Ashes
(another folktale version of Cinderella)

Ashes was a homeless girl whose eyes were bright as stars and a smile as pretty as morning, but everybody called her “Ashes,” because she was always covered with ashes and dirt from working hard. Ashes worked for food at people’s houses. Mrs. Lady had two daughters, and she took in Ashes to fetch and carry and cook and clean for them.

Now, the king had one gold slipper, given to him by his fairy godmother, and whichever woman that slipper fit, that would be the king’s wife.

So Mrs. Lady dressed her two daughters the best she could in pearls and diamonds, because she knew her daughters would look beautiful. The she put poor Ashes in the Dutch oven and locked her in.

As the king asked for a dance with the slipper in his hand, whoever he danced with was supposed to fit the slipper to her feet. So the lady said, “Mr. King, here are my two beautiful daughters. I know it will fit either one, so take my daughter to be your wife.”

So the king tried both girls’ feet and neither one could wear it. So he said, “Madam--dearest Mrs. Lady--I’m sorry. Neither one of your daughters can be my wife, because they cannot wear my gold shoe.”

At that time, Ashes began to sing in the oven: “You can repair your feet, you can cut off your toe, but the one to wear that slipper in this oven.”

So the king said, “Madam, I heard somebody singing. May I see the woman singing?”

She said, “Oh, Mr. King, don’t listen to that dirty little girl. She’s just a nuisance when good men come around. My daughter is the girl to wear that gold slipper.”

The king said, “How can that be when it doesn’t fit her foot?”

The lady said, “Oh, Mr. King, we can cut off the toes so it will fit. She must be your wife.”

The king said, “Madam, it just wouldn’t work.”

At that moment, Ashes began to sing again, “You can repair your feet, you can bind your toes, but the one to wear that slipper is in this oven.”

So at that Mr. King walked around to the great brick oven and opened it up for poor Ashes. As she jumped out, Mrs. Lady said, “Mr King, don’t look at that dirty, dirty girl.”

But Mr. King said, “I’ll give her a chance.” So at that the king gave her soap and water to clean up and he presented the gold slipper to Ashes. Ashes slipped the gold slipper right onto her foot. It fit perfectly just like magic. She and the king danced together. So Ashes became the king’s wife.

Retold here by LWW circa 1990 from a folktale orginally collected in the late 1960’s from Salisbury, Maryland. LWW found the collected tale in George G. Carey's Maryland Folklore, 1989. LWW version used with permission.