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   BO-PEEP

   STORY BOOKS.

   [Illustration]

   CINDERELLA,
   THE PRINCESS ROSETTA,
   FAIR ONE AND GOLDEN LOCKS,
   BEAUTY AND THE BEAST,
   LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD,
   THE SLEEPING BEAUTY,

   NEW YORK:
   LEAVITT & ALLEN BROS.,
   No. 8 HOWARD STREET.


       *       *       *       *       *


THE STORY

OF

=Cinderella; or the Glass Slipper=.

[Illustration]

=Edited by Madame de Chatelain.=




=Cinderella; or, the Glass Slipper.=


There once lived a gentleman, who, on becoming a widower, married a most
haughty woman for his second wife. The lady had two daughters by a
former marriage, equally proud and disagreeable as herself, while the
husband had one daughter, of the sweetest temper and most angelic
disposition, who was the complete counterpart of her late mother. No
sooner was the wedding over, than the stepmother began to show her bad
temper. She could not bear her stepdaughter's good qualities, that only
showed up her daughters' unamiable ones still more obviously, and she
accordingly compelled the poor girl to do all the drudgery of the
household. It was she who washed the dishes, and scrubbed down the
stairs, and polished the floors in my lady's chamber, and in those of
the two pert misses, her daughters; and while the latter slept on good
featherbeds in elegant rooms, furnished with full-length
looking-glasses, their sister lay in a wretched garret on an old straw
mattress. Yet the poor thing bore this ill treatment very meekly, and
did not dare complain to her father, who was so besotted to his wife
that he would only have scolded her.

When her work was done, she used to sit in the chimney corner amongst
the cinders, which had caused the nickname of _Cinderella_ to be given
her by the family; yet, for all her shabby clothes, Cinderella was a
hundred times prettier than her sisters, let them be drest ever so
magnificently.

It happened that the king's son gave a ball, to which he invited all the
nobility; and, as our two young ladies made a great figure in the world,
they were included in the list of invitations. So they began to be very
busy choosing what head-dress and which gown would be the most becoming.
Here was fresh work for poor Cinderella; for it was she, forsooth, who
was to starch and get up their ruffles, and iron all their fine linen;
and nothing but dress was talked about for days together. "I," said the
eldest, "shall put on my red velvet dress, with my point-lace
trimmings." "And I," said the younger sister, "shall wear my usual
petticoat, but shall set it off with my gold brocaded train and my
circlet of diamonds." They sent for a clever tire-woman to prepare the
double rows of quilling for their caps, and they purchased a quantity of
fashionably cut patches. They called in Cinderella to take her advice,
as she had such good taste, and Cinderella not only advised them well,
but offered to dress their hair, which they were pleased to accept.
While she was thus busied, the sisters said to her, "And pray,
Cinderella, would you like to go to the ball!" "Nay, you are mocking
me," replied the poor girl; "it is not for such as I to go to balls."
"True enough," rejoined they; "folks would laugh to see a Cinderella at
a court ball."

[Illustration]

Any other but Cinderella would have drest their hair awry to punish them
for their impertinence, but she was so good natured that she dressed
them most becomingly. The two sisters were so delighted, that they
scarcely ate a morsel for a couple of days. They spent their whole time
before a looking-glass, and they would be laced so tight, to make their
waists as slender as possible, that more than a dozen stay-laces were
broken in the attempt.

[Illustration]

The long-wished-for evening came at last, and off they set. Cinderella's
eyes followed them as long as she could, and then she was fain to weep.
Her godmother now appeared, and seeing her in tears inquired what was
the matter. "I wish---I wish," began the poor girl, but tears choked her
utterance. "You wish that you could go to the ball," interrupted her
godmother, who was a fairy. "Indeed I do!" said Cinderella, with a sigh.
"Well, then, if you will be a good girl, you shall go," said her
godmother. "Now fetch me a pumpkin from the garden," added she.
Cinderella flew to gather the finest pumpkin she could find, though she
could not understand how it was to help her to go to the ball. But, her
godmother having scooped it quite hollow, touched it with her wand, when
it was immediately changed into a gilt coach. She then went to the
mousetrap, where she found six live mice, and bidding Cinderella let
them out one by one, she changed each mouse into a fine dapple-grey
horse by a stroke of her wand. She next considered what she should do
for a coachman, when Cinderella proposed to look for a rat in the
rat-trap. "That's a good thought," quoth her godmother, "so go and see."
Sure enough, Cinderella returned with the rat-trap, in which were three
large rats. The fairy chose one who had a tremendous pair of whiskers,
and forthwith changed him into a coachman with the finest moustachios
ever seen. She then said: "Now go into the garden, and bring me six
lizards, which you will find behind the watering-pot." These were no
sooner brought, than they were turned into six footmen, with laced
liveries, who got up behind the coach just as naturally as if they had
done nothing else all their lives. The fairy then said to Cinderella:
"Now here are all the means for going to the ball; are you not pleased?"
"But must I go in these dirty clothes?" said Cinderella, timidly. Her
godmother merely touched her with her wand, and her shabby clothes were
changed to a dress of gold and silver tissue, all ornamented with
precious stones. She next gave her the prettiest pair of glass slippers
ever seen. She now got into the carriage, after having been warned by
her godmother upon no account to prolong her stay beyond midnight, as,
should she remain a moment longer at the ball, her coach would again
become a pumpkin, her horses mice, her footmen lizards, while her
clothes would return to their former shabby condition. Cinderella
promised she would not fail to leave the ball before midnight, and set
off in an ecstacy of delight. The king's son, on being informed that
some great princess, unknown at court, had just arrived, went to hand
her out of her carriage, and brought her into the hall where the company
was assembled. The moment she appeared, all conversation was hushed,
the violins ceased playing, and the dancing stopped short, so great was
the sensation produced by the stranger's beauty. A confused murmur of
admiration fluttered through the crowd, and each was fain to exclaim
"How surpassingly lovely she is!" Even the king, old as he was, could
not forbear admiring her like the rest, and whispered to the queen, that
she was certainly the fairest and comeliest woman he had seen for many a
long day. The ladies were all busy examining her head-dress and her
clothes, in order to get similar ones the very next day, if, indeed,
they could meet with stuffs of such rich patterns, and find workwomen
clever enough to make them up.

[Illustration]

After leading her to the place to which her rank seemed to entitle her,
the king's son requested her hand for the next dance, when she displayed
so much grace as to increase the admiration her beauty had raised in the
first instance. An elegant supper was next brought in, but the young
prince was so taken up with gazing at the fair stranger, that he did not
partake of a morsel. Cinderella went and sat by her sisters, sharing
with them the oranges and citrons the prince had offered her, much to
their surprise, as they did not recognise her in the least.

When Cinderella heard the clock strike three-quarters past eleven, she
made a low curtsey to the whole assembly, and retired in haste. On
reaching home, she found her godmother, and after thanking her for the
treat she had enjoyed, she ventured to express a wish to return to the
ball on the following evening, as the prince had requested her to do.
She was still relating to her godmother all that had happened at court,
when her two sisters knocked at the door. Cinderella went and let them
in, pretending to yawn and stretch herself, and rub her eyes, and
saying: "How late you are!" just as if she was woke up out of a nap,
though, truth to say, she had never felt less disposed to sleep in her
life. "If you had been to the ball," said one of the sisters, "you would
not have thought it late. There came the most beautiful princess ever
seen, who loaded us with polite attentions, and gave us oranges and
citrons."

Cinderella could scarcely contain her delight, and inquired the name of
the princess. But they replied that nobody knew her name, and that the
king's son was in great trouble about her, and would give the world to
know who she could be. "Is she, then, so very beautiful?" said
Cinderella, smiling. "Lord! how I should like to see her! Oh, do, my
Lady Javotte, lend me the yellow dress you wear every day, that I may go
to the ball and have a peep at this wonderful princess." "A likely
story, indeed!" cried Javotte, tossing her head disdainfully, "that I
should lend my clothes to a dirty Cinderella like you!" Cinderella
expected to be refused, and was not sorry for it, as she would have been
puzzled what to do, had her sister really lent her the dress she begged
to have.

On the following evening, the sisters again went to the court ball, and
so did Cinderella, drest even more magnificently than before. The king's
son never left her side, and kept paying her the most flattering
attentions. The young lady was nothing loth to listen to him; so it came
to pass that she forgot her godmother's injunctions, and, indeed, lost
her reckoning so completely, that, before she deemed it could be eleven
o'clock, she was startled at hearing the first stroke of midnight. She
rose hastily, and flew away like a startled fawn. The prince attempted
to follow her, but she was too swift for him; only, as she flew she
dropped one of her glass slippers, which he picked up very eagerly.
Cinderella reached home quite out of breath, without either coach or
footmen, and with only her shabby clothes on her back; nothing, in
short, remained of her recent magnificence, save