It was early the next morning when when Snow White and all fourteen of the dwarfs climbed into the horse-drawn carriage and headed towards the castle.

"This is very generous of you, Princess," said Gloomy. "But are you sure you have enough room at your castle to hold all of us?"

Snow White giggled and replied, "Of course I do! There's more than enough room for all of you there."

Then after a few few more miles they all saw how they needn't have worried as the castle was as enormous as it was tall. It was also more beautiful than any of them could have imagined it to be.

They stopped in front of the castle gates and after Snow White got out first and then unloaded all of the dwarfs from the carriage's compartments, Prince Charming came outside to greet them.

"Welcome home, Snow White!" he said. "I see you've brought our little friends back with you for a visit... but I thought there were only seven of them. It looks like there is twice as many here."

"There are," Snow White explained. "You see, these are their cousins who also came to visit them."

"Oh," said Charming. "Well, they are all more than welcome to spend a day or two here at the castle. I'll go tell our servants to show them to their rooms."

"Please, Charming, if it's not too much trouble I would like to show them to their rooms myself as I think they might be more comfortable that way," Snow White said.

Charming smiled with understanding. "Of course, my dear."

So then Snow White showed the dwarfs into the castle and they began walking up a long and high staircase to another level of the castle where the guest rooms were located.

As they walked along Snow White said to them, "It's so good to have you all here now. There is going to be a party held here tonight and I have a surprise for Charming at it and with you all here it will be all the more special."

"What kind of a surprise is it going to be?" asked Happy very eagerly.

"I can't tell you," Snow White said with a sweet smile. "Or it wouldn't be a surprise."

They then reached the top of the staircase and started to walk down a long hallway. Along the way they saw many paintings on the walls and also a long line of stone busts perched on tall stools along the way. Dopey and Silly who were at the ends of the lines stopped and looked at the line of busts.

"What are these?" asked Silly curiously.

"Those? They're statue busts of the heads of our royal ancestors," explained Snow White.

"You mean you and the Prince beheaded them?" asked Awful.

"Oh no!" Snow White assured him. "These were sculpted and made out of stone."

Silly then ran his finger down the side of the face of one of the busts and said, "They seem to be covered with dust."

"Dust!" exclaimed Sneezy in horror. "Oh no! Anything but that! You know I can't stand it! I ca... AH-AH-AH-ACHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sneezy sneezed a sneeze with so much force of wind it knocked the bust nearest to him sideways and in turn it knocked over the bust beside it and this continued all down the long line of busts.

Snow White watched this procession in horror. "Oh dear!" she exclaimed. "What will Charming say if any of these get broken!"

Then at once Helpful rushed to the end of the long line of falling busts and he held out his hands to them and so as the very last one fell he caught it and then carefully pushed it back and then it and all the other busts fell back again on their perches on the stools and stood still once again.

Everyone was very relieved, especially Snow White. "Whew!" she breathed putting a hand to her forehead. "That was close! Now we had better hurry along. This way."

She then led them into a set of two rooms at the end of the long hallway. She opened each one and said, "Here you are. Now just make yourselves comfortable and I'll send for a servant to come and tell you when the party is about to begin tonight."

With that Snow White left them and the two sets of seven dwarfs entered each room on either side. In them they each found a huge bed, bigger and wider than any they had seen before and also a balcony to the right of them from where the sun was shining through.

"Gosh! I've never seen such a big room before," said Jumpy as he humped up and down in his excitement. "Or such a big bed."

"That is because it's called a King sized bed!" said Bigo-Ego. "I must say this Princess sure does know how to treat her guests!"

Then after they had seen there rooms they met each other outside in the hallway again.

"Well, I have to admit this place isn't nearly as bad as I had thought it would be initially," admitted Grumpy to the others.

"Well, what are we going to do now?" asked Jumpy. "I want to do something before the party starts."

Sleepy gave a great big tired yawn and said, "How about take a nap? Those beds sure do look nice and comfy."

"No, no!" exclaimed Jumpy. "I want to do something fun!"

"Then why don't we go exploring the other rooms around here?" suggested Doc. "I'm sure we're bound to find all kinds of interesting things in a place like this."

To this everyone readily agreed to. So then they set off down the hallway and began looking into the other rooms. The first rooms they found were only other bedrooms. Then they opened one room that had a pink crown painted on the door and entered it to find a long and wide dressing table made of highly polished oak wood and countless vanity accessories all around it such as perfumes, combs and brushes, makeups. There was also a huge oval shaped mirror attached to the wall over the dressing table. It was framed with gold. They also saw a row of fancy white powdered royal wigs sitting on top of faceless busts along the dressing table.

The dwarfs curiosity was much aroused by everything in this room and so they entered it. They went up to the mirror and looked into it. Bigo-ego got up in front of them all and struck a pose in front of the mirror as he said,

"Well, look at me! Now tell me who is the handsomest dwarf in all of the world!"

Then all of s sudden to their great surprise a face appeared in the mirror. It was shaped like a mask with hollow eyes and mouth and was glowing a bright green and green smoke was also surrounding it. It then spoke to Bigo-ego in a very chilling and sincere voice.

"You may be very handsome to yourself, but to others they cannot see past the hugeness of your belly."

All of the dwarfs all at once broke out into laughter then, except for Bigo-ego who just turned away and humphed as he crossed his arms over his stout chest and muttered, "Stupid talking mirror."

"What are these?" asked Bashful as he looked at the wigs.

"They look like big pieces of hair to me," said Doc. "And it looks like we need these if I d say so myself," he added as he took off his cap and revealed his bald head.

All of the dwarfs agreed to this. Then they each took a wig off of its stand and put it on their heads. They then all began laughing at each other.

"Hey, you look like a girl, Dopey!" Silly exclaimed as he pointed at Dopey's hugely tall white wig with tiny red ribbons in it.

"Well, we all do," said Grumpy grumpily. "I feel so ridiculous in this thing."

"Well," said Doc, "perhaps these are too fancy for us anyway. Now come on let's go look somewhere else."

Then as they started to leave the dressing room, Dopey noticed what he thought looked like a stick of red cherry candy standing up on the dressing table. Eagerly he picked it up and put it it into his mouth only to be met with a most foul taste. He stuck his tongue out as he gagged and put the red candy stick back on the table and wiped the redness it left on his mouth off.

The dwarfs then entered into a room at the very end of the hallway. When they opened the door to it they found a large and colorfully decorated room. The walls were all painted blue and pink rather like a beautiful sunset. In one corner there was a strange looking small bed with bars along the sides, and what looked like a miniature wooden horse in another corner.

"Gosh," said Bashful. "What kind of room is this."

"I have no idea," admitted Doc.

They then entered into the room and Dopey went straight up to the horse and jumped onto it. He then began rocking back and forth on it merrily. Silly then went over to the strange looking little bed and got into it, it was a bit of a tight squeeze and then he said, "This feels very comfy," and started sucking on his thumb.

"I wonder what is in here?" wondered Happy as he noticed another large door in the room. He reached up and opened it and inside he found to him immense surprise many very tiny gowns and dresses hanging off of hooks in it, and on the floor underneath them at his feet there were tiny little bears and bunnies and other animals.

"Why, I've never seen clothes this size before," Happy said. "They're even too small for us."

"Why do you think Snow White has a room in the castle with these things in them?" asked Bashful curiously.

"I don't know," said Doc. Then he thought for a momenta and his face lit up with realization. "Yes, I do! Snow White is going to have a baby!"

"A baby?" all the other dwarfs said in unison.

"What is a baby?" asked Bashful curiously.

Doc did his best to explain. "They are tiny little people, smaller than any of us, but they are as small as everyone starts out to be. They are very soft and sweet and just a bundle of joy! And two people make them when they fall in love and get married."

"Aw..." cooed Bashful. "That is so nice."

Snow White and Prince Charming are so lucky to be having one," said Happy with a beaming smile.

Just then they started to hear footsteps echoing from down the hall outside of the room they were in.

"Someone is coming!" Doc said urgently. "Quick, let's get back to our rooms."

And so they did. They all rushed out of the room as quietly as they could and raced down the hallway and went back into their respective bedrooms and closed the doors, They were not a moment too soon for it was only a few minutes later when each of their doors were knocked on by one of the servants.

"Good evening," he said formally to them. "I have been sent to inform you dinner is about to be held along with the royal party in honor of Queen Snow White."

The fourteen dwarfs followed behind the servant down the long staircase in an orderly fashion. Once they were down the stairs they went into the dining hall which was far bigger than any of them could have ever imagined. They found Snow White and Prince Charming mixed in an enormous crowd of finely dressed people talking amongst each other. When Snow White spotted them she smiled and went over to them and led them up to the important looking people.

"Everyone," she said in her most regal voice, "I would like you to meet some very dear friends of mine. These are the seven dwarfs, Doc, Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy, Happy, Dopey, and Grumpy, and their seven cousins, Jumpy, Blabby, Silly, Awful, Helpful, Gloomy, and Bigo-Ego. I consider them all to be my extended family as well as my most honored guests."

Then the dwarfs nodded and bowed to the other guests before them. Bashful twisted his beard in his hands as he blushed a crimson red. Bigo-Ego stood up very straight and puffed out his chest as he strutted around shaking hands with everyone within reach. Many of the guests regarded the dwarfs with curiosity and graciousness, while a few others just stared at them in a way as if to ask why they were so short and stout.

Shortly afterward, everyone headed up to the dining table where the royal banquet was served. It consisted of more food than any of the dwarfs had ever seen before and it all looked as savory and delicious as it tasted much to their delight. What also pleased them was the light music that was played for them by three riyal minstrels nearby.

About halfway through the banquet, Snow White tapped on her goblet with her spoon and got everyone's attention. She then stood up and made her important announcement.

"Everyone," she began. "Friends and courtiers, and dwarfs, and especially my beloved Prince Charming, I have a very important announcement to make for all of you here. It has just recently been revealed to me by the royal physician that I'll be expecting a new royal heir soon, that is to say I am now with child."

Everyone around the room gasped and smiled as they murmured their congratulations to the royal couple while the dwarfs simply smile and nodded looking like they'd known it all the time. Then Prince Charming stood up and said,

"Oh, darling! This is just splendid. You've made my dream come true." And with that he kissed her.

Then Snow White continued with her speech saying, "And I would also like to appoint our dear friend the seven dwarfs, along with their seven cousins, as the official royal guardians of our future little prince or princess. That is, they may be in charge of looking after and taking care of him or her while we are away on important matters of state."

Everyone applauded once again and the dwarfs all looked most surprised and delighted at Snow White's unexpected decision.

After the banquet had ended there was dancing and the dwarfs each found a dance partner. Jumpy jumped up and down a lot and he ended up stepping on people's toes often. Bigo-ego was the most dignified of the dwarfs at dancing. They made sure they each had a chance to dance with Snow White.

As Doc was dancing with Snow White he smiled and said to her, "We are very honored to have you appoint us as your unborn baby's royal guardians next to you and your Prince. But why would you want to bestow such and honor, and not to mention a responsibility on us of all people?"

Snow White just smiled and said, "Why, it's very simple. Because you took care of me when I needed it and I can tell easily that all of you will love the company of young children."

Doc knew she was right. Then after the dancing everyone said goodbye to each other and then the dwarfs were led upstairs again to retire to the rooms for the night.

Early the next morning the dwarfs were all awakened by the sound of a crowing rooster on their balcony. They all got up wondering as they did why a rooster would be at the royal castle, and then they saw Silly was standing on the balcony's ledge and doing a splendid imitation of a crowing rooster.

They then said goodbye to Snow White and Prince Charming and were then taken back to their cottage in the royal carriage.

The next day the dwarfs' cousins returned to their home on the other side of the kingdom as well, promising to come back and visit again soon.

Then, nine months later, the dwarfs received a letter from the bluebird letting them know that Snow White had just given birth to a baby princess and they were invited to come see her at the castle. They were all overjoyed as they went straight to the castle and met with the little baby princess who looked just like her mother with blackest hair, reddest cheeks, and skin as white as snow.

"Gosh, she's so beautiful," said Bashful sweetly. "Just like a baby angel."

"What are you going to name her?" asked Happy curiously.

"Snow Flake," Snow White told them with a smile.