What happened to Cinderella? A fairy tale for adults.

What actually happened to Cinderella? Storytellers make it easy for themselves. They always stop when things threaten to get complicated. I'd love to know what happened to Cinderella.

H2 What became of the girl who had been told from a very young age that she was worthless?

What became of this child who was excluded, laughed at, bullied and mistreated? Is marrying a prince enough to turn Cinderella into a happy, self-confident and contented princess?

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Today, dear ladies, I'm going to tell you the second part of Cinderella's story. The part you should definitely know, because it is much more important to us than the romantic entanglements of Cinderella's youth.

So when the prince comes to collect the woman of his heart, he doesn’t have to wait long. Cinderella doesn’t own much. It doesn’t take her long to pack everything up – the few rags and … all her beliefs and ideas about who she is. Even before they reach the altar, she is already eyeing the prince suspiciously, convinced that this must be nothing but a terrible mistake. Any moment now, he’ll realise his mistake and leave her.

H2 Making others happy whilst neglecting herself – that’s what she does best.

Cinderella won’t be able to be herself when she’s with him. It’s a good thing she had years at home to practise reading other people’s wishes from their eyes. She’ll always know what the prince wants, even before he says it. She’ll be the perfect wife and will try every day to make him happy. Because that’s what Cinderella does best – making others happy whilst neglecting herself.

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She knows no other way of love and affection than that it must be earned. No matter how much loving attention the prince wishes to shower upon her, she cannot accept it. She wants to be the one who gives. Being needed gives her a sense of security.

H2 She has never learnt to relax and enjoy herself.

She doesn’t just carry on with this routine with her prince. Nor can she accept any help from her subjects or her many servants. She feels dissatisfied, without being able to say why. She takes on all the work herself, convinced that no one can do it as well as she can. Behind what her servants find so upsetting – their feeling of being undervalued – lies, in reality, Cinderella’s inability to stop working. She has never learnt to relax and enjoy herself. If she isn’t working or looking after someone, she doesn’t know what to do with herself. If she relaxes for even a moment, she feels guilty.

H2 There is nothing Cinderella fears more than ridicule and malice.

She hardly realises any of her numerous ideas. She fears ridicule and malice. She prefers to deal with trivialities.

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Although there are things she would love to do, she immediately hears her stepmother’s laughter in her mind. „Who am I, after all?“ she thinks resignedly. „After all, I’m just Cinderella.“ So, although she’s constantly busy, she’s not actually doing anything of any significance.

H2 Serving and giving.

She focuses all the more on serving and giving. This inability to relax constantly creates new tasks before her very eyes. She doesn’t realise how, little by little, she is turning the prince into a lazy person. How he is slowly but surely losing respect for her and taking her love for granted. That he is gradually getting into the habit of taking out the stress of the day on her.

H2 Make me your victim, my love.

Together, they are now playing the game of „the aloof ruler and the love-addicted cling-on“. They alternate this with the game of „hurt me so that I may suffer“. Because when the prince hurts her, that familiar old feeling washes over her: I am a victim. This suffering in a toxic relationship is like coming home. She would never admit it, but it feels more familiar to her than any other way of life.

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H2 Too nice for this world?

She would often wonder why this always happens to her, given that she is a good person. She would go round saying things like, „My only fault is that I’m too nice“. She would ask herself lots of questions and might well become depressed. Because a life left unlived weighs heavily on the soul. The inability to integrate an „I“ into a „we“ eventually causes every relationship to hit a brick wall.

H2 Go and discover yourself.

We can only hope that the doves will help her out of this predicament once again. That one night they will say: „You must find out who you are when there is no one left to serve.“ Of course, that’s almost impossible for someone who has long since become invisible even to themselves. So the pigeons say tenderly, „Return to the source; there you will find all the answers.“

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Cinderella wanders through the village where she grew up until she suddenly finds herself standing before her mother’s grave. A sharp pain grips her heart. Then the voice of the doves rings in her ear once more: „If you can endure the pain, everything will change.“

H2 Recognising one’s own innocence and responsibility.

The pain burns like fire. Only when she gives up her resistance and surrenders completely to the purifying fire does the pain subside, leaving her body with a feeling she has never experienced before. She now sees her life, her past, her innocence and her responsibilities with complete clarity. She realises that only she herself can give herself permission to be happy.

H2 If the inner self is intact, there is nothing to lose on the outside.

She is not the same when she walks home. And she knows that her marriage will either fall apart or get better because of her growth. But feeling herself, being with herself, is worth the risk. As long as the inside is intact, there is nothing to lose on the outside.

The prince does not fail to notice her transformation. The lifeless servant has become a woman with character and depth. One with whom one can laugh and argue from the heart, one whom one may desire and, at times, even fear a little. A woman with healthy boundaries. How well the crown suddenly suits her!

H2 When one’s own vitality matters more than the affection of others.

Cinderella smiles to herself. Gone are the days when she craved the affection of the outside world like a junkie. The wellspring now bubbles up from within her. She has stopped denying her own needs and has started to look after herself properly. She asks for help or a hug when she needs it.

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Courageous and confident, she puts her ideas into action and is not afraid of making her own mistakes. Cinderella has become a self-determined, free person and is now embarking on a new relationship with her husband and the world around her – one in which her own vitality matters more than the affection of others.

And only now, dear storytellers, can you say: And they lived happily ever after!!!