Authors note - I have never attempted something so different from the original before but here is my humble offering. I hope that you enjoy it. I may make further attempts at fairy tale type so any feedback is welcome and appreciated and wanted. Thanks as always to my editor and 'early reader reaction' ladies.
Lizzirella swept and scrubbed, ironed and cleaned, and all because her father had married that Louisa person.
Louisa brought her daughter Caroline to live with Lizzirella and her sister Jane when she moved in to live with Mr. Bennet. Unfortunately for Lizzirella, not two months after the arrival of his new wife, Mr. Bennet died. Louisa had life tenancy in the house, but ultimately Jane and Lizzirella owned the house for it had been in their mother's family for many generations.
And so it was for many months, Lizzirella dusted and tidied, washed and cleaned the house and clothes of all the residents of Longbourn. You may wonder why Jane did not suffer Lizzirella's fate. The answer is quite simple, Jane was gorgeous and agreed to call Louisa "Mum".
Jane felt for her younger sister, but what could she do? As much as she tried, Jane could not convince Lizzirella to curb her tongue and now it was too late. She was established as little more than a servant.
A year after the death of their father, an invitation arrived at the house.
'To all the ladies of Longbourn, you are invited to a ball to be given by the king for his sons, Fitzwilliam and Charlie.' Rumour had it that the queen was quite distressed that at this rate things were moving she would never have grandchildren, and so this ball was to find the next princesses of the land.
What joy was felt by all! Lizzirella's joy was short, for as soon as her stepmother noticed it she informed Lizzirella that she "will not be attending this or any other ball. You have chores to do, and there are two princes and Jane and Caroline will be more than enough for them. My dearest Caroline will, of course, marry Prince Fitzwilliam and be the next queen. Jane will marry Prince Charlie. All of your dealings with the ball will be preparing gowns, cleaning and polishing shoes, arranging hair and preening your sisters."
Lizzirella quickly left and went to the corner of the kitchen that was her bedroom (she would have gone walking in the forest but it was quite late and Louisa had locked all the doors and put the key where nobody would wish to go searching for it) where she planned and schemed.
For three weeks (for that is all the notice for the ball they were given) Lizzirella gathered all that she would need. (You don't think she would depend on a fairy godmother for everything do you??) She had one of Jane's dresses, altered and with a little additional lace, her own shoes from before her step mother moved in, and other bits and pieces required for attending a ball.
The night arrived, and Lizzirella waved off her sister Jane with a genuine smile, and waved a little less happily to Caroline and Louisa as they entered the coach. As soon as they were out of sight, Lizzirella went and dressed herself, arranged her hair, ribbons and shoes - all the while reminding herself that to make a late entrance is not frowned upon but is the opportunity to impress. And so Lizzirella began her 2 mile walk to the ball.
Though she would happily walk the distance, her hair would likely be blowzy, and, after the rain of the previous day, she would likely find her dress inches deep in mud. She was grateful, therefore, when her mother's good friend Lady Gardiner stopped her coach (that looked suspiciously like a pumpkin).
Lady Gardiner was not on her way to the ball; she was actually quite evasive about her final destination. The ladies arrived quickly at the ball. Lady Gardiner had an invitation to the ball that she did not wish to use, so she gave it to Lizzirella, wished her well, and closed the door. If Lizzirella had looked back to wave (rather than stare with awe at the palace), she would have seen no trace of the coach within seconds of leaving it.
As it was, Lizzirella entered the ballroom to see her sister Jane dancing with Prince Charlie while Caroline and Louisa were monopolizing the time of Prince Fitzwilliam. The prince looked quite bored with the whole event, especially his company.
He looked at Lizzirella, thought her not pretty at all and returned to his conversation. Lizzirella saw the look from the prince, but was not concerned for she was at the ball. She did not intend to marry the prince however handsome he looked.
Lizzirella stood in the doorway a little longer, taking in her surroundings, the sounds, the clothes, the people and the music.
In that time, Prince Fitzwilliam looked over again and saw the sparkle in her eyes as she took in the sights. He was quite entranced by the vision of beauty he saw before him so he excused himself from Louisa and Caroline and began to walk to the foot of the staircase. Caroline did not take the hint, and, with much support from her mother, shadowed the prince but he was oblivious.
Caroline and Louisa quickly noted that Caroline had competition for the prince's attention and looked to see which lady it was. Neither recognized the lady walking down the stairs. Fitzwilliam did not care to know the lady's name; all he wished was that she would dance with him and direct those eyes his way.
As she reached the third from the bottom stair, Lizzirella noticed that the prince had come to greet her. He did not speak but held out his hand to take hers. Lizzirella realized that this was his ball so to refuse his hand when he had a trail of admirers following him (led by Caroline) would be quite inappropriate so she took the proffered hand. (She also enjoyed being the one to ruin Caroline and Louisa's plans)
He lifted her hand to his lips and brushed it lightly before escorting Lizzirella to the dance floor. For the entire dance they did not speak, but Lizzirella began to like the man dancing opposite her. He was handsome and quite a good dancer and every lady in the room (except Jane who was quite happily occupied with Prince Charlie) was obviously green with envy. After the first dance, Lizzirella and Prince Fitzwilliam began some conversation. It was much through Lizzirella's work that the conversation came about, but eventually they fell into an easy conversation while lost in each other's eyes.
And so the evening continued, and the princes danced with only Jane and Lizzirella. Gradually the other ladies began to leave the hall and eventually the only people left were the princes, the King and the Queen, Lizzirella, Jane, Louisa and Caroline (though Caroline was sulking in a corner because she was unable to draw the prince away from Lizzirella).
Lizzirella looked around, and noticed that only her family was left at the ball. Worried that she would be recognized, she left the room in such a hurry that she did not even tell the prince her name.
As Lizzirella left the palace, Lady Gardiner was again passing in her coach. (such coincidences are not uncommon in this type of story) She stopped and collected Lizzirella, depositing her back home with sufficient time to change her clothes and make her appearance more appropriate before the arrival of her sister, step mother and step sister.
Caroline arrived home and made her way directly to her room to sulk. Louisa followed so that she might comfort her daughter, leaving Jane to tell Lizzirella all about the ball. Well she could only speak about prince Charlie for he was the only person in the room she spoke to. Jane hadn't noticed the unknown lady at the ball and only knew of her through her step mother and step sister complaining the whole way home.
The next morning, Charlie came to call on Jane. Fitzwilliam accompanied him, as he had nothing better to do. No one was able to tell him who his mysterious dance partner was. He did not even have a shoe or other item that would identify her, for if he did every young lady in the village would be subjected to trying it on. He only had his memory of her eyes.
It was unfortunate that Lizzirella was out collecting fish for dinner. (It couldn't be that easy, you wouldn't want it to be would you?)
Charlie and Jane settled into a corner of the room to talk (he to propose, her to accept, and them to be happy) leaving Prince Fitzwilliam to the charms (author coughs, chokes and is otherwise not convinced of the appropriateness of this word) of Caroline and Louisa. Louisa soon sees the benefit of her leaving the room and does this on the pretense of fetching refreshments.
Prince Fitzwilliam is left to Caroline but his eyes are soon drawn to the door, window and any other feature of the room that is not Caroline fawning over him. This wandering pays off, for another young lady enters the room. She is in virtual rags, carrying a large package of fish. Fitzwilliam asked Caroline who that could be. She merely answered, "That's Lizzirella. You need not concern yourself with her."
Unable to resist looking to see who her step sister spoke to, Lizzirella turned to greet the man. As she turned, her eyes passed over Jane and Prince Charlie causing her to smile with her whole face. As she turned to leave the room (forgetting any other person was there needing to be greeted) she met the eyes of Prince Fitzwilliam.
As soon as she faced him, he knew. He stood up, disentangling his hand from the cold ones belonging to Caroline which had grabbed him to stop any movement away from her. He could hardly stop himself from running across the room and sweeping her into his arms. He contented himself with a mild jog and "It is you!" then, as she looked at him, he swept her into his arms and would never let her go.
And so it was. A double wedding was had, where Jane and Lizzirella became Princess Jane and Princess Lizzirella, Caroline was left alone (Jane felt sorry for her and, with a "whatever you like" from Lizzy, Jane turned the house over to her) and became bitter and twisted and a great fan of orange. Louisa spent many unsuccessful years trying to marry Caroline off to any male who passed through town before she departed this world.
It was one night, after Prince Fitzwilliam had become king, that Lizzirella asked, "My king, how did you know that it was me?"
"I had long been meditating on those fine eyes of yours, my queen, no amount of soot, dirt or rags could cover them up." She smiled, making her eyes all the finer, and was lost in his arms to live happily ever after.