The Magic Ballet Shoes

nce upon a time in a small town lived an old woman that the towns folk and their children would tease or call names like old crow or witch. The old woman knew they meant no harm since whenever someone gets sick or ill she's the first one that they run to for a cure or to find out what is wrong with their child or parent. That is everyone except one little girl, whose father and mother were taken away to the castle and never returned to the village, and no one has heard from them since this happened.

So the old woman took this little girl in and raised her as her own child, which she never had and took very good care of her, that is why the town folk know that she is really not a bad woman and only kid her about her looks. But the funny thing is the old woman is really a sorceress with magical powers that even her own child doesn't know about it. For when she adopted the little girl she swore that she would never use her magic powers unless it is very necessary and a matter of life and death.

Now as time went by the little girl grew up calling this old woman mother, and giving her the love and respect a daughter would her own mother, but as fate would have it a messenger came to the small town. The message stated that there will be a dance at the palace and the winner will receive a bag of gold for their parents and the girl will marry the prince and live in the castle. Now all the girls in the town all started to go and practice their special dance, that is except the old woman's daughter, whose name is Esmerald for her green emerald eyes that shine when she is happy.

She never went to school to learn how to dance or even how to do ballet, which her parents were the best in all the land, but since she doesn't remember them except as a dream now and then, and the old woman didn't know how to do an steps at all.

The old woman whose name is Judith taught her daughter how to sew and spin on a spinning wheel to make the thread to sew the material together to make the dresses that the young and old women and girls wear in the town. So with this announcement that had arrived from the palace on the hill Esmerald and Judith didn't have time to even think of the dance sewing and fitting and making all the gowns and costumes beautiful and different. Now as the time grew near and the last dress and costume was taken out of the cottage by the young girl and her mother Esmerald and Judith looked around the cottage to see if there was any scraps of material to make at least on gown so Esmerald could go to the dance. But alas there was not one piece of cloth for such a thing, then Esmerald started to cry telling her mother that for all the work that she and her mother did no one even thought of giving them the scraps of material that was left from their gowns and costumes so that Esmerald could make a gown for herself at least.

So the night of the dance the old woman went to get something from the forest and told Esmerald that she would be back the next morning and not to wait up for her, Instead Judith went to the Queen of the Fairies, who was in actuality Esmerald's Great Grandmother.

But when a fairy marries a mortal the children's magic fades to half the fairies power so that when Esmerald was born her powers are almost gone and she is almost all mortal and when she marries her children will be mortal and no fairy powers will be at their command as it is for a fairy of fairy birth. Now that you know how the Fairy Queen became Esmerad's Great Grandmother, let's continue will the story: Judith went to see the Fairy Queen to tell her that Esmerald is very unhappy because no one of the towns people thought about any one else except themselves for this dance that the Royal Family is giving for the Prince to get a bride.

With this told to the Fairy Queen, the old woman departed and went to pick some herbs that she would need to make a spell of forgetfulness to give to Esmerald so that she could live the rest of her life as happy as she was before she heard about the dance and the marriage to the prince. While the old woman went to pick the herbs of forgetfulness the Fairy Queen got busy ordering all her subjects to go near and far to get all the materials needed to make a gown and costume for a ball for Esmerald so that she can go and find true love.

The fairies and elves that were under the Fairy Queen's rule went and searched for the most beautiful colors and material that was ever made on the face of the earth, but nothing was good enough for the what the Fairy Queen wanted to make for her granddaughter so she decided to make the gown and costume for the dance so she told the spiders to spin a cloth so delicate that it looks as if it was mad out of spun clouds.

Also to make the moon beams and star drops and put them into the material for shimmer and sparkle, with this done the Fairy Queen then went to the elves and told them she wanted two pair of shoes one of silk and silver like the moon the other out of satin and shine like the stars in the sky. The satin is to be the ballet shoes and it satin ribbons to shine like the shoes and magic ballet shoes to a special place in the forest never visited be man nor beast, and sacred to all that is magical. Laid the items on the ground and started to chant and sing and weave magical spells into the material and ballet shoes and the silk shoes with silver inlaid into the fabric so that it shone like the moon.

When the Fairy Queen finished this in the place of material and shoes stood two outfits for Esmerald to go to the dance and win the hand of the Prince. In the mean time the old woman gathered the herbs of forgetfulness to give to Esmerald so that she could go on with her life with no hurt feelings. These were the same herbs used to erase memories of her parents who left her alone in the forest to be killed by the animals so that her step-mother could have her husband all to herself and not share him with his daughter at all.

As Judith was about to leave the forest with the herbs she was surrounded by fairy lights, which happen to be the private army of the Fairy Queen, who wanted to see the old woman before she gave the herbs of forgetfulness to Esmerald. When the old woman arrived at the clearing she noticed a strange woman in the most beautiful dress she has ever seen or imagined in her lifetime. Then Judith realized that the beautiful woman in front of her was in actuality the Fairy Queen grown to mortal size to give the old woman the outfits for Esmerald to wear at the dance in the Palace on top of the hill, also in her hands were the most beautiful shoes and ballet slippers she had ever seen, the shoes shimmered like the moon and the ballet slippers twinkled like the stars that are in the sky at night. Judith asked the Fairy Queen why she wasn't going to give the outfits herself to Esmerald her granddaughter, the Fairy Queen told her that Esmerald reminded her of her daughter who died in a fire a long time ago. That is why the Fairy Queen doesn't want to get involved with Esmerald, but Judith the old woman smiled as she received the magic outfits for Esmerald to wear to the ball knowing that the Fairy Queen will always be watching over her no matter where she may go.

The old woman decided to take the two outfits to Esmerald not as Judith the old woman, but as Judith the Sorceress so Judith said a few incantations and in a flash of light she was transformed from an old woman into a most beautiful woman with hair of spun silver and skin the color of the bluest water with eyes the color of the sky when the sun shines in the middle of the afternoon.

That is how Esmerald saw Judith not realizing that this woman of rare beauty and the plain old woman are one and the same. Esmerald said thank you for the beautiful gifts, being brought up showing respect and courtesy while others or her age had different upbringing never said thank you or show respect to their elders. Now as Esmerald was changing Judith took some strange looking objects from the shelf and laid them on the floor, said a magic spell over the object and in a flash of an eye they were changed into two flying horses and a coach made of gold and diamonds that shone in the light of the moon. When Esmerald came outside dressed in the gown and shoes made of silver that shown like the moon when she moved. She saw the coach and flying horses waiting for her along with a coachman and a footman to help her into and out of the coach of beauty rare.

Now Judith still looking like the true sorceress she really is told her to have a good time and be home before Midnight or else everything will be changes back to what they truly are which is nothing but air and magic. So Esmerald agreed to this and off she went to the ball at the top of the hill, as she was leaving her house, at the ball all the people that were invited were arriving by coach sent by the Royal Family to pick up the members of each family to take them to the ball and bring them back, for those who do not have a coach for such and evening, As the women were entering the ballroom they were greeted by a nobleman and introduced to the Royal Family one at a time. After all the introductions were finished the prince took each young lady and danced with her across the floor for a little while and then went to the next one and so on and so forth until he was quite tired of the whole idea of finding a bride.