We decided to shove her out right away. We weren’t going to be pushed around by our new stepsister. I began the conversation after our first meal in the parlor. Mother had gone out. “Is this stupid goose going to sit in the parlor with us?” I asked, turning to my sisters. “She who wants to eat bread must earn it. So I say, out with the kitchen-wench.”
We grabbed her and stripped her of her pretty clothes. We made her wear an old, grey bedgown, and gave her wooden shoes. “Just look at the proud princess, how decked out she is!” I said, and we laughed. We put her to work as a housemaid. My mother couldn’t afford a servant, so why not use the pious little wench? She wanted to suffer, so why not help her?
We made her get up before daybreak, carry water, light fires, cook, and wash while we mocked her. We were never satisfied, and after a while, she stopped taking care of herself. She hid in the kitchen, covered in cinders. You know what we called her? Cinderella. Ha!