Cinders and the Pumpkin

by Playful

There once was a kitty who was furry purrty and healthy and much loved by her furmily. Her name was Cinders, or Cindy for short, because of her dark grey coloring. She lived with a Meowmie kitty and 3 siblings. They all loved her but said that her challenging authority the way she did was going to get her in trouble. And so one day she was walking along in the woods by her house. These woods lead to the King’s Garden, where no common kitties were allowed. Well, Cinders did not think of herself as common by any means so she sauntered right in. Now, the King and Queen did not have common guards, either. There was nothing “common” at all about anything owned by this royal furmily. The garden was protected from trespassers by a giant pumpkin. The pumpkin spoke to Cinders, “You should not be here, you like quite common to me.” Cindy stomped her front paw and protested, “I am not at all common, can’t you see my pretty coloring? And look at how regal these bright yellow eyes are!” “Hmmppfff!” said the pumpkin, “Still you are a common ordinary housecat. But I will change that. I shall make you uncommon.” And he swayed a little. Poof! Cinders now looked like a big grey pumpkin and the big orange pumpkin laughed. “That will teach you. See if you can undo this!” Cindy couldn’t even run, she had to roll away. And as she left the garden, tears rolled down her face. No, the tears streamed down her face as she tried her best to hurry home. She rolled in her front door and was greeted by alarm. “Who goes there? Who are you? What makes you think you can come rolling in here?” Cinders cried, “Don’t you recognize me? It’s me, Cinders. I’ve been changed…into a pumpkin!” Her mother shook her head, “Oh, Cinders what have you done? And you were so pretty before. I had even hoped that the Prince would marry you. Now, that can never be. Well, come on in and help me get the dinner laid out.” “Mom, “ said Cinders through her tears, “I’m not hungry. I don’t think I’ll ever eat again.” “Hush, now,” said the mother, “don’t worry, we can go see the wizard who lives in the town. He’ll know what to do, ” and she wiped away her tears. Cinders felt a little better and ate a few nibbles of food after she helped her mother lay out the spread for the furmily to eat. Soon all the kitties were sleepy and went to their beds to fall quickly asleep. All except Cinders. She couldn’t sleep. So silently she prayed. She promised she would never disobey rules or authority again, if only she could be a normal size. After expending all her energy on prayer she fell asleep. The next day at the wizard’s house in the forest, and paying her the customary nuts and fruits for advice, the wizard said, “Well, this is serious. You must have made someone with great power very angry. And you will have to find a way to appease this mighty sorcerer. :You also need to find balls with rainbows in them. . . as well as a white horse. When you do all these things, you should be yourself. Maybe even an improved self! Now off with you!” Cindy left, none too happy but she consoled herself by saying, “Well, at least I don’t have to marry some dumb ole prince. I never did like that idea. He’s probably mean, ugly and a snob, anyway. Who wants to marry someone they don’t know?” But even so, Cindy went to town to try and find some rainbow balls. After visiting several little boutiques with no luck, she sat on the outskirts of the town and began to cry. “What are you so upset about? Look at me?” said a young male voice. Cindy looked up to see a boy pumpkin. Well, a boy, who like her was fat as a pumpkin. “I’m in just as bad a shape as you and you don’t see me crying. Not that I’m thrilled with this condition, either.” “Yes, but you’ve probably been like that forever and I bet you got that way from eating too much!” retorted Cindy. “Ha! See how much you know!!!” said the boy. “I just got this way a couple of days ago. And I bet I brought this on myself as much as you did.” Cindy gave that some thought. Afterall, she did have some responsibility for causing her own condition. “Ok, so we’re both in the same boat. Now what?” The boy said, “And I saw you go into the Wizard’s home. What did he say?” “He told me to find some rainbow balls and a white horse.” “Good. Then we are in luck. I know where to find a white horse.” Cindy said, “Well, that is good but that is not what is impossible. I’ve been everywhere and can’t find any rainbow balls.” “Everywhere? Have you really been everywhere?” Cindy was getting annoyed, “You certainly are impertinent!” “Maybe, but at least I am not sitting around feeling sorry for myself. Come on. We’ll go look together.” “You’ve looked in all the places in town, right?” He asked. Cinders nodded in the affirmative. “Well, then, we have to go everywhere else.” “A real genius you are,” Cindy said sarcastically. But she followed as he lead her into the woods away from the village and her house. There they say all kinds of birds and flowers. There were blueberries everywhere, too, so the kitties ate those. “These really need milk to taste good,” said Cindy. “I think so, too. But then milk makes anything taste good.” “I know and we hardly ever get it cause my mom says it’s bad fur kitty stomachs. I don’t understand that at all because it sure is good for my taste buds!” Cindy added. “I’ll tell you what, when we get back, I’ll take you over to see some cows that won’t mind sharing some of their milk and our moms will be none the wiser.” Cindy said, “I don’t know….I don’t think I ever want to disobey anyone, again.” The boy pumpkin said, “You’re right. I think I will think twice.” And as he rolled a little further he added, “You ARE right. I never want to go through this again.” Soon the couple came upon a waterfall and they noticed a rainbow in the water. And bubbles landed at the bottom in the river where the water fell. They were round balls with rainbows. Cindy would have been overjoyed but she said, “Here we are, so close, yet, so far. We don’t have a white horse.” “Hold on,” said her companion and he whistled. Down the lane came a white horse that ran up to the big grey ball boy that befriended Cindy. “Starbrite, I’m so glad to see you.” And the white horse, Starbrite, nuzzled the boy. He laughed at the horse’s puzzled expression. “It’s me, Peter. I am just under a little spell.” Starbrite whinnied his understanding. Within minutes the two cats became normal sized again. Cindy was her beautiful grey self and Peter was a handsome grey tom. Cinders eyed Peter curiously, “Why do you look so familiar? Peter said, “Because I am the Prince on whose land you are always trespassing.” Cindy laughed, “And here I always thought you were an ogre.” “And I never noticed how beautiful you had grown. I think this will be the start of a beautiful furriendship. Would you do me the honor of marrying me? I promise I will always cherish and love you.” Cinders almost fainted but instead she said, “Yes.” And added that she sure had learned a lot that day. Peter nodded in agreement. They left to tell their families and were married the next day. Of course, you know the rest….they lived happily ever after.