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Sara
It was eye-catching but impractical,
a shoe she’d never wear,
the smooth surface was unforgiving on her skin,
no soft material to cushion or conceal.
Walking in them must be an art-form,
requiring elegance and confidence
to glide like a queen, but delicately,
so no footsteps cracked or chipped,
displaying imperfections
that everyone would see and judge.
Royal decree made her try it on,
lamenting the delay to her day.
Jacob stood waiting with his cousin, their chaperone,
both wearing polite patience as the royal attendant
slipped the glass shoe on her foot.
The prince’s interest waned when
he saw her waiting date, his eyes
glazed, mind occupied with daydreams
and memories of the ballroom and dancing.
The attendant’s gasp drew everyone’s attention.
A perfect fit.
Her silence was a heavy, disappointed disbelief.
She looked up at Jacob’s shocked face and
shook her head in denial.
They had been at the ball together, watching
as the prince danced with the mysterious woman.
‘There’s been a mistake,’ she pleaded,
but the attendant sprang up from his kneeling position
and ran out of the house to the waiting coachmen.
The dazed prince stayed indecisive with shock.
She heard the clear, booming trumpet
that made her bones vibrate,
signalling the end to all their freedom.
The Prince
His father had found the whole idea ridiculous,
an excessive indulgence.
And so, the condition that would ruin all
their lives had been established.
‘The first person who that shoe fits will be your wife.
No exceptions, no arguments.’
The prince realised now, watching the royal attendant
rush from the house, how flawed his plan had been.
After the night of dancing dreams
the prince had awoken with a purpose, but he’d still
floated with confident assurance, feeling nothing
could prevent his happily ever after.
His father’s impatience didn’t trouble him
because he’d find the shoe’s true owner.
The shoe would fit only her,
and the prince would know her when their eyes met,
like destiny, like a beautiful story
they would tell in the future.
‘I’m sorry, there’s been a misunderstanding,’
he told Sara and her suitor.
‘If you would accompany me to the palace,
the king will understand.’
The king didn’t understand, he saw
only three certainties:
Sara was from a respectable household,
the shoe had fit her perfectly,
she had attended the ball.
‘My dear, all who were invited agreed to the contract.
If they were chosen they’d become the future queen.
Your parents agreed by permitting your attendance.’
Her parents didn’t challenge him – who would argue with a king? –
and nothing the prince said could sway his father’s resolve.
The wedding was announced, the date set.
It was at their wedding reception
that he saw his destined soulmate again. She burst in,
covered in soot, her clothes little better than rags,
but he knew her, and he loved her.
She approached, eyes shining with hope
that crushed his heart.
‘You’re too late.’
Cinderella
Her stepmother had kept her locked in her room,
ignorant of events beyond its walls for weeks and weeks.
Cinder should have realised she’d only been released
when she’d already lost everything.
The prince’s words summoned her tears, his heartbroken
eyes making her gasp in pain.
His new wife edged towards them,
her face sympathetic, her eyes hauntingly sad.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t want this.’
Cinder nodded, a bitter laugh leaving her
as she pulled a wrapped bundle from her apron.
‘I brought the other shoe.’
Later, as she watched the unhappy couple dance,
their movements stiff and awkward,
a man whose sorrowful eyes matched her own approached.
‘My name is Jacob, and I have a proposition for you.’
Cinder had no home to return to
and Jacob offered her one, not out of love,
but from a desperate need to keep a connection
to their true hearts, those they couldn’t have.
She accepted because she had no status, no choices
or freedom as a single woman. She sensed
Jacob had a plan, but didn’t ask,
too desolate with loss to hope.
They married quietly, offering each other what
comfort they could, unable to forget,
unable to move on.
Six months later the king’s birthday celebration took place.
Cinder was surprised when Jacob produced an invitation,
not just to attend the feast, but to stay at the castle.
Their clothes were plain but acceptable, revealing
their status in life and assigning them to seats far
away from the royal couple they ached to be near.
Between her longing looks at the prince, Cinder
noticed Jacob winking at Sara, and her nodding back.
There was no dancing, and so Jacob and Cinder shuffled away
to their assigned room, ignored by the other guests.
‘Trust me,’ Jacob instructed, stopping her as she prepared to sleep.
Cinder’s confusion lifted when Sara appeared
later that night, her face glowing for
the first time since the shoe had fit.
‘He’s waiting for you,’ she told Cinder,
her eyes fixed on Jacob.
They were careful in the first few years,
arranging convenient trips where they could
be alone together.
Cinder gave birth to the kingdom’s heirs,
while Sara’s children were common but raised as royalty,
a problem that would affect their descendants for generations.
When the king died and the prince took his place,
Cinder and Jacob became permanent
residents in the castle.
Their children each had two mothers and two fathers,
and the couples finally achieved their happy ending.
The glass footwear, eye-catching but impractical,
was reunited with its partner,
and displayed in a glass case for years to come.
Scribbled Thoughts 