The March Madness Writing Contest!

Here are the rules:

“Write a children’s story, in poetry or prose, maximum 400 words, that is a fractured fairy tale.  Feel free to add a theme of spring, or mix in one of the spring holidays if you like.” Check out the complete rules at Ms. Hill’s blog HERE. My word count came in at 389 not including the title.

The Tale of Cinder Ella

By Sheila Renfro

There once was a tomboy named Ella who preferred to be called Cinder.

She fished and climbed trees and put snakes in her stepsister’s bed.

 

Her stepsisters were mean! They made her model their dresses and experiment new hairstyles. They’d pull and yank and oohed and ahhed.

So Cinder put snakes in their beds and frogs in their bath water.

 

One day a ball was announced and her stepsisters vowed to get even with her. They would dress her up like a doll.

They caught her and tied the corset so tight, and then they styled her hair just so.

When they were done, they dragged her to the ball to meet the prince.

When the prince extended his hand for a dance, Cinder teetered in the glass slippers she wore. So she kicked them off and high-tailed it out of there.

As she went, she pulled pins out of her hair and discarded the skirts she wore so she could run fast.

Finally she stood below her favorite tree and climbed up as fast as she could. She huffed and puffed trying to get her breath. She could hear the horses running towards her.

 

She waited and watched.

Then the Kings army thundered underneath her tree, and they were gone.

She made herself comfortable on a limb that branched out in the shape of a “Y” and soon she was asleep.

 

In the morning she looked all around and, not seeing any King’s men, she slid down the tree.

She broke off a branch and tied some twine to it and at the other end she made a hook out of a hairpin. Next she dug for a worm to put on the hook and then she fished for her breakfast.

 

She heard a rustle and before she could hide, the prince stepped out, fishing rod in hand.

“May I join you? I love to fish, but the King says it’s too dangerous and I have to run and hide to get away from my body guard."

“I’m Cinder,” she patted the ground next to her. “I’ll make sure you don’t fall in, just make sure my stepsisters don’t find me and put a dress on me.”

 

They agreed and fished the whole day.

Afterwards they had a fish fry at the castle and invited the whole village.