Cinderella in the Spotlight

Magic doesn’t solve everything.

Photo by Taylor Heery on Unsplash

You know her name. I know you do. She’s had a dozen different personas, but every one of them has led to the doorstep of a prince. Her name is synonymous with a rags-to-riches tale popular across all the realms there are to roam.

You might even still ponder to this day: “Why a glass slipper?”

It isn’t always a glass slipper. Sometimes it’s a pair of boots lined with fox fur. Other times it’s just a bewitching pair of high heels that never hurt even if the wearer dances all night until the golden carriage turns back into a pumpkin.

What matters is the magic — and that’s where I come in.

I’ve been a fairy godmother to three Cinderella’s — each more different than the last. One insisted she wear a lilac gown the night she met her prince; she wanted to match the rumored color of his eyes. Another one almost missed her shot because she got into an argument with me about the validity of magic. (I almost bopped her in the nose, but what can I say? I know how to control my temper.)

The third — well, she was of a different ilk indeed. We didn’t call her Cinderella explicitly because she lived in a realm where fairy tales were the secrets between words and the very fantasy of so many dreamers who loved their rectangular boxes…