Once upon a time, in a little castle, there lived a beautiful girl named Cinderella whose father had died. Her father left her in the care of her stepmother and two stepsisters. Cinderella’s stepmother cherished Cinderella just as she cherished her two blood daughters. Cinderella lived a comfortable life in a beautifully decorated room filled with dresses, books, and all else she desired. However, even with all the luxuries, Cinderella’s world still felt so bland. She longed for an adventure, just like the ones in her books.

Like many times before, Cinderella roamed the forest by her house in search of an adventure that would distract her from her home life. Cinderella had fought with her stepmother about the upcoming royal masquerade ball and she had run into the woods to calm down. Her stepmother had always been very loving, but she was also very traditional.

Cinderella wanted a life full of thrills, however, her stepmother wanted Cinderella to find a nice man to settle down with. Her stepmother insisted that Cinderella go to the royal ball to find a suitable bachelor. This ball was incredibly special because the king would be looking for a bride for his oldest son and all the ladies would compete for his attention at the ball. Cinderella refused to go and tore her new dress in defiance before running out of the house.

As Cinderella wandered around the forest, she spotted an injured bunny. She went to scoop up the animal and she bumped right into someone.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there” she exclaimed.

“It’s okay! I was just walking around and saw the poor bunny and wanted to help. I guess you were doing the same” he answered.

They both grabbed the bunny and took it back to a nearby stable to bandage it up. Along the way, they became well acquainted. Cinderella told the stranger all about her plans to run away and travel the world on a boat one day. The stranger also confessed his dream of traveling, however, he mentioned that due to his responsibilities, his desire would stay just a dream. After patching the bunny up, they bid their goodbyes.

Just before parting ways, the young man asked if Cinderella would be going to the ball, and to her surprise, she said, “Yes.”

Cinderella rushed back to her house to find something to wear to the ball. After many hours of searching, she couldn’t find anything that looked as beautiful as the dress she had ripped up in anger. She sat on her bed and cried in defeat until she heard a knock at her door.

Her two stepsisters peered through the door and asked, “Cinderella why are you upset?”

While Cinderella explained the situation surrounding the stranger, both the sisters gathered their sewing tools and began stitching up the dress. At the end of her story, Cinderella’s stepsisters had made the dress look brand new. With only a few hours left before the ball, Cinderella’s stepmother helped Cinderella and her stepsisters get ready.

“Please be back before midnight girls,” the stepmother requested. Before leaving, Cinderella put on her great grandmother’s lucky glass slippers and placed her mask on her face. Then she hopped onto the carriage with her stepsisters, and off they went to the masquerade ball.

After arriving at the ball, Cinderella’s first instinct was to look for the mysterious stranger but with all the masks on, finding him proved to be a difficult task. As a courtesy, Cinderella danced around with many different men before stumbling upon someone who resembled her stranger.

The two of them danced and chatted throughout the night until a waiter referred to the stranger as “Your royal highness.”

A surge of worry overcame Cinderella as she discovered that her handsome stranger was actually the prince. Cinderella did not want to be stuck in a royal family where she would have to follow hundreds of rules and traditions. She saw her adventurous future fading before her eyes. As the clock struck twelve, Cinderella suddenly remembered her stepmother’s wishes and ran out the door. The prince chased after her, but he was only able to catch up to her fallen glass slipper.

The prince made it very clear to his father that he would only marry the owner of that slipper. The prince spent weeks roaming the city, trying to slip that slipper onto the feet of every woman in town. Women tried everything from squeezing their feet to oiling up their feet but none of them were successfully able to fit into that tiny slipper. It was as if that slipper was made to only bind to its rightful owner. At last, they reached Cinderella’s house. The two stepsisters were ordered to try on the shoe, but the slipper resisted both sisters’ feet.

“Are there any other young ladies present in this house” the King’s knight questioned?

“Well there is Cinderella, but she won’t come out of her room,” the stepmother answered.

“It is his majesty, the king’s order that every female in town must try on the slipper so please summon the other young lady,” one of the knights ordered.

Cinderella was forced out of her room. The knight placed the shoe by Cinderella’s foot and as if by magic, the shoe glued itself to Cinderella’s foot like a magnet to a refrigerator.

The prince instantly lit up but his joy died down when he saw the look of sorrow upon Cinderella’s face.

The prince requested some privacy and once they were the only two left in the room, the prince questioned “Why are you so sad, my love? And why did you run away the night of the ball? If you do not want to marry me, I will respect your wishes and leave.”

Cinderella had fallen in love with the prince. There was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with the prince, but she could not let go of her adventurous plans for a man. She explained the cause of her hesitation. The prince stood in silence for a few minutes. Then he leaned in and whispered something to Cinderella that made her smile from ear to ear. The prince left with his army of people without giving anyone else an explanation.

The next morning, the king awoke to a letter from the prince, and Cinderella’s stepmother awoke to a letter from Cinderella. In the letter addressed to the king, the prince left the throne to his younger brother and expressed his aspirations to travel. In the letter from Cinderella, Cinderella thanked her stepmother and stepsisters for all their love, and she promised to visit. The two young lovers had eloped, bought a boat, and sailed away to live their happily ever after.

In Disha’s retelling of the classic, Cinderella, she wanted to address the way step-relatives are portrayed in the original. She felt that the original portrayal of the stepmother and stepsisters as evil could be very harmful to readers. So she made the conscious choice to make these characters loving in her retelling and she replaced the fairy godmother with the stepsisters. She also made the main point of conflict in the story based entirely on Cinderella’s wish to keep her independence. In the end, her Cinderella is able to follow her heart (both in love and in adventure).