The Cinderella Guide

Love – Romance – Dating – Relationships
80 pages
Kindle | $2.99 | B006QF0CKG

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“Cinderella” is the most popular fairy tale of all time and the little ash-girl’s story has been told countless times, from the Brothers Grimm to Disney. Now see the story of “Cinderella” like you never have before!

Did you know the different parts of the “Cinderella” story can help you deal with wicked women, find your own Prince and live Happily Ever After?

Born from a fascination with fairy tales and their hidden mythical journeys, “The Cinderella Guide” will help you find your own way to magic, love and happiness living in a princess story.

I’ve always loved fairy tales. They’re both dark and innocent, entertaining, magical and seem ageless and timeless. They’re familiar and strange at the same time. When I read the story of “Cinderella,” it appeared to be more than a simple story about a girl with a wicked stepmother and stepsisters who receives a ball dress from a fairy godmother, dances with a prince and fits a glass slipper. As I did a closer reading of the story, I realized how much wisdom it contained.

The story of “Cinderella” is the story of a girl growing up, the lessons she learns, and how she transforms from a servant to a princess and finally to a queen! There’s so much to learn, so I hope you pick up a copy and take a look to see the tale of “Cinderella” like you’ve never thought of before.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Once Upon a Time
Chapter Two: The Kind Maiden
Chapter Three: Wicked Women
Chapter Four: Your Fairy Godmother
Chapter Five: Transformation
Chapter Six: The Prince
Chapter Seven: At the Ball
Chapter Eight: Stroke of Twelve
Chapter Nine: Searching the Kingdom
Chapter Ten: The Slipper Fits!
Chapter Eleven: Happily Ever After
Chapter Twelve: Life in the Palace

Chapter One: Once Upon a Time

Elizabeth Bennett walks cautiously through Pemberley in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” in awe of the wealth and splendor around her. Drew Barrymore in the film, “Ever After” is astonished at the Prince’s attentions, and we all sigh for the beauty and love she receives in the end. A shower of stars transforms Disney’s Cinderella into a glittering princess, and her evening dancing with the Prince and strolling about his magical garden makes her the true beauty of the ball.

Do You Want a Fairy-Tale Life?

Cinderella’s magical story touches the hearts of so many girls. We sit in classrooms at school, gazing longingly at the guys, hoping the most handsome will whisk us away to happy endings. We troop to the movie theatre, watching fun films like “Pride and Prejudice,” “The Prince and Me,” “Ever After,” and “A Cinderella Story,” all variations of this popular fairy tale. We daydream about the fairy-tale wedding, complete with a magical dress, beautiful shoes, and a gorgeous carriage ride.

We laugh with gal pals, reliving what Mr. Crush did this time or that time. “He said hi to me!” I announced to my friend Amanda one December morning in highschool. “Me, too!” she giggled, for we both crushed on the same guy. Forever after, he was known as the Hi Guy. Oh, how funny we were!

If only he would ask me to prom! If only he would look at me … if only he would dump her and see me for who I really am … if only he loved me, wanted me, cherished me, asked me to marry him! If only love was all it was meant to be – a fairy-tale of happy endings.

For Cinderella, the poor orphan forced to work for her stepmother and stepsisters, a life with a Prince was as far away as the moon. Her wondrous journey is the most familiar story we know – the fairy godmother, the beautiful dress and slippers, the pumpkin coach, the ball, the stroke of twelve, the Prince, and the slipper fits!

Ancient Beginnings

“Cinderella” has been the most popular fairy tale for hundreds of years, and its versions span many countries. While Disney’s version is the most well-known to Westerners, there are Greek versions, Chinese versions, French versions, and German versions, too. The earliest recording of a Cinderella-esque story dates from the 1st century B. C., and is about a Greek slave named Rhodopis. She, too, had a pair of slippers and the Pharoah (an Egyptian Prince) received one and came to find her! Read about it online for a fascinating glimpse into the origins of the most famous fairy tale.

In the year 860 A.D., a story is told of Ye Zian, a Chinese girl who also loses a slipper and receives a Prince. Her dead mother reincarnates as a fish who befriends the girl, and the dead mother’s bones are magic and transform into a beautiful dress with slippers.

The “Thousand and One Nights” Arabian tales contain a few Cinderella stories of their own, all dealing with a sibling being picked on by jealous siblings and rivals. “Aladdin” could be considered a male Cinderella, for a magical genie grants his wishes and transforms his life from a pauper to a prince.

Forty years before Charles Perrault’s definitive version, “La Gatta Cenerentola” appeared in an Italian collection of folk tales. This story remains the first European version, with dozens more to follow!

Popular Renditions

By adding the Fairy Godmother, glass slippers, and pumpkin coach, Charles Perrault’s 1697 version is the first modern “Cinderella”. The famous French storyteller is credited with several early fairy-tales, including “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Bluebeard.” After retiring from a secretary position at a French learning academy, he devoted himself to writing for children. His book, “Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals, or Mother Goose” was so successful it has become the foundational collection for the fairy-tale genre!

The Brothers’ Grimm gave Cinderella some interesting twists – a wishing tree on her mother’s grave that gives her a ball dress, birds to help her pick through seeds, and stepsisters who cut off their toes so they fit the slipper! “Aschenputtel”, the German translation of “little ash girl”, has not become as popular as the Perrault version.

Yet neither of these popular versions have been seen as widely as Walt Disney’s 1950 classic film, “Cinderella.” The magic of animation became the perfect match for this timeless story, as the fairy godmother enacts her transformation with a jaunty song and showering stars. Cinderella’s kindness towards her little mice friends, her hard work for her stepsisters, and the handsome Prince come alive on the screen. It is this version I’ll refer to most often in this guide, for it is the best-known and most popular. Take a look at some international versions. SurlaLune’s fairy tale site has an ebook you can read, and at last count on Amazon.com, there were three hundred versions! Cinderellas live in Scotland, Ireland, Mexico, Alaska, the Carribbean, and more. No matter what your nationality, you can find one.

You are Cinderella!

Cinderella’s story is more popular than ever. Little girls dream of meeting their Fairy Godmother, wearing beautiful dresses and shoes, and marrying a handsome prince, then living happily ever after. Were you like that?

“Cinderella” contains common female experiences that reach deeply into a woman’s natural life cycle and illuminate each step. Who among us hasn’t had to slave away – at school, at work, at a project? Who among us hasn’t wanted to join a party we weren’t invited to? Who among us hasn’t made a wish for a guy to like us or a fairy godmother to appear? Who among us doesn’t feel beautiful in a new dress and shoes! The story of “Cinderella” holds the key elements women need to grow, learn, change, and adapt as we get older.

Sadly, the modern version of happily-ever-after gets buried beneath the realities of living – not enough eligible princes, the lack of fairy godmothers, cynicism rather than magic, too many wicked stepsisters, and too much drudgery. Many modern women get stuck in the working aspect of Cinderella’s life rather than her fairy-tale ending!

Let’s Restore the Magic

In this wonderful guide, I will help restore the magic of happily-ever-after so that you can find it in your life. This book is not only Cinderella’s journey from rags to riches, but your own, too. Let this kind and gentle heroine lead you along the path from working girl to transformed princess to queen of your own castle. No matter where you are in the Cinderella journey, you can find many useful ways of making the best of your situation and living in the magic of every day modern life.

There are real Princes. I know – I married one! I have the cherished feelings, deep commitment, and princely devotion that most people think is fairy-tale fluff. Our friends and family members have all commented on how we were ‘made’ for each other. My husband is my dearest friend, my trusted partner, and a confident leader. Though he is human, his princely qualities far outweigh his froggy ones!

Pretend that I’m YOUR fairy godmother, writing this book for you and passing along my secrets. I am a self-proclaimed hopeless romantic, willing to believe in magic. I have tremendous faith in happily ever after. Why? I’ve experienced it. I’m living happily in my palace (a sweet cottage in Maine) with my true-blue princely husband (who does the dishes and cooks me dinner), and I even have a furry animal friend (my pug). I have sweet fairy godmothers (lovely grandmothers) who treat me wonderfully, too.

My relationship is a happily-ever-after, but I have struggled through the Cinderella journey. I have worked long hours at meaningless jobs, cleaned and been a ‘servant’ for different companies, endured wicked stepsisters (mean girls at school and negative coworkers), and had several heartbreaking relationships before the shoe finally fit! I am Cinderella, just as you are, too.

Are You Ready for Happily-Ever-After?

You, too, can have the happily-ever-after you dream of, and this guide will show you how. But the story doesn’t begin in the palace with a Prince for a husband. As we discuss Cinderella’s journey, you’ll realize it’s the struggle that makes that beautiful palace and handsome Prince all the more sweet. Cinderella must work BEFORE she receives her rewards. This is what we all do, too.

The inner and outer work you’ll do in each chapter moves you forward along the heroine’s journey. It taps into deeper parts of yourself that create goodness, love, and magic in your life. Cinderella’s journey is long and full of obstacles, but it shows how one kind maiden can transform both herself and her world.

As a side note, parts of this guide may strike you as old-fashioned or out of touch with the modern world. Some of what I suggest may go against your personal views about women, men, gender roles, society, and culture. You don’t have to follow any of my advice, and feel free to discard anything I say if it doesn’t fit your life.

However, I dearly ask that you read with an open heart. For those of you who long for the chivalry and beauty of Jane Austen novels, Victorian love stories, and Disney fairy-tales, this book will help guide you. It’s made for the romantic.

Go at your own pace, and listen to your heart. Rediscover the magic that we all believe in when we’re young dreamers, have faith in timeless truths, and know that your wishes will come true. Fairy-tales ARE real, so let’s make Cinderella’s journey to true love a fairy-tale you’re living!