"Finette Cendron." Fairy Tales, by the Countess D’Aulnoy, translated by J. R. Planché, London: G. Routledge and Co., 1855, pp. 227-245.

Tale Summary

A King and Queen are in ruin after they were driven out of their estate. Thinking their daughters not suited to a working-class lifestyle, the Queen suggests a plan to take the three princesses, named Fleur D'Amour, Belle-de-Nuit, and Fine-Oreille, on a long journey so far from home that they may never find their way back. Fine-Oreille, nicknamed Finette, journeys to her Fairy Godmother's house to ask for help in avoiding her mother's plan. Fairy Godmother gives her magic thread that she may tie to her bedroom door and trail behind her as she follows her mother on their journey the next day, so that she may find her way back. The following morning, the Queen asks her daughters to join her on a journey to her sister's castle. After some time walking, and as dusk fell, the Queen and the princesses laid down to sleep, and the Queen snuck away and returned home in the middle of the night, abandoning her daughters. When the girls awoke the next morning, Finette presented her magic string, which they followed all the way home, much to the King and Queen's surprise. The Queen hatches another plan to take her daughters on an even longer journey the next day, to which Finette returns to her Godmother's house to ask for more assistance. Fairy Godmother provides Finette with magic ashes that she must sprinkle along her way as she walks with her mother and sisters. However, Godmother adds the condition that Finette must leave her sisters behind when she returns to her home after the journey, as they are cruel to her and do not deserve her kindness. If she does not leave her sisters, she will never see or speak to her Fairy Godmother again. Finette follows her Godmother's instructions, and she and her sisters are yet again abandoned by their mother after a long foot journey the next day. Instead of leaving her sisters behind, however, Finette goes against her Godmother's rules and tells them about the magic ashes, and brings them home with her. The Queen, determined to get rid of her daughters, plans on another, even longer journey the next morning. Without the help from Fairy Godmother, Finette and her sisters plan on bringing their own peas to trail behind them as they walk. However, it turns out the land they walked through on their journey was full of pigeons, who eat the peas as they fall. Finette and her sisters are lost in the far-off land where their mother abandoned them. After some time starving in the woods, the sisters climb a great oak tree and discover a beautiful palace not too far away. Belle-de-Nuit and Fleur D'Amour discover the gifts Finette received from her Fairy Godmother some time ago, beautiful dresses and fine jewels, in her possession and decide to steal them and wear them to the palace, hoping to win over a prince that may live there. Unfortunately, the true dweller of the palace is an Ogress and her Ogre husband, who capture Finette and her sisters and plan to make them their servants up until they decide to eat them. Finette is clever, however, and manages to burn the Ogre in the oven and cut off the Ogress' head, which leaves the beautiful castle to her and her sisters. Belle-de-Nuit and Fleur D'Amour, being as cruel as they are, force Finette to be their servant while they relax in the new luxury of their castle home. One day, the two cruel sisters put on Finette's fine clothes from her Godmother and leave her at home to clean while they attend the local Prince's grand ball in hopes to marry him. Finette, however, finds a golden key in the castle which opens a magical fairy chest full of the most beautiful clothes and jewels. Donning the lace and ribbons she has found, Finette makes her way to the Prince's ball and blows everyone away with her tremendous beauty and grace. She appears so different than how she looks in her servant's clothes that her sisters don't even recognize her, and she is able to successfully attend several of the Prince's balls without her sisters knowing who she is. One night, however, in a haste to return to her and her sisters' castle before Belle-de-Lune and Fleur D'Amour, Finette loses one of her red velvet slippers. The Prince finds it the next day and falls in love with the maiden whose feet could be ever so small enough to wear it. The mother and father of the Prince, seeing his lovesickness, declare that all the maidens of the land should come to the castle and, whoever may fit into the velvet slipper, will marry the Prince. Finette, supplied with her Godmother's horse who appeared at her doorstep, made her way to the Prince's castle adorned in her finest wares, much to the shock of her sisters. As soon as Finette was able to fit the slipper onto her foot, the masses assembled at the castle cried out and called her their future Queen. Finette explained her origins to the Prince's parents, the King and Queen, and once they had heard Finette's parents' family name, they recognized them as the royals whose domain they had conquered. At the threat of not marrying the Prince, the King and Queen promised Finette they would restore her family's land. Belle-de-Nuit and Fleur D'Amour, at their arrival at the castle, were not cast away by their sister, but invited into the palace and promised a safe return to their parents and their newly restored domain. In the end, Finette's father and mother had their land returned, and Finette, along with her sisters, eventually all became queens.