Twelve Terribly Active Princesses Who Were Not Exactly Dancing
For my first storytellers Mom Dad and Grandma Lorraine Love you bunches Michael Ann
Chapter One Once upon a time in a kingdom much farther away from here than you would think lived a King and Queen and their twelve daughters Albertina Belinda Constantina Daniela Edwina the twins Francesca and Frederica Gabriella Henrietta Isabella Josefina and Regina But all was not well in the farther away than you would think kingdom The King and Queen had become very worried about their daughters Every morning the princesses beautiful shoes would be covered in mud and worn to shreds The bloomers they wore beneath their dresses would have tears in the knees Their hair ribbons would be stained with sweat And the twelve princesses would be exhausted They fell asleep at breakfast and at lessons and while practicing instruments It got so bad you could find a sleeping princess just about anywhere in the castle
One evening at a fancy state dinner Gabriella fell asleep in her soup The King was furious That night the King spoke to the princesses My dearest daughters he began It’s bad enough that every day we have to replace twelve pairs of silk shoes and twelve pairs of bloomers which isn’t cheap And it’s bad enough that you fall asleep during lessons and servants trip over you as you sleep in the halls But snoring in your soup is the LAST STRAW He looked at the bedroom the princesses shared It had been the second-best ballroom so it didn’t just fit twelve beds It fit twelve beds twelve bureaus twelve armoires twelve mirrors twelve bookshelves twelve soft chairs for reading twelve straight chairs for posture and sewing twelve easels twelve desks for writing twelve music stands four flutes three mandolins two violins one viola one cello and one hammered dulcimer Plus the princesses clothes brushes ribbons books quills embroidery hoops and musical scores
