A CINDERELLA STORY

Mushafau Ade Kukoyi
History 1382
Professor Sundberg
04-12-06

CINDERELLA

The Cinderella Story is a fairy tale that reflects the lives of a regular peasant family. The earliest version of the story originated in China around 860 A.D. This classic story is a popular fairy tale that embodied the myth and elements of the unjust oppression within the society and the triumphant reward of graciousness rather than facial beauty.
It is believed that graciousness, obedience and faithfulness are virtues that are beyond price or measure and it is greatly desired in a queen. Without these virtues, one can do nothing; but with it, one can do everything.

SHORT STORY

Once upon a time there lived a young girl by the name Sandra with her dad. Sandra’s father had just re-married after losing his first wife to cancer at the early age of 40 years. During one of the regular church meetings, he was introduced to a lady who happens to be a widow with two daughters from a previous marriage. The couple soon got married and they all lived together as a family. Sandra’s father did everything within his power to make the entire family live as comfortable as possible but his new wife always had some thing negative to complain about Sandra. She considered her to be spoilt, lazy and would scold her even in the present of her father who was so weak to rebuke her of her wrong doing. Sandra’s stepmother was proud, arrogant and wicked to Sandra, but always indulges her own daughters and made sure they had everything they ever asked for.

One Friday afternoon, Sandra came back from school and was surprised to hear of her father’s sudden death in a motor accident. She was forced to live with her stepmother and her two daughters, since her father did not leave a will behind. After her father’s unexpected death, Sandra’s stepmother took over all the bank account, stock shares and the family business.
Even as a high school senior, Sandra lived at the beck and call of her self-obsessed stepmother and her sinfully wicked stepsisters, who treat her more, like a servant than a member of the family.

With Sandra’s sights set on attending University of Lagos, her dream of studying Medicine at the University was almost mired by her stepmother, when she destroyed her admission letter and told her she was not intelligent enough to attend higher institution, but should rather concentrates on helping with the family business.

Although Sandra was a pretty, humble and intelligent young girl, she was more noted for her tattered clothes by her pears in school. She finds her less-than-sparkling social life magnificently complicated when she developed a cyber relationship with a secret male friend from her school. Very often, they send short text messages to each other through their cell phone and emails.

Zeb soon invited Sandra to be his date at the school’s homecoming dance but Sandra knew she would need a miracle to be able to attend the dance due to the fact that she has no beautiful dress to wear to the event. Her friend heard of her date and saw how unhappy she was because she did not have the right clothes for the dance but decided to contribute money to buy her a nice dress and hired a Limousine with a chauffeur to take her to the dance. She was so pretty and elegantly dressed that the entire students and teachers could not help but notice her beauty.

Finally, when Sandra and Zeb met at the school’s homecoming dance, she was surprised to see her prince charming was in fact a handsome soccer player and the captain of the school team. He was also unaware of Sandra’s identity due to her mask, and spent the entire week trying to find out who his mystery date was after all.
Sandra makes a mad dash back to reality, leaving her cell phone behind just before the clock struck midnight.

Fearing rejection if her secret is revealed, Sandra dodges Zeb's efforts to discover the identity of his princess. Later on she attempted to tell Zeb her true identity several times but they all get foiled. Then her envious stepsister accidentally discovers her numerous emails with Zeb, and decided to tell Zeb’s ex-girlfriend about Sandra.

So, at the school pep-rally, Sandra's identity was revealed, to her embarrassment.
Upset about how things turned out, Sandra defies her stepmother’s orders, and quits her job at the company. That same night, she confronted Zeb before the big soccer game. The game got so tough, and Zeb was awarded a penalty for a rough tackle from the opponent team. The crowd was so happy and they chanted Zeb’s name, Sandra decided to leave the game arena. Instead of playing the free kick, Zeb abandoned the game and went after Sandra who was still in the crowd. He told her how much he loved her and that he was so proud of her regardless of what any body might think of her.

In conclusion, Sandra founds her father’s secret will hide between the pages of her dairy and discovered that she had inherited all of her father's property. She took over the family business from the stepmother, and later employed her and her daughters to work for her. At the end, Zeb and Sandra got admitted into University of Lagos and the two lived happily ever after.