Princess Mirror-Belle

by Julia Donaldson

  Just then a shop assistant came up. “Stop eating the fruit,” she said to Mirror-Belle.

  “Start cooking the vegetables!” Mirror-Belle said back to her.

  The shop assistant looked startled, and asked Mirror-Belle where her mum or dad was.

  “Sitting on their thrones, I expect,” said Mirror-Belle. “Come on, Ellen, let’s go and play in your bedroom.” She grabbed Ellen’s hand and pulled her into a lift.

  “Does this go up to the battlements?” she asked as the doors closed.

  “No,” said Ellen. “You seem to think this is some kind of castle but it’s not, it’s a—”

  “Ah, here’s your bedroom,” said Mirror-Belle as the lift doors opened on the second floor. They were in the furniture department. Mirror-Belle darted past some armchairs and sofas to an area full of beds and mattresses. She flung herself down on a double bed and almost immediately sprang off it again.

  “I hope you don’t sleep on that one,” she said. “I certainly couldn’t sleep a wink on it.”

  “No, I don’t,” said Ellen. “This isn’t my—”

  “Good,” said Mirror-Belle, “because there’s a pea under the mattress.”

  “How do you know?”

  “We princesses can always tell,” said Mirror-Belle, and she flopped down on to another bed. “Ugh!” she said. “There’s a baked bean under this one – horribly lumpy. Lie down and maybe you’ll be able to feel it too.”

  Ellen giggled. She looked around. There wasn’t a shop assistant in sight. She lay down on the bed next to Mirror-Belle. It felt wonderfully springy and comfortable.

  “I can’t feel anything,” she said.

  “That must be because you’re not a princess,” said Mirror-Belle. “Ordinary people have to bounce to detect peas and beans under mattresses. Like this.” She got to her feet and began to jump up and down on the bed.

  “Come on!” she said.

  Ellen looked around again. There were still no shop assistants to be seen. She joined Mirror-Belle and soon the two of them were bouncing about on the bed, making the springs of the mattress twang.

  “This is nearly as good as the school trampoline,” said Ellen breathlessly.

  “It’s not as good as the palace trampoline,” said Mirror-Belle. “I once bounced right up into the clouds from that.”

  “Did you come down all right?”

  “No, I didn’t,” said Mirror-Belle. “The North Wind saw me up there and swept me away to the land of ice.”

  “What happened then?”

  But Ellen never found out because at that moment an angry-looking shop assistant came towards them.

  “Quick! Let’s run!” Ellen said. But Mirror-Belle had a different idea. She jumped off the bed and advanced towards the assistant as angrily as he was advancing towards them.

  “Ah, there you are at last!” she said, before he had a chance to speak. “I want to complain about the state of this bedroom. Peas and beans under all the mattresses – it’s disgraceful! Set to work removing them immediately or you’ll be fired from the castle!” And with that she linked her arm in Ellen’s, turned and strode off towards the escalator. The shop assistant was left gawping as they sailed up to the toy department.

  “So this is your playroom, is it?” asked Mirror-Belle.

  Ellen tried to explain that they weren’t her toys, but Mirror-Belle was already emptying the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle out on to the floor.

  “Too much sky in this one,” she said, and moved on.

  “Aren’t you going to clear it up?” asked Ellen.

  “What, and let your lazy servants get even lazier? Certainly not.”

  Mirror-Belle continued down the aisle of toys, emptying out various boxes, not satisfied till she reached a shelf full of cuddly toys. There were teddies and rabbits, puppies and monkeys, but Mirror-Belle picked up a furry green frog and kissed it on the nose.

  “Why are you doing that?” asked Ellen.

  “I’m turning him into a prince,” said Mirror-Belle. “Princesses can do that, you know.”

  “Even furry frogs?”

  “Yes, they just turn into furry princes, that’s all. This one seems to want to stay a frog, though,” said Mirror-Belle. “All right, you silly creature, away you leap,” and she threw the frog across the shop and turned her attention to a teddy.

  “I’ve never tried it on a bear,” she said.

  But Ellen had noticed a man coming towards them from about where the frog must have landed. He looked even crosser than the bed man had done. She tugged at Mirror-Belle’s sleeve in alarm, but Mirror-Belle looked delighted to see the man.

  “Don’t you see, it’s the prince,” she said. “He doesn’t look a very nice prince, mind you,” she went on as the man drew closer. “You’re not very furry either,” as he came right up to them, “unless you count your funny woolly moustache.”

  “What do you think you’re doing?” the man asked.

  “Aren’t you going to say thank you?” Mirror-Belle said to him.

  “What, for throwing toys around?”

  “No, for breaking the spell, of course,” said Mirror-Belle. “Though if I’d known what a bad-tempered prince you’d turn out to be I wouldn’t have bothered. Can’t say I blame that witch for turning you into a frog in the first place. Come on, Ellen!”

  She turned and walked briskly away, calling over her shoulder, “And if you think you’re going to marry me you’ve got another think coming.”

  The man stood rooted to the spot for a few moments, too astounded to follow them. By the time he did, Mirror-Belle and Ellen had dived into a lift. Mirror-Belle pressed the top button.

  “Perhaps this’ll take us to the battlements at last,” she said.

  “It says ‘Offices Only’,” said Ellen.

  When they got out they were in a corridor with a few doors leading off it. One of the doors was ajar and Ellen could hear a familiar voice coming from it.

  “I only went out for a couple of minutes to look for another dress, and when I got back she’d gone.”

  Ellen couldn’t bear to hear Mum sounding so upset.

  “Come with me,” she said to Mirror-Belle and ran into the room. Her mother was there with another lady.

  “Oh there you are, darling,” said Mum, hugging her. “Where have you been?”

  “With Mirror-Belle. She took my coat so I had to follow her,” said Ellen. “She’s just outside.” She took her mother’s hand and pulled her into the corridor. There was no one there.

  “You didn’t mention another little girl,” said the shop lady to Mum.

  “There isn’t one really – it’s just my daughter’s imaginary friend.”

  “She’s not imaginary, she’s real,” Ellen protested.

  The light outside the lift showed that it was still on the top floor. “She must be in here,” said Ellen, pressing the button.

  The doors opened. Apart from a crumpled raincoat with a tartan lining lying on the floor, the lift was empty. Where on earth was Princess Mirror-Belle?

  It was only then that Ellen noticed something which she should have spotted before.

  The walls of the lift were covered in mirrors.

  Princess Mirror-Belle had disappeared!

  Chapter Three

  Snow White and the Eight Dwarfs

  Ellen’s big brother Luke was singing again.

  “Seven little hats on seven little heads. Seven little pillows on seven little beds,” he sang, standing on a ladder and dabbing paint on to the branches of a canvas tree. A blob of paint landed on Ellen’s hand. She was squatting on the stage, painting the tree trunk.

  Ellen sighed heavily – more because of the song than the blob of paint. Luke had been singing the seven dwarfs’ song almost non-stop ever since he’d joined the local drama group and got a part in the Christmas pantomime.

  “Seven pairs of trousers on fourteen little legs,” he sang now.

  “No one could call your legs little,” said E
llen. “You should be acting a giant, not a dwarf.”

  “There aren’t any giants in Snow White, dumbo,” said Luke. “Anyway, I told you, we all walk about on our knees.”

  “So that Sally Hart can pat you on the head,” said Ellen. She knew that Luke was keen on Sally Hart. In fact, she guessed that he was only in the pantomime because Sally was acting Snow White.

  Luke blushed but all he said was, “Shut up or I won’t get you a ticket for tonight.”

  The first performance of Snow White was that evening, and at the last minute the director had decided that the forest needed a couple of extra trees. Luke had volunteered to go and paint them, and Mum had persuaded him to take Ellen along.

  Although Ellen was too shy to want to be in the play, it was fun being in the theatre in front of all the rows of empty seats. But Luke wouldn’t let her have a go on the ladder, and soon she had painted the bottom of the two tree trunks.

  Luke was getting quite carried away with the leaves and acorns, still singing the annoying song all the time. He didn’t seem to notice when Ellen wandered off to explore the theatre. She opened a door in a narrow passageway behind the stage.

  The room was dark and Ellen switched on the light – or rather, the lights: there was a whole row of bulbs, all shining brightly above a long mirror. This must be one of the dressing rooms.

  Some beards were hanging up on a row of hooks. Ellen guessed they belonged to the seven dwarfs. She unhooked one and tried it on. It was quite tickly.

  “Seven little beards on seven little chins,” she sang into the mirror.

  “And seven mouldy cauliflowers in seven smelly bins,” her reflection sang back at her.

  But of course it wasn’t her reflection. It was Princess Mirror-Belle.

  Quickly, Ellen turned her back, hoping that Mirror-Belle would stay in the mirror. Mirror-Belle was the last person she wanted to see just now. Their adventures together always seemed to land Ellen in trouble.

  But it was too late. Mirror-Belle had climbed out of the mirror and was tapping Ellen on the shoulder.

  “Let’s have a look at your beard,” she said, and then, as Ellen turned round, “I’d shave it off if I were you – it doesn’t suit you.”

  “It’s only a play one,” said Ellen. “Anyway, you’ve got one too.”

  “I know.” Mirror-Belle sighed. “The hairdresser said the wrong spell and I ended up with a beard instead of short hair.”

  “Couldn’t the hairdresser use scissors instead of spells?” asked Ellen.

  “Good heavens no,” said Mirror-Belle. “An ordinary one could, maybe, but this is the palace hairdresser we’re talking about.”

  She turned to a rail of costumes, pulled a robin outfit off its hanger and held it up against herself.

  “Put that back!” cried Ellen, and then, “You’ll get it all painty!”

  They both looked at Mirror-Belle’s left hand, which had paint on it, just like Ellen’s right one.

  “Have you been painting trees too?” Ellen asked.

  “No, of course not.” Mirror-Belle looked thoughtful as she hung the robin costume back on the rail. Then, “No – trees have been painting me,” she said.

  Ellen couldn’t help laughing. “How can they do that?” she asked.

  “Not all trees can do it,” replied Mirror-Belle. “Just the ones in the magic forest. They bend down their branches and dip them into the muddy lake and paint anyone who comes past.”

  “How strange,” said Ellen.

  “I don’t think it’s so strange as people painting trees, which is what you say you’ve been doing,” said Mirror-Belle.

  “They’re not real trees,” Ellen explained. “They’re for a play.”

  Mirror-Belle looked quite interested. “Can I help?” she asked.

  “No, you certainly can’t,” said Ellen, horrified, but Mirror-Belle wasn’t put off.

  “What sort of trees are they?” she asked.

  “I’m very good at painting bananas. And pineapples.”

  “Pineapples don’t grow on trees, and anyway—” but Ellen broke off because she heard the stage door bang.

  “Ellen! Where are you?” came Luke’s voice.

  “I’m coming!” Ellen yelled. Then she hissed to Mirror-Belle, “Get back into the mirror! Don’t mess about with the costumes! And stay away from the trees!”

  That evening Ellen was back in the theatre, sitting in the audience next to Mum and Dad. Snow White was about to start.

  Mum squeezed Ellen’s hand. “You look nervous,” she said. “Don’t worry – I’m sure Luke will be fine.”

  But it wasn’t Luke that Ellen was nervous about – it was Mirror-Belle. What had she been up to in the empty theatre all afternoon? Ellen was terrified that when the curtain went up, the trees would be covered in tropical fruit and the costumes would be covered in paint.

  The curtain went up. There were no bananas or pineapples to be seen. The forest looked beautiful. Dad leaned across Mum’s seat and whispered, “Very well-painted trees, Ellen.”

  Sally Hart – or rather, Snow White – looked beautiful too, with her black hair, big eyes and rosy cheeks. Over her arm she carried a basket, and she fed breadcrumbs to a chorus of hungry robins. None of them seemed to have paint on their costumes.

  Ellen breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was all right after all! Mirror-Belle must have gone back into the dressing-room mirror.

  A palace scene came next. When the wicked Queen looked into her magic mirror and asked,

  “Mirror, mirror on the wall,

  Who is the fairest one of all?”

  For an awful moment Ellen was afraid that Mirror-Belle might come leaping out of the mirror, shouting “I am!” But of course she could only do that if it was Ellen looking into the mirror. Stop being so jumpy, Ellen told herself – Mirror-Belle is safely back in her own world.

  When the scene changed to the dwarfs’ cottage, Mum gave Ellen a nudge. Soon Luke would be coming on stage!

  And yes, now Snow White was asleep in one of the beds, and here came the dwarfs, shuffling in through the cottage door. Ellen knew that they were walking on their knees but the costumes were so good, with shoes stitched on to the front of the baggy trousers, that you couldn’t really tell.

  Luke was acting the bossiest dwarf – Typical, Ellen thought. He told the others to hang up their jackets and set the table. Then they started to dance around and sing the song that Ellen was so tired of hearing.

  “Seven little jackets on seven little pegs. Seven little eggcups, and seven little eggs.”

  But something was wrong. One of the dwarfs was singing much louder than the others, and not getting all the words right. When the other dwarfs stopped singing and started to tap out the tune on the table, the dwarf with the loud voice carried on:

  “Seven stupid people who don’t know how to count. Can’t they see that seven is not the right amount?”

  The audience laughed as they realised that there were eight dwarfs and not seven. But Ellen didn’t laugh. Dwarf number eight had to be Mirror-Belle, and there was bound to be serious trouble ahead.

  Up on the stage, Luke looked furious. He stopped tapping the table and started chasing Mirror-Belle round the room. He was trying to chase her out of the door but she kept dodging him as she carried on singing:

  “Eight little spoons and eight little bowls. Sixteen little woolly socks with sixteen great big holes.”

  Ellen felt like shouting, or throwing something, or rushing on to the stage herself and dragging Mirror-Belle off. But that would just make things worse. All she could do was to watch in horror.

  In the end, Luke gave up the chase. With one last glare at Mirror-Belle he strode over to the bed where Snow White was sleeping. His cross expression changed to one of adoration when Snow White woke up and sang a song.

  “Will you stay with us?” Luke begged her when the song had finished.

  “Yes, do stay and look after us,” said another dwarf.

&
nbsp; “We need someone to comb our beards.”

  “And wash our clothes.”

  “And shine our shoes.”

  “And cook our meals.”

  “And clean our house.”

  All the dwarfs except Mirror-Belle were chiming in.

  “There’s nothing I’d like better!” exclaimed Snow White.

  Mirror-Belle turned on her. “You must be joking,” she said angrily. “You shouldn’t be doing things like that – you’re a princess! You should be bossing them about, not the other way round.”

  The audience laughed – except for Ellen – and Snow White’s mouth fell open. Ellen felt sorry for her: she obviously didn’t know what to say. But Luke came to the rescue.

  “Be quiet!” he ordered Mirror-Belle. “You don’t know anything about princesses.”

  “Of course I do – I am one!” Mirror-Belle retorted. “I’m just in disguise as a dwarf. I thought Snow White might need some protection against that horrible Queen. I’m pretty sure she’s going to be along soon with a tray of poisoned apples, and—”

  “Shut up, you’re spoiling the story!” hissed Luke, and put a hand over Mirror-Belle’s mouth. Snow White looked at him in admiration. Luke made a sign to someone offstage, and a second later the curtain came down. It was the end of the first half.