- The Storyteller: Next day, a proclamation rings out around the palace:
- Storyteller's Dog: The prince will marry the girl who fits the golden slipper. Feh!
- The Storyteller: Well, she thinks, what was true of the finger, is true of the foot. She was cursed by the ring, can she be blessed with the slipper?
- The Storyteller: Beginning as I do at the beginning, and starting as I must at the start, let me show you fate through the round of this ring. The girl whose finger fits this ring, she'll become queen. The law decrees it. What a lucky girl, you might think, hm? Oh, no...
- Badsister 2: [upset about their father's plan to marry again] He can't do that!
- Badsister 1: Well, he's too old to be getting married, he ought to be dying shortly.
- King: The ceremony, when must it take place?
- Minister: As soon as the preparations allow.
- Sapsorrow: Then first find me a dress of the palest silk, the colour of the moon. I will not wed 'til I have it.
- Minister: Very well, we will find this dress.
- The Storyteller: The princess in her woe plans a plan and schemes a scheme. To find such a gown will take time and meantime, you must all help me.
- Sapsorrow: This gown is for the wedding feast. The first one for the procession. Now I must have one for the church. Gold it should be, gold as the sun. Bring me such a dress, and... the next day we shall wed.
- The Storyteller: Two years later, a poor creature of fur and feathers tended geese in a king's garden. And scrubbed the pots in his kitchen, so that...
- Storyteller's Dog: [interrupting] That's the princess!
- The Storyteller: Princess of slops, yes. Princess of peeling, perhaps. Princess of the kitchen floor, certainly.
- Page: Princess Badsister of Far Away, Daughter of Nobody, she will marry the prince on the morrow.
- Badsister 2: Hurrah!