Once upon a
time in a far away land, there was an old man named Mr. Wilson that had just
lost his wife. The old man was so distraught over his wife’s death that he
refused to get out of bed. Day after day, Ella, the old man’s daughter,
attended to him and fed him. Ella would walk into his room and say, “Oh
father, today is such a lovely day outside. Let us go for a walk and take a
picnic.” Mr. Wilson would only mumble and turn over to gaze out the
window. Ella could only plead for him to cheer up. Months went by and the
cycle of the young daughter caring for her ailing father continued. Finally,
his health began to improve and he started on with his life again.
One day Mr.
Wilson returned home to his daughter and adoringly informed her, “Ella, my
love, I have found a lady that I will ask for her hand in marriage.” Ella
rejoiced and celebrated her father’s newfound love and welcomed his new bride,
Lucille, and her two young daughters, Ester and Melinda.
After the
marriage, the new family began their lives together. But Mr. Wilson had not
had true love in such a long time that he became so wrapped up in his new wife
that he was blind to what was happening in his own home. Lucille had become so
jealous of Ella simply because she was the daughter of his widow. She felt
that she was impeding of her new husband’s love, and would not have it.
Lucille would leave the house early in the morning and leave long lists of
dirty chores for Ella to carry out. Ella was expected to clean the fireplace,
feed all of the household animals’ pens, and scrub the floors on her hands and
knees. Ella was so trusting of her new stepmother that at first she was more
than happy to please her, but things changed quickly.
Time went by
and not only was Lucille becoming more and more horrible to Ella, but her
daughters, Ester and Melinda, became part of it too. One day as Ella was
emptying out the ashes from the fireplace, they jeered, “Cinder Ella, Cinder
Ella, never gonna find a fella!” They laughed wildly and made terrible
faces at her while she ran away. Ella tried her best to disregard her
stepmother and stepsister’s wretched behavior, but when she went to bed at
night, she could only cry out her troubles.
One night
while Ella sobbed into her pillow after a long day of embarrassment, she
suddenly felt something moving beneath her. She stopped and jerked her head up
to find that the pillow she so often cried into had come to life!“ Ella, Ella.
My dear, why do you cry?” the pillow whispered. Ella did not know what to say.
Why, she had never seen anything magical, especially a pillow!
Ella
whimpered back to the pillow, “Well, my stepfamily of course! They are so
cruel and tease that I will never find a fella.”
The pillow
smiled a sly grin and said, “We’ll fix them my dear,” and faded back into its
old self. Ella was stunned and perplexed. She thought to herself, “What did
the enchanted pillow mean?” She shrugged her shoulders and slipped into sleep,
only time would tell.
The next
morning Ella awoke to the usual lengthy list of nasty chores from her
stepmother. She rolled her eyes at its sight and lazily walked to check the
morning mail. As she peeked into the mailbox, she found a grand letter with a
bright crimson seal. One thought sprang to Ella’s mind.“ This can only mean
one thing,” she thought to herself.“ Why, this letter is from the castle!”
Ella wanted to tear the wonderful letter open, but Ella was not allowed to
open the house mail. She had to wait until her stepmother came home to find
out what it said.
As the day
dragged on, Ella did all she could to hide her excitement to find out what was
in the important letter. As her stepmother returned home, she ran downstairs
and anxiously awaited for her to open the letter. Lucille shouted, “It’s a
letter from the prince girls!” as Ester and Melinda ran downstairs and
greedily crowded around their mother.“ Prince William is throwing a ball for
all the ladies of the land...and, why, you are invited!”
The girls
giggled with delight as Ella spoke with hesitance, “Oh, what ever should I
wear?” Lucille, Ester and Melinda all whizzed around at once to stare at
Ella.
“What on
earth are you chattering about Cinder Ella,” the girls bit back.“ You
are not going to the ball, especially not with us! Cinder Ella, Cinder
Ella, never gonna find a fella,” they all sarcastically sang as they
made their hideous faces as Ella heaved a sorrowful sigh and scampered off
into her bedroom.
Once Ella
reached her bedroom, she collapsed onto her bed and began to sob her troubles
into the enchanted pillow. Once again, the pillow sprang to life and turned
itself to Ella. “ Ella, Ella. My dear, why do you cry,” the
magical pillow asked softly.
“My wicked
stepfamily of course!” Ella exclaimed. "I will never get to go to that ball if
they can help it. It’s true, I’ll never find a fella!”
The pillow
smiled its sly grin and said, “We’ll fix them my dear,” and faded back into
its old self.
Once again,
Ella was confused. “What on earth did the pillow mean,” she thought to
herself, only time would tell.
The
following day Ella crawled out of bed with puffy eyes from crying the night
before. She stumbled downstairs to surprisingly find, not another list of
chores, but her stepsisters and stepmother chatting about the ball. They
immediately stopped talking as Ella wandered in. They didn’t speak another
word about the ball while Ella was around them all that day. But as nighttime
fell, Ella watched closely as Ester and Melinda darted around preparing for
the Prince’s ball that night.
Ella sadly
hung her head and wandered into her bedroom. She sat on the edge of her bed
and gazed into the looking glass in the corner of the room. She wiped her
drippy tears and brushed her mangled hair out of her face. Just as she opened
her eyes again, she saw the familiar sight of the magical pillow appear behind
her in the mirror. Ella spun around to meet the enchanted pillow face to face.
“Ella.Ella.My dear, why do you cry,” the pillow asked softly.
“I won’t be
able to make it to the ball! It’s all because of those awful women,” Ella
moaned.
The
enchanted pillow smiled its sly grin and replied, “We’ll fix them my dear.”
Just then Ella felt something tingle all over her body. She slowly turned to see her reflection in the looking glass once again. But this time she didn’t see her drippy tears or her mangled hair. She saw a beautiful young lady covered head to toe with a gorgeous emerald-colored gown and sparkling jewels, complete with a silvery veil and a tiny tiara. Ella rubbed her eyes to stare once more at the lovely image that she saw staring right back at her.
“It’s me!” she cried out. She turned to thank the mysterious, magical pillow, but it had faded back to its old self once again.
Ella peeked around the corner of her doorway to catch her stepsisters waving goodbye to Lucille and bouncing off toward their carriage. She quietly snuck around the corner and tiptoed down the staircase, silently slipping out the doorway and creeping into the freedom of the night.
When Ella arrived at the ball she was all the talk. Young ladies spread all throughout the ballroom chattered and gossiped about the lovely lady that had just arrived. Just as Ella was considering running back to her glum bedroom, Prince William spotted her and hurried over. Ella blushed as red as a rose. The Prince approached her bit by bit and peered at Ella through her shiny silver veil.
“May I have your name, my lady?” the prince asked of Ella.
Ella, still blushing as red as could be, turned her eyes upwards toward Prince William.
“He is the most handsome man in the world,” she thought to herself as she sighed. "Err, errr, Ell-Ella,” she finally shakily replied.
“May I have your hand in a waltz, Ella,” Prince William gracefully asked her.
Ella accepted with the softest touch of her hand in his. They swooped off toward the ballroom floor, with Ella’s emerald gown flowing behind her.
There was a magical feeling in the air. All of the ladies from across the land gawked at their Prince dancing with the lovely lady they had chatted about moments before. Some became jealous and spoke unkind words about the Prince’s chosen lady. Among the envious, were none other than Ester and Melinda.
“Who is that twit Prince William is waltzing with,” hissed Ester.
“And why in the world would he choose her among all the other girls?” Melinda whined.
No matter what Ella’s resentful stepsisters had to say, Prince William continued to dance, song after song, with Ella throughout the entire enchanted night. He gazed through her veil into her captivating brown eyes and began to fall deeply in love with his mysterious lady, Ella.
That night as the ball came to an end, and all of the other ladies pouted in corners, Melinda and Ester left for home. The arrived to a cold and empty house, but heard the shrieks of their mother.
“Mother,” the girls shrieked back. “What is wrong with you?”
“That Cinder-Ella is missing!” Lucinda screamed as she gaped at Ella’s empty bed. “Where is that twit of a step-daughter?” she asked turning to look at Melinda and Ester.
Just at that exact moment, the two girls looked at though they had swallowed something much too large. Their eyes met each other, and at the exact same time they whispered, “The twit at the ball...was, err, Ella!”
As the shock set into Ella’s horrible stepfamily, news of Prince William and his new bride was spreading across the land. With the arrival of this news, Melinda and Ester were in even more of a state of dread.
The same faces that
they used to make at their stepsister Ella, as they jeered at her, spread
across their faces. But once they tried to rid themselves of their awful
faces, they could not. Ester and Melinda’s faces were stuck for good! They ran
screaming to their mother for help, but to no avail. In the background of the
girls’ shrieks of horror, you could vaguely hear a voice coming from Ella’s
bedroom. “We fixed them my dear.”
At that very same time, Prince William and Princess
Ella jotted off in their carriage to live happily ever after.