e was, dressed in her old ragged frock again.

When the Prince came out upon the Palace steps, he could see no sign of
the lovely Princess. The guards at the gate told him that nobody at all
had passed that way, except a little ragged kitchenmaid; and the Prince
had to go back to the ball with only a little glass slipper to remind
him of the beautiful lady with whom he was so desperately in love.

The next day the King sent out all his heralds and trumpeters with a
Proclamation, saying that the Prince would marry the lady whose foot
the slipper fitted. But though all the ladies in the land tried on the
slipper it would fit none of them--their feet were all too big!

At last the heralds came to the house where Cinderella lived. The eldest
stepsister tried the slipper on first, but it was quite impossible for
her to get her foot into it, for her great toe was too big. Then her
mother, who was watching eagerly, fetched a carving-knife.

[Illustration]

"Be quick, cut the toe off," she said; "what does it matter if you are
lame--if you are the Prince's bride you will always ride in a carriage!"

So the eldest sister cut off her big toe, but it was no use, the slipper
would not fit, and at last she was obliged to hand it to her sister.

But the other sister had no better luck. She did, indeed, get her toes
inside, but her foot was much too long, and her heel stuck out behind.
The mother urged her to cut it off.

"What does it matter?" she said. "If you are the Prince's bride you will
never need to walk any more."

But although she cut her heel off, the slipper was still too small; and
at length she, too, had to give up the attempt to force her foot into
it.

Then Cinderella came shyly out from behind the door where she had been
standing out of sight, and asked if she might try on the slipper. Her
stepmother and sisters were very angry, and were about to drive her away
with blows, but the herald stopped them.

"The Prince wishes every woman in the land to try on this slipper," he
said; and asking Cinderella to sit on a chair, he knelt down and tried
the slipper on her foot.

And it fitted her exactly!

While everyone stood and stared in astonishment, Cinderella drew from
her pocket the other slipper and put it on. No sooner had she done so
than her ragged frock changed into the beautiful ball dress again, and
she stood up before them all--the beautiful lady with whom the Prince
had fallen in love at the ball.