Week 15 Story: Cinderella and the Forest Fire

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away lived a family of eight. There was a dad, mom, and six children. The youngest of these six was named Cinderella. Although the family seemed like a normal family, they were actually a blended family.

Cinderella’s father had married her new stepmother in hopes of providing a family for her. Her mother had died in childbirth so her father raised her for the first several years of her life, but then he met her stepmother and they were soon married. Her father was a hard working man and so he was gone a lot. Her stepmother obviously disliked her and Cinderella grew skinny from the mistreatment. Her father did not really noticed because the house with six children in it was always chaos and she was often forgotten due to her quiet nature. She knew her father loved her though and so she never complained.

Her life slowly got sadder and sadder while she lived in this new house with a new family, who did not seem to care for her much. One day, while her father was away on a business trip, a forest fire came for their village. Cinderella’s stepmother loaded all of her children onto their horses and carriages and rode away. Cinderella was worried about what was going to happen as she watched the fire climb the hill towards their house. She started to cry, for the first time she began to feel sorry for herself and so she sat crying in dismay.

Suddenly, a woman appeared.

“Cinderella,” the woman said, “why are you crying?”

Cinderella sat up startled and confused.

“Who are you?”

“Well, I am your fairy godmother, of course,” explained the woman.

“My fairy godmother? Are you here to take me away?” asked Cinderella.

“You do not need me to take you away,” said Fairy Godmother. “You just need to use your strength from within.” With that statement her fairy godmother disappeared

Cinderella looked around and realized that her fairy godmother was right. She was a smart girl and she could handle this situation. She rounded up her animal friends and together they began to work. They loaded bucket of water, which the birds flew over the fire and dropped. Cinderella and the dogs dug a trench to create a moat and so on and so forth. They worked tirelessly throughout the day until finally the fire was put out.

Cinderella’s father arrived that night after hearing about the fire to check on everyone and found Cinderella alone. Her stepsibling and stepmother did not return until the next day, having thought they would find the house burnt down with Cinderella in it. Instead they found everything perfectly fine. Cinderella’s father was furious that the stepmother had left Cinderella alone and sent her and her terrible children away. He realized that all the family he and Cinderella needed were each other.

And they lived happily ever after.

Author’s Note:

This is a retelling of an Indian Jakata tale in which a small bird is left for a forest fire while his siblings and parents fly away. I changed it to intertwine the story of Cinderella.

Image Information: Cinderella, Wikipedia Commons, source

Bibliography: Twenty Jakata Tales, 1939, Noor Inayat (Khan), source