Cinderella
My name is
Carrie, but many of you know me as Cinderella. As a
child that is what my family called me. You may think you know my story
but I assure you, you don't. Yes, my mother died when I was young
and my father remarried a horrible, evil woman with two daughters of
her own. But this is where the story everyone hears as children
begins to stray from the
facts. My father is in fact still living and I was never an
orphan at the mercy of my step-mother's kindness, or lack
thereof. My step-mother
and her daughters were very mean to me and my father just went along
with whatever she said and did nothing to stop them. They
stripped me of my nice dresses and delicate, girly shoes and gave me
only plain, dull clothes and wooden clogs to wear. They also
locked me out of the bedrooms each night, forcing me to sleep on the
floor in the kitchen. Because of
this, I have become a slave to fashion. I have more shoes than my
closets can hold and I only sleep on Egyptian cotton sheets.
The most defining event in my life has been the festival where I met my
wonderful husband. Most people think this was just a one-night
party thrown by the king in order to marry off his son, the
prince. But it was actually a three-day festival that ended each
night in a formal dance. It would be the social highlight for
years afterward.
Everyone who was anyone was going, including my step-mother and
step-sisters. I begged to be allowed to go as well, but they
didn't want me to. They were selfish and shallow They knew
I was more charming in my quietness than they were with their
extravagance. My step-sisters weren't necessarily considered
ugly, but they tended to be a little heavy-handed with the glitter and
eye make-up, if you know what I mean. My step-mother gave me
impossible chores to do so that I wouldn't be able to go. Her
mistake was underestimating a girl who had a desire for glamorous
dresses and fabulous shoes. I did the impossible: I finished all
my chores. As you know, though, I still couldn't go. I didn't
have
anything to wear as my evil step-sisters had taken all of my clothes
and stretched them out so they would fit their...ahem...fuller
shapes. Even at that young age I knew it would have been better
not to go than to show up in the rags I had to wear.
Now we come to the most common myth about my story. People
also think that I had a magical fairy godmother, but everyone knows
there is no such thing. I had birds. I know that sounds
crazy but I planted
a hazel tree on my mother's grave and all the birds made nests
there. Each night before the dance I would go to that tree and
cry to the birds about how I had nothing to wear and then I would ask
for their
help. In addition to not having fancy dresses, I was also very
short on friends. I didn't expect much out of it, but apparently
birds are excellent seamstresses. Either that or they were
stealing dresses out of the
windows of Dior and Versace. However they did it, each
night I was given a dress more beautiful than the dress I had had the
night
before. Oh, and my shoes weren't glass like
the story says they were. They were pure gold stilettos and
incredibly
comfortable. I still have them in my closet. They are to
die for, in fact my step-sisters almost did, but I'll get to that a
little later.
One other detail I should probably mention is that I never had a
pumpkin that turned into a coach. I
walked to the ball each night. Each night the prince was
mesmerized by my beauty and
danced with no one but me. And
each night he tried to follow me home to find out more about me.
What can I say? I have a way with men. Each night I was
embarrassed for him to see how I truly lived so I would hide from
him. On the last night he finally got smart and set a trap.
He covered the steps of the
ballroom with tar so I would get stuck. Lucky for me I am very
light on my feet
and only one of my lovely golden stilettos got stuck. Not to be
denied the company of a beautiful woman, the prince visited all the
houses in town to find me. It was all very romantic, until he got
to my house. Both my horrible step-sisters attempted to squeeze
their big feet into my delicate shoe. Of course it didn't fit, so
what did they do? At the direction of their mother, one
step-sister cut off her toe so that she could wear the shoe. Of
course, the
prince found out; not even he is oblivious enough to not notice all
that blood. But the other
step-sister, not learning anything from the first, cut off a chunk of
her heel in an attempt to wear my shoe. These
girls were obviously not blessed with intelligence.
Finally the prince found me, covered in ashes, working in the
kitchen. Once he realized that the shoe was mine, he didn't care
that my clothes were plain and outdated. He proposed on the spot
and we've been happy ever since. My step-sisters, however, did
not fare so well. Not only are they both missing part of their
feet, but at my wedding, which they weren't even invited to, they both
had their eyes pecked out in a freak bird incident. Or was
it? I'll never tell, but let's just say that those birds that
lived in the hazel tree over my mother's grave had more skills than
just being able to sew.
Story:
Cinderella
Author:
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Book:
Children's and Household Tales --Grimms' Fairy Tales
Date
Published: 1857
Web
Source: University
of Pittsburgh - Professor D. L. Ashliman
Author's
note:
I took
the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella and stayed pretty true
to what they wrote. I left out some of the more minor
details. The Brothers Grimm went in much deeper detail about how
the tree came to be planted on the Cinderella's mother's grave, her
conversations with the birds in the tree and how she evaded the prince
each night as he attempted to walk her home. Also it was the
birds who drew the prince's attention to the blood coming from his
would-be bride's foot both times. I also left out any
major description of the individual dresses.
Carrie's character on Sex and the City is known for
her fashion, especially her shoes. Because of this she is a
natural fit with Cinderella since the premise of that story is based
around a shoe. Also, because the prince falls in love with
Cinderella without knowing anything about her other than what he can
see, this story places a large emphasis on external appearance which
fits perfectly with a fashionista. I thought this would be a good
story to start with since Carrie serves as narrator for Sex and the
City and this storybook. I tried to model the narrative after
Carrie's monologues on the show. I tried to hear this particular
character saying the words as I was typing them.
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information: Sizzle Coronado - Gold Metallic from ShoeBuy.com
