Cinderella: The Bedtime Story Retold
Quick answer: Cinderella retold for bedtime from Perrault's 1697 tale: the cinders, the godmother, the pumpkin coach, midnight, and the glass slipper that fits. Origin and reading tips.
A widower marries a proud woman with two daughters, and his own gentle daughter is sent to sleep among the ashes. The version most of us know, with the pumpkin, the mice and the glass slipper, is Perrault's, and it is kinder than the older tales: nobody in it is punished.
The story
A gentleman married for the second time a woman as proud as she was ill-tempered, with two daughters just like her. His own daughter was sweet and good, like her dead mother, and the stepmother could not bear her. The girl scrubbed and swept, slept on straw in the garret, and sat in the chimney corner when her work was done, so they called her Cinderella.
The king's son gave a ball, and the two sisters were invited. Cinderella dressed their hair, and when they had gone she sat among the cinders and cried. Her godmother, who was a fairy, found her there. She sent Cinderella for a pumpkin, scooped it hollow, touched it with her wand, and it became a gilded coach. Six mice became grey horses, a rat became a coachman with a splendid moustache, and six lizards became footmen. Her rags turned to cloth of gold and silver, and on her feet were glass slippers. “Only be home before midnight,” said the godmother, “or everything will turn back.”
At the ball the whole room fell silent when she came in, and the prince danced with nobody else. At a quarter to twelve she curtseyed and was gone. The next night she went again, and forgot the time until the first stroke of midnight. She ran. One glass slipper came off on the palace steps, and the prince picked it up. The guards saw only a ragged girl running away.
The prince announced that he would marry whoever the slipper fitted. Princesses tried it, and duchesses, and the two sisters, who could not force it on. Cinderella said, “Let me see if it fits me,” and the sisters laughed, but the gentleman in charge said it was fair. The slipper went on as if made of wax, and Cinderella took the other from her pocket. The sisters begged her pardon, and she forgave them with her whole heart. She married the prince, brought her sisters to the palace, and married them to two great lords.
Where it comes from
Charles Perrault published Cendrillon in Paris in 1697. The story is far older, with a Chinese version from the ninth century and Basile's Italian one from 1634, and the Grimms printed a darker Aschenputtel in 1812. The pumpkin, the mice and the glass slipper are Perrault's.
What the tale is about underneath
It is a story about a girl nobody looks at properly. The sisters see a servant, the guards see a beggar, and the ball works because for one evening everyone looks. Perrault's ending is unusual: Cinderella is not rescued from her sisters but chooses to forgive them and raise them with her. The slipper does not prove she is beautiful; it proves she was there.
Reading aloud
Slow down for the transformations, one object at a time, and speed up for midnight.
Write your own
Borrow the gift with a deadline. Whatever your character is given, put a clock on it and let the second use run past the time. The thing left behind when the magic fails is the plot of the last act. Perrault's other lesson is his ending: a story is stronger when the wronged character can choose mercy and does.
What writers can take from this
- Name each transformation aloud and let the child guess what the lizards will become.
- Let the first ball go perfectly, so the second has something to lose.
- Count the strokes of midnight if the child wants them.
- Make the slipper trial fair, not cruel; the gentleman's line does that.
- End on the forgiveness. It is the part of Perrault most retellings cut.
Try it yourself
Write a story in which a character is lent everything they need for one night on the condition that it is returned by a set hour. Let them keep the rule once and break it once, and let the single object left behind when the loan runs out be what brings the ending.
Questions
What is the moral of Cinderella?
Perrault attached two: that grace and kindness are worth more than beauty, and that talent needs a godparent to be noticed. Read plainly, the tale says that goodness in a person who is overlooked will be seen in the end, and Perrault's version adds that the wronged should forgive.
Is Cinderella suitable for a 3-year-old?
Yes, in Perrault's version. There is no punishment of the sisters and no violence; the only tension is the clock. The Grimm version, with its doves and its cut heels, is for older children.
Where does Cinderella come from?
The version with the pumpkin coach and the glass slipper is Charles Perrault's, published in Paris in 1697. The story is much older: a Chinese version dates from the ninth century, Basile printed an Italian one in 1634, and the Grimms published Aschenputtel in 1812.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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