a traditional story about a young girl called Cinderella who has to work very hard for her stepmother (= the woman who married her father after her mother died) and her two ugly older sisters. One day the sisters go to a ball (= a grand event at which people dance) at the royal palace, and Cinderella wishes she could go too. Suddenly her fairy godmother appears and says, ‘You shall go to the ball!’ She uses her magic powers to produce a wonderful dress and glass slippers (= shoes) for Cinderella, and makes a coach and horses for her from a pumpkin and four white mice. But she warns Cinderella that she must leave the ball at midnight. Cinderella is so beautiful that the prince dances with her all the time, but at midnight she suddenly runs from the palace, leaving one of her glass slippers behind. The prince sends his servants all over the country to find her by trying the slipper on every young woman’s foot. When at last they find Cinderella the prince marries her.
The story of Cinderella is a favourite one for British pantomimes . The Ugly Sisters are played by men dressed as women. The prince is called Prince Charming, and Cinderella (or ‘Cinders’) has a male friend called Buttons who works with her and secretly loves her. The word Cinderella is also used to refer to things that have not been given enough attention in the past
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The railways are the Cinderella of public transport services.