In Loving Memory of Jason David Frank (1973-2022) Rest in Peace.
Once upon a time, in a not-too-distant land, lived the wise King Randolph. The king had twelve beautiful daughters who loved to dance and sing and play. Sadly, the queen, the girl's mother, had died. Yet, the princesses were happy girls who loved their father very much.
But as time passed, the king began to think that his daughters were not growing up as young princesses should. He wondered why they were invited to balls in neighboring kingdoms or why no princes came to call at the palace. He decided to ask his cousin, Duchess Rowena, to come to the palace and help him care for the princesses.
The king began to tell his daughters about his plans at lunch the next day.
"Girls, I have been thinking..." began the king. But he didn't get any further. The butler had announced the arrival of the royal cobbler and the girls were rushing to the garden to see their new dancing shoes, forgetting in an instant that their father had been talking.
The princesses gathered eagerly around the young cobbler, Tommy Oliver, and his colorful talking bird, Felix.
Tommy began handing out beautiful pairs of shoes. Each pair was a different color specifically chosen for each princess.
"Do you have anything for me?" asked Kimberly Ann Hart, quietly.
Turning shyly to her, Tommy handed Kimberly the most beautiful pair of shoes the princess had ever seen.
"Wow!" gasped Kimberly.
"Come on, Kimberly," called Alexis, one of the twins. "Let's dance!"
The young cobbler watched the dancing princesses and let out a deep sigh. "I will never be able to dance with Princess Kimberly, Felix. I am just a cobbler and she is a princess!"
"Wait and see," squawked the bird. "Wait and see!"
The next week, the princess was summoned to the great hall to greet their cousin, Duchess Rowena.
"Welcome, Rowena," called the king. "Come and meet my daughters. May I present - Sara, Claire, Diana, Marie, Christina, Serena, Kimberly, Alexis, Alexa, and the triplets Stacy, Lacy, and Tracy."
Rowena took a long walk up and down the line of smiling girls.
"Well, I can see we have a lot of work to do," she said sternly. "But I don't suppose it will take me long to make proper princesses out of them."
Twelve pairs of eyes turned to their father, wondering what was going on. The old king blushed. "I tried to tell you all, but you were just too busy to listen. Duchess Rowena is going to be in charge of your upbringing now. She will teach you to behave like proper princesses."
Rowena was very quick to take control of palace life. She banned the girls from singing and dancing, made them wear horrible gray dresses that looked alike, and punished them if they didn't do as she said.
One day, Kimberly went to talk to her father. "Papa," she said hesitantly. "It's about cousin Rowena. She keeps changing everything. Can't we go back to how we were please?"
The king smiled at Kimberly. "Now, now," he said. "Rowena only wants what is best for you. She is staying!"
Very soon, King Randolph fell ill. The doctor came and looked at him, but as the days and weeks passed, he continued to grow weaker. Rowena stayed very close to the king's side, giving him cup after cup of soothing tea, but nothing seemed to make him any better. A sadness seemed to fall over the palace, as the princesses were only able to see their father for brief moments each day. They saw more and more of the wicked Rowena who watched everything they did very closely.
On the evening of the triplets' fifth birthday, the princesses were sitting in their bedroom. Rowena had banned the girls from celebrating.
"Don't worry," Kimberly told the triplets. "We made sure Rowena didn't know about these!" And she handed the youngest girls a book each. It was the tale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. The queen had left all her daughters a copy of the book to be given to them on their fifth birthdays. Each book had a different flower drawn on the front.
"Do remember what happened to the princesses?" asked Kimberly.
"They find a magic gateway into a land where they can dance all night!" replied Tracy.
As Kimberly looked at Tracy's book, she noticed that the flower on the cover exactly matched a flower carved into a stone on the bedroom floor. In fact, the flowers on all the girls' books matched the flowers carved into the floor.
And so, just like the princesses in the book, Kimberly began to dance across the stones. On the last one, she twirled three times. As she finished her last twirl, the floor below her began to open and a bright light shone from below!
'This must be the way to the enchanted kingdom from the story,' thought Kimberly.
And grabbing her kitten, Twilight, she began walking down the stairs to the magic gateway below...
Passing through the gateway, Kimberly emerged at the edge of an enchanted lake. Across the lake sat an island with a beautiful pavilion, covered in flowers made from rubies, diamonds, and emeralds.
Kimberly's sisters had been quick to follow her through the gateway and now they all climbed into a boat and crossed to the island. As they sailed, their nightgowns changed from their ordinary dull color to bright shimmering ball dresses.
"Wow," gasped Tracy. "It's just perfect for dancing." No sooner had she said this than the flowers bent their heads and released a glistening cloud of magic dust. Notes of music began to swirl around the girls who leapt to their feet and danced.
"Ouch!" cried Tracy suddenly. She had fallen whilst trying to copy her sisters' graceful dancing. "I'm always doing things like this. Why can't I be good at something?"
"You probably don't remember this," Kimberly said gently to her sister, "but Mother always told us, big or small, there's a difference only you can make. Let's go and wash it." Taking her down to the edge of the lake, Kimberly gently bathed Tracy's knee. As soon as the water touched her knee, the cut healed - instantly! The princesses gasped in amazement, then rushed off to rejoin the fun!
The princesses danced well into the night.
"It must be late," Kimberly said when she noticed that the triplets were sleeping. "And I've worn out my shoes!" Her sisters laughed as they realized that they had worn out their shoes too.
"We'd better go home before Rowena finds out we're gone," Sara said.
The princesses hated to leave, but they quickly sailed back and hurried up to their bedroom.
The next day, all twelve girls were very tired at breakfast. Diana even managed to fall asleep in her porridge! Rowena looked at them suspiciously, wondering what they had been up to all night.
"Desmond," she called to her manservant. "Keep an eye on those girls tonight. Make sure no one comes or goes from their room."
"There is a Mr. Fabian to see you, Duchess," announced the butler. Rowena blushed and rushed off the receive her guest. As Kimberly was trying to rouse her sisters, she glanced out the window and noticed Rowena handing a package to the strange-looking Mr. Fabian.
"Whoever can he be?" wondered Kimberly.
Later that same day, the princesses took their shoes to the young cobbler to get them repaired.
"Is that gold dust?" asked Tommy, looking at Kimberly's shoes. Kimberly giggled.
"We've been dancing," she replied. Twirling around the puzzled cobbler. "One, two three...four, five, six...seven, eight nine...ten, eleven, twelve...twirl three times."
Tommy looked on, dazzled by Kimberly's wonderful dancing. As the princess came to a stop, she had an idea.
"Tommy?" she asked. "Do you know a man named Mr. Fabian? Earlier, I saw Rowena give him something. Could you find out who he is?"
"Of course, Your Highness," agreed the cobbler, feeling very special.
Meanwhile, Rowena's pet monkey, Brutus, found a pair of the princesses' worn dancing shoes and brought them to the duchess.
"They've met princes and danced the night away!" Rowena exclaimed. "If the princesses marry, my plans to be queen are ruined! We've got to stop them."
That night, Rowena's servant stood outside the princess's bedroom all night. Nobody came or went through the door, but the princesses didn't stay in their room. As soon as Desmond fell asleep, Kimberly danced across the special stones.
At the golden pavilion, the sisters wished for ballet music and ballerina dresses. Magically, the flowers granted the princesses' wishes. The girls laughed and danced all night until the soles of their shoes were worn through again.
The next morning, Desmond told Rowena that no one had gone into or come out of the princess's bedroom. But when Rowena and Brutus entered, they found more worn-out dancing shoes.
"Where were you dancing last night?" Rowena snarled.
The princesses told Rowena the truth, but the duchess didn't believe them. "For lying, you shall clean the courtyard until it is spotless."
All day long, the princesses scrubbed and scrubbed. They wished their father would realize how mean Rowena was, but Rowena's poisoned tea was starting to work. The king was now very weak and asked Rowena to run the kingdom.
"Your father is sick," Rowena told the princesses. "And who can blame him for being sick? Taking care of you in your wild ways... Why do you think he brought me here?" Then the duchess locked their bedroom door.
Heartbroken, believing that their father would get better only if they weren't around, they decided to go to the one place where they could be happy - the magical pavilion.
"I wish we could dance with handsome princes," Alexa said as she danced. As soon as she uttered those words, two gold statues came to life! The girls happily danced with the handsome princes well into the morning.
Meanwhile, Tommy discovered that Rowena had stolen the queen's silver goblet to buy potions. When Tommy arrived to give Princess Kimberly the news, Rowena told the cobbler that the girls had run away. Tommy didn't believe Rowena. He secretly climbed up the princess's empty bedroom. There Tommy noticed his shoe oil on certain stones on the bedroom floor. Remembering the dance steps Princess Kimberly had shown him, Tommy stepped on those stones. As he reached the last stone, he turned around three times. Magically, the stone sank and he followed the staircase into the enchanted pavilion.
But Rowena had seen Tommy. She followed him into the enchanted kingdom. Quickly, she stole some of the magic flowers, then rushed back to the palace. Ordering Desmond to smash the floor covering the gateway, she closed the entrance to the enchanted pavilion forever!
Meanwhile, Tommy had told the princesses about Rowena's treachery and that she was now queen. When they heard his story, the princesses desperately wanted to return home to their father. Finding the entranced block, Kimberly looked around and spotted the magic flowers.
"I wish for another way out of the enchanted pavilion," she whispered.
No sooner had she wished for it, than more dancing stones appeared. Kimberly and the handsome cobbler stepped lightly across the stones and the rest of the princesses followed them through the magic gateway and back into the palace gardens.
By working together, the sisters were able to distract the guards, allowing Kimberly and Tommy to slip inside the palace.
But it was too late. Rowena had already given King Randolph the last of the poison and he lay limp on the bed. Just then, Rowena noticed Kimberly. Producing the magic flower dust from her pocket, the duchess wished for armor to protect her. Suddenly, suits of armor around the room came to life and began to advance on Tommy and Kimberly!
Outside the palace, the triplets were hiding in a bush waiting for their sister to return.
Tracy pulled a small bottle of water from around her neck. "I have to give Papa this," she said. "It's from the magic lake. It might be able to help him!" And she ran off to the palace.
Her short legs carried her as fast as they could. But they were no match for the giant Desmond who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. He scooped her up and carried her to the king's bedroom.
"Tracy!" gasped Kimberly. Tommy and Kimberly stopped fighting immediately.
"Now I will be queen!" cackled Rowena. "And because you love dancing so much, you can dance for the rest of your lives!"
Rowena took a magic flower from her pocket and blew some dust toward Kimberly and Tommy.
Kimberly pulled her fan from her dress and waved it at the magic dust. It blew the dust right back at Desmond and Rowena, who began to dance around the room!
Kimberly and Tommy held their breath as the evil duchess and her mean butler danced and danced, all the way into the great hall and out of the palace. They watched in amazement as they danced off into the distance, knowing they would never return.
The king, however, was still in danger. Tracy quickly climbed onto the bed beside her father and opened the little bottle. As Tracy poured a few drops onto her father's lips, he began to wake up.
"Tracy. Kimberly," said the king, opening his eyes. "I am sorry. Rowena was poisoning me and I didn't even notice. She was so horrible to you. Will you ever forgive me?"
"Of course, Papa!" cried Kimberly, throwing her arms around him. "We are so happy that you are well again!"
Not long after that, the king gave his blessing to Tommy and Kimberly and they were married in a beautiful ceremony.
"See," squawked Felix. "Who says a cobbler can't dance with a princess?"
"Meow!" agreed Twilight.
The princesses cheered and clapped and began to dance through the great hall. In the middle of them, all danced Tommy and Kimberly, looking as happy as could be. And they lived happily ever after.