童话故事：真实的一个灰姑娘人生(5)

Sadly, shortly after the marriage began, Cinderella’s father also died, leaving her alone with her stepmother and stepsisters. It was then that her new family’s true nature revealed itself. They removed everything from the home that had belonged to Cinderella’s mother and father and filled the house with their own belongings. The stepsisters took Cinderella’s bedroom for themselves and made her sleep on a stack of hay in the cellar. The stepmother took Cinderella’s dresses away and gave her raggedy clothes to wear.
“If you want to continue living here, you’ll have to work for it,” the stepmother said.
A carriage arrived to take the stepmother and stepsisters to the palace, and Cinderella followed them outside.
“Where do you think you’re going?” the stepmother asked.
“To the ball, of course,” Cinderella said.
“You can’t go to the palace dressed in those hideous rags,” the stepmother said.
“Oh, please let me go, Stepmother,” Cinderella pleaded. “I don’t wish to dance with the prince, I only wish to see the palace. I’ll stand in the very back where no one can see me.”