A grandson hears a story about his grandma - a story that other storytellers had neglected in their narrations.
 

   A fairy godmother’s work is never done, is it?

   No. The time to propose marriage has not come yet. I know you love Elian and she loves you. That is good. But you have yet to gain her respect, and she yours. And a relationship lasts longest when respect is mixed with love.

  If you want to look at a couple that shares love and respect, just look at your grandmother and grandfather. Look how happy they are. Even now, at this age, they are out there in the garden cavorting like two small children.

   Come here dear boy, and sit by the fire beside me. I will tell you the story of the time when your grandfather first proposed to your grandmother. About forty five years ago it was. My! How time flies!  

   Looking at you always reminds me of your grandmother in her youth. You looked so much like her before you had this growth of hair on your cheeks. Even your mannerisms resemble hers – the way you move your hands while you talk; the way you are now squatting on the rug, your face shining in the firelight.

   Don’t be impatient. I am coming to the story.

   I know you have heard the love story of your grandparents from the storytellers, but how could they know what I know?

   I was with your grandmother when she was born. I was with her when her mother died and her father married another woman. I was with her when she grew up into a most beautiful woman. I was the one who gave her the glass shoe and I was with her when she first refused Prince Charming’s marriage proposal.

   I have heard and read all versions of the Cinderella story. On one end are the ones where she is nothing but a passive doormat of a victim and on the other end are the ones where she is such a vengeful person that as soon as she marries Charming, she has her stepmother and stepsisters put to horrendous death.

   None of the versions are true. None of the versions portray Cinderella’s strengths, her intelligence, her liveliness, her individuality.

   Did any storyteller ever tell you that Cinderella once scared the daylights out of her stepmother by putting a mouse in the cookie jar?  

   Did you know that Cinderella’s stepsisters were not always bad? Most of the times, they behaved badly under the influence of their mother. Now she was evil, pure and simple. Did you know that once, when Cinderella fell ill and ran a high fever, her stepsisters sat by the side of her bed all night applying cold towels to her brow until the fever broke?

   Did the storytellers relate that incident?

   Do you remember your great aunts? Cinderella helped them marry well and they lived quite a happy life, particularly after the death of their mother.

   There you go, being impatient again. This is one trait in which you resemble your grandfather and not your grandmother.

   The story I want to tell you begins at the point when Cindy passed the test of the glass shoe and that charming prince called Prince Charming proposed marriage to her.

   What did she do?

   "I will marry you, but you will have to pass a test too," she said.

   Did the storytellers write about it?

   This is what happened:

   The entourage of Prince Charming was shocked. A common girl like Cinderella wanting to test their prince! What audacity!

   But that is where they were mistaken. My Cindy was not a common girl. And the prince knew this, and was proud of the fact, and with a smile, agreed to be tested. You look surprised. You don’t know much about your grandfather, do you? Again it is the fault of those storytellers. They make him appear so one dimensional.

   Now then, where was I? Ah, yes. So then Cindy went to an old trunk, opened it and pulled out an old and tattered pair of boots. She carried the boots to the Prince and said: "I will marry you if these boots fit you."

   The courtiers gave another gasp of utter shock and dismay. No one saw the look of recognition on Prince Charming’s face when he saw the old boots.

   And now, I am sure you all want to know the story behind the old pair of boots. Of course I know it. Didn’t I tell you I know a lot about Cinderella’s life?

   The story is quite simply told.

   As you know, Cinderella's stepmother used to send her out on all sorts of tiring errands. These errands often took her through a farm and in the course of these errands, she became friends with the family that lived on the farm.

   The family consisted of just three members, the farmer, his wife, and their son, who was about two years old. They were a kind and hearty family, and Cindy always liked to stop at the farm and chat with the farmer's wife. She had grown quite fond of the cute little boy, too.

   One day, she and the farmer's wife were sitting on the grass by the fence and chatting. The little boy was playing close by. Absorbed in their conversation, they didn't notice the boy slip out of the fence and wander out on the road that went by the farm.

   It happened that just at that moment, a carriage came down that road, drawn by four horses in full gallop. The driver of the carriage gave a shout even as he pulled on his reins. Cindy and the farmer's wife raised their heads and looked and screamed. The little boy was directly in the path of the carriage and the carriage was coming on so fast that there was no way for the driver to stop it before it hit the boy.

   The boy's mother fainted with shock. So, Cindy was the only one who saw what happened next.  Almost like a miracle, a young man, dressed like a shepherd, leaped out of the bushes at the side of the road, swept the little boy in his arms and rolled to safety on the other side of the road.    

   The driver of the carriage, seeing that the boy was safe, simply kept going without even slowing down.

   Cinderella ran to the roadside. The boy was standing there, crying with shock, and there was no sign of the young shepherd who had saved him, except for a pair of old boots that had dropped off his feet during the rescue operation. Not knowing why, Cindy had brought the boots home and had hidden them in her trunk.

   It was these boots that she had brought out to test the prince.

   Good for Charming that the boots fit nicely.

   And so, they have been living happily ever after.

   So take my advice. Propose marriage to Elian only when the boots fit.

First appeared in "Leafing Through" (UK), November 2004.