We all got read this story, watched the films etc when we were younger, and no doubt many of us read it to our kids too. It's probably the best known depiction of the evil stepmother, so here's my little re-telling of the story from the SM perspective.

A widow with 2 daughters struggles to bring them up on her own, when she meets a widower with 1 daughter of his own. They fall in love & get married to try and form a blended family.

The SD resents what she sees as an intrusion into her home & the loss of me-time with her father - when it was just the two of them he had spoilt her with treats as he felt he had to make up for the fact that she'd lost her mother. The SD is rude to the SM & her new SS's & refuses to do as she is told & DH won't discipline her.

The husband unfortunately dies, leaving the SM to raise all three girls by herself. Money is tight, so everyone has to pitch in, but SD doesn't see why she should lift a finger around the house. SM decides to disengage from SD for the sake of her sanity.

There then turns up a very eligible bachelor prince to the area, and SM is keen for her daughters to meet him (unsurprisingly as it would mean stability for the whole family) However SD goes bleating to the local witch that she is so badly treated that the witch agrees to help her by giving her a disguise.

The witch's spell ensures that the prince falls in love with SD, who convinces him that SM treated her appallingly for making her pick her clothes up off the floor & not steal from her purse.

SD rides off into the sunset with the prince, leaving SM & her 2 daughters as poor as ever & now shunned by the village for being 'mean' to SD.

The End