In this way the two stepsisters found partners at last, and they never knew that it was to Cinderella that they owed their good fortune. Their plain faces glowed with pleasure when two noble gentlemen led them out to dance the cotillion, and though, if truth be told, they danced it very badly, they were quite unaware of it, for their partners were far too polite to show any annoyance at their clumsiness.
Presently a magnificent supper was served in the banqueting-hall of the palace.
That was a wonderful feast! Cinderella had never seen the like of it in all her life. The table was loaded with the rarest and costliest dishes. There were great boars’ heads, swimming in gravy, on silver platters, with their eyes and tusks shining like life, and lemons in their mouths. There were great joints of beef and venison, each large enough to feed a family, and pies out of which live birds flew when the crust was opened, just like the pie in the nursery rhyme. There were cakes all covered with icing and shaped like castles or ships, and stands heaped high with the most delicious fruits.
