Now if came to pass that the king ordained a
festival that should last for three days, and
to which all the beautiful young women of that
country were bidden, so that the king's son might
choose a bride from among them. When the two
stepdaughters heard that they too were bidden
to appear, they felt very pleased, and they called
Cinderella, and said, "Comb our hair, brush our shoes,
and make our buckles fast, we are going to the wedding
feast at the king's castle." Cinderella, when she heard
this, could not help crying, for she too would have liked
to go to the dance, and she begged her step-mother to
allow her. "What, you Cinderella!" said she, "in all
your dust and dirt, you want to go to the festival!
you that have no dress and no shoes! you want to dance!"
But as she persisted in asking, at last the step-mother
said, "I have strewed a dish-full of lentils in the ashes,
and if you can pick them all up again in two hours you may
go with us." Then the maiden went to the backdoor that led
into the garden, and called out, "O gentle doves, O turtle-doves,
And all the birds that be, The lentils that in ashes lie Come
and pick up for me!