The prince couldn’t find the owner of the glass slipper, but he didn’t give up.
He placed the slipper in a large glass case in the most crowded square and announced to the entire nation: if anyone knew the owner of the slipper, they would be rewarded handsomely.
The well-informed little bird immediately brought the news to Cinderella and the tree.
Cinderella said, “That’s strange. The magic should have disappeared at midnight, and the glass slipper should have turned back into the old, tattered one. Why hasn’t it changed?”
Neither the bird nor the tree could figure out the reason.
Just then, they heard a voice say, “What’s so strange about that? There are exceptions to everything. There are plenty of strange and inexplicable things in this world!”
They looked over and saw the Flower Fairy yawning as she walked out, just waking up from hibernation because spring had arrived.
The tree said, “Well, since the slipper didn’t turn back into the old one, no one can recognize it as Cinderella’s shoe. Her stepmother won’t cause her any trouble. That’s a good thing.”
But the Flower Fairy said, “That’s not necessarily true! It may not have changed today, but who knows when it suddenly will? And now it’s in the most crowded square—someone might recognize it as Cinderella’s shoe.”
Everyone began to worry again.
Cinderella said, “We have to get the slipper back.”
So, at midnight, she waved her magic wand and turned her clothes into a cloak. She wrapped herself tightly in it so no one could recognize her.
She went to the square and, sure enough, saw the glass slipper inside the locked case.
But that didn’t pose a problem for Cinderella. With another wave of her magic wand, the case opened.
Cinderella stepped forward and reached out to take the slipper, but another hand grabbed it first.
She looked up and saw that it was her stepmother and her two stepsisters!
It turned out they were worried that the prince would find the owner of the glass slipper, which would crush their hopes of becoming princesses. So they had come in the dead of night to steal the slipper.
Just as they were struggling to figure out how to open the case, they suddenly saw it open on its own.
Her stepmother, delighted, almost burst out laughing, “It seems the heavens are helping us!”
She reached out for the glass slipper, but another hand came in at the same time. Luckily, she grabbed it first.
The stepmother and her two daughters, seeing someone cloaked from head to toe with their face completely hidden, were startled and shouted, “Who are you?”
Cinderella quickly turned to leave, but they grabbed her.
Just as they were about to pull off her cloak, another voice called out, “What are you all doing here? Trying to steal the glass slipper?”
They looked up and saw a guard leading a few soldiers toward them.
The stepmother and her daughters turned pale with fear.
The stepmother hurriedly shoved the glass slipper into Cinderella’s hands and said, “It’s her… she was trying to steal the slipper, and we caught her! Quick, arrest her!”
The guard looked at the glass slipper in Cinderella’s hands and asked, “Did you steal this?”
Cinderella was at a loss for words.
The stepmother and her daughters quickly chimed in, “Yes, yes, it was her! We saw it with our own eyes. We can testify.”
The guard turned to Cinderella and said, “It seems you really did try to steal it. The prince said that the one attempting to steal the slipper might be its true owner. Come with me to see the prince immediately.”
Hearing this, the stepmother and her daughters hurriedly snatched the glass slipper from Cinderella’s hands and shoved her aside.
They exclaimed to the guard, “It was us who stole it…”
“Yes, I’m the real owner of the glass slipper.”
“Take us to the prince!”
…
Amid the chaos, Cinderella quickly slipped away, but she wasn’t able to retrieve the glass slipper.
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