Cold, cruel, and bitterly jealous of Cinderella's charm and beauty, she was grimly...

[first lines]
Narrator: Once upon a time in a faraway land, there was a tiny kingdom; peaceful, prosperous, and rich in romance and tradition. Here in a stately chateau, there lived a widowed gentleman, with his little daughter, Cinderella. Although he was a kind and devoted father, he gave his beloved child every luxury and comfort. Still, he felt she needed a mother's care. And so, he married again, choosing for his second wife, a woman of good family, with two daughters just Cinderella's age, by name: Anastasia and Drizella. It was upon the untimely death of this good man, however, that the stepmother's true nature was revealed: cold, cruel, and bitterly jealous of Cinderella's charm and beauty, she was grimly determined to forward the interests of her own two awkward daughters. Thus, as time went by, the chateau fell into disrepair, for the family fortunes were squandered upon the vain and selfish stepsisters while Cinderella was abused, humiliated, and finally forced to become a servant in her own house. And yet, through it all, Cinderella remained ever gentle and kind, for with each dawn she found new hope that someday her dreams of happiness would come true