. The
Prince followed her, but could not overtake her. She dropped one of her
glass slippers, which the Prince carefully picked up. Cinderella reached
home almost breathless, without coach or footmen, and in her shabby
clothes, with nothing remaining of her finery but one of her little
slippers, the fellow of that which she had dropped. The guards at the
palace gate were asked if they had not seen a Princess pass out; they
answered that they had seen no one pass but a poorly-dressed girl, who
had more the appearance of a peasant than of a lady. When the two
sisters returned from the ball, Cinderella asked them if they had been
as much entertained as before, and if the beautiful lady had been
present. They said yes, but that she had fled as soon as it had struck
twelve, and in such haste, that she had dropped one of her little glass
slippers, the prettiest in the world; that the King's son had picked it
up, and had done nothing but gaze upon it during the remainder of the
evening; and that, undoubtedly, he was very much in love with the
beautiful person to whom the little slipper belonged. They spoke the
truth; for a few days afterwards the King's son caused it to be
proclaimed by sound of trumpet that he would marry her whose foot would
exactly fit the slipper. They began by trying it on the princesses, then
on the duchesses, and so on throughout the Court; but in vain. It was
taken to the two sisters, who did their utmost to force one of their
feet into the slipper, but they could not manage to do so. Cinderella,
who was looking on, and who recognised the slipper, said laughingly,
"Let me see if it will not fit me." Her sisters began to laugh and
ridicule her. The gentleman of the Court who had been entrusted to try
the slipper, having looked attentively at Cinderella, and seeing that
she was very beautiful, said that it was only fair that her request
should be granted, as he had received orders to try the slipper on all
maidens, without exception. He made Cinderella sit down, and putting the
slipper to her little foot, he saw it slip on easily and fit like wax.
Great was the astonishment of the two sisters, but it was still greater
when Cinderella took the other little slipper out of her pocket and put
it on her other foot. At that moment the godmother appeared, who giving
a tap with her wand to Cinderella's clothes, they became still more
magnificent than those she had worn before.

The two sisters then recognised in