Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/89

Rh who has a bad master!) she began to bring forward six daughters of her own, whom she had until then kept concealed; and she praised them so much, and talked her husband over in such a manner, that at last the stepdaughters engrossed all his favour, and the thought of his own child went entirely from his heart: in short, it fared so ill with the poor girl, bad today and worse tomorrow, that she was at last brought down from the royal chamber to the kitchen, from the canopy of state to the hearth, from splendid apparel of silks and gold to dishclouts, from the sceptre to the spit. And not only was her condition changed, but even her name; for instead of Zezolla, she was now called Cenerentola.

It happened that the prince had occasion to go to Sardinia upon affairs of state; and calling the six stepdaughters,—Imperia, Calamita, Fiorella, Diamante, Colombina, Pascarella,—he asked them one by one what they would like him to bring them on his return. Then one wished for splendid dresses, another to have head-ornaments, another rouge for the face, another toys and trinkets; in short, one wished for this thing and another for that. At last the prince said to his own daughter, as if in mockery, "And what would you have, child?"—"Nothing, father," she replied, "but that you commend me to the Dove of the Fairies, and bid her send me something; and if you forget my request, may