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The Story of Ye Xian (Cinderella)

BY LYNN

There was a man having two wives. The first wife had a daughter called Ye Xian. Unfortunately this mother died when Ye was still very young. The father adored Ye because she was good at pottery. But he also died several years later, leaving Ye staying with the stepmother and her own daughter. You can imagine what a hard life to Ye. She had to collect wood from the dangerous places and drew water from the deep well.

Once she found a small fish in the well and she took it home to keep it in the bowl. She gave it her own food everyday and it became a larger fish at last until there is no place to keep it. So Ye put it back in a river and continue to give it food everyday. And the fish would only come out when Ye came to the river. Day after day, the fish was very very large and the stepmother also heard the story of it. She thought of a bad idea. That is she cheated Ye to wear the new clothes and ask her to take water from a spring far away. After Ye left, she put on Ye's clothes and took a knife to the river. The fish thought it was Ye coming so it came out of the water to meet her. Yeah, it was killed by the malicious stepmother. :( Then she cooked it. After the fish was eaten, she hid the fishbone.

When Ye came back next day, she went to the river as usual, but there is no fish anymore. She cried bitterly when there is a person flying down from the heaven. She told Ye where the fishbone was and she also told Ye that the bone would give her anything she wanted afterwards. Ye did everything as the person told. She found the bone and asked the beautiful clothes and a pair of golden shoes from the bone. Then one day when the mother is not at home, she changed to the new clothes and shoes and left the home too. But she happenly met the mother and her daughter on the way. That daughter told her mother" That girl looks like Ye!" Ye was fearing they would recognize her, so she ran away home quickly. However, one shoe left on the way in the hurry.

One man picked up the golden shoe and he submitted it to the king. The king liked the shoe so much that he also wanted to meet the girl who owned it. So he called all the women and girl in the country to try on the shoe. But the shoe is so small that it didn't fit any of them. Then the king asked the man who picked it up where it was found. They searched the places nearby and at last found Ye in the shabby clothes. She tried on the shoe. Everyone was suprised that it fited so well in her foot. Then Ye put another shoe on, also the beautiful clothes. All of the sudden, she looked like a angel! The king fell in love with her at once and Ye became the queen of the country. She took the bone with her to the palace and lived happily with the king afterwards.

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