Welcome back to yet another chapter of Rewritten Stories! Although the title makes it pretty obvious which story I’m going to rewrite today, let me state it anyway so as to make it clear: CINDERELLA! Yes, the tale of the dashing prince who neglected his royal duties and searched the entire town for a girl he had just met.

Yes, as you can see from my choice of wording, I’m not particularly fond of the way this story is written. It’s a little bit strange and unusual. Really , anyone could have had the same shoe size as Cinderella - so how would the prince be able to figure out who Cinderella really is? Also, the fact that he can’t recognise her from her face- despite the fact that he seems to have fallen head over heels for her- is just so strange.

Thankfully, for this month I’ve chosen to rewrite this specific story, with a completely different plot.

However, before you start reading it, let me give you a short summary of the original story:
Cinderella is a girl who loses her mother. Her father remarries with a callous, icy woman who has two daughters. Shortly after that, her father passes away too. After being abandoned, Cinderella is raised by her stepmother and stepsisters, who mistreat her, and even force her to perform household chores as a slave. One day, Cinderella is left behind when her stepsisters and stepmother attend a glamorous ball at the town’s palace. Cinderella yearns to go to the ball, and her prayers are answered when a fairy godmother appears before her. She provides Cinderella with a beautiful gown and a way of transportation to the palace. Cinderella arrives at the ball, dances with Prince Charming, and they fall in love. But as midnight approaches, Cinderella slowly starts to turn back into herself. While sprinting down the stairs, she loses one of her glass slippers. She manages to make it back home, and her family appears to have not noticed a thing the next morning. In an attempt to locate her, Prince Charming and his royal guard go out and about, attempting to fit Cinderella’s glass slippers on a variety of ladies’ feet. Alas, the slipper never does fit any of them. When they finally arrive at Cinderella’s doorstep, the glass slipper fits her! The next day, Cinderella and Prince Charming are happily wed.

Without further ado, let’s dive deep into my story!

ELLA AND THE MOUNTAINS IN THE DISTANCE:

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, resided a little family consisting of 3 people - Ella, Lady, and Lord Tremaine. Lady and Lord Tremaine were an ordinary couple, going about their daily lives as usual, eating, sleeping, working, and using most of their time to be with their beloved daughter

Let me now give you a little bit more information about this certain person- what was her name again? - oh, yes, Ella.

10-year-old Ella was a bright child with a passion for exploring nature. She would get up at 7 in the morning only to jog in the forest that bordered her family’s mansion. She constantly wished that her father would accompany her to jog in the fresh air more often. However, as the years went by, he would become more distant, spending days locked up alone in his room, presumably working.

Naturally, being so far from his family destroyed him. He became increasingly short-tempered, irritated, and aloof. Lady Tremaine tried to reason with him, but alas, she could not do anything.

This strange turn of events must have detrimentally affected Ella’s mother’s mental health too, as one day she dived into a river and never came out, leaving the entire town searching for her, only to find her bare bones at the bottom of the water.

Ella became depressed, and so did her father. Just before he passed away, he got married again. Lady Iris and her two daughters, Petunia and Rosemary, were left with Ella.

Lady Iris was now a widow, and had hoped that by remarrying, she would be able to forget about her late husband, and move on, and be rewarded by a better life. So as soon as Lord Tremaine died (although nobody knew how) she was extremely devastated. Even though her husband had left her riches, property and a whole mansion, all she had ever wanted was love.

Ella served as a constant reminder of her father, and it ached Lady Iris’ heart to have her in their home, every single day, while her husband was dead. She tried to push Ella away, but she could not stand being away from her family. She constantly hung around her stepsisters, Rosemary and Petunia. They admired her genuine kindness and her intelligence, and quickly became friends, even though they were quite different from her, dim-witted and conceited. Ella eventually won Lady Iris over as well. Lady Iris told herself over and over, “I’ll take care of Ella… but for Lord Tremaine, not his daughter.” This, however, turned out to be utterly false, as Ella’s love was actually seeping through the cracks of Lady Iris’ cold embrace.

Ella grew up to be an 18-year-old young woman, still as self-reliant and bright as always. While she worked for the family (“But my hands are sore!..” Petunia and Rosemary groaned every time they returned from their afternoon shifts) she secretly dreamed of exploring the planet, the whole world, many countries, and especially the far-off mountains.

One might be wondering, why especially the far-off mountains? Ella had a tendency to appreciate the small things in life while she could. She knew she had lost her mother and father at a young age, so she was starting to have thoughts about when she’d lose herself too. She had given considerable thought to how she would begin an infinite adventure, she’d start small, and soon venture into deeper, darker depths.

One day, Ella approached Lady Iris and asked her: “Mother… I’ve been connected to nature since I was a little girl. It has always meant the world to me, and before I die, I cannot bear to see the world truly.”

Lady Iris was taken aback.

“What do you mean, darling?” she gasped. “What do you mean by before you die? You still have a long life ahead of you! While I don’t have too many years left…you should not go out, dear, please, please, PLEASE stay with me and your sisters!”

Ella was a little hesitant but, nevertheless, agreed to Lady Iris’ wishes.

A year later, on Ella’s 19th birthday, she asked Lady Iris if she could become an explorer.

“Oh, please, Mother, please!” Ella begged, while her stepsisters watched her feeble attempts from the shadows.

But, once again, Lady Iris turned her down.

Another year passed by. Ella tried her best to appease her stepmother by washing the dishes, hanging up the laundry and sweeping the floors. She became dirtier and busier, unable to spend much time with her stepmother or stepsisters. This led to her stepsisters referring to her by the name “Cinderella”, because she was always covered in cinders from cleaning the fireplace. This also led to an argument between Rosemary, Petunia and Ella. The stepsisters no longer hung out with her anymore, preferring to spend their time drooling over attractive boys in the daily newspaper.

Ella was aware that she could no longer live with her family anymore. Once a place that flipped her heart over whenever she returned from work, her stepsisters were now ignoring her, and so was Lady Tremaine.

One cold day, Ella decided that she had had enough. She sneaked out of the house one night, carrying a bag full of supplies, including binoculars, food, water and a first aid kit. She escaped into the wilderness of the forest, ready to fulfil her dream of becoming an explorer.

She ventured far and wide, becoming friends with the animals in the forest, particularly the wild rats and hares. She lived a good life, having read a lot of survival books when she was younger.

She trekked on, never stopping, prepared for whatever lay ahead. At last, she finally came face to face with the far-off mountains she had dreamed of seeing for so long. There was a sense of adventure and freedom in the air…

And Ella finally knew that she was where she truly belonged.

Phew, writing this took quite a long time, and reading it must have, too. In any case, readers, I want to thank you all so much for reading this chapter! I hope you have enjoyed reading my story...even more so than the original! Goodbye, and remember to continue reading HMN issues.

Have a great day!

Written by: Hazel Antler
Edited by: Marlee Potter
Proofread by: Sara Rowan