The Land of Stories: A Treasury of Classic Fairy Tales

"Now you must hurry to the ball before it's too late," the Fairy Godmother said. "You must be home before the clock strikes twelve, for the spell will be broken at midnight."

Cinderella thanked the Fairy Godmother, and the footman helped her into the golden carriage. The coachman took the horses' reins and they traveled down the road, headed for the palace.

By the time Cinderella reached the magnificent palace, the ball was well under way. She quickly climbed up the front steps to the entrance, desperate to be closer to the music and laughter coming from inside.

Once she entered the ballroom, Cinderella felt as though she had stepped into a dream. There were men and women dancing all around her, wearing the finest suits and gowns in the kingdom. There were mirrors and artwork on the walls, golden pillars, and a remarkable chandelier illuminating it all.

When the other people attending the ball saw Cinderella, the festivities came to a temporary halt. She was the most spectacular sight anyone had ever seen.

Cinderella saw her stepmother and stepsisters across the ballroom, but she was so beautiful they didn't recognize her. They stared at her in awe like everyone else. Cinderella even mesmerized the king and queen, who stood from their thrones to get a better look at her.

At first, their gazes worried Cinderella. Did they know she didn't belong there? Would she be asked to leave the ball? Her fears were silenced when a remarkably handsome man approached her and offered his hand.

"May I have this dance?" he asked her.

Cinderella didn't want to be rude, so she took his hand and they waltzed around the ballroom. Although she was certain they had never met, there was something so familiar about the man she danced with, as if they had met in a dream. As she looked around at all the awestruck faces in the ballroom, she quickly realized whom she was dancing with.

"You're the prince, aren't you?" Cinderella asked.

"I am," he said with a smile. "And who are you?"

"I'm… I'm…" Cinderella said and glanced up at the clock. "I'm so sorry, but I have to go!"

It was almost midnight! Cinderella had completely lost track of time while she was dancing with the prince. She only had a few moments before the spell was broken. Cinderella ran out of the ballroom as fast as she could in her glass slippers.

"No, wait!" the prince called after her. "Please come back!"

Cinderella didn't want to leave the prince, but she couldn't let him see her transform back into a servant. She ran down the front steps of the palace, and the prince chased after her. A glass slipper slid off her foot as she went, but she didn't have time to retrieve it.

The footman helped Cinderella into the golden carriage, and they raced home. They arrived on the front lawn of the house right at midnight's final toll. Cinderella's gown turned back into her raggedy clothes, the carriage turned back into a pumpkin, and the footman, the coachman, and the horses transformed back into the garden mice.

"I can't thank you enough for helping me tonight," Cinderella said as she gratefully petted the mice. "I'll remember it forever!"

When her stepmother and stepsisters returned a few hours later, all they talked about was the mysterious woman the prince danced with at the ball. As Cinderella helped them get ready for bed, they tried to guess who the mysterious woman was and where she came from, never realizing she was right in front of them.

The next morning, the kingdom awoke to wonderful news. After dancing with all the young women in the land, the prince had chosen his bride. There was only one problem: No one knew who she was or where she came from. The only clue the prince had was the small glass slipper she had left behind.

So the prince set off on a quest around the kingdom searching for the woman he had met at the ball. He searched for weeks, trying the slipper on the feet of princesses, duchesses, and all the daughters of the aristocratic families, but there still was no match in sight. He then had all the young women in the land without a title or royal lineage try on the glass slipper. Because it was meant for such a small and delicate foot, none of the women's feet fit.

The prince's final stop was at Cinderella's home. The stepsisters fought over who would try on the glass slipper first, certain they could trick the prince into thinking it belonged to them.

The first sister pushed her foot into the slipper so frantically it almost broke. The second sister crammed her foot inside the slipper so tightly it started to bleed.

"I'm afraid the woman you're looking for isn't here," the stepmother said. "But either of my daughters would make you a wonderful wife, Your Highness."

"Wait," the prince said. "What about her?"

Cinderella had just come up from the cellar with an armload of firewood when she caught the prince's eye.

"You mean Cinderella?" the stepmother said with a laugh. "She's just a servant girl, Your Highness. She couldn't possibly be the woman you're looking for."

However, unlike the stepmother and stepsisters, the prince was able to look past Cinderella's raggedy clothes and the dirt on her skin. He knew there was something special about the servant girl, and he needed to try the slipper on her to be sure.

"Please, I insist," the prince said.

Cinderella had a seat, and the prince placed the glass slipper on her foot. To everyone's amazement (except Cinderella's, of course), it was a perfect fit! The prince kissed her cheek and proposed on the spot.

At first, Cinderella didn't know how to answer. She had met the prince only once before, but he had been in her thoughts every day since the ball. Waltzing around the ballroom had been the happiest experience of her life, and after years of unpleasant memories, Cinderella was ready to make new ones.

"Yes, Your Highness," Cinderella said. "I will marry you."

Despite the years of cruel treatment, Cinderella forgave her stepmother and stepsisters and invited them to her wedding. Sadly, they didn't come. Just as the stepmother predicted, Cinderella had caused them so much embarrassment that they never showed their faces in society again.

Cinderella and the prince were married the following week in an enormous celebration at the palace. Church bells rang joyfully around the kingdom, and Cinderella was welcomed into the royal family with open arms. She and the prince had a wonderful marriage, and they lived happily ever after.

The End

Once upon a time, there were a brother and sister named Hansel and Gretel. They lived with their father and stepmother in a small cottage at the edge of the woods. Their father was a good man who loved his children more than anything else in the world. His wife, however, was a mean and selfish woman who became jealous of the affection her husband showed his children.

Their father was a woodcutter and did all he could to provide for his family, but due to a recent famine spreading across the land, times were hard for peasant families in the kingdom. Food was scarce, and many worried about surviving the approaching winter.

"If we don't do something, we'll starve!" the wife told the woodcutter one night before bed. "We barely have enough food for the two of us. We must get rid of Hansel and Gretel if we want to survive."

"I could never get rid of my children," the woodcutter said. "They mean everything to me!"

"It'll be easy," said the wife, who had already devised a plan. "Tomorrow, we'll take Hansel and Gretel deep into the forest and leave them there. They're so young, they won't be able to find their way home. They'll get lost and a hungry pack of wolves will find them. We'll never have to worry about feeding them again."

"I would rather starve than abandon my children," the woodcutter said. "I won't hear another word of this. We will find another way to get through the winter."

Despite her husband's wishes, the wife was convinced her plan was the only solution. Luckily, Hansel and Gretel were still awake and heard their father and stepmother's conversation through the thin walls of their cottage.

"What will we do, Hansel?" Gretel asked her brother. "Our stepmother will surely try to abandon us in the woods while Father is away chopping wood tomorrow."

"Don't fret, Gretel," Hansel said. "I'll gather white pebbles tonight while they sleep and create a trail to follow back home."

So Hansel snuck outside while his father and stepmother slept and gathered as many white pebbles as he could find. The next morning, once the woodcutter left to chop down trees, his wife led the children into the woods.

"Where are we going?" Gretel asked.

"To collect firewood," their stepmother said. "Now be quiet and follow me."

She led them deep into the heart of the forest, farther than Hansel and Gretel had ever gone before. Hansel dropped a white pebble every few steps, leaving a trail behind them. They traveled the whole day and came to a stop just as the sun began to set.

"Now look around and help me gather wood," their stepmother said. But before she finished her sentence, she dashed back in the direction from which they had come, leaving her stepchildren all alone in the woods.

Hansel and Gretel followed the trail of white pebbles to their cottage. The forest became so dark after nightfall, the small white stones were the only thing they could see. By the time they returned, their father was worried sick about them.

"Thank the Lord you're all right," the woodcutter said and embraced his children tightly. "Where is your stepmother?"

To Hansel and Gretel's surprise, they had arrived home before their stepmother. Without a trail of pebbles, the woodcutter's wife had a hard time navigating through the woods and returned several hours after her stepchildren. She was furious to see that Hansel and Gretel had found their way back to the cottage.

"What happened?" the woodcutter asked his wife.

"We went to retrieve firewood," the wife said. "I turned my back for one minute and they were gone."

"I pray it doesn't happen again," the woodcutter said.

"Don't worry, it won't," the wife said and glared at her stepchildren when her husband wasn't looking.

That night, the wife locked Hansel and Gretel in their room so they couldn't sneak out to collect any more white pebbles.

"Oh, Hansel, what are we to do now?" Gretel asked her brother. "Our stepmother will surely try to abandon us again tomorrow."

"Don't fret, Gretel," Hansel said. "Tomorrow morning at breakfast, we'll save our crusts of bread and use bread crumbs to make a trail."

Just as predicted, as soon as their father left the next morning, their stepmother led Hansel and Gretel back into the woods. They walked even longer this time, traveling farther into the trees than ever before. Hansel left crumbs behind them as they went and nearly ran out by the time they stopped.

"Now gather up some wood," their stepmother said.

Once again, she dashed back toward the cottage and left Hansel and Gretel all alone in the woods. It was so late that Hansel and Gretel decided to sleep in the woods and wait for morning to follow the bread crumbs home. Unfortunately, by the time they awoke, the morning birds had eaten all the bread crumbs they'd left behind!

Hansel and Gretel walked through the woods in what they hoped was the right direction, but there were so many trees, it was impossible to tell. They walked for hours and hours, never finding a familiar part of the forest.

They finally found a friendly white bird and followed it through the woods, hoping it might lead them home. The longer they followed the bird, the more a wonderful aroma filled the air. It was a sweet smell, as if something delicious was baking in an oven nearby.

Hansel and Gretel came upon a clearing in the middle of the woods. They were delighted to see, in the center of the clearing, a house made entirely of food. It had gingerbread walls, a fence made of candy canes, and a garden of gumdrop shrubs. The roof was covered in frosting, and the windows were made of clear sugar panes.

"I've never seen something so delicious!" Gretel exclaimed.