I believe In the

Once upon a time there was a beautiful young maiden. She lived a difficult life filled with tragedy and sadness along with glimpsing moments of joy. When she was very young her mother passed away leaving her only in her fathers care. After seeing his daughter be raised without a mother, he decided to find a stepmother for his dear Delfina. Delfina’s step mother appeared kind at first, but was truly wicked. After the death of Delfina’s father the evil stepmother, Nissa, made Delfina’s life a living nightmare.

Every day she forced Delfina to perform every chore needed for the upkeep of the families’ palace. One misty morning Nissa asked Delfina to collect firewood in the forest. Happily Delfina obeyed her stepmother not knowing the terrible fate she would soon encounter. Little to Delfina’s knowledge, Nissa had hired an assassin to murder her that morning. The mercenary stalked Delfina for the morning, but try as he may to kill the young girl, he simply could not bring himself to kill her. So he left the forest quietly never to return. Nissa was outraged to find that her plan had failed, but she had little time to stew in her anger. She was preparing herself and her two young daughters for a ball at the King’s castle that evening. “At least we won’t have to get ready by ourselves,” croaked Nissa’s daughter Greta. “Yes now that the servant is back from the woods we can put her to work sewing our gowns,” replied the other daughter Yenta. And so they commanded Delfina to spend the entire day preparing their ball gowns, never giving her the chance to even think of her own dress. By the time the carriage arrived, the girls and their mother, swaddled in purple and green gowns, swaggered their way to the horse and coach. Delfina looked on woefully from her cold room in the cellar. “If only I too could attend the ball this evening,” she quietly whimpered to herself. Suddenly a small ball of glowing light appeared in front of her. The ball burst into a shimmering cloud of dust, and out stepped a rather peculiar woman. “I am your fairy godmother,” the woman said as she caught her balance. “Shall we start primping you to meet the young prince?” and with the flick of her wand Delfina was swathed in an awe-inspiring silver and blue gown. “The spell will only last till midnight so you must make sure you tie up your affairs by then” chimed the fairy and Delfina was whisked away to the ball in a sparkling coach.

Delfina spent the entire magical evening wrapped in the prince’s arms. Right before she could tell him her name, the clock began to strike midnight. Delfina rushed from the ballroom out to her coach, so that no one would see her dress slowly transform into the rags that normally clothe her. In her hurry to escape the crowd Delfina dropped her shoe at the staircase and had no time to retrieve it. Thankfully the prince found her slipper. “The woman whose shoe fits into this foot will become my wife” he mumbled. “I do believe you mean whose foot fits this shoe your highness” replied his manservant.

Unfortunately for Delfina, her mother had returned home early due to a stomach ache. Nissa stumbled upon the young maiden while her dress was still slightly shimmering. “So, you think you can dine with royalty?” cried Nissa. “Oh stepmother please do not be angry, I simply wanted to meet the prince,” pleaded Delfina. “Oh I’m not angry,” hissed Nissa “In fact I’m so “not angry” that I want to give you this lovely apple because you told me the truth about your evening”. “Thank you” whispered Delfina. Nissa took a shining red apple from a small golden box and handed it to Delfina. “Go ahead my darling, take a bite” she ordered. Delfina warily reached out her hand to take the apple. Slowly she brought the glistening fruit to her mouth and took a small bite. “Thank you stepmother” Delfina said. Suddenly, Delfina became colder than ice and fell to the ground. Her pulse slowed to a pause and her heart beat began to fade. “Now I will never have to worry about you again!” cackled Nissa as she dragged Delfina’s body to the forest. She placed Delfina in a glass coffin and encased the casket in thorns. Then Nissa chained a terrifying dragon in front of the thorny tomb to keep any wandering explorer from encountering the dead Delfina.

The next morning Greta and Yenta awoke to the sound of fists pounding against their door. “Open the door, in the name of the king open this door”. The young girls quickly dressed themselves and flew to the large wooden door at the front of their house. “Do come in your majesty,” squealed Greta as she curtsied to the prince. “Uh, thank you,” the prince replied awkwardly as he stepped through the threshold. “I’m on a search for the maiden whose foot fits into this slipper,” the prince unwrapped the shoe whilst speaking, letting the crystal pump catch the early morning sunlight. “It’s mine!” cried Yenta. “No it’s mine!” screamed Greta. The girls fought like cats and dogs over the owner of the shoe until their mother stomped into the room and pulled them apart. “Stop fighting and try on the shoe!” she screamed.

And so the day went. The Prince spent his morning watching two ill mannered girls try to fit their bulbous feet into an extremely slender shoe. At half past one a blood curdling roar flew from the forest. “What on earth was that?” the prince inquired to Nissa. “Oh just our, um, pet dog,” Nissa lied hastily. “I do love dogs, may I see him?” asked the prince, and before Nissa could object the prince had grabbed the slipper and was out the door walking to the forest. “What am I going to do if the dragon eats the prince?” worried Nissa as she followed behind him. Luckily the dragon had broken free from his fetters and had flown away. As the young prince walked through the forest in search of the “family hound” he stumbled upon the thorny tomb covering Delfina. “I wonder what this is?” he inquired as he stepped closer to the briars. He took out his sword and began to hack away at the prickly prison. After several long hours of chopping the young prince had finally uncovered Delfina’s casket. “This is the girl!” he cried and lifted the glass lid from the coffin. The Prince slowly bent down and kissed Delfina lightly on her rosy lips. Life filled her cold body and she opened her eyes to see the prince standing over her. The young prince knelt be her side and slipped the crystal pump onto her delicate foot. “A perfect match,” he said smiling as he lifted her from her glassy encasement. The two lovers walked from the forest hand in hand as living proof that true love conquers all, and they lived happily ever after.