Storytelling: Cinder-Elliot

Hi everyone, my name is Cinder-Elliot. Today I am going to tell you the story of my life. Many of you have probably have heard the Brothers Grimm story “Cinderella”, that story was a lie. They decided that my story would be more appealing if they changed me to a girl, and that’s not the only thing that they changed. So today, I am going to set the record straight and tell you the truth.

First of all, it was my father who died, not my mother. He died when I was nine, and my mother remarried soon after. My step-father was a jerk to me. He made me do all of the chores around the house, and never let me go outside to play. Meanwhile his two sons got to live a life of ease, lounging all day and ordering me around. I never got any breaks, and only stopped working when it was time for bed. Since I wasn’t given my own room, or bed for that matter, I slept by the fireplace to keep warm. On breezy nights, I would always end up being covered in cinders, hence the name Cinder-Elliot.

One day it was announced across the village that the King was going to hold a ball so that his only daughter may find a suitable husband. I of course wanted to go, a ball sounded fun and it never hurts to put yourself out there, but my step-father wouldn’t allow it. He said that I had been slacking on my chores the past week and this was my punishment. I couldn’t believe it, I had been working my hardest this past week and deserved a break.

The day of the ball my mother tried to convince my step-father to allow me to go, but he stood firm on his decision and told her not to bother him about it again. So, after they left, I ran to my father’s grave. I was too upset to do any work and needed to get out of the house. When I got to his grave all I could do was cry out to him and ask for help. I just wanted to live a normal life, not one where I was forced to work all day.

What happened next still blows my mind to this day. A white cloud descended from the sky and from it a woman dressed in a glowing white ball gown emerged. (At least some retellings get my fairy godmother right.) She walked up towards me and I couldn’t decide if I should be amazed or scared. Quickly I realized that she meant no harm and I asked her what she was doing here. She told me that she heard my pleas and that I was going to go to the ball. After that she did some magic and the next thing I knew I was at the ball in the nicest outfit I had ever seen. My suit was spectacular and my gloves were top notch. She did make sure to impress upon me the instructions that I needed to be home by midnight because the magic would wear off by then.

As the night rolled on the princess, whose name I discovered was Amber, and I really hit it off. She and I danced the whole night away and we learned so much about each other. I quickly lost track of time and before I knew it the clock was striking five till midnight. I knew I needed to be out of there before my clothes changed back and my step-father and brothers discovered I was there. I wrapped things up with Amber rather abruptly and ran out the castle gates. She was quick to follow and tried to grab me to get me to stop. She got a hold of my gloves which I was able to slip of easily and get away.

The next day I found out that Amber had created a search party to find the lost prince from the night before. She was going to every house in the village and trying the glove on each male’s hand. When she arrived at my house my step-brothers where ready to have their shot at trying the glove on. They greased their hands before they put it on, thinking that it would slip on much easier. When they failed to get the glove on, Amber was ready to leave, but my mother at the last second told her that I was up in my room and hadn’t tried on the glove. Even though my step-father protested the need for me to try on the glove, Amber insisted. I came downstairs quickly and was eager to try the glove on for myself. It slipped on easily and when Amber looked me in the eyes she knew I was the one.

That lovely story happened well over 25 years ago. Amber and I got married a month after that day, and are still happily married now. As for my step-father and step-brothers? Well, they tried to get me to give them some of my newly acquired riches, when I refused to do so they swore never to speak to me again, and I was totally fine with that.


Prince Elliot and Princess Amber

Bibliography:

Europa's Fairy Book by Joseph Jacobs and illustrated by John Batten (1916).

Author's Note:

When I saw that the story I read for this week included a rendition of Cinderella, I knew that I wanted to take it and give it my own twist. I wanted Cinderella to actually be a man, and I thought it would be funny to have the Brothers Grimm purposefully change him into a woman when they wrote their story. Since I was giving the "real" version of the Brothers Grimm story I wanted to change some of the elements of the story, not just the characters gender. So I changed the glass slipper into a glove and I changed it from an evil step-mother and step-sisters, to an evil step-father and step-brothers. I kept the fairy godmother which I know isn't in the Brothers Grimm story, but its in other renditions.