Cinderella (Aschenputtel)

Quick Answer

Why This Story Works for Bedtime

Best for older kids: it’s emotional and includes unfairness, but it resolves with justice and safety. Bedtime-friendly when read slowly and focused on Cinderella’s steady goodness and the hopeful ending.

Story Synopsis

Cinderella begins with loss: a mother’s final promise and a child who keeps returning to her mother’s grave, speaking to her with quiet devotion. When Cinderella’s father remarries, the house changes. Her stepmother and stepsisters push her into the kitchen, mock her, and make her sleep among ashes—yet Cinderella stays gentle, working and hoping. At her mother’s grave, Cinderella plants a branch that grows into a tree. Each day she visits, and birds gather there as if the place itself is listening. When a grand festival is announced, the stepfamily tries to shut Cinderella out with endless chores. Still, she asks to go—not with anger, but with a small, brave hope. In this Grimm retelling, the help is not a fairy godmother but the tree and the birds: Cinderella receives beautiful clothing and shoes so she can attend the festival. The prince notices her, and each night she slips away before she can be trapped by promises or pressure. The prince sets a golden slipper as the test, and Cinderella—whose foot truly fits—can no longer be hidden. There are darker moments (especially around the jealous sisters), but the story ends with Cinderella’s goodness being seen and chosen. It’s a tale of endurance: kindness held steady until the world finally answers back.

Story Excerpt

A wealthy man’s wife fell ill, and when she felt her time was near, she called her only daughter to her side. “ Dear child, ” she whispered, “ be good and kind, and I will look down from heaven and always be near you. ” Then she closed her eyes and was at peace. The girl went to her mother’s grave every day to weep, and she kept her promise to be good and kind. When winter came, a blanket of white snow covered the grave. And when the spring sun melted it away, her father had taken a new wife. The new wife brought her own two daughters into the house. They were beautiful on the outside, but their hearts were cold and hard. A difficult time began for the step - child. “ Why should this silly girl sit in the parlor with us? ” they said. “ If you want to eat, you must earn it. Out to the kitchen with you! ” They took away her lovely dresses, gave her an old grey smock to wear, and wooden shoes for her feet. “ Look at the proud princess now! ” they cried with laughter, and sent her to the kitchen. There, she worked from morning until night. She rose before dawn to carry water, light the fires, cook, and wash. Her stepsisters found endless ways to be cruel. They would mock her and scatter her peas and lentils into the…

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