Chapter One The Princess Parade

 

  School was out, and it was a lovely summer day in Chipping Cheddar. Angelina and her best friend, Alice, were sitting together under the old apple tree in Angelina’s garden, thinking about all the things they could do now that summer had arrived.

  “Let’s make up a new dance and invite everyone to come and watch,” Angelina said, imagining lots of exciting dance moves. Angelina loved to dance more than anything, and she was always thinking of ways to create another special performance.

  “When you dance, you can be anything you want,” she explained to Alice. “I’ve decided to be a princess. What about you?”

  “Ooh, I’d love to be a princess too!” said Alice.

  “Okay, we’ll dance like two royal princesses,” said Angelina. “But we have to get dressed up first!”

  “Princesses always wear perfect dresses with no rips or spots,” Alice agreed, picturing herself in a beautiful ball gown.

   

  “Princesses live in fancy palaces and go to grand parties all the time,” said Angelina dreamily. “They wear sparkling tiaras and eat yummy cakes all day.”

  “Princesses are so lucky! They can do whatever they want,” Alice sighed. “If I were a princess, I’d stay up late every night.”

  “Me too,” said Angelina. “And I’d eat lots of treats and ice cream for supper.”

  For the rest of the day, Angelina and Alice imagined they were royal princesses. They looked in Angelina’s dressing-up box and found some colorful silk scarves to wear over their tutus, and they made tiaras out of colored paper and glitter.

   

  “Here come the fancy princesses!” they announced as they paraded grandly around the house.

  Mrs. Mouseling smiled as the two princesses marched past the kitchen. She said she had made Angelina’s favorite lunch: cheddar-cheese pie with extra Parmesan!

  “Ooh, how scrumptious!” said Angelina, delicately nibbling her pie like a true princess.

  “I want to be a princess too!” said Angelina’s little sister, Polly.

  Angelina knew just what to do—she added ribbons and glitter to one of her old tutus and made Polly a flower crown from the daisies in the garden.

   

  “Now you look like a glittery princess,” she said to Polly as Polly spun around in her outfit. “Are you ready to practice dainty princess dances?”

  Angelina twirled around on her tiptoes. Alice and Polly followed her, and soon all three mouselings were twirling unsteadily on tiptoes. Then they started giggling and bumping into one another, and they all fell down in a heap!

  That night Angelina dreamed she was living in a lovely palace, with a closet full of sparkling ballet costumes, and kind servants bringing her plates piled high with all sorts of delicious cheeses, cookies, and cakes. When she woke up in the morning, Angelina looked around her room in dismay. Nobody was bringing her cookies and cake, and Honeysuckle Cottage seemed very small and dreary.