Cinderella

"Have courage and be kind."

Ella's Mother:
Do you still believe that they understand you?

Ella:
Don't they, Mother?

Ella's Mother:
Oh yes. I believe that animals listen and speak to us if we only have the ear for it. That's how we learn to look after them.

Ella:
Who looks after us?

Ella's Mother:
Fairy Godmothers, of course...

Ella:
And do you believe in them?

Ella's Mother:
I believe in everything...

Ella:
Then I believe in everything, too!

Cinderella:
Yes, stepmother.

Lady Tremaine:
You needn't call me that. Madam will do.

Lady Tremaine:
What on Earth have you've been doing?

Cinderella:
Dreaming, that's all.

Lady Tremaine:
Well, then wake up.

Drizella:
Cinder Wench!

Anastasia:
Dirty Ella!

[chuckles briefly]

Drizella:
Cinderella! That's what we'll call you!

Cinderella:
But... All the ladies in the land are invited. By order of the king.

Lady Tremaine:
It is "the king" I'm thinking of. It would be an insult to the royal personage to take you to the palace dressed in these old rags.

Cinderella:
Rags? This was my mother's.

Lady Tremaine:
Oh... Sorry to have to tell you, but your mother's taste was questionable. This "thing" is so old-fashioned, it's practically falling to pieces. [She tugs harshly at the sleeve of Ella's dress causing it to rip completely]

Cinderella:
How could you?

Stepmother:
I will not have anyone associate my daughters with you. It would ruin their prospects to be

seen arriving with a ragged servant girl because that is what you are and that is what you will always be. Now mark my words! You shall NOT go to the ball!

Cinderella:
Fairy godmother?

Fairy Godmother:
Yes, what?

Cinderella:
My dress. I can't go in this dress. Can you mend it?

Fairy Godmother:
Mend it? No-no, I'll turn it into something new.

Cinderella:
Oh no, please don't. This was my mother's, and... and I'd like to wear it when I go to the palace. It's almost like - taking her with me.

Fairy Godmother:
I understand. But I don't think she'd mind if I - gee it up a bit? Wouldn't mind a nice blue?

Cinderella:
[whispering] No.

[Using her magic wand, the Fairy Godmother turns Cinderella's torn pink dress into a dazzling blue ballgown]

Fairy Godmother:
[smiles in satisfaction] There.

Cinderella:
It's beautiful! She'd love it.

Cinderella:
Mr. Lizard, I'm scared. I'm only a girl, not a princess.

Lizard Footman:
And I'm only a lizard, not a footman. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Cinderella:
They're all looking at you.

Prince Charming:
Believe me, they're all looking at you.

Prince Charming:
[as the King is dying] Father, don't go.

King:
I must. [pause] You needn't be alone. Take a bride. The Princess Chelina. What if I commanded you to do so?

Prince Charming:
I love and respect you, but I will not. I believe that we need not look outside of our borders for strength or guidance. What we need is right before us, and we need only have courage and be kind to see it.

King:
Just so. You've become your own man. Good. And perhaps, in the little time left to me, I can become the father you deserve. You must not marry for advantage. You must marry for love. Find that girl. Find her. The one they're all talking about. The forgetful one...

Prince Charming:
Who loses her shoes.

King:
[laughs] Loses her shoes...

[the Prince laughs, and cries too]

King:
Be cheerful, boy.

Prince Charming:
Thank you, Father.

King:
I love you, Kit.

Prince Charming:
I love you, Father.

[after Lady Tremaine breaks Cinderella's glass slipper]

Cinderella:
[horrified] Why... Why are you so cruel? I don't understand it... I've tried to be kind to you-

Lady Tremaine:
[scoffs] You? Kind to me?

Cinderella:
Yes! And though no one deserves to be treated as you have treated me! Why do you do it? Why?!

Lady Tremaine:
[angry] Why? Because you are young, and innocent, and... [struggles] good! And I-! [breaks off suddenly, then storms out of the room, locking the door]

Lady Tremaine:
Now, here is how you will pay me, if you were to have what you desire. No one will believe you, a dirty servant girl without a family, if you lay claim to the Prince's heart. But with a respectable gentlewoman to put you forward, you will not be ignored. When you are married, you will make me the head of the royal household. Anastasia and Drizella we will pair off with wealthy lords, and I shall manage that boy.

Cinderella:
But he's not a boy.

Lady Tremaine:
And who are you? How would you rule a kingdom? Best to leave it to me. That way we all get what we want.

Cinderella:
No.

Lady Tremaine:
No?

Cinderella:
I was not able to protect my father from you, but I will protect the prince and the kingdom no matter what becomes of me.

Captain:
Miss, you're requested and required to present yourself to your King.

Lady Tremaine:
I forbid you to do this!

Captain:
And I forbid you to forbid her. Who are you to stop an officer of the King? Are you an empress? A saint? A deity?

Lady Tremaine:
I am her mother!

Cinderella:
You have never been, and you never will be, my mother.

Cinderella:
[to Kit] Your Majesty, I'm no princess. I have no carriage, no parents, no dowry. I do not even know if that beautiful slipper will fit But, if it does Will you take me as I am? A good honest country girl who loves you.

Prince Charming:
Of course I would. But only if you'll take me as I am, an apprentice still learning his trade. Please...

[Prince Charming invites Ella to sit on a nearby chair as the Grand Duke watches in fear, the Captain looks on with a smile as he places the slipper on Ella's foot. It fits perfectly! He takes Ella by the hand and is just about to kiss her when the Stepsisters burst into the room.]

Drizella:
[apologetically] Cinderella!

Anastasia:
Ella!

Drizella:
My dear sister! I'm sorry.

Anastasia:
So very sorry! [they curtsy at and Ella and Kit]

Cinderella:
[to Prince "Kit" Charming] Just because it's what's done doesn't mean it's what should be done.

Cinderella:
[to Lady Tremaine, after having her foot fit in the glass slipper] I forgive you.

Prince Charming:
Even if she doesn't want to be found, I have to see her again.

Fairy Godmother:
I'm your Hairy Dogfather... Oh! I mean, your Fairy Godmother.

Fairy Godmother:
And so Kit and Ella were married. And I can tell you, as her fairy godmother, that they were counted to be the fairest and kindest rulers the kingdom had known. And Ella continued to see the world not as it is, but as it could be, if only you believe in courage, and kindness, and occasionally, just a little bit... of magic.

Lady Tremaine:
[to Cinderella, after she, Drizella, and Anastasia tear Cinderella's mother's dress] You shall not go to the ball!

Lady Tremaine:
[holding the glass slipper] Are you looking for this? There must be quite a story to go with it. Won't you tell me? Hm? Very well, I shall tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young girl who married for love. And she had two loving daughters. All was well. But, one day, her husband, the light of her life, died. The next time, she married for the sake of her daughters. But that man, too, was taken from her. And she was doomed to look every day upon his beloved child. She had hoped to marry off one of her beautiful, stupid daughters to the prince. But his head was turned by a girl with glass slippers. And so, I lived unhappily ever after. My story would appear to be ended.

Ella's Mother:
[to young Ella] I want to tell you a secret that will see you through all the trials that life can offer. Have courage, and be kind. Ella, you have more kindness in your little finger than most people possess in their whole body... Where there is kindness, there is goodness. And where there is goodness, there is magic.

Goose Coachman:
I can't drive, I'm a goose.