The Polka Dotted Princess

            by Robyn Brown

 

            Once upon a time, in a land not so very far from here, there lived a girl. Her name was Dotta-Silli-Otta-Lotta-Looper, but all her friends just called her Dot.

 

 

Now, Dot wasn’t just any girl. She was a princess, and not just any princess, but a magical Polka Dotted Princess.

She always wore polka dotted dresses and polka dotted shoes. She had a silver polka dotted wand and a pink polka dotted crown. Princess Dot would only eat polka dotted foods and liked to ride down the river to her castle in a polka dotted inner tube. Princess Dot even had a polka dotted pet Dalmatian dog that she took on walks around her castle on a purple polka dotted leash.

 

 

Princess Dot wanted to have more friends than anyone else. Whenever she made a new friend, she brought them to her castle so she could show them her polka dotted dog and her polka dotted inner tube and her polka dotted dresses.

“Look at all of my pretty polka dotted gowns,” she said, showing off her huge closet filled with clothes.

“Wow! Those are really pretty,” her friend said. “Can I try one on?”

“NO!” Princess Dot would yell. “They are all mine and they’re not for sharing!”

Her friend would feel sad, but Princess Dot didn’t care.

 

 

Since Princess Dot was a magical princess, she could wave her wand and magical things would happen. Her wand let her turn the rain that fell from the sky into rainbow gumdrops. Everyone in the kingdom collected the gumdrops in big baskets and feasted on them. But Princess Dot always made sure that she got the most gumdrops!

 

 

During the hot months of summer, Princess Dot would often say, “Whew, it’s boiling out here! I wish I had my own private ice skating rink and silver polka dotted ice skates!” And then she would wave her wand and turn the river into ice, so all her friends could skate on it. They had ice skating competitions, but Princess Dot always made sure that she won!

One day Bartholomew the baker was in his shop, putting the finishing touches on a polka dotted cake that Princess Dot had ordered. All of a sudden, a girl named Mabel ran in. Mabel was a maid who worked in Princess Dot’s castle. She looked very upset. Bartholomew said, “What’s the matter? Are you okay?”

Mabel replied, “I have just seen something terrible! I was at the castle, doing Princess Dot’s laundry, when she came home with a friend. And then she…she…she…”

“What was it? What happened?” asked Bartholomew. He was very anxious to know what Princess Dot had done.

“Well,” continued Mabel, “she waved her magic wand and said

‘Polka dottle dee

Polka dottle doo

I am so much better than you.

I’ve got the magic

I’ve got a lot

And now I’ll turn you into a

Polka dot!’

And she turned her friend into a… polka dot!”

 

 

            Bartholomew gasped. “But why?” he asked.

            “I asked Princess Dot the same question! And you know what she said? She said that her friend had made her angry!” Bartholomew and Mabel were both very astonished and afraid. They didn’t want to make Princess Dot mad because they didn’t want her to turn them into polka dots, too!

Whenever someone got on Princess Dot’s bad side, she used her magic powers and POOF! She turned them into a polka dot. They couldn’t talk or sing or eat or dance. All they could do was roll around.

Princess Dot made some people into big, bouncy polka dots. Others she made into small, squishy polka dots. There were multi-colored polka dots, glittery polka dots, polka dotted polka dots, and every other kind of polka dot you can imagine.

 

 

And before long, everyone in the kingdom who wasn’t already a polka dot was so scared of becoming one that they stayed inside their houses and locked their doors.

 Princess Dot wandered about the palace gardens alone all day, wishing she had someone to talk to and play with. She was angry. Now she didn’t have anyone to show off her new polka dotted dresses to.

 

 

When nightfall finally arrived, she came up with a brilliant idea.

“I know!” she said out loud to herself. “I’ll invite my cousin, Stripesey-Willi-Hooga-Booga-Looper to come and visit me!”

Stripesey was a princess from the next kingdom over and the cousins loved each other dearly. Princess Stripsey was the only person that Princess Dot would share her gumdrops with. And even though Stripesey only wore striped clothes, Princess Dot always offered to let her try on her polka dotted ball gowns.

Princess Stripesey was very excited to visit Princess Dot. Whenever the cousins were together, Princess Dot seemed very nice.Princess Stripesey didn’t know that Princess Dot was greedy and mean and turned people into polka dots.

When Princess Stripesey arrived at the kingdom, she saw a bunch of polka dots rolling around. Some were big and bouncy, others were small and squishy. There were multi-colored polka dots, glittery polka dots, and even polka dotted polka dots.

“Hmm… that’s strange,” thought Princess Stripesey. “I know my cousin loves polka dots, but why are there so many rolling around? And where are all the townspeople?” Sure enough, there was no one outside because everyone was still locked safely in their houses.

 

 

Princess Stripesey got to the castle and Princess Dot ran out to greet her. “Hi! You don’t know how glad I am to see you!” Princess Dot squealed. “I have been so bored because no one will come out and play with me.”

 

 

“Why not?” asked Princess Stripesey.

“I don’t know,” she lied.

“Well, it’s okay because now I am here and we can do all sorts of fun things!” said Princess Stripesey.

They decided to play hide-and-go-seek. After playing for a little while, though, they got bored. “I wish we had more people to play with,” said Princess Stripesey. “Then one of us wouldn’t always have to be the seeker. And I bet all your friends know more hiding spots than I do.”

 

 

 “Yeah,” Princess Dot agreed.

“I think it’s time for me to go home,” said Princess Stripesey. “Maybe next time I come over, we can have a big game of hide-and-go-seek and I can meet all of your friends!”

“Wait! Don’t leave!” Princess Dot said. She didn’t want to be lonely again. She didn’t like being alone in her castle. She missed ice skating with her friends and floating down the river in inner tubes with them.

“I think that the reason no one wants to play with us is because I was mean to them,” Princess Dot confessed. “I wouldn’t let them share any of my stuff and if they made me mad I turned them into polka dots.”

“Oh no! That was a mean thing for you to do. Maybe if you apologize to everyone they will want to be your friends again,” said Princess Stripesey.

So that is exactly what Princess Dot did. She went down into the center of town and used her wand to make her voice so loud that everyone could hear.

“I AM SORRY!” she yelled. “I WAS MEAN TO EVERYONE. NOW I KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE LONELY AND I AM SO SORRY! PLEASE COME OUT AND PLAY WITH ME!” 

Slowly people came out of their houses. Bartholomew the baker walked out of his bakery, still holding a tray of cookies. Mabel the maid unlocked her door and came out to listen to Princess Dot. They were still scared of her, though. They thought that she was playing a trick on them. Princess Dot didn’t know what to do. She kept saying, “I’m sorry!” over and over, and she really meant it, but the townspeople were still suspicious. Then Princess Stripesey had a good idea. She whispered it in Princess Dot’s ear.

 

 

Princess Dot smiled and waved her wand over her head. Everyone started to run back to their houses because they thought that she was turning them all into polka dots. She started to recite a chant.

“Polka dottle doo

Polka dottle dee

Now I’ve learned my lesson, you see.

I’ve got no friends

And I miss them a lot

Now you won’t be polka dots!”

All of the polka dots that had been rolling around town suddenly sprang back to life. Everyone in the town rejoiced! They all forgave Princess Dot and she became friends with all of them. Bartholomew even made a special batch of polka dotted pastries for her, which she shared with everyone. Princess Stripesey went back to her own kingdom, but she often visited Princess Dot and they had lots of fun playing with all of her friends.

There were no more bouncy, squishy, big, small, multi-colored, glittery, polka dotted polka dots anywhere in town! There were still polka dots on Princess Dot’s dresses, though, but it was okay because she let her new friends try her dresses on.

 

 

THE END