Cinderella dropped the prince's hand.
She ran outside as the clock struck 12.
"Wait!" the prince shouted. "Don't go!"
Cinderella started down the steps.
One of her glass shoes fell off.
Cinderella looked back.
But it was too late to get the shoe.
Her golden coach was already a pumpkin.
Her beautiful gown was an ugly old rag again.
The prince ran down the steps.
"Where is the princess?" he cried.
He ran past Cinderella.
Cinderella's heart sank.
He didn't know that she was the princess!
Slowly she began to walk home.
The prince went back up the steps.
Near the top step, something sparkled.
"Hmm," the prince said.
He picked it up. "What's this?"
Cinderella got home.
She was tired and cold.
She added a log to the fire.
Later the stepsisters came home.
"How was the ball?" Cinderella asked.
"Was the beautiful princess there again?"
"Yes." Gert made a face.
"She left at midnight.
But the prince kept talking about her.
He even found something of hers."
Cinderella leaned forward. "What did he find?"
"A glass shoe," Trudy said. "It's really pretty."
"Cinderella!" Stepmother snapped.
"Get our beds ready!"