two stepsisters. The mother always treated her poorly and let her do all the work while her biological daughters did nothing. Cinderella cooked every day, started the fire, and cleaned the house. Her stepsisters only made fun of her which led to them calling her “Cinderella”. One day, the big news arrived in town that the Queen and the King would host a party for the Prince to find a bride. Every young girl was invited and they were very excited. Because of this, Cinderella’s job sadly got more difficult since she was responsible for making the dresses for her two stepsisters. After hard work, Cinderella asked her stepmother when she would have time to make her own dress for the party. The mother only laughed at her and they made it clear that she is not allowed to go to the party. When the day came for the stepmother and the stepsisters to leave she waved them goodbye and then said to herself how she wished to be going with them. Suddenly a fairy was standing in front of her telling her that she would grant her wishes. The fairy tapped Cinderella with her wand and then she was not dirty anymore, but dressed in a beautiful blue dress. Then, a carriage with four horses and a driver appeared to take Cinderella to the ball. The Fairy Godmother told her that there is one thing that she has to keep in mind, all of the magic will only last until midnight and then it will leave as quickly as it appeared. With that the Fairy left and Cinderella got into the carriage. At the ball the Prince seemed sad, he couldn’t find anyone he liked even though he was surrounded by beautiful girls. Then, Cinderella entered and everyone looked her way. Nobody knew who she was but the Prince instantly liked her and went over to ask her to dance. They danced the whole night, laughing and talking and forgetting the time. When suddenly the clock stroke midnight and Cinderella knew that she had to leave. She ran away from the Prince and up the stairs when she lost one of her glass slippers. She kept running but the Prince picked up her shoe to keep as an indicator of who the beautiful girl was. He made it his mission to find the other custom-made slipper and then ask the girl to marry him. He moved through the city and let every girl try on the shoe, but no foot fit into the shoe perfectly. One day, the Prince arrived at the house of Cinderella and the stepmother was sure that one of her daughters would be the one to fit. One after another they tried it, but they weren’t even close to fitting in it and the Prince asked if there were other young women living in the house. After the stepmother denied that, Cinderella stepped into the room. The Prince got down on one knee to try on the slipper and it fit perfectly. He knew that she was the one and even though her stepsister was screaming about how it just can’t be, Cinderella and the Prince were happy to have found each other. They got married and lived happily ever after.

For the original story, click here! https://storiestogrowby.org/story/cinderella-fairy-tale-english-story-for-kids/

You might know the story a little bit differently, as they are numerous versions of this fairy tale. I hope you liked this article and learned something about the origin of this story!