It was the first Saturday in Spring and the Tumbling Twinns had come out of their Winter hibernation, tentatively donned their summer clothes and ventured out onto the balcony. They had done their chores and sent the Bossman off for a new supply of biscuits and comic books. Brenda and Sarah Willow were playing a complicated game of cards while Carruthers looked on, occasionally giving a discreet cough when someone missed a card that could be played. Jenni and Caitlyn were industriously polishing several pairs of shoes that had gotten scuffed. Godzilla was guarding the tin of polish.

Amanda was busy trying a new hair style. "Has anyone ever tried three ponytails?" she asked Waffles who was standing by with the scrunchies handy on her tail. Outside Coalface was trying to perform his famous tight-rope act on the balcony railing.

"Hi, everybody," said Dawn, coming onto the balcony. "I was just at the library and got a new book. "Snow White and the Seven Twinns". Want to hear it?"

"Yes please!" all the girls agreed, gathering round, pleased for the diversion.
"Better call Amanda, you know how she hates to miss out on a story." Coalface dashed off, returning a minute later with Amanda and Waffles in tow.
"Weren’t they dwarves?" asked Brenda, who had seen the movie when she lived in the USA.
"Morning everybody, what's this about dwarves? is Dawn reading Snow White today?"
Everybody greeted Amanda and settled down for a good story. "In some versions they are dwarves, but this is a new book that just came out and it tells the true story - that the seven people Snow White met really were Twinns," announced Dawn, proud of her heritage. She sat down amidst the other girls and began to read.

"Once upon a time there was a princess born in a Kingdom far away. She had beautiful 01 skin and her parents named her Snow White.

Unfortunately while Snow White was still quite young, her mother, the Queen, met with a horrible accident in which one of the royal corgis chewed off both her legs and one of her arms. She never was the same after that and died not too long afterward. Snow White’s father, King Henry the 27th, had all dogs banished from the Kingdom. People were only allowed to have cats and birds and gerbils as pets."
"I think that is unfair," said Amanda, stroking the head of Waffles. "They shouldn't have banned all dogs because one was naughty."
"And what about hamsters?" asked Jenni, who had often thought of adopting a hamster. "They don’t chew off Twinns’ legs."
"Maybe they could have hamsters and say they were really big gerbils," Brenda suggested.
"Or they could even have dogs and say they were really big gerbils," added Sarah.
"Do you want me to read this or not?" asked Dawn. "It is an old legend and I can’t help that they didn’t include hamsters."
"We do want you to read it," the girls chorused. "Please, Dawn?"
"OK," Dawn continued.

"When Snow White was a teenager, her father the King met a beautiful 05 Cookie princess from a neighboring Kingdom and fell in love. The Cookie’s name was Esmerelda and she had very dark skin and long curly hair. Soon King Henry was married to Esmerelda, who became Queen Esmerelda and Snow White’s stepmother.

Queen Esmerelda was not a very nice stepmother and made Snow White do menial tasks like sweeping out the castle turrets."
"Is this Snow White or Cinderella? I didn’t think Snow White did housework," Caitlyn commented, waving the shoe she had been polishing for emphasis.
"Most of the stories I’ve read about Snow White don’t say what she did around the castle," Brenda mused. "Maybe she did have to sweep the turrets."
Dawn cleared her throat emphatically and Amanda, who was about to add a comment about cleaning the turrets in glass slippers, thought better about it.
"Queen Esmerelda spent long hours curling her beautiful black hair. She would look into her magic mirror and ask ‘Who is the fairest of them all?’
The mirror always said, "You are, your Majesty."

Queen Esmerelda was very pleased about this. When she wasn’t combing and curling her hair, she spent the time eating chocolates and thinking up nasty tasks for Snow White to do. One day Snow White had to change the sheets on all the beds in the castle and wash the dirty ones and iron them after they were dry. Another day she had to drain the moat and scrub it with a scrub brush and Clorox II.
"Boy, I’ll bet the crocs who lived in the moat weren’t too thrilled about that," said Brenda.
"I’ll bet they helped her clean it," Carruthers piped up. "Crocs always know who the good guy - or Twinn in this case - is."
"No doubt," Brenda agreed, nodding. Dawn glared at them and the comments subsided.

"Early one morning the Queen decided to go on a picnic. She had the cook prepare a big basket of tea sandwiches and a smaller basket of cat food for the Queen’s favorite tabby. Cream was whipped and strawberry beds were stripped for miles around so the Queen could have shortcake for dessert. Queen Esmerelda called Snow White to her bedroom.

"Snow White," she said, sneering at her stepdaughter, "While I am away I want you to houseclean my bedroom. And don't forget to get all the dust balls out from under the bed."
("And make sure there aren't any gerbils under there," whispered Sarah to Brenda, who snickered.)
Snow White curtseyed. "Yes, your majesty," she replied. She had been very much hoping that she could go along on the picnic or at least have some strawberries but the chances looked dim. The Queen flounced off and Snow White began tidying up the bedroom, hoping to find a stray berry or two that had fallen out of the Queen’s picnic basket. It took Snow White several hours just to organize all the Queen’s hair scrunchies and barrettes. While she was tidying the Queen’s vanity table, the Magic Mirror happened to spy Snow White.
"Wow," said the Mirror to itself, "This young lady is even more beautiful than the Queen". It cleared its throat (or whatever passed as a throat on a mirror) and asked in it's most commanding voice; "What is your name young lady?"
"Snow White," replied the dutiful princess.
"Wow," echoed Jenni. "If a mirror started to talk to me I would faint dead away."
"Me too," agreed Sarah.
"This was the olden days when all kinds of stuff would talk to you. Nobody blinked an eye if the teapot suddenly started to chat at breakfast," Dawn pointed out. "Now settle down and listen because this is the sad part."
"The next time the Queen asked the Magic Mirror who was the fairest of all, the Mirror had revised its former opinion about who was the fairest in the Kingdom.

This enraged Queen Esmerelda who threw a shoe at the mirror and stormed out of her chamber. Then and there she decided that she would have Snow White banished."
"Just like the dogs," Amanda murmured.