were quite bare, she had no shoes on. The fairy saw too. She smiled
and took a pair of little slippers from her pocket. They were all made
of glass and they were such tiny, tiny slippers that, when Cinderella
had put them on, she looked the most beautiful maiden in the whole wide
world. "Take good care of them, my dear," said the old woman. "If you
want to be happy be careful how you use those little shoes. Now go,
child, but there is one thing you must remember,--when the clock
strikes twelve you must be at home again in this very room. If you are
not, all your beautiful things will vanish and you will be left alone
just a poor little, ragged cinder-maid."

Cinderella promised to remember. She thanked the fairy and drove
quickly away. At last she reached the big house where the Prince was
giving the party. There was music and dancing in the great hall, but
when Cinderella walked in, everybody stopped dancing and looked at her.
They said, "What a pretty girl! Who is she? Where did she come from?
She must be a princess to wear such wonderful clothes! She has on such
a fine dress, she must surely be a princess!" When the Prince saw her,
he asked her to dance with him and, after that, he would dance with no
one else. But Cinderella remembered what the fairy had told her and,
just before midnight, she slipped away and was safe in the kitchen at
home when the clock struck twelve. No one had seen her leave the great
hall. No one had seen her drive away, but the Prince missed her the
moment she was gone and had the great house searched from top to
bottom, but not a trace of the pretty maiden could be found.

On the second night of the great party all happened as on the first.
Cinderella was made ready by the fairy and, when she reached the big
house on the hill, the Prince ran to welcome her. He would dance with
no one else as before and, when Cinderella vanished just before the