e impossible. Cinderella who was looking at them all the
while, and knew her slipper, could not help smiling, and ventured to
say, "Pray, sir, let me try to get on the slipper." The gentleman made
her sit down; and putting the slipper to her foot, it instantly slipped
in, and he saw that it fitted her like wax. The two sisters were amazed
to see that the slipper fitted Cinderella; but how much greater was
their astonishment when she drew out of her pocket the other slipper and
put it on! Just at this moment the fairy entered the room, and touching
Cinderella's clothes with her wand, made her all at once appear more
magnificently dressed than they had ever seen her before.

The two sisters immediately perceived that she was the beautiful
princess they had seen at the ball. They threw themselves at her feet,
and asked her forgiveness for the ill treatment she had received from
them. Cinderella helped them to rise, and, tenderly embracing them, said
that she forgave them with all her heart, and begged them to bestow on
her their affection. Cinderella was then conducted, dressed as she was,
to the young prince, who finding her more beautiful than ever, instantly
desired her to accept of his hand. The marriage ceremony took place in a
few days; and Cinderella, who was as amiable as she was handsome, gave
her sisters magnificent apartments in the palace, and a short time after
married them to two great lords of the court.

CHAPTER XV

PUSS IN BOOTS

There was a miller who had three sons, and when he died he divided what
he possessed among them in the following manner: He gave his mill to the
eldest, his ass to the second, and his cat to the youngest. Each of the
brothers accordingly took what belonged to him, without the help of an
attorney, who would soon have brought their little fortune to nothing,
in law expenses. The poor young fellow who had nothing but the cat,
complained that he was hardly used: "My brothers," said he, "by joining
their stocks together, may do well in the world, but for me, when I have
eaten my cat, and made a fur cap of his skin, I may soon die of hunger!"
The cat, who all this time sat listening just inside the door of a
cupboard, now ventured to come out and addressed him as follows: "Do not
thus afflict yourself, my good master. You have only to give me a bag,
and get a pair of boots made for me, so that I may scamper through the
dirt and the brambles, and you shall see that you are not