Once upon a time there were three princesses named Allie, Mellie, and Libby. They lived in a palace, but not an ordinary one, oh, no! Theirs was silver and it was surrounded by roses.
These three princesses had everything they could ever want and servants to do everything for them, but one morning during breakfast, they decided they were bored. The servant girls looked like they were having so much fun, carrying those buckets of milk, and a decision was reached immediately. For the rest of the day, the princesses would do everything the servants did.
Mrs. Blue, the housekeeper, wasn’t terribly amused at this idea, but the princesses insisted. Mrs. Blue gave them their list of morning jobs, and it was a doozy. Along with all the ordinary jobs you’d expect, they also had to wash the dogs and comb the cats. They were exhausted!
Limping to the kitchen, they found that lunch had been served an hour ago and they were late. It was time to start the afternoon chores! They thought about quitting, but princesses aren’t quitters. So they bravely headed out to attack their afternoon’s work.
They made butter and bread, sheared the sheep and picked the fruit. When they staggered in to get their dinner, they were worn out. But dinner was over, and they had their evening chores to do.
Evening chores? What had they gotten into? But princesses are not quitters, and so they forged on. They did all the dinner dishes, got all the animals bedded down for the night, made the bread for the next morning’s breakfast, and nearly dropped down dead in the process.
The next morning, they were so glad to be princesses again. They sat down to the table and noticed that they had made the bread they were about to eat. They made the butter that went on the bread. They were still tired, but they were satisfied to see all their hard work had paid off. They made a decree that all the servants should have longer breaks, fewer jobs, and more vacations, and they themselves decided to lend a hand every day. After all, princesses are not quitters!
(This book was published in 2002 by Bloomsbury Children’s Books and was illustrated by Sue Hellard.)
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