Cinderella woke up at daybreak, just as the sun was coming up. She yawned, and stretched, and looked around for her friends. They were all sleeping, snoring away.
"Wake up, everybody," Cinderella said. She didn't know that they had been working all night long.
"Five more minutes," Pixie mumbled.
"Come on, you guys," Cinderella said. "We have to keep going if we're going to find Prince Charming."
"We know, Cindy," the tailor said, yawning. "But we've been up all night, working."
"Working?" Cinderella asked, looking at her friends oddly. "Working on what?"
"A surprise," the Ugly Duckling said.
The Ugly Duckling, the tailor, Pixie, and Dixie then showed Cinderella what they were working on. It was a ballgown made from the gold cloth the tailor had. Cinderella took the gown, and held it up to her.
"You made this for me?" she asked.
"Yep," the tailor said. "We sure did."
"We figure you'd want to look nice when we find Prince Charming," Pixie said.
"Yeah," Dixie said. "After all, he's royalty. I don't think he'd marry a scullery maid."
"Don't go away, fellas, I'll be right back!" Cinderella shouted. She then ran behind a group of trees, and changed into her new dress. When she came back out, she twirled a little.
"Oh, this is the most beautiful dress I've ever seen!" she sighed.
"There's something missing, though," Pixie said, thoughtfully.
"I know!" Dixie shouted, snapping his fingers. "Maybe you should wear your hair up."
"Good idea," Cinderella said. "But I don't have anything to use to do that."
"I have an idea," the tailor said. He took Cinderella's apron, and cut one of the strings off of it. Then he cut it in half, length-wise, and cut one of the halves into a smaller piece. Then he handed it to Cinderella, along with some of his pins.
"Try these," he said.
Cinderella took the items, and got to work putting up her hair, with a little help from Pixie and Dixie.
"That's better," Pixie said, once they were finished.
"Yeah, that's exactly what was needed," Dixie said.
"Here's something else I'm going to need," Cinderella said, taking something out of her apron pocket. "My glass slipper."
"Oh yeah!" Pixie shouted. "I almost forgot about that!"
"What do we need that for?" the tailor asked, confused.
"I lost the other one while I was running from the ball," Cinderella said. "The prince probably has it. And I might need it to prove I was the girl he danced with."
"Good thinking," the Ugly Duckling said.
"Well, come on, everybody," the tailor said. "We've got Prince Charmin' to find!"
The quintet then began walking down the road. They came to yet another sign along the way. This one read "Welcome to the City of Hamelin."
"I don't think we're going in the right direction," Cinderella sighed.
"Well, maybe somebody here knows where our kingdom is," Pixie said.
"Yeah," the tailor replied. "Here comes someone now. And he looks pretty official, too."
"But why's he carrying a broom?" Dixie asked.
Onto the scene dashed an orange cat, wearing a long blue coat, a blue hat, and a blue bow tie (Mr. Jinks). He was waving a broom at our heroes. When he got close, he immediately started swatting Pixie and Dixie with it.
"Take that! And that! And that, you rotten, no good, dirty meeces!" he shouted.
"Ouch!" Dixie shouted.
"Hey!" Pixie yelled, and he and Dixie ran up to Cinderella's shoulders. The cat was about to swat them again, but stopped in mid-swing, when he realized the two mice were sitting were sitting on the shoulders of a girl.
"Whoops!" he shouted. "I, like, almost goofed!"
"I'll say you did!" Cinderella shouted. "What's the big idea hitting my friends with that broom?"
"Uh, sorry, lady," the cat said. "I didn't know they were, like, your friends. I thought they were a couple of miserable meeces that's over running my town!"
"Your town?" the tailor asked.
"Like yeah," the cat said. "Allow me to, you know, like introduce myself. I am the mayor of this here hamlet called Hamelin."
Before the mayor could say anything further, a group of mice came running down the street, carrying a huge wheel of cheese.
"Uh oh," the mayor said. "Like, there go some of them now. Come back here, you no good, miserable meeces!"
The mayor then started chasing after the mice. All the mice did was laugh, and kept on running. While the mayor chased them, another group of mice ran out from behind a corner, and began making faces at the mayor.
"Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyaaaahhhhh!" they teased.
"Ooohhh, I'll get you miserable meeces!" the mayor shouted, and he started chasing after that group of mice. While he was swatting at this group with his broom, another group of mice came out of a window, and dropped a water balloon. It landed directly on the mayor's head.
SPLAT!
"I hate these meeces to pieces!" the mayor shouted. "I gotta tell ya. All these meeces, it's too much for one pussycat to handle!"
"Yeah, I'll say it is," Dixie said.
"Why don't you get more cats?" Pixie asked.
"I, like, tried," the mayor said. "These meeces outnumber them, and they chased them off instead of, you know, the other way around."
"What about settin' traps?" the tailor asked.
"I, like, tried," the mayor said. "With so many meeces, I had to, you know, set the traps all over the town. And the townspeople were the ones getting caught in them instead of the meeces, see?"
The mayor pulled his tail out from under his coat, and there was a mouse trap attached to it.
"Have you tried rat poison?" Cinderella asked.
"I, like, tried," the mayor said. "But those rotten little pipsqueaks got gas masks from here to like eternity!"
"Boy, you've got a problem, Mr. Mayor!" Dixie shouted. "Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Know a good exterminator who works cheap?" the mayor asked.
Just then, the sound of flute music could be heard in the distance, and it was getting louder. The group looked toward where it was coming from, and saw what looked like a horse (Quick Draw McGraw), wearing a red and blue outfit with bells on it, and a red hat. He was playing a flute, and dancing to the music. When he reached our heroes, he stopped playing, took off his hat, and bowed.
"Howdy!" he shouted. "I'm the Pie-eyed Piper!"
"Don't you mean Pied Piper?" the tailor asked.
"That's what I said," the horse said. "Pie-eyed Piper. Got any requests?"
"Do you know how to get rid of a mess of meeces?" the mayor asked.
"Hmmm . . . ." the Pied Piper said, thoughtfully. "Not offhand. But if you hum a couple of bars, I can fake it."
"It's not a song, Mr. Piper," the Ugly Duckling said. "The mayor of Hamelin is having trouble getting rid of all the mice here."
"Now hooollllld on thar!" the Pied Piper shouted. "I'm a musician! Not an exterminator! I guess I'd better be moseying along then. And a-one, and a-two . . . ."
The Pied Piper began playing his pipe again. The others listened for a moment, and the tailor recognized the tune. It was "Oh My Darling Clementine."
"Hey!" he shouted. "He's playin' my song!"
As the Pied Piper played, the tailor hummed along with him for a moment.
"You were lost and gone forever, and her shoes were number niiiiiiiiiine!" the tailor sang, and way off key, to boot!
Cinderella, Pixie, Dixie, the Ugly Duckling, and the mayor all cringed at the tailor's singing. But they weren't the only ones who didn't like it. A group of mice that happened to be nearby also cringed.
"Oooooh!" one screamed. "That is piercing! Just piercing!"
"Let's get outta here before it starts up again!" another yelled, and about ten mice fled the city.
"Huh," the mayor said. "Well, like, what do ya know about that?"
"Hmph," the tailor grumbled. "Everyone's a critic."
"Looks like them thar mice don't like your singing," the Pied Piper said. "You're a regular pie-eyed piper!"
"With my own set of pipes, too," the tailor said.
"Well, don't just stand there, you guys!" the mayor said. "Make with the exterminating!"
"It's worth a try," the Pied Piper said. "And a one, and a two . . . ."
The Pied Piper took his pipe and began playing "Oh My Darling Clementine," and skipped through the city, with the tailor singing along right behind him.
"Oh my darlin', oh my darlin', oh my darlin' Clementiiiiiiiine!" the tailor sang.
It was a bit painful on the people of Hamelin, but the mice hated it even more. Wherever the Pied Piper and the tailor went, the mice ran away in droves, never to return again. Within an hour, they had driven the entire mouse population away from Hamelin (except for Pixie and Dixie).
"And there go the last of them," Cinderella said, as the last group of mice scurried out of Hamelin.
"Hooray!" the mayor cheered. "You, like, got rid of all those miserable meeces invading my hamlet of Hamelin! As mayor, I, like, officially dub you the town's official exterminators!"
"Shuckens, that's right nice of you, mayor," the tailor said. "I'll just set up my tailor shop right here in Hamelin instead of the Duchy of Dastardly."
"Good idea," the Pied Piper said. "And I'll be your assistant in tailorin', and you can be my assistant in exterminatin'."
"And now, let's party!" the mayor shouted. "And everyone's invited! Including your two little meeces, Cindy."
"That's nice of you, mayor, but we can't stay," Cinderella said. "I've got to find Prince Charming."
"You haven't seen him, have you?" Pixie asked.
"No, I haven't seen any prince type charmings around lately," the mayor said. "All I've seen for weeks is meeces!"
"Oh well," Dixie sighed. "Back to the old drawing board."
"Thanks anyway, mayor," Cinderella said. "Goodbye, and good luck!"
"Yeah, like you too, Cindy," the mayor said, as he, the tailor, and the Pied Piper waved goodbye to Cinderella and her friends.