Once upon a time there lived a prince who was a widower, and he possessed an only daughter, so dear to him that he saw nought but by her eyes and the princess had a governess, who taught her all kinds of fancy work, and educated her in many other feminine endowments.

Now this woman made a great show of affection for her pupil, more in sooth than can be expressed. The prince took to himself a wife after a little while, and she chanced to be an evilly-disposed woman, who looked with disfavour on her charming stepdaughter, treating her with contempt, and coldness, and spite, so much so that the unhappy child used to complain of the ill-treatment she received to her teacher, saying to her, ‘O God, would that thou hadst been my darling mother, thou who lovest me and art always caressing me!’ And so long did she continue this song that the governess at last lent a pleased ear to it, and blinded by Satan, spake to the child thus: If thou wilt do as I bid thee, I will become thy mother, and thou shalt be dear unto me as my very eyes.’ She was going to end her say, when Zezolla (thus was the princess hight) interrupted her, and said, Pardon me if I thus stop the words upon thy lips: I ken quite well that thou lovest me: therefore say no more, but teach me only by what art we can come to the end of our desires. Write thou, and I will sign the deed.’ The teacher rejoined, ‘Open thine ears, and hearken well, and thou shalt have bread as white as snow. When thy sire fareth to the chase, say to thy stepmother that thou wouldest like to wear one of the old raiments which are to be found in the large chest stored away, as it is thy desire to save for high occasions the one thou wearest now. Thy stepmother, who loveth above all things to see thee in rags, will at once consent, and will go and open the chest, and will say to thee, “Hold up the lid,” and thou wilt hold it: and when she searcheth therein, thou wilt let it fall, and thus her neck will be broken. And after this thou knowest thy sire will do anything, even to false coinage, to please thee: therefore, when he caresseth thee, beseech thou him to take me to wife: and then wilt thou be blessed and happy, since thou wilt be the mistress of my life.’

Having listened to the bidding of her governess, every hour seemed a thousand years to her until she could execute her teacher’s rede. And after a time she did so and when the mourning for her stepmother’s untimely end had passed, she began to speak to her sire, telling him that she would be very happy if he would wed her teacher.

The prince at first heard not; but the daughter kept ever speaking and persuading him, till at last he lent a willing ear to her desires, and took Carmosina (thus was the teacher hight) to wife, and ordered great joyance and feasting in all his realm. Now it so happened that whilst the bride and bridegroom were toying and playing, and spending their time in joyance, Zezolla was looking out of one of the windows in the palace, and beheld a pigeon flying about, which at last settled upon a low wall in front of her, and addressing her in human voice, spake thus: ‘When thou desirest to have something, send to the pigeon of the fairies in the island of Sardinia, and thou shalt have thy wish.’

The new stepmother for five or six days caressed. and petted the young princess, seating her in the best place at table, giving her the choicest morsels, arraying her in the finest raiment: but having passed a short time, forgetting the deed Zezolla had done to serve her (and sad the soul who hath a bad master), she brought forward six daughters of her own, whom she had kept hidden secretly and so much art did she use that, having ingratiated her daughters in the stepfather’s favour, he lost all love and affection for his own child, so that (argue to-day and speak to-morrow) Zezolla was sent from the chamber to the kitchen, from the dais to the fireplace, from the silken and golden raiment to the
coarse cloth, and from the sceptre to the spit. And not only did she change her estate, but her name was changed also, and she was hight the Cat Cinderella. So it chanced one day of the days that the prince her sire had to journey to the island of Sardinia on matters concerning his realm; and before departing he asked each one of his stepdaughters – Mperia, Calamita, Sciorella, Diamante, Colommina, and Pascarella – what they would that he should bring to them on his return. One asked for fine raiment, another jewels for her hair, another cosmetics and pomade for the skin, another divers playthings to pass the time, another fruits, another flowers: and at the last, in contempt for his own daughter, he turned and said to her, ‘And thou, what wilt thou?’ and she
answered, ‘I want nought, but I desire that thou recommend me to the pigeon of the fairies, bidding her tell them that they would send me somewhat: and an thou shouldest forget to do my bidding, mayest thou not be able to stir forward or backward from thy place. Remember well my saying: thine is the weapon, and thine is the sleeve.’ The prince fared to Sardinia, ended all his affairs, bought all the things desired by his stepdaughters, and forgot quite Zezolla’s bidding. He took ship for his return: but do as they would, the ship would not move from its place, neither backward nor forward, and it seemed glued to its mooring. The vessel’s master was in despair, and in the evening, being very tired, he lay down and slept and he beheld a fairy in his sleep, who said to him, ‘Knowest thou wherefore thy ship cannot sail? ‘Tis because the prince thou hast on board hath failed to keep his promise to his daughter, remembering all his stepdaughters, and forgetting his own flesh and blood.’ The master awoke from sleep, and related his dream to the prince, who, confessing the fault he had committed, fared at once to the fairies’ grotto, and recommending his daughter to them, begged that they would send her somewhat and at his words out of the cave came a beauteous young lady, who said to him that she thanked his daughter for her kind remembrance, and that she bade her take for love of her these her gifts: and thus saying, she gave him a date-tree, a mattock, a golden bucket, and a silken napkin, the one to transplant, and the others to cultivate the tree. The prince marvelled at the present, took leave of the fairy, and journeyed with the ship towards his country. On his arrival he gave his stepdaughters that which they had bidden him bring, and lastly to his daughter the gifts of the fairy. Zezolla accepted the gift with great joy, and transplanted the date-tree in a larger and finer vase, and watered it, and dug round it morning and evening, and dried it with the silken napkin, and in four days it grew to a woman’s stature: and the fairy came out of it one morning, saying, ‘What wilt thou?’ and the princess answered, ‘I would like to fare from this house, but should desire that my stepsisters should not know of it’: and the fairy rejoined, ‘Each time that thou wouldest fare out and enjoy thyself, come to the date-tree, and say:

“My date-tree tall and golden,
With a golden mattock I dug thee around,
With a golden bucket I watered thee,
With a silken napkin I wiped thee dry:
Undress thyself, and robe thou me.”

And when thou wouldest undress, change the last verse, and say, “Undress thou me, and robe thyself.”‘

Now it so chanced that a great festival was held by the king and the daughters of the teacher went to it in fine raiment, and jewellery, and ribbons, and fine shoes, and flowers, and perfumed, with roses and posies. As soon as they departed, Zezolla ran to the date-tree, and repeated the verse taught her by the fairy and at once she was arrayed as a queen, and put on a steed, and twelve pages followed her, all dressed with luxury and taste: and she went where her stepsisters had gone before her, who knew her not, and were ready to die with envy. But as fate decreed, came to that same place the king, who on beholding Zezolla fell enamoured of her, and desired one of his most trusty followers to learn who was this beauty and where she dwelt. The king’s servant at once followed the princess but Zezolla, perceiving the snare, threw an handful of golden coins to the ground, at the sight of which the man forgot to follow the courser as he stooped to gather the gold, which Zezolla had begged the date-tree to give her for this same purpose. Thus she had time to run into the house, and undress herself as the fairy had taught her. And when those witches, her stepsisters, arrived home, they said many things in praise of the festival, of what they had done and what they had seen, to cause her vexation, as they supposed. In the meanwhile the follower returned to the king, and related to him about the handful of coins and how he had lost sight of her, at which the king waxed wroth, and said to him that for a few dirty pieces of gold he had deprived him of his delight, but that he would forgive him this time, but he must be sure to follow her on the next feast-day, and to discover for him who this beautiful bird was.

The next feast-day the stepsisters went their way all bedecked in finery, and left the despised Zezolla at the fireplace. As soon as they were gone, she ran to the date-tree and said the usual charm: and some young girls came forward, some with the mirror, some with the perfumes, some with the curling tongs, some with the comb, some with the hair-pins, and others with the raiment, some with the necklace, and others with flowers and decking her like a bride, she looked like the sun, and setting her in a carriage, with six horses, with footmen, and servants, and pages in livery, she arrived at the same place where had been held the festival heretofore: and she lit more marvel and envy in her stepsisters’ breasts, and greater love and fiercer fire in the king’s heart. But having departed, the same servant followed her: but she threw at him a handful of jewels, and pearls, and precious stones, and he could not withstand the temptation to gather them, as they were too precious to lose. And the princess had time to reach her home, and to undress as usual. The man returned to the king, who said, ‘By the bones of my ancestors, if thou findest not this lovely being for me, I will give thee as many kicks on thy backside as thou hast hairs in thy beard.’

The third festival came: and the stepsisters having departed, Zezolla went to the date-tree, and saying the charmed verse, she was at once apparelled most splendidly, and seated in a golden carriage, followed by many servants, pages, and retainers. And thus she caused more envy in the sisters’ breasts: and the king’s follower stuck to the carriage. And the princess, sighting him always beside her, said to the coachman, ‘Hasten on,’ and the horses raced with such speed that nothing could be discerned clearly, and in the fury of the race a slipper of the princess flew out of the carriage. The servant, unable to follow the carriage, which seemed to fly, picked up the slipper and brought it to the king, and related all that had happened; and the king, taking it, said, ‘If the foundation is so beautiful, what must be the house? O beauteous candlestick, which holdest the candle that consumeth me! O trivet of the beauteous kettle where boileth my life! O fine cloth, to which is tied the net of love wherewith thou hast caught this soul! I embrace thee and hold thee to my bosom; and if I cannot have the tree, I worship the root; and if I cannot hend the chapiter, I kiss the foundation. Thou wert the covering for a white foot, and now art thou the pulley of this blackened heart; by thee stood thy fellow, an inch tall and more, who is the tyrant of this life of mine; and by thee groweth so much sweetness in my soul, whilst I gaze upon thee and possess thee!’ And thus saying, he called his secretary, and commanded him to send the public crier to publish a ban that all the women in the land should be invited to a banquet by the king.

And the day came. O goodness me, what a banquet was that, and what joyance and amusements were there, and what food: pastry, and pies, and roast, and balls of mincemeat, and macaroni, and ravioli, enough to feed an army! All the women came: noble and commoner, rich and poor, old and young, wives and maidens, beautiful and ugly; and the king, arrayed in costly raiment, tried the slipper on each one’s foot to see if it would fit one of them, hoping thus to find the one he was seeking: but he found not what he sought, and he came nigh unto despair. At last, commanding perfect silence, he said to them, ‘Return to-morrow to do penance with me: but an ye love me, leave not a single female in the house, be she who she may.’ Said the prince, ‘I have a daughter who sitteth always in the kitchen by the fireplace, because she is not worthy any one’s notice, and she deserveth not to sit at thy table.’ Said the king, ‘Let this be the very one at the head of all: such is my desire.’ Therefore all departed, and on the morrow all came again, and with the daughters of Carmosina came also Zezolla, and when the king beheld her he knew her for the one he sought: but he dissembled.

The banquet was more sumptuous than the last, and when all had eaten their fill the king began to try on the slipper but no sooner came he to Zezolla than the foot was caught by love like steel to the magnet; and the king surprised her by putting his arms around her, and seating her under the dais, and putting the crown on her head, commanded that all should do her obeisance as to their queen. The stepsisters, beholding this sight, full of wrath and envy, and being unable to support this blow without showing their chagrin, departed quite quietly towards their mother’s home: confessing, in spite of themselves, that:

‘Tis a madman’s deed to dispute the stars’ decree.’