COLETTE, THE LITTLE DANCING GIRL
Far away in a distant city where all the people love music and dancing, there was a hurdy-gurdy man whom all the children knew as Uncle Antoine. Uncle Antoine had a pet monkey called Monko, who went with him every day on his round of music-making. One day, when the sun was shining brightly, they chanced upon a pretty little blue-eyed girl with golden curls, who was sitting on a doorstep weeping. When Uncle Antoine asked her why she was crying so bitterly, she replied that she was all alone in the world and had no place to live. Poor Uncle Antoine had a great, big heart and he felt very sorry for her, so he told her that he would be her uncle and that she might join him and Monko.
Now Colette, for that was the little girl’s name, was as good as she was pretty, and when she found someone to love her and look after her, she proceeded to dance for joy. A crowd soon gathered, and everyone was so enchanted with the music and the dancing that they threw shining heaps of gold pennies into Monko’s cup. At the end of the day they had collected more gold pennies than Uncle Antoine had ever seen in his life before, and the three partners dreamed dreams of a beautiful future, where pennies would be so plentiful that they could afford to buy a nice little house of their very own and live happily ever after.
So each night found Uncle Antoine, Colette, and Monko ’way off in the country falling asleep under some nice big tree, tired but happy in their dreams of the future. And every morning they were awakened by little leaves fluttering down upon their faces, and by the chirping of the tiny birds above them. One day Colette suggested going to the Zoo to entertain the people who were watching the animals, and since Uncle Antoine and Monko were always ready to please her, they hurried across the city, pushing the big hurdy-gurdy before them.
Only a Tiny Bunch of Whiskers Remained
When they arrived at the Zoo they found that great crowds were there before them, and when Uncle Antoine started to play and Colette to dance, not only did the boys and girls and grown-ups turn to look and listen, but all the animals began to cut capers. The monkeys started to two-step, and one old Grandfather Ape did a loop-the-loop of joy. Old Leo Lion whistled the Star Spangled Banner and the big clumsy elephants sang Yankee Doodle all at the same time; old Uncle Hippopotamus humped about his cage, trying his best to waltz.
Little Colette danced as she had never danced before, with her lovely golden curls flying in the breeze. Monko dashed around through the crowd at a great rate, not knowing what to make of the heavy silver dollars that rattled merrily in his cup, taking the places of the usual pennies. He emptied his cup so often at Uncle Antoine’s feet that very soon the hurdy-gurdy was surrounded by enormous piles of gleaming silver dollars and when it was dark, and all the people had hurried home to their dinners, laughing and chattering about their wonderful afternoon, Uncle Antoine, Colette, and Monko were left behind with so much money that they had to borrow an elephant from the Keeper of the Zoo, strap a trunk on his broad back, and carry it all away.
At last their dreams of wealth had come true, and they set out in search of a little house. They found a dear little vine-covered cottage surrounded by shrubs and kindly trees like the ones that had sheltered them in their poverty. Colette had lots of fun making curtains and preparing dinner for Uncle Antoine and Monko, but the three friends missed their old life. They missed it so sadly that at last they decided that they would be happier if they were still giving happiness to others, so they began a round of visits to the orphan asylums and the hospitals, and played and danced for the poor little children and the sick and distressed.
One day while Colette was busily planting seeds in her tiny garden, Prince Charming rode by that way on his splendid white horse, and he was so struck with her beauty and goodness that he asked her to marry him on the spot and become the Princess of his marvelous castle.
Now Prince Charming was a wonderful Prince and Colette loved him, but she couldn’t bear to leave her good Uncle Antoine and Monko, who had befriended her when she was sad and lonely. So she shook her head and told the Prince that she must remain in the cottage and watch over her family. Whereupon the Prince laughed, and replied that his palace was large enough for fifty families, and that he would love hers as she did and look after them always. And so there was a big wedding, with Colette the most beautiful little bride in all the world, dressed in glistening white satin and creamy lace and carrying a huge bouquet of the most exquisite flowers. And Prince Charming was the handsomest groom imaginable, in his uniform of gold and white. Then, as soon as the ceremony was over, Colette, Uncle Antoine and Monko all moved into the Prince’s castle. It was a big, white castle, built entirely of gleaming marble, with fountains of diamonds and rubies playing in the midst of gardens of rare flowers and trees so large that they reached right up into the sky.
Uncle Antoine was the proudest and happiest man alive, for the Prince had given him a brand new hurdy-gurdy which played every tune that had ever been composed, and had brought tears of joy into the old man’s eyes by telling him that he might spend all his time in the garden, playing his music, watching the flowers, and listening to the birds, of which there were millions, so tame that they would sing any song you requested of them, and perch on your hand to be fed. Monko was given all the peanuts he could possibly eat, a whole grove of cocoanut trees, and best of all, a kiddy-car on which he could ride all over the grounds.
In the midst of all this glory they lived very happily until Uncle Antoine grew to be an old, old man, and Monko acquired a long, white beard, which trailed behind him for some three blocks. In fact, his beard was so very long that when he went out walking with the Princess Colette it looked like the train of her gown. One day, when Uncle Antoine and the Prince and Princess were all sitting out in the garden listening to a large black crow singing Mammy’s Little Coal-Black Rose, they heard cries of anguish from high up among the trees. They discovered that Monko’s beard had become twisted around a tree trunk, and that in trying to scramble down he had jerked so hard that he had pulled out all but a tiny little bunch of white whiskers. Poor, poor Monko! He was terribly distressed, until Colette assured him that his beard would grow again, or, if it did not, she would paste the old one on with molasses and he would be as handsome as ever.
So you see, because little Colette and Uncle Antoine and Monko had always done their very best to make everyone about them as happy as they could, they were allowed to spend the rest of their days in the beautiful palace with the good Prince.