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I'm all alone |
in my thoughts |
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Total Votes : 26 |
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 7:28 pm
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 7:50 pm
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 7:52 pm
Ali Baba: "Ali Baba and his elder brother Cassim are the sons of a merchant. After the death of their father, the greedy Cassim marries a wealthy woman and becomes well-to-do, building on their father's business—but Ali Baba marries a poor woman and settles into the trade of a woodcutter.
One day Ali Baba is at work collecting and cutting firewood in the forest, and he happens to overhear a group of forty thieves visiting their treasure store. The treasure is in a cave, the mouth of which is sealed by magic. It opens on the words "iftah ya simsim" (commonly written as "Open Sesame" in English), and seals itself on the words "Close, Simsim" ("Close Sesame"). When the thieves are gone, Ali Baba enters the cave himself, and takes some of the treasure home.
Ali Baba borrows his sister-in-law's scales to weigh this new wealth of gold coins. Unbeknownst to Ali, she puts a blob of wax in the scales to find out what Ali is using them for, as she is curious to know what kind of grain her impoverished brother-in-law needs to measure. To her shock, she finds a gold coin sticking to the scales and tells her husband, Ali Baba's rich and greedy brother, Cassim. Under pressure from his brother, Ali Baba is forced to reveal the secret of the cave. Cassim goes to the cave and enters with the magic words, but in his greed and excitement over the treasures forgets the magic words to get back out again. The thieves find him there, and kill him. When his brother does not come back, Ali Baba goes to the cave to look for him, and finds the body, quartered and with each piece displayed just inside the entrance of the cave to discourage any similar attempts in the future.
Ali Baba brings the body home, where he entrusts Morgiana, a clever slave-girl in Cassim's household, with the task of making others believe that Cassim has died a natural death. First, Morgiana purchases medicines from an apothecary, telling him that Cassim is gravely ill. Then, she finds an old tailor known as Baba Mustafa whom she pays, blindfolds, and leads to Cassim's house. There, overnight, the tailor stitches the pieces of Cassim's body back together, so that no one will be suspicious. Ali and his family are able to give Cassim a proper burial without anyone asking awkward questions.
The thieves, finding the body gone, realize that yet another person must know their secret, and set out to track him down. One of the thieves goes down to the town and comes across Baba Mustafa, who mentions that he has just sewn a dead man's body back together. Realizing that the dead man must have been the thieves' victim, the thief asks Baba Mustafa to lead the way to the house where the deed was performed. The tailor is blindfolded again, and in this state he is able to retrace his steps and find the house. The thief marks the door with a symbol. The plan is for the other thieves to come back that night and kill everyone in the house. However, the thief has been seen by Morgiana and she, loyal to her master, foils his plan by marking all the houses in the neighborhood with a similar marking. When the 40 thieves return that night, they cannot identify the correct house and the head thief kills the lesser thief. The next day, another thief revisits Baba Mustafa and tries again, only this time, a chunk is chipped out of the stone step at Ali Baba's front door. Again Morgiana foils the plan by making similar chips in all the other doorsteps. The second thief is killed for his stupidity as well. At last, the head thief goes and looks for himself. This time, he memorizes every detail he can of the exterior of Ali Baba's house.
The chief of the thieves pretends to be an oil merchant in need of Ali Baba's hospitality, bringing with him mules loaded with thirty-eight oil jars, one filled with oil, the other thirty-seven hiding the other remaining thieves. Once Ali Baba is asleep, the thieves plan to kill him. Again, Morgiana discovers and foils the plan, killing the thirty-seven thieves in their oil jars by pouring boiling oil on them. When their leader comes to rouse his men, he discovers that they are dead, and escapes.
To exact revenge, after some time the thief establishes himself as a merchant, befriends Ali Baba's son (who is now in charge of the late Cassim's business), and is invited to dinner at Ali Baba's house. The thief is recognized by Morgiana, who performs a dance with a dagger for the diners and plunges it into the heart of the thief when he is off his guard. Ali Baba is at first angry with Morgiana, but when he finds out the thief tried to kill him, he gives Morgiana her freedom and marries her to his son. Ali Baba is then left as the only one knowing the secret of the treasure in the cave and how to access it. Thus, the story ends happily for everyone except the forty thieves and Cassim."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 7:52 pm
Bushy Bride: "A widower with a son and a daughter married a widow with a daughter, and the stepmother maltreated the children until the boy left home. The stepmother sent the stepdaughter to the pool for water one day, and three heads popped up to demand, in turn, that she wash, brush, and kiss them. When she did this, they talked among themselves and decreed that she would be the most beautiful woman in the world, that gold would drop from her hair when she brushed it, and from her mouth when she spoke. When her stepsister saw this, she wanted to go as well, but she was rude to the three heads, and they decreed that her nose would be four ells long, she would have a snout three ells long and a pine-bush in her forehead, and ashes would drop from her mouth when she spoke.
Meanwhile, the stepson worked as a groom for the king. Everyday, he took out a picture of his sister and prayed for her. The other grooms told the king, who insisted on seeing, and declared that no woman could be so beautiful. The king resolved to marry her. The brother came to fetch her, and the stepmother and her daughter came as well. At sea, her brother called down as the journey went on, and the stepmother persuaded the sister to throw overboard a casket and a dog her mother had left her, and then herself.
The king was outraged by the sight of the stepsister, thinking this was his promised bride. He had to keep his word and marry her, but he threw the brother into a snake pit.
A lovely woman came into the kitchen, brushed her hair, producing gold, and sang of the wickedness of the Bushy Bride, and said she would come twice more. A kitchen maid told the king, but the Bushy Bride sang him to sleep the next night. The third night, the king set two men to keep him awake, but they were unable to do so. When the woman turned to leave, saying she would never come again, they put a knife in his hand and guided it to cut her finger. This freed her and woke the king, who took the brother from the snake pit, where the snakes had not harmed him, and threw in the stepmother and the Bushy Bride. Then he married the true bride."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 7:53 pm
Buttercup: "While Buttercup's mother was baking, the dog began to bark, and Buttercup saw a witch coming "with her head under her arm, and a bag at her back". His mother had him hide under the kneading trough, but the witch said she had a silver knife to give him, and this lured him out. The witch told him that he had to climb into her sack to get it, and as soon as he was in, she carried him off. On the way, the witch asked "How far is it to Snoring?", and Buttercup said half a mile, so she rested, and using the knife he escaped, putting a big fir root in the sack.
The next day, she lured him out with the offer of a silver spoon, but he escaped in the same way, using a stone. The third day, she offered him a silver fork and went straight home without resting. She gave him to her daughter to cook and, because it was Sunday, went to church to invite guests to dinner. The daughter didn't know how to kill him. Buttercup told her to lay her head on the chopping block, and he would show her. He cut her head off, put it in her bed, and stewed her body. Then he climbed up the chimney with the root and stone.
The witch and her husband came home and, thinking their daughter asleep, they ate the soup, speaking of "Buttercup broth". Buttercup talked of "daughter broth" from the chimney. They went outside to see what caused the noise, and Buttercup killed them by dropping the stone and root on their heads. He took all their gold and silver and went home."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 7:54 pm
The Canary Prince: "A jealous stepmother persuades her husband the king to lock his daughter in a castle in the forest.
One day, a king's son goes by, hunting, and is astounded to see the abandoned castle in use. He sees the daughter, but they are unable to communicate except by gesture. A witch, to help them, tricks the ladies-in-waiting into giving the princess a book. When she ruffles the pages forward, her lover turns into a canary; when she ruffles them back, he is restored to his human form.
After some time, the queen arrives and sees a young man by the window, and puts pins on the window sill so that if the daughter leaned on it to flirt, she would be stabbed. These pins stab the prince in his canary form, and even when the princess restores him, the prince lies on the ground, bleeding, and his companions must bear him back to his father.
The princess escapes by cutting up her sheets for a rope, and overhears witches talking of things; one describes how to heal the prince. She does so, and asks for his coat-of-arms, his standard, and his vest as her reward.
He goes hunting, and she turns him into a canary. When he flies to her room and she turns him back, he reproaches her for his injury. She produces her reward to prove that she saved him, and tells him that it was her stepmother's doing.
They marry, and the daughter reveals to her father how wicked her imprisonment had been."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 7:55 pm
Cannetella: "A king longed for a child, and a daughter was born to him, whom he named Cannetella. When she was grown, he wanted to marry her off; she did not want to, but at last consented if her husband would have no like in the world. He presented candidates, and when she found fault with them, concluded she did not want to marry at all. Cannetella said she would marry a man with golden hair and golden teeth.
Fioravante, a mortal enemy of the king's and a magician, turned himself into a man with golden hair and golden teeth. The king agreed to their marriage, but Fioravante insisted on carrying off the princess with no attendants or baggage. When they reached a stable, he left her there with strict orders not to leave it or be seen, and to eat only what the horses left. One day, looking through a hole, she saw a garden filled with lemons, flowers, citrons, and vines. A desire for a bunch of grapes seized her, and she stole it. The horses told Fioravante when he returned, and he was ready to stab her, but she pled for her life; he set her to the same conditions and left again.
A royal locksmith came by, and Cannetella called to him, persuaded him that it was really her despite her altered looks, and had him smuggle her back to her father. Fioravante came after her. He bribed an old woman to let him see the princess, and Cannetella saw him. She had her father build her a chamber with seven iron doors. Fioravante went back to the old woman and had her go to the castle, selling rouge, and slip a piece of paper in the princess's bed, to charm everyone else asleep. Everyone fell asleep. Fioravante burst through all seven doors to get to the princess, and picked her up, bed clothes and all, to carry her off, but he knocked free the paper, and everyone woke. They pounced on him and cut him to pieces."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 7:56 pm
Cap-o'-Rushes: "Once upon a time a rich man had three daughters and asked each one how much they loved him. The first said, as much as life; the second, as much as the world; the third, as much as meat needs salt. He declared to the third that she did not love him at all and that it was not enough, and hence drove her out. She made herself a garment of rushes, to wear over her fine clothing, and found a great house where she begged a job scrubbing the dishes, and because she gave them no name, they called her "Cap-o'-Rushes."
One day, the servants all went to look at the fine people at a ball. Cap-o'-Rushes said she was too tired, but when they were gone, she took off her rushes and went to the ball. Her master's son fell in love with her, but she slipped off. This repeated two more nights, but the third night, he gave her a ring and said he would die without her. There were no more balls, and the master's son took to his bed. They sent orders to the cook to make him some gruel, and Cap-o'-Rushes pleaded until the cook let her make it instead. She slid the ring into the gruel.
The master's son sent for the cook and demanded to know who had made the gruel, and then summoned Cap-o'-Rushes, and questioned her until she admitted she was the woman and took off her rushes. They were married, and Cap-o'-Rushes ordered that the wedding feast be prepared without any salt. This left all the dishes without flavor, and her father, who was a guest, burst into tears because he realized what his daughter had meant, and now he feared she was dead. Cap-o'-Rushes told him that she was his daughter, and so they lived happily ever after."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 7:57 pm
The Cat on the Dovrefjell: "A man was bringing a white bear to give to the king of Denmark, and he came to the mountain Dovre on Christmas Eve and asked a man called Halvor for shelter for the night. Halvor told him that trolls came every Christmas Eve and made such havoc that the household had to flee them. The man said he would stay with his bear anyway.
The trolls came, eating the feast the people had left behind, and one began to bait the bear, calling it "Kitty". It rose up and drove them all out of the house.
The next year, a troll asked Halvor if he still had that cat. Halvor assured him that he did, and she had had seven kittens, bigger and fiercer than herself. The trolls never again came to his cottage for Christmas Eve."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:01 pm
The Cat's Elopement: "A handsome cat named Gon, belonging to a music teacher, and a lovely cat named Koma, belonging to a lady, met and fell in love. Neither of their owners would sell one of them to the other owner, and they finally decided to elope. In the evening, they were threatened by a dog; Koma fled up a tree, while Gon stood his ground to protect her; a servant came by and carried off Gon to his mistress, the princess.
A snake had fallen in love with this princess, and annoyed her with its visits. One day, when it came to annoy her once again, Gon pounced on it and killed it. After, he saw a large cat harassing a smaller one. He went to rescue the small cat and found it was Koma. He brought her to the princess and told her their story. She wept with sympathy and kept them with her; when she married a prince, she told him their story, and the prince agreed to keep them always, so they lived happily, with their many kittens playing with the prince and princess's many children."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:04 pm
Catherine and her Destiny: "Catherine was a rich merchant's beautiful daughter. One day a woman appeared to her and asked whether she would rather be happy in her youth or in her old age. Catherine decided on old age, and the woman, who was Catherine's Destiny, vanished. Shortly, Catherine's father lost his wealth and died. Catherine attempted to enter into service, but whenever someone hired her, her Destiny appeared and tore the home to pieces when Catherine there alone, she fled from fear that she would be blamed.
After seven years, her Destiny stopped, and she became the servant of a woman who had her bring loaves of bread every day to the woman's Destiny . One day, the woman asked her why she wept so often, and Catherine told her story. The woman told her, the next time, to ask her Destiny to ask Catherine's to stop these persecutions. The next day after she asked, the woman's Destiny brought her to her own, who gave her a skein of silk.
One day, the young king was to be married. His wedding garment was rich, but when the tailor was almost done with it, the silk ran out, and no more could be found that color. A proclamation declared that whoever brought such thread to the castle would receive a large sum, and the woman, who had seen the garment, told Catherine that her skein was the right color. Catherine brought it, and the court proposed that she should receive its weight in gold. But when it was put in the scale, no matter how much gold was added, the scales were not balanced with all the royal treasure until the king threw in his crown.
The king demanded to know of her where she had gotten the silk, and she told her story. A wise lady at court said that it was clear that her happy days were to begin, and that the scales were not balanced until the crown was added, was proof that she would be a queen. The king declared that she would be his queen, and married her instead of the bride he had intended, and Catherine lived happily until the end of her life."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:06 pm
Catskin: "A lord has many fine estates and wishes to leave them to a son, and so, when a daughter is born to him, he will not even look at her.
When she is fifteen, her father is willing to marry her off to the first man who offers. When she hates the first man who offers, she goes to a hen-wife, who advises her to demand a coat of silver cloth before the wedding. When her father and suitor provide that, the hen-wife advises a coat of beaten gold, and then a coat made from feathers of all the birds, and then a little coat of catskin.
The daughter puts on the Catskin coat and runs away, disguising herself as a peasant girl. She finds a place as a scullion at a castle and works in the kitchens.
A ball is held at the castle and the daughter (called 'Catskin' by the others in the kitchen) asks to be allowed to attend. (In some versions, she asks to simply see the ball or serve the food.) The cook throws a basin of water in her face when she asks to go, but Catskin bathes and dresses herself in the coat of silver cloth, and goes to the ball. The young lord falls in love with her, but when he asks where she came from, she said from the Sign of the Basin of Water.
The young lord holds another ball, in hopes she will attend. The cook breaks a ladle across Catskin's back when she says she would like to go, but Catskin goes in her coat of beaten gold, and says she came from the Sign of the Broken Ladle.
The young lord holds a third ball. The cook breaks a skimmer across Catskin's back when she asks permission to attend, but Catskin goes in her coat of feathers, and says she came from the Sign of the Broken Skimmer. The young lord follows her, and sees her change back.
He then goes to his mother and announces he will marry Catskin. His mother is opposed, and the young lord takes ill. She then agrees to the marriage. When Catskin appears before her in the coat of gold, the mother says she is glad her daughter is so beautiful.
Catskin gives birth to a son. One day, a beggar woman appears with her child, and Catskin sends her son to give them money. The cook says that beggars' brats will get along, and Catskin goes to her husband and begs him to discover what happened to her parents.
Her husband finds her father, who never had another child and lost his wife, and asks him whether he had a daughter. Catskin's father admits it and says that he would give all that he owns to see her again. Catskin's husband takes her father to see his daughter and then brings him to stay with them at the castle."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:09 pm
The Child who came from an Egg: "An old woman told a queen that she had two griefs: a new one, that her husband was at war, and an old one, that they had no children. She gave her a basket with an egg: the queen was to put it somewhere warm. In three months, it would break and let out a doll. She was to let it alone, and then it would become a baby girl. She would have a baby of her own, a son, and she was to put the girl with him and show them both to the king, and then raise the son herself but entrust the daughter to a nurse. Furthermore, she must invite this woman to the christening by throwing a wild goose feather into the air.
The queen obeyed exactly. When the christening arrived, a dazzlingly beautiful woman came in a cream-colored carriage, and was dressed like the sun. She decreed that the girl was to be named Dotterine.
The children grew. Dotterine's nurse loved her, but knew that every night a beautiful woman leaned over her; she confided in the queen, and they decided to keep it secret. When the twins were two, the queen took ill and confided the basket to the nurse, for when Dotterine was ten. Then she died.
The king remarried, for reasons of ambition, and the stepmother hated the twins. One day, she beat Dotterine, and Dotterine ran away to weep. She found the basket, thought something in it might amuse her, and found only a feather. She threw it out the window. A beautiful woman appeared and told her that she was her godmother; she talked with her, told her how to use the basket to feed herself, and said that to summon her, she need only throw the goose wing out the window.
One day, the city was besieged. Dotterine threw the goose wing out the window. The lady carried her away. The next day, the king and all his men were captured, but the prince escaped in the confusion, and the queen was killed by a spear.
The lady disguised Dotterine as a peasant. She used the basket to feed herself but took service as a peasant to gain shelter. One day a lady saw her and took her into service. She heard that the prince had raised an army and threw out the usurper who had taken the city, but the king had died in captivity. The new king held a ball to choose his wife. Her godmother told her to prepare her mistresses; once they were gone, she told her to look in the basket. She found all she needed there and went to the ball. All the women said that this was the lost princess.
At midnight, a dark cloud blinded them, and Dotterine's godmother appeared. She told the king that Dotterine was not his sister, but a princess from a neighboring kingdom, given to his mother to raise to protect her from a wizard. She vanished, and so did the basket, but Dotterine lived happily with the king ever after."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:10 pm
Childe Rowland: "The story tells of how the four children of the Queen (by some accounts Guinevere), Childe Rowland, his two older brothers, and his sister, Burd Ellen, were playing ball near a church. Rowland kicked the ball over the church and Burd Ellen went to retrieve it, inadvertently circling the church "widdershins", or opposite the way of the sun, and disappeared. Rowland went to Merlin to ask what became of his sister and was told that she was taken to the Dark Tower by the King of Elfland, and only the boldest knight in Christendom could retrieve her.
The eldest brother decided he would make the journey, and was told what to do by Merlin. He did not return, and the middle brother followed, only to meet the same fate. Finally Childe Rowland went forth, having been given his father's sword, which never struck in vain, for protection. Merlin gave him his orders: he must chop off the head of anyone in Elfland who speaks to him until he sees his sister, and he must not eat or drink anything while in that realm. Rowland obeyed the orders, dispatching a horseherd, a cowherd, and a henwife, who would not tell him where his sister was. The henwife would only say he had to circle a hill three times widdershins, and say each time "Open, door! open, door! And let me come in." Following the instructions, a door opened in the hill and Rowland entered a great hall, where sat Burd Ellen, under the spell of the King of Elfland. She told him he should not have entered Elfland, for misfortune befell all who did, including their brothers, who were prisoners in the Dark Tower, nearly dead.
Rowland, forgetting Merlin's words, was overcome with hunger and asked his sister for food. Unable to warn him, she complied. At the last moment, Merlin's words returned to Rowland and he threw down the food, upon which the King of Elfland burst into the hall. Rowland fought with the King, and with the aid of his father's sword beat him into submission. The King begged for mercy, and Rowland granted it, provided his siblings were released. They returned home together, and Burd Ellen never circled the church widdershins again."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:11 pm
Aschenputtel: "A rich gentleman's wife lay dying, and calling her only daughter to her bedside, asked her to remain kind and generous, and God will protect her. She then died and was buried. After a transition of seasons (winter and spring) the widower married another woman, who had two daughters of her own; they were beautiful yet cruel and wicked. The stepsisters destroyed the girl's clothes, sent her into the kitchen to do the worst chores, and renamed her Cinderella. Despite all of this the girl remained good and pious, and would always go to her mother's grave to cry and pray to God to give better circumstances for herself.
One day, the gentleman visits a fair, promising his stepdaughters gifts of luxury. One asks for beautiful dresses, while the other for pearls and diamonds. His own daughter merely asks for the first twig that will hit his hat off on the way. The gentleman goes into his way, and acquires presents for his stepdaughters. While passing a forest he gets a hazel twig, and gives it to his daughter. She plants the twig over her mother's grave, waters it with her tears and over the years, it grows into a glowing hazel tree. Under it the girl would pray for thrice a day, and a white bird would always come to talk and grant her everything she would ask for.
The king decides to give a festival that will last for three whole days and nights, and invites all the beautiful maidens in the land to attend, because the prince is supposed to select from one of them a bride for himself. The two sisters were also invited, but when Cinderella begged them to allow her to go with them into the celebration, the stepmother scoffed her off, because she had no dress nor shoes to wear. When the girl insisted, the woman threw a dish of lentils into the ashes for her to pick up, guaranteeing her permission to attend the festival, and when the girl accomplished the task in less than an hour with the help of two, white doves sent by God from Heaven, the stepmother only redoubled the task and threw down even a greater quantity of lentils. When Cinderella was able to accomplished it in a greater speed, not wanting to spoil her daughters' chances, the stepmother hasted away with them to the ball and left the crying stepdaughter behind.
The girl retreats to the graveyard to ask for help. The white bird drops a silver gown and silk shoes. She goes to the ball, with the precaution of leaving before midnight. The prince dances with her, but she eludes him before midnight strikes. The next evening, the girl appeared in a grander apparel. The prince fell in-love with her and danced her the whole evening, but when midnight came, she left again. The third evening, she appeared dressed with gold. Now the prince was determined to keep her, and had entire stairway smeared with pitch. Cinderella lost her track of time, and when she ran away to leave, one of her golden slippers stuck on that pitch. The prince proclaimed that he would marry the maiden whose foot would fit the golden slipper.
The next morning, the prince went into Cinderella's house and tried the slipper on the eldest stepsister. The sister was advised by her mother to cut off her heel in order to fit the slipper, and while riding with the prince, the two doves from Heaven told the Prince that blood drips from her heel. Appalled at her treachery, he went back again and tried the slipper to the other stepsister. She cut off her toe in order to get in her foot in the slipper, and again the prince was fooled. While he was riding with her on the way to the king's castle, the doves alerted him again about the blood on her foot. He came back to inquire for another girl. The gentleman tells him that they kept a kitchen-maid in the house - yet did not mention that she was his own daughter - and the prince asked him to let her try the slipper. The girl appeared after washing herself, and when she had put on the slipper, the prince recognized her as the stranger he danced at the ball.
In the end during Cinderella's wedding, as she was walking down the aisle with her stepsisters as her bridesmaids, for they had hoped to worm their way into her favor, the doves from Heaven flew down and struck the two stepsister's eyes, one in the left and the other in the right. When the wedding comes to an end, and Cinderella and her prince march out of the church, the doves fly again, striking the remaining eyes of the two evil sisters blind, a punishment they have to endure for the rest of their lives."
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