The Perfect Princess

Once upon a time, a long time ago there was a girl named Caramella. She was called Caramella by her mother because she was as sweet as a caramel. Unfortunately her mother and father died when she was very young and Caramella was left a poor, helpless orphan and had to go and live with her wicked Aunt and her 3 ugly cousins.
And the Aunt and the cousins treated Caramella terribly, perhaps because they envied her beauty, making her sleep on the floor of a cold drafty old attic, dress in dirty rags, eat scraps and bones for supper that a dog would normally eat and do all the house hold chores while her lazy cousins sat around and played cards or stuffed their faces with chocolates.
One day however, while they were out in the forest together Caramella and her three wicked cousins found a jewelled golden dress; golden slippers and gold crown lying inside a cave and each of the items had a label attached to it with the words, "Only to be worn by the perfect princess".
"Why they're beautiful?", said Gorgonza, the oldest of Caramellas ugly cousins, "They'll look just lovely when I wear them to parties".
"When you wear them?", asked Hagatha, the middle oldest of the three ugly cousins, angrilly, "Didn't you read the labels? 'Only to be worn by the perfect princess'. Obviously that means I should be the one who wears them because I'm the most princess like among us".
"What?", said the youngest of the ugly cousins, Horibella, laughing,  "You? Its me who is the prettiest among us and the youngest. Obviously I should be the one who wears them".
Then all three of Caramellas cousins started to get into a terrible fight over the clothes, tugging at the golden dress between them.
"But what if they belong to someone? A Princess", asked Caramella who was always honest and considerate of others, "Perhaps you ought to leave them alone".
The three cousins turned towards Caramella angrilly.
"And who asked you?", said Gorgonza.
"And besides", said Hagatha, "If they belonged to someone then they were very foolish to leave them lying in the forest like this and anyone that foolish deserves to have their clothes stolen".
"Exactly", said Horibella, agreeing with her sister.
But then Gorgonza had an idea.
"Well take the clothes back to Mama and she'll decide who is to have them", she said.
Then, Gorgonza, picking up the dress; Hagatha the crown and Horibella, the golden slippers, they ran back to the house of their mother with Caramella following behind them.
When they showed them to their mother, however, she wanted the clothes for herself.
"None of you are responsible enough to look after fine clothes like these", she said, "These clothes ought to be worn by a more mature woman with more sophistication. I will wear them and then, ofcourse, when I die, I will pass them onto you".
When Caramellas Aunt tried to put on the crown however, it refused to stay upon her head, popping like a cork off of it and into her arms.
She tried putting the crown on again but, again, the same thing happened.
"Stupid crown", said her Aunt, "There seems to be something wrong with it".
But then her Aunt tried to put on the shoes and those too refused to be worn, fighting against her attempts to put them on as if they were repulsed by her feet.
And the dress was the same. When she tried to put it on it pulled itself right off again.
"Those clothes are bewitched", said their mother dumping the clothes into Gorgonzas arms, "No wonder they were left in the forest".
"They're not bewitched, Mother. It just that, like the label says, they can only be worn by the perfect princess. Thats why I should wear them", said Gorgonza and, saying that, she put the crown upon her own head.
The moment she did however, the crown popped right back off again and, exaperated, Gorgonza handed it to Hagatha.
But the crown wouldn't stay on Hagathas head either, nor on Horribellas.
And the shoes and dress were just the same; whichever of the ugly cousins tried to put them on the clothes pulled themselves back off.
But then the mother picked up the clothes and put them into Caramellas arms,
"Take these clothes and burn them in the furnace", said her Aunt, "They are obviously bewitched and we are better off being rid of them".
And so Caramella had to take the clothes to the furnace to destroy them.
As she was getting ready to burn them however, Caramella thought to herself,
"What a shame to have to destroy such lovely clothes".
But then, suddenly, Caramella was gripped by an urge to put on the crown.
"It wouldn't hurt would it?", she said to herself, "I know I am no princess. Nothing but a common urchin but it wouldn't hurt to wear it just for a few seconds, to know how a princess feels".
But then to her amazement, when she put on the crown, instead of leaping from her head as it had from the heads of her Aunt and three ugly cousins, the crown stayed on.
And not only that, when Caramella looked down, she saw something even more amazing for, suddenly she realised that the dress and shoes that she had been about to throw in the furnace were upon her.
"How did they get on me?", she wondered, "I don't remember putting them on?".
But then, unfortunately, just at that moment Caramella heard the voice of her Aunt behind her.
"How dare you!", said her Aunt, her voice filled with rage, "How dare you put on those clothes, when I told you to burn them".
Then her three ugly cousins came into the room and saw her in the fine dress, crown and slippers and they were so angry that, shrieking like wild cats, the rushed towards her to tear them off.
"Who do you think you are?", said Gorgonza, pulling the crown from her head.
"I know who she is", said Hagatha, pulling off the dress, "She's ugly little beggar who has ideas above her station".
"Ha!", said Horibella, pulling off her shoes, "As if she could ever be a princess".
Caramella started to cry and seeing her tears the ugly cousins laughed.
But then, as they were lauging suddenly, something magical happened.
To their astonishment, the crown that had been yanked off, the dress and the shoes reappeared upon Caramella.
"I don't believe it", said Gorgonza.
"But how?", asked Hagatha.
"Obviously, the child is a little witch", said her aunt, angrilly, picking up her broom, "Well, I'll not have a witch in my house".
Then the Aunt made towards Caramella, raising the broom to strike her with it.
But then, just as she was about to knock the crown from Caramellas head, suddenly the Aunt and her three ugly daughters heard the sound of a voice behind them.
"Stop", it said, "Don't touch her or you will all be sorry".
And, turning round, Caramellas Aunt and cousins were amazed to see a woman dressed like a queen.
"Who are you?", asked the Aunt.
"I am Claribella, the queen of the fairies", said the woman.
"Well, what are you doing in my house?", said the Aunt, "Get out at once".
But Queen Claribella was not frightened of the Caramellas Aunt.
"Those clothes belong to me. A long time ago I put them into a cave. I wanted to find the perfect wife for my son; the perfect princess for a prince of Fairyland. For centuries they remained in that cave; many tried to put them on but not none was ever good enough to wear them until now", said the Queen, "Until Caramella put them on".
Many, in such a situation, meeting a real fairy queen would have got down upon their knees and bowed but not Caramella Aunt; she was too enraged by jealously and instead she turned to strike Caramella with the broom again, screeching as she did so.
But before a bristle of her broom could touch Caramella, suddenly, the fairy queen raised her hand and Caramellas Aunt and her three ugly cousins all turned into little white mice who, frightened, scampered away into a hole in the skirting board.
"But there must be some mistake", said Caramella to the Queen, "I'm not a princess".
"Nonsense, child", replied Claribella, "The clothes never lie. They wouldn't let you wear them unless your heart was noble and pure and kind; all the virtues required of a fairy princess".
But then she took Caramella by the hand.
"Why don't you come and meet my son", she said, "He's holding a fairy ball and you're invited. Then you can find out if he's as perfect a prince as you are a princess".
And then, waving her hand, the Fairy Queen transported Caramella to her palace upon clouds of pink and blue and there she met the Queen's Son, Prince Aurin and, immediately, perhaps because love is a kind of fairy magic, the two fell in love and soon after, she and the prince were married and lived happily ever after.