After a few minutes of walking, the company came to a stop. A few squirrels pulled on a few smaller trees to show Snow White, the cows, horse, and rabbit a pathway that led to a nice little cottage that was centered between a few trees across a tiny brook with a bridge.Rays of sunlightcould be seen from the trees. Everyone awed at the sight.
"A cottage," Mrs. Calloway said.
"How lovely. It reminds me of our barn back home," Grace said.
"Oh, its adorable. Just like a doll's house," Snow White said.
"At least it's much bigger than a doll's house, or we wouldn't be able to fit in," Maggie said.
Grace giggled at that. Snow White took the first step to run towards the cottage while the rest followed. Taking the bridge was no problem, even if the brook wasn't that broad. They could easily jump over it if they wanted to. The other forest animals followed them. The tortoise walked very slowly, trying to keep up. But Buck seemed to help the little guy since it reminded him of Rusty back home.
"Come along, little buddy. Try to keep up," Buck said.
When they all approached the cottage, they admired it, especially Snow White.
"I like it here," Snow White said.
Then she went towards a tiny window and cleaned the dust to look what was inside. Lucky Jack and a raccoon did the same thing.
"Ew, the window is dirty. It's like it hasn't been cleaned for days," Lucky Jack said.
"Ooh, and it's dark inside," Snow White said.
"Um... I'm not really comfortable with that," Grace said.
"It's okay, Grace. It looks empty," Maggie said.
"Maybe we should knock on the door for sure," Mrs. Calloway said.
"All right, then," Snow White said.
Snow White walked towards the door and made sure her hair was right. She knocked a few times on the door, but there was no response. She tried again, but still no response.
"Guess there's no one home," she said.
"That's just great. What now?" Buck said.
Lucky Jack approached the door, too, and pushed against the door, which opened a little. "Hey, it isn't closed."
"Really? Who doesn't close the door when he or she leaves? That's totally not safe," Mrs. Calloway said with a raised eyebrow.
"Maybe that person just forgot," Maggie said.
"Let's go check inside," Grace said.
Snow White slowly opened the door while it creaked. She looked inside and said, "Hello? May we come in?" But no one gave a response. The cows, horse, rabbit, and forest animals went inside before Snow White motioned them to be quiet. Silently, they walked inside the cottage and looked around. The tortoise was moving slower than usual. The cows, horse, rabbit, forest animals, and human girl still looked around.
"I wonder who lives here," Maggie wondered.
"I hope someone nice and fun," Grace said.
Suddenly, Snow White yelled 'Oh' with her hands raised in the air. It scared the forest animals, Lucky Jack, and Grace that they ran back outside while Maggie and the others stood in a defensive stance. Snow White remained in that position before she sat down on a little chair with an owl carved on it. "What a cute little chair!" she said with a smile.
The animals' eyes went wide by that. "A chair?! Seriously?! We thought it was a monster of some kind," Buck said.
"Oops. Sorry I frightened you," Snow White said with a blush.
The forest animals, Lucky Jack, and Grace poked their heads out of the opening, seeing there was no danger, after all.
"It's all right. Mrs. Calloway can get that excited as well," Maggie said.
"It sure is lovely, and look at the carvings," Mrs. Calloway said.
"I like it, too," Grace said.
Snow White looked at the other chairs. "Why, there's seven little chairs. Must be seven children. And from the look of this table, seven untidy little children," she said while she looked at the table that wasn't cleaned up.
"But how can it be children? They can't possibly live on their own," Grace said.
"Whoever lives here must be pretty small to sit on these chairs, maybe about Lucky Jack's size," Maggie said.
"Hey, I'm not 'that' small," Lucky Jack said.
Maggie walked towards the table. "Whoa. They sure didn't clean up before they left."
"How uncouth. This isn't healthy," Mrs. Calloway said.
They all looked at the table. The forest animals also weren't happy with the uncleaned table.
"A pickaxe. A stocking, too!" Snow White laughed while she grabbed the stocking.
"Maybe they're miners, it could explain the pickaxe," Maggie said.
"Or rock farmers!" Buck said while holding a pickaxe.
"Buck, I'm sure they're not rock farmers," Mrs. Calloway said.
Snow White looked inside a pot and grabbed something from it. "And a shoe."
The two adult birds both gave an astonished whistle, and the little bird did the same.
"Took the words right out of my mouth, buddy," Lucky Jack said.
Then they all walked towards the fireplace, which was very dirty. "And just look at that fireplace. It's covered with dust," Snow White said while placing a finger on it and looking at the dust she collected. She blew some of it away and it accidentally landed on Mrs. Calloway's face.
"Uh," Mrs. Calloway said and was on the brink of sneezing. "Ah. Aaah. AAAAHCHOOOO!" The dust landed on three squirrels. Each of them sneezed while the last one sneezed so hard he came inside a mug with a lid. "Oh, dear. I'm so sorry. Uh, this entire place is covered with dust. It makes me shiver," Mrs. Calloway said while feeling uncomfortable about the dusty place.
"And look, it gets even worse. Cobwebs everywhere. My, my, my," Snow White said while a squirrel accidentally got some cobwebs on its face.
"Oh, no," Mrs. Calloway said while she heard that and began to faint.
"What a pile of dirty dishes," said Grace, who looked at all the dishes that haven't been washed for probably days.
The birds whistled at that because they never saw so many unwashed dishes in their lives.
Snow White gasped. "And just look at that broom."
The forest animals were looking at certain things, too, until they and the newcomer animals looked at a broom that was covered in dust and cobwebs. A few quails tsked at the sight.
"This is a nightmare. A tragedy! Okay, this needs some serious work!" Mrs. Calloway said while she couldn't take the sight of an unclean house anymore.
"Why, they've never swept this room," Snow White said.
"This place is dirtier than the pig's enclosure on a summer's day," Maggie said.
"You'd think their mother would..." Snow White said, but suddenly gasped. "Maybe they have no mother."
An adult deer and a fawn shook their heads by that. Grace saw their response. "They don't?" The deers shook their heads again.
"So they're orphans," Mrs. Calloway said.
The deers nodded. The little fawn came closer to the adult deer that was probably its mother and rubbed its head against the deer's neck.
"That's too bad," Maggie said while she hung her head to the ground, knowing the feeling of losing a parent.
The adult deer licked the fawn's head in affection.
"But we can't just leave the place like this. Can we?" Grace asked.
"I know. We'll clean the house and surprise them. Then maybe they'll let us stay," Snow White said.
"I would be happy to help," Maggie said.
"Me, too," Grace said.
"Well, shoot. Count me in," Buck said.
"You can count on me," Lucky Jack said.
"And I would absolutely do everything to make this cottage stunning," Mrs. Calloway said.
"So how do we start?" Buck asked.
Snow White took off her cape and two birds grabbed it to hang it on a wooden extension. She began to think. "Maggie and Mrs. Calloway, you will help wash the dishes. Buck and Lucky Jack, you help tidy up the room. The rest of you help clean the fireplace. And I will use thebroom."
"And what about me?" Grace asked.
"You can help me if you want," Snow White said.
"But I don't have a broom," Grace said.
"Neither does the rest of us, and there's only one broom," Mrs. Calloway said.
Maggie began to think. "Hold on. I got it. Be right back." She ran outside and fortunately found some logs sitting next to an axe. She took the logs and broke them apart with her hooves, and then she put them back together by styling them into brooms. Then she grabbed them and went inside. "Tadaa!"
"Where did you get those?" Snow White asked.
"I just used the cow technique on a few logs. Now we all have a broom," Maggie said.
"The cow technique?" Snow White asked in wonder.
"Way to go, Maggie. I knew you would come in handy," Grace said.
"Well, I am that kinda awesome," Maggie said with a proud smile.
"Hey! That's my line!" Buck said, and the cows, horse, and rabbit each grabbed a broom.
"All right, then. Let's begin," Snow White said.
"You know what would make the cleaning much more fun? A song!" Grace said.
"I can help with that. All right. Sweep, sweep, sweep, sweep, sweep," Maggie said while sweeping the floor and twirled her broom before sweeping further. "Sweep, sweep, sweep, sweep, sweep."
"Seriously?" Buck said with a smile. "Are you gonna do that Sweep Dance Remix again? That's not even catchy."
Snow White raised an eyebrow at that. "What is a dance remix?" she asked.
Buck's eyes widened at that and went to Snow White. "Um, we'll explain that after we clean the place."
"Maybe the forest animals know a song, do you?" Grace asked.
The two adult birds twittered 'yes'.And suddenly, they began to twitter in a musical kind of way. And with that, Snow White began to sing and the cows, horse, rabbit, and forest animals began to clean up the cottage.
SNOW WHITE:
Just whistle while you work (whistling)
And cheerfully together we can tidy up the place
In the meantime, the forest animals were bringing the dishes to a table. The tortoise certainly was having fun. It got a tower of dishes on its back and none of it was about to fall. No sooner, Grace and even the rest of the gang began to sing along with the song.
GRACE:
So hum a merry tune (humming)
It won't take long when there's a song to help you set the pace
Maggie was helping the forest animals clean the dishes while she swept the room with her tail.
MAGGIE:
And as you sweep the room
Imagine that the broom
MRS. CALLOWAY:
Is someone that you love and soon you'll find you're dancing to the tune
Suddenly, Mrs. Calloway's eyes went wide when she saw how the forest animals cleaned the dishes. A squirrel was cleaning some plates with a towel around its tail and the fawn was licking the plates clean before licking its fur. "Oh, no, no, no, no, dears! You must put them in the tub. It's for the best."
The animals stopped when they heard that and they looked at Snow White, who nodded. She knew that Mrs. Calloway was right, and so the forest animals obeyed them. They pushed all of the dishes into the tub.
SNOW WHITE:
When hearts are high
GRACE:
The time will fly
SNOW WHITE AND GRACE:
So whistle while you work
The fawn used its tail to pull the lever of a water pump with a face on it to fill the tub with water.
During that time, Lucky Jack, Buck, and some other forest animals were busy with the room and the fireplace, sweeping, gathering dust, and such.
BUCK:
Whistle while you work (whistling)
Put on that grin and start right in to whistle loud and long
LUCKY JACK:
Just hum a merry tune (humming)
Just do your best, then take a rest and sing yourself a song
SNOW WHITE:
When there's too much to do
Don't let it bother you
GRACE:
Forget your troubles, try to be just like a cheerful chick-a-dee
Meanwhile, Mrs. Calloway and Maggie were still helping with the dishes. Many of them were placed in a tower that almost seemed to fall down, but the cows were able to keep it balenced.
MRS. CALLOWAY:
And whistle while you work (whistling)
MAGGIE:
Come on get smart, tune up and start
SNOW WHITE, GRACE, MAGGIE, BUCK, LUCKY JACK, AND MRS. CALLOWAY:
To whistle while you work
The forest animals pushed a few more dishes in the tub and washed them. Lucky Jack was holding a rug to help two squirrels get rid of the dust. Snow White saw that and quickly reacted. "Uh-uh, uh-uh! Not under the rug."
Lucky Jack and the squirrels got a little startled by that, so they thought of something else. Then Lucky Jack pointed at a mouse hole, the squirrels looked at the hole and began to smile. They swept the dust inside the hole, and the three gave each other a wink. But suddenly, the dust flew out of the hole and Lucky Jack and the squirrels hid under the rug. A mouse who lived in that hole came out and didn't look very happy. It chattered angrily at Lucky Jack and the squirrels and used a hind leg to push dust into their eyes to make them learn their lessons.
Meanwhile, Snow White was humming and cleaning an organ while squirrels and bunnies used their cute little tails to clean the rest of the room. Two squirrels were cleaning a mug. One of them picked it up and the mug made some kind of musical tune. It startled them that they quickly hid themselves. While Maggie used her tail to clean, Snow White waved with a cloth outside the window to get rid of the dust. When Maggie saw that, she came up with an idea. She placed her tail outside the window and waved with it to get rid of the dust, too. There came too much dust from her tail that she began to sneeze.
Grace and another squirrel were busy to get rid of the cobwebs on the ceiling. The squirrels used their tails to get rid of them. That also looked like a job for Maggie. A chipmunk was doing the same thing while holding its balance on a cuckoo clock. It used a little too much force and fell into a sock. When it showed its head, it couldn't help but smile. Another chipmunk was helping Grace with a cobweb by rolling it into a ball. But suddenly, a spider appeared on the ball, which startled the chipmunk. The spider didn't look very happy. Grace saw it and went towards the spider. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Spider. But we must clean up the house. I promise I'll find you a new home." With that, the spider gave a smile.
The interior was almost clean and the birds were already beginning to place a vase with flowers on the table. They also gave the flowers some water. In the meantime, the forest animals and the newcomers were gathering the owner's clothes to wash them. Snow White, who was still humming, placed the clothes on the male deer. Maggie, Mrs. Calloway, and Buck also carried a few clothes to go outside. One of the clothes made the deer almost fall. Outside, Lucky Jack and Grace were helping the raccoons with washing the clothes in a tiny pond. The other two cows, horse, and the deer were dumping the clothes in the water. A glove that the deer was about to drop landed on the head of a raccoon. A chipmunk was using the tortoise as a washboard. The reptile was ticklish of that experience. Then two birds grabbed the piece of clothing and the chipmunk accidentally got grabbed with it. The tortoise grabbed the chipmunk with its head by the tail and they both got pulled inside the tortoise shell. They raised their heads from it and smiled at each other while the birds were drying the pieces of clothing, tied the sleeves into a knot, and hung them on a cord from a tree just like the rest of the clothing.
Snow White and Grace gathered together while a bird landed on Snow White's finger and vocalized along with them.
SNOW WHITE:
So whistle while you work
GRACE:
So whistle while you work
Then Snow White vocalized, and Grace vocalized after her. The both of them harmonized while the other cows, horse, rabbit, and forest animals were cleaning the exterior of thecottage.