Cinderella x Wife

Cinderella x Wife is the femslash ship between Cinderella and the Baker's wife from the Into the Woods fandom.

Act 1
The main characters start the musical with their own wishes: The Baker and his wife wish for a child, and Cinderella wishes to go to the King's Festival. Throughout the first act, the Baker's wife helps her husband find ingredients for the Witch's potion so that they can undo the curse upon them and have a child. One of the ingredients is a “slipper as pure as gold.”

While bringing Milky-White (a cow needed for the potion) home, the Baker's wife encounters Cinderella, who has fell over while fleeing from the prince. She compliments Cinderella's dress and wonders why someone lucky enough to attend the King's Festival would be in the woods. Just then, they hear the prince's steward, so Cinderella signals to be quiet, hiding behind a tree. The Baker's wife covers for Cinderella and is stunned that she just lied to royalty. Cinderella is grateful, though the Baker's wife doesn't understand why Cinderella would run from a prince. Cinderella questions her about the cow. The Baker's wife proudly explains that her husband is undoing a spell, which impresses Cinderella. The Baker's wife asks about the prince, leading into the song "A Very Nice Prince." The Baker's wife repeatedly prods for more, asking, "And?" Though the Baker's wife is quite enthusiastic, Cinderella gives noncommittal answers, unsure on how to feel. The Baker's wife asks why she would run away, and Cinderella explains that all this stuff is not what she expected, nor does she know what to do. Cinderella is unsure of whether she'll return to the second night of the Festival. The Baker's wife goes on about what she wouldn't give to be in her shoes, then notices at that moment that Cinderella is wearing slippers as pure as gold. Before she can ask for the slippers, Cinderella runs home, and the Baker's wife can't follow her due to Milky-White running off.

The second night, Cinderella again stumbles to the ground, losing a slipper in the process. The Baker's wife picks it up, commenting on how Cinderella takes many falls. Cinderella takes the slipper back. The Baker's wife shows interest in taking a slipper, but Cinderella brushes it off saying one wouldn't do her much good. The Baker's wife asks about the ball again, still interested in the prince. Cinderella still doesn't give an answer on how she feels about the prince, but she does allude to being afraid of the prince finding out she's a commoner ("A Very Nice Prince (Reprise)"). Cinderella runs once she hears the steward again, but the Baker's wife grabs her shoe. They get into a struggle, with the Baker's wife saying she needs the shoe for a child and Cinderella needing it to escape. Cinderella ultimately wins and runs off. The prince's steward saw the two together, so the Baker's wife can't play dumb. She tells them the general direction Cinderella went, and to explain their struggle, adds that she was trying to hold her there for them.

The final night, Cinderella, still indecisive over the prince, leaves him her slipper so that he can be the one to decide what comes next. The Baker's wife runs up to her, desperate for the slipper, but Cinderella isn't willing to hear her out for attacking her the previous night. The Baker's wife offers her a magic bean that the Witch gave her in the beginning. Cinderella shows interest in the offer, but tosses it away after taking a look, considering it nonsense. The Baker's wife exclaims that she needs the shoe to have a child, to which Cinderella replies that makes no sense. The Baker's wife retorts that it doesn't make sense for her to run away from a prince. As the steward gets closer, the Baker's wife offers her own shoes so that Cinderella can run faster. Cinderella accepts and so the Baker's wife is finally able to obtain the slipper.

Act 2
Everyone's wishes have come true. The Baker and his wife have a child, and Cinderella is now a princess, and yet no one is happy with their situation. A giant descends from a beanstalk, which emerged from the bean Cinderella tossed away. While searching for Jack, Cinderella's prince seduces Baker's wife, and then she dies from the giant moments later. The Witch later returns with Jack and informs the group of her death, which Cinderella comments is awful. The Baker's grief over his wife's death gets the group into an argument, pointing fingers on whose fault it is. For a bit, the blame gets placed on Cinderella for tossing the bean that the Baker's wife gave her.

Cinderella consults her birds for how they can help slay the giant. The birds tell her about the prince's infidelity, which concerns her. She even glances at the the Baker in some versions, indicating that she knows who the prince cheated with. But she puts it aside due to more pressing matters. She doesn't seem to blame the Baker's wife for this and later breaks up with the prince.

Moments
Original Broadway Pro Shot
 * The Baker's wife sits down next to Cinderella and puts Cinderella's skirt over herself.

Fanon
Cinderella and the Baker's wife are a rarepair in the fandom, with Into the Woods not really having a large shipping fandom and Cinderella x Baker being more popular. This pairing only has a sizable presence on AO3, as well as a few mentions on Tumblr. It is the third most written ship in the Into the Woods tag, with 8 works.

Many fics are centered around their repeated encounters, sometimes touching on the theme that anything can happen in the woods, like what Cinderella's prince says in “Any Moment.” Some shippers have interpreted Cinderella to be a lesbian, supported by how Cinderella never seems to be interested in the prince despite the Baker's wife saying that every girl dreams of being pursued by one.