“Isn’t Luke good?” said Mum in the interval. “He never told us he had such a big part.”
“That little girl playing the extra dwarf is a hoot, isn’t she?” said Dad. “She sounds a bit like you, Ellen. Who is she?”
“I don’t know,” muttered Ellen. It was no use mentioning Mirror-Belle to her parents, who just thought she was an imaginary friend. Ellen licked her ice cream but she was too worried to enjoy it properly. What would Mirror-Belle get up to in the second half of the show?
The curtain went up again. Snow White was sweeping the dwarfs’ cottage. Ellen was relieved that there was no sign of Mirror-Belle. She must have gone off to work with the other dwarfs.
The wicked Queen appeared at the cottage window. She looked quite different – like an old woman – as she held out a tray of apples and offered one to Snow White.
“The dwarfs made me promise not to buy anything from a stranger,” said Snow White.
“There’s no need to buy,” replied the disguised Queen. “Just open the window, and I’ll give you one!”
Snow White opened the window and took an apple in her hand. She still looked doubtful.
“Don’t you trust me?” asked the Queen. “Look, I’ll take a bite out of it myself first to prove that it’s all right.” She did this and handed the apple back to Snow White.
Snow White had just opened her mouth when a voice cried, “Stop!” and a second figure appeared at the cottage window. Oh no! It was Mirror-Belle.
“Stop! Don’t you realise, she took that bite out of the green half of the apple. It’s the red half that’s poisoned!” she warned Snow White.
Snow White took no notice and was about to bite into the apple when Mirror-Belle snatched it from her. She snatched the tray of apples from the Queen too. The next moment she had burst in through the cottage door, pursued by the Queen.
Some steps led down from the stage into the audience, and Mirror-Belle ran down them. She ran through the audience, the Queen hot on her heels.
When Mirror-Belle reached Ellen’s seat she whispered, “Here, take this!” and thrust the tray of apples on to Ellen’s lap. Ellen didn’t know what to do, but was saved from doing anything by the Queen, who snatched the tray back. Mirror-Belle grabbed it from her again and ran on.
Meanwhile, Snow White, who had run off the back of the stage, reappeared holding Luke’s hand and followed by the other dwarfs. They joined in the chase, round and round the audience and back on to the stage. Luke overtook the others. He caught Mirror-Belle by the shoulders and shook her.
“Give back those apples!” he ordered.
“What! Do you want Snow White to be poisoned?” protested Mirror-Belle. “Some friend you are!”
“Who is she, anyway?” asked Snow White – except that she didn’t sound like Snow White any more, she sounded like Sally Hart.
“I don’t know but we’ll soon find out!” said Luke – sounding like Luke and not a dwarf – and he ripped Mirror-Belle’s beard off.
“Ellen, it’s you!” he exclaimed.
“Oh no I’m not!” said Mirror-Belle. “Your sister Ellen is in the audience – there, look!” She pointed, and to Ellen’s embarrassment not only Luke but everyone else on the stage and in the audience was looking at her.
Not for long, though. Soon all eyes were back on Mirror-Belle, who was throwing apples into the audience.
“Don’t eat them, and don’t give them back!” she ordered.
Just then a man in a suit came on to the stage. Ellen recognised him as Mr Turnbull, the director. He strode up to Mirror-Belle.
“I don’t know who you are or where you come from, but you’d better go back there before I call the police!” he said.
“Don’t worry, I will!” said Mirror-Belle. Mr Turnbull made a grab for her but she dodged him and ran out through the cottage door. Mr Turnbull and all the actors followed her, and Ellen heard the Queen shout, “Oh no! She’s got my mirror now!”
A moment later, Mirror-Belle was climbing back into the cottage through the open window, clutching the Queen’s mirror. She scuttled into the dwarfs’ cupboard just as everyone else came charging back in through the door.
“Where is she?” asked Mr Turnbull, with his back to the cupboard. Mirror-Belle popped her head out.
“She’s behind you!” yelled the audience. Mr Turnbull turned round but now the cupboard door was shut.
“Oh no she’s not!” said Mr Turnbull.
“OH YES SHE IS!” the audience shouted back.
Snow White opened the cupboard door and peered in.
“Is she there?” asked Mr Turnbull.
“I don’t think so,” said Snow White. She picked up her broom and swept around inside, just to make sure. “What’s this?” she asked, as she swept an object out of the cupboard.
“It’s my magic mirror!” said the Queen. “So she must have been here.”
“Well, she’s gone now, thank goodness,” said Mr Turnbull. He turned to face the audience.
“I’m sorry about all this, ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “Anyone who wants their money back can ask at the box office. But now, on with the show!”
“Seven little cups and seven little plates,” sang Mum next day, as she served up Ellen’s lunch. Luke was having a lie-in.
“Oh, Mum, don’t you start!”
“Sorry. Wasn’t Luke brilliant last night? I can’t wait to show him the piece in the paper.”
“Let’s have a look.”
Mum passed Ellen the paper, and this is what she read:
“The Pinkerton Players’ performance of Snow White last night was a comic triumph. The hilarious chase scene was hugely enjoyable, and so was the entertaining scene in which the director pretended to offer the audience their money back.
“All the cast gave excellent performances, especially Sally Hart as Snow White and Luke Page as the bossy dwarf, but the real star of the show was the child who played the Eighth Dwarf. Sadly, she was not present at the curtain call. Perhaps she was too young to stay up so late.
“I have only one criticism of the show. Why did this child star’s name not appear in the programme? Everyone wants to know who she is, and everyone wants to see more of her.”
Yes, thought Ellen. Everyone except me.
About the Author and Illustrator
Julia Donaldson is one of the UK’s most popular children’s writers. Her award-winning books include What the Ladybird Heard, The Snail and the Whale and The Gruffalo. She has also written many children’s plays and songs, and her sell-out shows based on her books and songs are a huge success. She was the Children’s Laureate from 2011 to 2013, campaigning for libraries and for deaf children, and creating a website for teachers called picturebookplays.co.uk. Julia and her husband Malcolm divide their time between Sussex and Edinburgh. You can find out more about Julia at www.juliadonaldson.co.uk.
Lydia Monks studied Illustration at Kingston University, graduating in 1994 with a first-class degree. She is a former winner of the Smarties Bronze Award for I Wish I Were a Dog and has illustrated many books by Julia Donaldson. Her illustrations have been widely admired.
Books by Julia Donaldson
The Princess Mirror-Belle series (illustrated by Lydia Monks)
Princess Mirror-Belle
Princess Mirror-Belle and the Party Hoppers
Princess Mirror-Belle and the Magic Shoes
Princess Mirror-Belle and Prince Precious Paws
Princess Mirror-Belle and the Flying Horse
Princess Mirror-Belle and the Sea Monster’s Cave
Poetry
Crazy Mayonnaisy Mum
Wriggle and Roar
Shuffle and Squelch
Poems to Perform (anthology)
Plays
Play Time
Plays to Read (a series for schools)
Picture books with Lydia Monks
Princess Mirror-Belle and the Dragon Pox
The Rhyming Rabbit
Sharing a
Shell
The Singing Mermaid
Sugarlump and the Unicorn
What the Ladybird Heard
What the Ladybird Heard Next
These stories first published 2003 in Princess Mirror-Belle by Macmillan Children’s Books
This edition published 2015 by Macmillan Children’s Books
This electronic edition published 2015 by Macmillan Children’s Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-9561-7
Text copyright © Julia Donaldson 2003
Illustrations copyright © Lydia Monks 2003, 2015
The right of Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Pan Macmillan does not have any control over, or any responsibility for, any author or third-party websites referred to in or on this book.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Julia Donaldson, Princess Mirror-Belle
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