III. Vestidos para el baile
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An easy-Spanish retelling for A2 readers
Cinderella Cenicienta
Charles Perrault
This is not Charles Perrault’s original text but a retelling of his tale in simple Spanish: a MovaReader adaptation for readers who already recognize the past tenses and want to read a familiar story from beginning to end. It runs to about 3,700 words, with 10 words in an average sentence, and the catalog rates it A2. The 8 chapters follow the tale of 1697: the stepmother and her daughters, the fairy godmother with her pumpkin, mice and lizards, two balls at the palace and the glass slipper.
- A2
- 3 679 words
- 1 hour
Will this text hold?
A1
Earlier
At A1 this text is still a stretch: the narration runs in the past tenses (llegó, contestó, era, tenía), and sentences are longer than in the A1 tales, 10 words against 6.
A1A2
This text
Just right for A2: a familiar plot, the past tenses and sentences of 10 words on average, with words like madrastra or lacayos explained by the text.
Check this passageB1
With room to spare
At B1 the tale flows freely in about an hour, a light warm-up before Mist or the other complete texts at B2.
Start readingSentences average 10 words, the same as the A2 adaptation of Don Quixote, while the A1 tales have only 6. The narration keeps to the pretérito indefinido and imperfecto, and the characters’ lines add the future, the conditional and commands with both tú and usted. Roughly one word in 28 has 9 letters or more, but 55 of those 133 long words are simply the name Cenicienta. Anything unusual is explained in the text itself: who a madrastra is, what lacayos are and why ladies wore lunares on their faces. Chapter to chapter the pace barely moves, between 8 and 11 words per sentence. The complete Spanish texts in the catalog sit at B2 and above: even Unamuno’s Mist has 13 words per sentence and a long word in every 14, so this tale stays at A2. This is the catalog’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 3 679
- words
- 10
- words in an average sentence
- 1
- hour of reading
MovaReader. Project Gutenberg
What it is about, without the ending
After her mother’s death a girl lives with her father, her stepmother and the stepmother’s two daughters. The stepmother gives her the hardest work and a cold little room right under the roof, and in the evenings the girl sits in the ashes by the hearth, which earns her a nickname from her sisters. When the king’s son gives a ball, she irons her sisters’ linen, advises them on their finery and does their hair herself, then stays at home in tears. Her godmother, a fairy, arrives: a pumpkin becomes a golden coach, mice turn into horses, a rat into a coachman and lizards into footmen. There is one condition: leave the ball before midnight. On the second evening Cinderella forgets the time, flees at the first stroke of the clock and loses a glass slipper, and the king’s son announces he will marry the girl it fits. Whom his envoys find is left for the last chapter.
Compare two places
Cenicienta
VII. Las doce de la noche
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Choose an underlined word.
Dresses in the future tense
The sisters plan the ball in the futuro simple: me pondré, “I will put on”, from poner with its irregular stem pondr-, and the regular llevaré, “I will wear”. Then the narrator slips back into the past: llamaron, preparó, compraron. The sentence En aquella época... explains an old fashion: lunares here are not polka dots but the small black patches ladies stuck on their faces. El más caro que tengo: “the most expensive one I own”.
Midnight in the middle of a dance
The background is in the imperfecto: bailaban, hablaban, reían, creía, “they were dancing, talking, laughing; she thought”. De repente and the pretérito indefinido bring in the sudden event: empezó a dar las doce, “began to strike twelve”; dar las doce is what a clock does at midnight or noon. Salió corriendo: “ran out”, a verb of motion plus a gerund. No la pudo alcanzar: the pronoun la sits before pudo although it belongs to alcanzar.
Chapters
Translation while you read
The book stays free on every plan. Reader, €1 a month, removes the daily limit on words and sentences.
Reader
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Reader translates whole sentences, which pays off most in the longer speeches, such as the fairy’s warning: Si te quedas un momento más, la carroza volverá a ser una calabaza.
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Before you read
Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
This is a MovaReader adaptation, not the original text: Charles Perrault’s Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre, which came out in 1697 in Histoires ou contes du temps passé, retold in simple modern Spanish. What changed is the language and the length: past tenses, 10 words per sentence on average, 8 chapters and about 3,700 words, so the retelling is longer than the tale itself, because the scenes at home, the talk at the ball and the slipper trial are opened up into dialogue. All of Perrault’s events and characters remain: the stepmother and her daughters, the fairy godmother, the pumpkin, the mice, the rat and the lizards, two balls, midnight and the glass slipper, and both morals at the end. Nothing comes from later films or cartoons.
Is there an audiobook?
There is no audio for this adaptation, only the text. One tap translates an unfamiliar word; here that is often something from the kitchen or the sisters’ wardrobe, like escoba, ollas, cintas or corsé.
Can I translate a whole sentence?
Yes, if you have the Reader plan: with it a sentence is translated in one go. Sentences here are short, 10 words on average, so you will mostly want it for the notes on old customs, like En aquella época, las damas se ponían pequeños lunares negros en la cara, and for the morals at the end. Word by word, the free plan works too, within its daily translation limit.
How many hours does it take?
Roughly an hour for the whole adaptation if you translate new words as you go. Chapters run to about 460 words on average, 5-8 minutes each, so the tale splits neatly into short sittings.
Where does the text get easier?
There is no easier stretch, as the pace holds steady throughout: chapter averages range from 8 to 11 words per sentence. Long words are densest in chapter III, where the sisters dress up for the ball (terciopelo, peluquera, Inglaterra): one word in 19 there, against one in 43 in chapter I.
Will my place in the book be saved?
It will, provided you are logged in: the reader saves your place in the tale and every word you have opened. From the contents on this page you can jump to any chapter, say IV, “El hada madrina”, where the pumpkin turns into a coach.