Farmerella (Based on Cinderella)

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Once upon a time not too long ago, in a partly magical place called Bear Lake, there lived a teenage girl named Ella. She loved to dance, but she didn’t get much time to practice. She lived on a farm, and because of that she had a lot of chores to do.  She didn’t like chores, but she always did her best to do them well. Somehow, she always found time for chores, school, her homework, and her dancing. But then her father broke his arm, and Ella had to help him more than ever. Then she had no time for dancing at all. That made her very sad.
One day, while she was at school, Ella heard about a dance party. Her father would be almost better by then, so she knew that if she did her chores really fast, she could go. The only problem was that this was a fancy dance party, and she would need a dress.
When Ella got home and talked to her mother about the problem, her mother told her that there were some old dresses in the attic. If Ella found the time to fix one, she could use it.
For the next few weeks, Ella did all her work even faster than usual, and spent her free time sewing. She sometimes worked late into the night, which made her feel really tired in school the next day. But, at last, her dress was finished. She was really, really excited to go to the party. She thought it would be so much fun!
On the evening of the party, Ella put on her beautiful dress and came out of her house. She wanted to get into the old pickup truck to go to the party, but then she noticed a cow in her mother’s vegetable garden. That wouldn’t do at all, so Ella went to shoo the cow away.
As the cow started to walk out of the garden, it stepped on one of Ella’s skirts, which tore it. Ella’s dress was ruined, and now she couldn’t go to the party! Ella ran, crying, to one side of the farm, where she could see the lake in the distance. That was her favorite place to go when she was sad.
Ella sat on a rock, feeling very sorry for herself. All she had wanted to do was dance, and she had worked so hard to make the time to do it. It all seemed so unfair!
Much to her surprise, Ella saw a creature raise its head out of the water. The creature was huge, blue, and Ella couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was the Bear Lake Monster! She was glad it was far away. That thing looked scary!
The creature pulled its head back under the water and seemed to swim away. Ella was still staring at the lake when she heard a voice behind her. “Excuse me.” When she turned around, she could see that she was face-to-face with the Bear Lake Monster!
Ignoring her scream, the creature said, “My name is Monty, and I have magic powers. Every person who sees me is granted one wish. What do you want your wish to be?”
Ella, once she realized that Monty wasn’t going to eat her, started to feel excited. Now she could go to the party! She almost told Monty that she wished her dress was fixed, but was that what she really wanted? The dress would help her dance for only one night.
Ella thought for a long time. If she wished that her father’s arm was healed, that would only help her until next time he hurt himself. She could wish she didn’t have to do chores anymore, but that didn’t seem quite right somehow.
Finally, Ella said, “I wish for the ability to dance and do chores at the same time.”
Monty gave her a smile. “Wish granted.” A bunch of glowing sparkles appeared around Ella, and she knew that her wish had come true.
Ella never did get to go to the party that night, but she didn’t care. She spent the evening dusting, vacuuming, and baking. The entire time she was working, she never once stopped dancing, and she had more fun than she had ever had in her entire life.
Ella had once hated chores, but to this day they are her favorite thing to do. And if you glance in her kitchen widow you can often see her doing ballet as she sweeps the floor.

Comments

  1. Christie VickMay 17, 2019 at 7:35 PM

    What a fun story! You should illustrate it in a picture book. :-)

    ReplyDelete

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