Cinderella

Told in English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Spanish, French, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese.

Come close, my dear, and let me tell you about a kind-hearted girl named Cinderella, who never let unkindness turn her heart unkind. After her father passed away, Cinderella was left in the care of a stepmother and two stepsisters who were, I'm sorry to say, rather unkind to her. They gave her all the hardest chores — sweeping, scrubbing, cooking — while they wore beautiful dresses and went to parties. But through it all, can you believe it, Cinderella stayed gentle and hopeful.

One day, a grand invitation arrived: the prince was holding a ball, and every young lady in the kingdom was invited. Cinderella's stepmother said she could go — only if she finished every single chore first, and had nothing to wear! Poor Cinderella worked and worked, but by evening, her chores were done and she had no gown at all. She sat in the garden and cried softly.

But do you know who appeared, right then, in a shimmer of sparkling light? Her fairy godmother! With a wave of her wand and a cheerful 'Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo,' a pumpkin became a golden carriage, and Cinderella's raggedy dress became a shimmering gown, with two glass slippers that fit perfectly. 'This magic lasts only until midnight,' her godmother warned gently. 'You must leave before the last chime.'

At the ball, the prince couldn't take his eyes off her, and they danced and danced. But as the clock began to strike midnight, Cinderella remembered her godmother's words and dashed away — so quickly that she left one glass slipper behind on the palace steps!

The prince searched the whole kingdom, slipper in hand, until he found the one foot it fit perfectly: Cinderella's. And from that day on, my darling, she never had to sweep another unkind floor again. She married the prince, and lived happily — because even when things were hard, she never let it make her hard-hearted. That's why we still tell her story today.