Hello Children.
I am going to tell you all a story.
It begins like this:
Once upon a time…
And ends like this:
the end.

Once upon a time,
there was a beautiful man who married a beautiful woman.
He was very rich and she was very rich and they were very happy.
They had a beautiful child.
Her name was Ella.
She had little blonde curls and sparkly blue eyes.
She was happy too.
Until Mama died.
The father and the girl were very sad.
The girl started talking to her dolls.
They never responded.

But the girl grew up anyway,
even though she had no mother.
Everyone grows up eventually.

Well the Father noticed one day that his little girl
was not such a little girl any more.
Her curls had settled into loose waves,
and her sparkly blue eyes were now a calmer blue.
A duller blue.
She has to have a mother,
he thought to himself.
So he went out and found himself a nice new wife.
She was rich and beautiful and they were very happy.

There were two girls too.
His daughter’s age.
These girls were very beautiful,
like their mother.
They were very nice their new sister.
But they noticed that she
was just a little bit odd.
Something was not quite right with her.
But they thought it was because
the poor dear had no mother.

One day, while the three were reading a story
about a beautiful princess,
Ella said to her new sisters,
“I don’t like this story. Let me tell you one. It’s about me.”
The sisters found this odd,
but they were nice girls,
so they listened anyway.
After all, the poor dear had no mother.
So Ella started talking.

She told them about how she was really a princess,
and about how Stepmother made her do all the work.
Then she talked about the Prince’s ball.
The prince was naturally very handsome, and was of course looking for a bride.
Ella was not very creative, you see.
But Ella was very poor and Stepmother had taken all her nice clothes.

The sisters shifted nervously.
This was not true.
But Ella had taken to stealing the servants’ clothes.
Which was odd,
because she had everything she could ever need.
After all, her parents were rich and beautiful and happy.
Well not Ella.
She wasn’t happy.

Ella noticed her sisters looking at her, slightly confused.
She snapped.

“You are so cruel!” she yelled.
“Why are you so wicked? I have done nothing wrong! Please let me go to the ball!”
Then she launched into a narrative about how
her evil sisters and stepmother had gone to the ball without her.
But then kind Fairy Godmother appeared and made her a dress.
She wore the finest glass slippers.
And mice and dogs became coachmen and servants.
A pumpkin became her regal carriage.
And how then she went to the ball and danced with the prince,
and naturally they fell in love.
But the Fairy’s spell only lasted until midnight,
so Ella fled and left a shoe behind her.
The next day, the prince came to find the fair maiden, shoe in hand.
When he got to the house, Ella was locked in a room,
and her jealous stepsisters tried on the shoe.
It didn’t fit.
So then Ella ran out and tried it on.

At this point the nice new sisters were very concerned.
Ella was being very odd.
And then things got odder.
Ella ran to the kitchen and grabbed two fine glass drinking glasses.
and shoved her feet in them.
“I’m the princess, not you!” she shrieked.
“I’m the princess! Why won’t they fit! I’m the princess!”
Poor Ella.
After all, her feet were not shaped like drinking-glasses.
So she took the glasses off and threw them on the ground.
Of course, they shattered.
And then do you know what Ella did?
She walked right over the shards.

Her sisters were very frightened at this point.
“Are you alright Ella?” they asked.
Ella looked at them with a sweet, sick smile.
“I’m going to the palace now. I’m going to be the queen!”
She giggled.
There was blood on the floor now.

Ella walked to her room and lay down in bed.
Her bloody feet turned the white sheets crimson.
Meanwhile, the sisters ran to Mother and Father,
And told them about Ella.
They ran to the room.
The poor dear was lying in bed,
Mumbling softly to herself.

“Papa, do you see now? The shoe fits. I’m going to be a princess after all!”
“The mice turned into men and helped me.”
“Oh, Fairy Godmother, it’s beautiful!”
“Mama, look at my dolly. Isn’t she lovely?”

Ella would not stop.
Now Father was very sad, and Stepmother was concerned,
and Stepsisters were frightened.
and although it pained him,
Father sent Ella away,
to a place where she could be safe,
and where others would be safe from her.
They fixed up her feet.
Ella made a friend named Alice,
so she wasn’t completely alone, the poor dear.
The father and his new wife had a baby boy.
His name was Ellis.
He had little blonde curls and sparkly blue eyes.
He was a happy baby.
His older sisters loved him very much.
It was the very beginning of a wonderful life for him.
But for poor Ella,
It was like the end.