Unfortunately, the magic comes to an end at the first stroke of midnight. At that point, she flees, leaving behind a glass¹ slipper which the prince finds. He declares that he will marry only the girl whose petite foot fits into the slipper.

Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters² conspire to win the prince's hand for one of them. In the original, bloodier version, the first stepsister fits into the slipper by cutting off a toe. But a magical bird tells the prince to notice the blood dripping from the slipper, and he returns the false stepsister to her mother. The second stepsister fits into the slipper by cutting off her heel. But the same bird gives her away.

Finally, Cinderella appears and fits into the slipper. In some versions, she has kept its twin in her pocket.

The evil stepsisters are rewarded by having their eyes pecked out by crows.

¹ The glass slipper is unique to Perrault's version; in other versions of the tale it may be made of other materials (in the version recorded by the Brothers Grimm, for instance, it is gold) and in still other tellings, it is not a slipper but a ring or a bracelet that gives the prince the key to Cinderella's identity. It has been suggested that Perrault's "glass slipper" (pantoufle de verre) was a "fur slipper" (pantoufle de vair) in earlier versions of the tale, and that Perrault or one of his sources confused the words; however, there is little evidence for this, and most scholars believe the glass slipper was a deliberate piece of poetic invention on Perrault's part.

² Sometimes it is reduced just to stepsisters.

The subject of Cinderella is very common for British pantomimes. In the pantomime form Cinderella's father (Baron Hardup) is under the thumb of the stepmother. There are added characters such as Buttons (Baron Hardup's servant, and Cinderella's friend) and Dandini (the Prince's right-hand man). The fairy Godmother must magically create a coach (from a pumpkin), footmen (from mice) and a beautiful dress for Cinderella in order for her to go to the ball. Her traditional line "Cinderella, you shall go to the ball!" has passed into common usage.

The story of "Cinderella" has formed the basis of many works:

Opera:

• La Cenerentola by Gioachino Rossini
• Cendrillon by Jules Massenet

• Cinderella (music by Sergei Prokofiev)

• Cinderella by Rodgers and Hammerstein, which was produced for television three times:
  • Cinderella (1957) featuring Julie Andrews, Jon Cypher, Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley
  • Cinderella (1964) featuring Lesley Ann Warren, Stuart Damon, Ginger Rogers, Walter Pigeon, and Celeste Holm
  • Cinderella (1997) featuring Brandy, Paolo Montalban, Whitney Houston, Whoopi Goldberg, Victor Garber, Bernadette Peters, and Jason Alexander.
• Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim (Cinderella is only a small part of this plot).

• Cinderella - first ever film version produced in France by Georges Méliès
• The Slipper and the Rose 1976 British musical film starring Gemma Craven and Richard Chamberlain
• The Glass Slipper
• Ever After
• Cinderella, 1911 silent film, starring Florence La Badie
• Cinderella, an animated Laugh-O-Gram produced by Walt Disney, first released on December 6,1922. This film was about 7 minutes long.
• Cinderella, a full-length (74 minute) animated feature released on February 15, 1950, now considered one of the Walt Disney Company's "classics".
• Cinderella, 2000 British production set in mid-20th century and starring Kathleen Turner
• Cinderella II:Dreams Come True, produced by Disney, a animated sequel to the previous film, which is about 73 minutes long, released on February 23 , 2002.
• A Cinderella Story, coming April 2004, is a modernization of the classic fairy tale featuring Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murry.

External links