Once upon a time there was a girl called Cinderella. She was called Cinderella because every morning and every night she had to clean the cinders from the fireplace.

Cinderella lived with her stepmother and two stepsisters. Her stepmother and stepsisters wore pretty dresses made of silk and velvet. Cinderella had no pretty dresses. She had to wear old rags.

Cinderella was a thoughtful and kind-hearted girl. Her two stepsisters were mean and nasty, but they believed themselves to be beautiful inside and out. Their mother believed this too, but to her Cinderella was ugly.

Cinderella's stepmother was not kind at all. She was always shouting at Cinderella, 'Do this! Do that! Faster! Faster! Work! Work! Work!'

Cinderella's stepsisters were very lazy. 'Wash the dishes! Sweep the floor!', they would shout at her.

And so every day Cinderella was in the kitchen working from morning until night. She wasn't completely alone, though. In the kitchen she had six little mouse friends. They lived in a hole under the floor. They sang squeaky little mouse songs to Cinderella when she was ti

red or sad.