The Glass Shoe Rewritten

I decided to try my hand at using a prompt again! More after the story. 

Fairy tales have happy endings. All of us know what happened in that mushy fairy tale, Cinderella. Write your ending to the Cinderella story, but this time make it so that the shoe fit one of the icky sisters. What does Prince Charming do? How does Cinderella cope with it? And what about the Fairy Godmother?

----------------------------------------

Cinderella was not surprised when the shoe fit Tisbe. After all, there must be more than one person who would have the same sized feet. How else could shoemakers make a living? Cinderella tried to keep herself calm. This was just like everything else that has happened to her. It was one unfortunate incident after another and she would brave through it all.

Fighting back tears, Cinderella tried to smile while Tisbe lapped up the attention of being the Prince’s favourite. She hoped that perhaps the Prince would see that the girl in front of him whose foot fit into the shoe is not the girl he met the night before. But alas, it was just blind hope- the Prince immediately got on his knee and proposed to Tisbe.

‘My beautiful maiden, will you do me the honour of being my princess and wife?’ he said.

Cinderella’s heart sank. She knew that this was probably her only chance to get out of her existing life. The Prince was not only the love of her life, but also her one-way ticket out of misery. But it looks like the door had just shut before her eyes. Cinderella was crushed; it felt even worse than when she was punished by being hit repeatedly with a broomstick.

How can I live with this? Cinderella thought. Can I stop Tisbe? Can I do anything to fight for my Prince?

--

‘Cinderella, where is my dress!’ came a shout from the house.

Sighing, Cinderella moved the pot of soup from the flame and proceeded to find Tisbe’s dress. She couldn’t believe that the Prince would be getting married to her stepsister after only five months. After all, they did encounter some problems at the start. But it looks like the Prince is finally happy. Although it pained Cinderella, she knew that she had to let him go. This is the right thing to do- she wanted him to be happy.

Cinderella only just handed the wedding dress to Tisbe when she heard a knock on the door.

She rushed to open it, knowing that she would land in hot water again if she doesn’t attend to guests quickly enough. Opening the door, she found an attractive young man with a parcel smiling at her.

‘I was told that this is the residence of Tisbe, future Princess of our kingdom. Is that true?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ Cinderella replied. ‘This is where Tisbe lives.’

Upon hearing it, the young man handed the package to Cinderella. ‘A gift from Her Majesty the Queen,’ he said. ‘Have a good day, miss…’

‘Cinderella’.

‘Beautiful name. Have a good day, Miss Cinderella.’ And with that, he turned to leave. But before exiting the garden he turned back one last time. ‘Name’s Oliver, by the way.’ Then he left.

Cinderella felt a weird tingling sensation in her heart. She had not felt this way since she met the Prince. For the first time in months, she felt alive again. And it was because of Oliver. From that moment on, Cinderella knew that she had been blessed with a second chance. The Fairy Godmother must still have been watching over her. This time, Cinderella knew that she mustn’t be afraid.

Acting on impulse, Cinderella ran out of the house. She ran past the beautiful garden that she had tended to, that was her only distraction from the Prince and Tisbe’s wedding. She continued into the forest that she was all too familiar with, recognising certain trees and corners where she used to play as a child and where she walked towards town.

After what seemed like forever, she spotted him.

‘Oliver!’ she yelled.

He turned back. When he set his eyes on her the biggest and most charming smile appeared on his face. Cinderella ran towards him and when she was close enough she jumped into his waiting arms.

They looked into each other’s eyes. Oliver smiled again. This time, Cinderella smiled back.

‘Will you marry me?’ he asked.

Cinderella was delighted. She knew that she had finally found her prince, and that she didn’t need to be royalty to be a princess. Oliver had not needed her to be in a beautiful dress, or in a sparkling glass shoe to love her. He had seen her as she is, in her worn out hand-me-downs and still loved her.

Suddenly, the Prince and Tisbe didn’t seem to matter anymore. The Fairy Godmother was watching over her, after all, for she wouldn’t have met Oliver if the circumstances were different. And as Oliver carried Cinderella in his arms back to town where he lived, she said a silent thanks to the Fairy Godmother before living her life with Oliver happily ever after.

--------------------------------

So there you go! This is actually the first time I've ever tried writing a fairy tale or a children's story. I originally tried to go for that approach and writing it as if my audience were children, but then decided to go for something in between. At the end of the day I thought that a good children's story and fairy tale carries morals, so this was my attempt at giving a lesson on morality, added with some cliches of fairy tales and hopefully, a writing style that is suited for children's writing!