Sootypunk: A Cinderello Story

There once was a gypsy boy, and his life was no fun.


When he was a baby, his father was arrested and later then executed by the police for swindling from the riches, and his mother took a new gypsy husband with two sons. Then she died, too, leaving him alone with his stepfather and stepbrothers.


The stepgypsies had no love for the little gypsy boy, and they made him do all the work while they sat on cushions eating coconut churros, playing video games and reading magazines.


At night he curled up in the fireplace ashes to keep warm, and so they called him Sootypunk.
Sootypunk missed his parents and wished most of all that someone would love him. He thought about running away, but where could a little gypsy boy go, all alone?

The only friends Sootypunk had were the wild creatures who lived in the garden.
He brought crumbs from the table for the ants and gathered the hair from his comb for the bluebird to line its nest.


He complimented the frog on her tadpoles, and he always gave the rosebush a drink of water.



"Sons!" cried the stepfather one morning.
"There is a ball tonight at the palace! The Queen wishes to find a husband for her daughter, the Princess!"
"Ball! Palace! Princess!" shrieked the brothers.

"Yes, and why shouldn't she choose one of you?" said their father. "I'm sure you are as lovely as any in the kingdom."
A muffled snort came from the fireplace.
"Oh, there you are, Sootypunk," said the stepfather. "Prepare our flamenco suits at once!"
All day long, Sootypunk washed and ironed while the gypsies gossiped about the ball. He tried to imagine the music, the banquet, the whirling dancers.


Oh, how I wish I could see them! he thought.


When the stepgypsies, powdered and frilled, left for the ball that evening, Sootypunk went outside to sit by the moonlit pond.



The frog rose to the surface and looked at the droopy gypsy boy.
"Anything wrong?" she asked.
"Oh," Sootypunk said wistfully. "I just wish I could go to the ball, too."


"You will go to the ball, then," replied the frog, "for there is a full moon and it is a very good night for wishes."
"How can I go to the palace?" Sootypunk asked. "They will turn me away in these stinkin' raggedy clothes."
The moon quivered, and a single rose petal floated down.


"Your traje de luces," whispered the rosebush as a flurry of petals softly wrapped around.



"I will give you my best feathers onto a montera." said the bluebird.


"You have never knocked down my webs," said the spider, "so I will weave my finest lace for your chaquetilla."


"Take these," chanted the ants, "and thanks for the crumbs!"
They held up a pair of exquisite green slippers with heels made of rose thorns.


Everybody joined together to help Sootypunk, who had been so kind to them.
The apple tree dropped its reddest fruit for a coach, and four fireflies lit the lamps.
"We will pull you!" said two blue-bellied lizards, and they showed off their muscles with some push-ups.
A great big monarch butterfly unfurled its velvet wings into a cloak, and a coachwoman in splendid green livery handed Sootypunk into the carriage.

"Thank you, dear friends, thank you!" cried Sootypunk as he rolled away. "I'll never forget this magical night!"
"Goodbye!" they called "Have a wonderful time!"
"But be back by midnight," warned the bluebird, "for that is when the moon magic wears off."


What dazzling sights Sootypunk saw at the palace!


Chattering voices rose above the music, and the ballroom sparkled with a thousand jewels.
Everybody turned to look at the handsome stranger, and a murmur ran around the room.


"Who is that?" they whispered. "Who is he?"


"May I have this dance?" asked a flamenco girl with diamond buckles on her shoes.


"Oh yes!" said Sootypunk, and they spun onto the floor.


All evening, Sootypunk and the Princess For that was who she was) danced and laughed and ate strawberry crunch tres leches cake.
Even though his feet hurt, Sootypunk was having such an exciting time that he forgot the bluebird's warning.


When the clock struck midnight, he snatched his hand away from the Princess and scurried outside.
"Wait!" she cried. "I don't know your name!"


Poor Sootypunk! His coach was just a little red apple lying on the ground. All that remained were the shoes with the rose-thorn heels.
"Drat these pointy things!" said Sootypunk, and he kicked them off and ran barefoot into the night.



When the Princess ran after him, all she found were the little green slippers lying on the path.



"Desperately Seeking Damsel," read the stepfather the next morning. "The Princess will marry the gentleman whose foot fits the slipper."
"She is looking for that mysterious man," said one of the brothers sourly. "She didn't take her eyes off him all night."
"I'm sure I could wear that slipper," declared the second brother. "I have such teeny-tiny feet."
"Mine are even smaller," said the first brother. "The Princess will surely marry me."


When the Princess arrived that afternoon with the green slippers, the gypsy brothers pulled and squeezed and curled their feet into the tiny shoes.
"Let me try," said a voice.
The Princess spun around.


"It's you!" she cried.
"Yes, Princess," said Sootypunk. "I am so glad to see you."


"I've found you," the Princess said, "but I don't know your name."
The gypsies call me Sootypunk," he replied. "but my father named me Rosalio. Do I have to put those shoes back on?"

"Of course not," said the Princess, "but will you marry me, Rosalio?"


"I love you, Princess," said Rosalio, "but I don't want to get married or be a prince in a palace. I want to run free and have adventures!"
"So do I." said the Princess, standing up. She scowled down at her fancy shoes.
"Look at these dumb things," she said. "What are they even for?"


Rosalio took her hand.
"Leave them behind," he said. "We can go together."
So the Princess kicked off her silly shoes and ran away with Rosalio.
They lived a life full of adventures, and they never wore shoes again.


And, of course, they lived gypsily ever after.

—The End—