CINDERELLA. 
The next evening the two sisters went to the ball, and
Cinderella also, who was still more splendidly dressed
than before. Her enjoyment was even greater than at
the first ball, and she was so occupied with the Prince's
tender sayings that she was not so quick in marking the
progress of time.
To her alarm she heard the clock strike twelve. She
fled from the ball-room ; but in a moment the coach changed
again to a pumpkin, the horses to mice, the coachman and
postilion to rats, the footmen to lizards, and Cinderella's
beautiful dress to her old shabby clothes. In her haste
she
dropped one of her glass slippers, and reached home, out of
breath, with none of her godmother's fairy gifts but one
glass slipper.
When her sisters arrived after the ball, they spoke in
terms of rapture of the unknown Princess, and told Cin-
derella about the little glass slipper she had dropped, and
how the Prince picked it up. It was evident to all the
Court that the Prince was determined if possible, to find
out the owner of the slipper; and a few days afterwards
a royal herald proclaimed that the King's son would
marry her whose foot the glass slipper should be found
exactly to fit.
