Happily ever after: a Cinderella story

Cinderella’s choice.
Cinderella had a bad day. After the excitement of the whirlwind wedding and the fabulous honeymoon, life again had become pretty ordinary.
It’s true that at least she didn’t have to battle with that pair of ugly hysterics and their frustrated mum, e.i. her step mother and her stepsisters; actually, now that her fortunes had changed, they were all honey and sugar, all to be invited to the palace.
Oh, the palace. The palace was full of rooms that were empty most of the time. It’s true that Cinderella had many very kind maids to attend her very whim, lots of dresses and any imaginable pair of shoes and boots; there was also a lot to do, as she could go to town, go horse riding, and invite all her new-found friends, but something was missing.
Her husband the prince was also very kind and they spent a lot of time together, mainly when he was off work, which was at least part of the day and the evening: she was very happy and thanked her good star for meeting such a generous and kind man, who really didn’t care about her past and the fact that she had been scrubbing floors for years.
This is why, when she complained about being bored, he said:
‘Cinderella, I know what’s missing: you need a purpose!’
‘What is a purpose?’ asked Cinderella, who was well conscious of having a few gaps in her education but wasn’t afraid to ask.
‘Well, it’s something you live for. It’s something you do that makes you feel very good about your actions, therefore about yourself.’
‘Oh, I see’ said Cinderella, who hadn’t thought about that. To be fair, her purpose in life until then had been to avoid the step mother and step sisters as much as she could and to find some peace in the little simple things she could afford to do. Nature and pets and plants and animals had been a great purpose too, thought Cinderella, and there was plenty of that in the old garden.
‘I suppose I could have some land and create a vegetable garden?’
‘That’s a jolly idea, my dear!’ said the prince, but he was busy and went off shortly after that, so she had no time to discuss any other options really. Work work work.
The prince, on other hand, unfortunately wasn’t really aware of Cinderella’s dilemma. Good as he was, he had thought that palace life was going to be enough for Cinderella, with its comforts and parties and so on. He was unaware but he was a good man, and if his wife desired a purpose, so be it. At the end of the day, their marriage had to be an equal partnership. So be it. Besides, now she had all the time in the world to think of a purpose, while he had to go to work: and when he was at work, the prince forgot pretty much about everything else. He was a bit like that: if he was with Cinderella, he could not think of anything else; if he was playing golf, again, he could only concentrate on that-and so on.
Cinderella decided that finding a purpose wasn’t for the light-hearted and enlisted the help of a trusted adviser. She thought the Fairy Godmother might be helpful, but on second thoughts she reflected that she might have slightly old-fashioned views. It was her, after all, who had singlehandedly master-minded the wedding and all, with various very effective tricks.
But now a more practical hand was required. She then summoned a Financial Adviser, a Personal Coach and a very good psychic somebody had recommended. All grounds were so covered: practical advice, support and spiritual guidance.
This strategy paid off big time. After various sessions with her advisers, Cinderella had a clear idea of where she wanted to do. She knew she was a people’s person as she wouldn’t have clicked with the prince and his entourage so quickly otherwise; she knew she had good presentation skill, and they could be enhanced further; she knew she was a fiercely independent and a risk taker, as few others would have embarked in a relationship heading to marriage so quickly.
Her personal coach helped her identify some other strong points, and at the end of this process she was ready to start her own business. Hardly the homely type (maybe because she had been forced to work as a maid by her wicked relatives), she had nonetheless some excellent cleaning skills. Cinderella started a cleaning business, aimed at eco-types, with sole use of eco friendly detergents. It was a ball.
The prince was impressed but at the same time now he felt a bit threatened. This was a truly brilliant idea, which he wouldn’t have had in million years. He was a good young man, but a product of his environment. Cinderella became so busy and immersed in her new venture, that she missed quite a few parties and quite a few evenings. She still enjoyed spending time with the prince, but now that she had a purpose and a relationship, her time had to be shared between the two. Sometimes, to be honest, she gave her business more time.
She was finally happy. The prince wasn’t. He was mature enough to be able to verbalise his doubts: others would have become angry and started behaving funny. Not the prince: he was a good young man. He spoke to Cinderella.
‘I miss you’ he said. ‘I am happy you have a purpose now and you see you are happy, but I still miss you and feel bad about it. I feel lonely and I feel I am less important to you.’
‘I understand, my prince’ said Cinderella ‘I feel happy now, and happier when I see you. I felt unhappy when the only thing in my life was you. You had many things, I had only one. Now we are really equal. Why are you unhappy?’
The prince didn’t know what to say. Maybe a solution could be found. Maybe they could spend some meaningful time together, on a holiday for example: it was clear from Cinderella’s attitude that something had dramatically changed. She had wings now. He had no wings, he had stayed where he was.
Some time passed and Cinderella’s business grew further. No children arrived and the prince’s family began to grow impatient, because in their world, it was a wife’s duty to produce a heir (preferably a boy, although they would have been happy with a girl too).
Cinderella was too busy with other things, and they began to notice too. They became somehow unkind to her, as they were a bit disappointed. They weren’t as good as the prince in expressing feelings.
Finally, Cinderella had enough. She didn’t like the palace anymore and one day, without saying anything to anyone, she packed her bags and left. She made sure the prince was out when she did so, but she left a note, as it would have been really bad to leave without saying anything.
The prince was devastated and embarrassed, as no-one had ever left him. In fact, he was chased by half the girls in the kingdom. He thought Cinderella and him were forever. The sad thing is that they might have been, if he had listened to her a little bit more: somehow, he thought she should bend to his world. She wanted to lead her own life and so she made the choice. And this is how, sadly, a marriage with a fairy tale beginning, ended.
Epilogue:
Cinderella built a cleaning empire and became a millionaire. She broke contact with her step mother and step sisters as they were really mean anyway. She divorced the prince and she finally met a nice chap and she is in a happy relationship now. She has no plans to marry again but they are considering having children.
The prince got over the divorce although he was very depressed about it.
The wicked step mother and the step sisters had what was coming to them for being so mean to Cinderella: they became even uglier and fatter. To be fair, they all had emotional problems and they ended up over-eating to compensate their unhappiness: of course they should have received some healing or done therapy and maybe they would have been happier.
The Financial Adviser, the Personal Coach and the gifted psychic remained at Cinderella’s service.