- Ester: Marcello and Hugo have done it to you again!
- Tubarina: Why do you let them do it?
- Ester: Why, Polvina, why?
- Polvina: I want to-
- Tubarina: We know why!
- Ester: Because you want to help.
- Marcello and Hugo: [laughing]
- Tubarina: Oh, listen to them!
- Marcello and Hugo: [laughing]
- Ester: Laughing and having fun.
- Polvina: What’s wrong with that?
- Ester: They’re having fun when they should be doing their homework.
- Tubarina: But they’re not because you’ve done it for them!
- Ester: They ask for your help with their homework.
- Tubarina: You always say yes because you’re too nice…
- Ester: …and they trick you into doing it for them, again and again.
- Tubarina: They’re not going to get away with it anymore!
- Ester: You’re going to teach them a lesson.
- Polvina: I am?
- Tubarina: You are, and we’ll be helping.
- Tubarina: Okay, let’s see what they’re up to.
- Hugo: Aren’t there instructions for this tent, Marcello?
- Marcello: Instructions are like rules, Hugo, and who needs rules?
- Ester: They’re going to have a camp-out tonight!
- Tubarina: Marcello has been talking about nothing else for a week!
- Ester: So what? They’re only camping out in the gardens of the Shark Palace.
- [Polvina attempts to go, but Tubarina pulls her back]
- Polvina: But I’ve really got to go!
- Ester: Nowhere but right here.
- Tubarina: You’re going to play a trick on them during their camp-out!
- Polvina: A trick? Ooh, uh, I don’t know.
- Marcello: Great job, Hugo. I told you we didn’t need instructions.
- Hugo: Eh… should it be shaped like that?
- Marcello: We can make it any shape we want, and we have!
- Polvina: Playing a trick wouldn’t be a nice thing to do.
- Ester: Nice time is over, Polvina.
- Tubarina: Nice is for yesterday. Today, you’ve got to be bad!
- Ester: Be bad to teach those boys a lesson.
- Tubarina: Which is good.
- Polvina: Uh, s-so I’ve got to be bad to do something good?
- Ester: That’s it!
- Tubarina: Now you understand.
- Marcello: Did you see the girls watching us earlier, Hugo?
- Hugo: I did. What do you think they were doing?
- Marcello: The usual. Planning to annoy us.
- Polvina: This isn’t going to work!
- Ester: Just try it.
- [the girls put a blanket over Polvina]
- Tubarina: Give us a scare, Polvina.
- Polvina: Uh, boo.
- Tubarina: Oh, oh yeah, good idea. Start lame and make it better from there.
- Ester: Try again.
- Polvina: Do I have to?
- Ester and Tubarina: Yes!
- Polvina: [makes scary sounds]
- Hugo: What was that?
- Marcello: The girls.
- Hugo: What’s wrong with them?
- Marcello: That question has so many answers. Come on, Hugo.
- Polvina: Was that better or bad?
- Tubarina: Uh, both.
- Ester: Better, but still bad.
- Tubarina: Maybe this isn’t going to work.
- Polvina: I told you that!
- Ester: Maybe we should find some other way to stop them using you to do their homework.
- Polvina: I really don’t mind helping them.
- Tubarina: They’re taking advantage of you, Polvina.
- Ester: And it’s gotta stop.
- Polvina: [struggles]
- Tubarina: Hold still.
- Ester: We’ll get it off.
- Polvina: Don’t worry, I can do it. [trips]
- [parrotfish begin eating at her]
- Polvina: Ooh! Woo! What was that?
- Tubarina: Parrotfish.
- Ester: Watch it, Polvina, you’re upsetting them even more.
- Polvina: I’m sorry, parrotfish, I didn’t mean to disturb you.
- [parrotfish continue squawking, Polvina trips again]
- Marcello: I know what the girls are doing. They were gonna try and give us a scare.
- Hugo: But, we’re going to give them a scare first, right?
- Marcello: You got it, Hugo.
- Polvina: [struggling]
- Marcello: Here they come. Now!
- Marcello and Hugo: [making scary noises, then they get scared]
- [Marcello and Hugo accidentally run into their own tent while being chased by Polvina and the parrotfish]
- Ester: Now that’s what we’re looking for!
- Tubarina: That’s a really “grade A” scare!
- Ester: Go, Polvina, go!
- Shark King: What in the seas? Terrible! Argh! Well boys, what’s your explanation for all this?
- Hugo: I-I-It was the horrible sea monster, sir.
- Marcello: And those crazy parrotfish.
- Hugo: The crazy, tickling parrotfish.
- Marcello: They chased us all around the garden.
- Shark King: Horrible sea monster? Crazy, tickling parrotfish?
- Marcello: Y-You don’t believe us, sir?
- Shark King: Of course I believe you.
- Hugo: You do?
- Shark King: Hmm. And you should ask the sea monster and the parrotfish to help you clean up this mess, which you’ll be doing for the next week!
- Hugo: I don’t think he did believe us, Marcello.
- Marcello: Oh, really?
- [the girls were looking on all this time]
- Polvina: I have to tell the Shark King that it was my fault.
- Ester: You could do that.
- Tubarina: But you won’t.
- Polvina: I should!
- Ester: You can’t!
- Tubarina: The boys deserve it!
- Ester: For taking advantage of you.
- Polvina: They still don’t know it was me, but they’ll work it out, sooner or later.
- Tubarina: Oh, it’ll be way later before they figure it out.
- Polvina: You don’t want me to tell because you’ll get into trouble too.
- Ester: So every way you look at it, you can’t tell the Shark King.
- Polvina: I am. I’m going to tell the Shark King.
- Tubarina: You know what my father will say?
- Ester: [imitating] This is not like you at all, Polvina. You’re usually so nice.
- Polvina: The Shark King won’t say that.
- Tubarina: [unintelligible] …really bad princess, aren’t you, Polvina?
- Polvina: Hah! He won’t say that either.
- Ester: Bad princess Polvina. Bad princess!
- Polvina: And he’ll never say that.
- Tubarina: Well, then, go ahead and knock. Find out.
- Polvina: Er, bad princess?
- Ester and Tubarina: Bad princess.
- Polvina: I-I have to think about this some more.
- Ester: We’d better follow her.
- Tubarina: And make sure she doesn’t tell my father.
- Polvina: What is the right thing to do?
- [parrotfish squawking]
- Ester: What you’re doing is the right thing.
- Polvina: Is it?
- Tubarina: The boys deserve it!
- Polvina: But I don’t think they do. They shouldn’t be left to take all the blame, or clean up the whole garden.
- Ester: Yes, they do! Totally!
- Polvina: I just don’t know what- huh? Uh, why am I talking to myself? And why am I getting answers back?
- [Polvina finds Ester and Tubarina hiding in the seaweed]
- Ester and Tubarina: Uh, hi.
- Polvina: Oh, let me work this out on my own, will you?
- Hugo: I’ve been thinking about the sea monster.
- Marcello: So have I. I bet it was one of those girls.
- Hugo: One of the girls? Are you sure it wasn’t a monster from the lowest depths of the Abysmal Kingdom seeking a friend, lost and lonely and lurching in loveless distress?
- Marcello: It could be, but it’s more likely one of the girls.
- [Polvina is looking from a rock, then she swims away]
- Hugo: Hey, there’s Polvina.
- Marcello: Polvina! We want to talk to you.
- Polvina: They know it was me. [pause] I-I can’t hide forever. I have to talk to them. Hey, I’m over here!
- Marcello: Why did you run away?
- Polvina: I know what you’re going to say, and I’m sorry.
- Hugo: You’re sorry? No, we’re sorry.
- Polvina: Sorry for what?
- Marcello: We’ve been feeling bad about getting you to do our homework all the time.
- Hugo: W-We don’t mean to do it, but you know…
- Marcello: We’re lazy.
- Polvina: So you know you’ve been taking advantage of me?
- Hugo: T-That’s why we’re sorry. We should start helping you with your homework.
- Marcello: Whoa there, Hugo. Let’s not get silly about this.
- Polvina: Have you started to feel like this since cleaning up the garden?
- Hugo: It was before that.
- Marcello: We’ve known it all the time. We just didn’t want to say anything until now.
- Hugo: Because, you know…
- Marcello: You were doing all our homework. It was great!
- Hugo: But we’ll stop now.
- Polvina: Thanks, boys. Now, I have to see the Shark King and do the right thing.
- Ester: H-Have you boys seen Polvina?
- Marcello: Yeah, you just missed her.
- Hugo: She’s going to see the Shark King!
- Tubarina: [gasp] She didn’t say anything about doing the right thing?
- Marcello: Yes, she did!
- Hugo: How did you know?
- Ester: The right thing? She can’t do that!
- Tubarina: We won’t let her!
- Tubarina: Polvina! Stop!
- Ester: Think about what you’re doing!
- Tubarina: Doing the right thing is totally overrated!
- Tubarina: Let’s stay outside my father’s study.
- Ester: She’ll have to get past us to get to the Shark King.
- [pause]
- Tubarina: She should be here by now.
- Shark King: So there really was a sea monster?
- [door opens]
- Ester: [gasp] We’re too late!
- Polvina: That was me, sir.
- Shark King: And uh, the tickling parrotfish?
- Polvina: They were real too.
- Shark King: And you’ll be cleaning up the garden instead of the boys?
- Polvina: That’s right, sir.
- Shark King: Hmm. Thank you for telling the truth, Polvina. You’re always such a good girl. [to Ester and Tubarina] Will you two just be standing there or will you join us?
- Ester and Tubarina: Yes, sir.
- Polvina: So, you’re not surprised, sir? You don’t think I’m a… a bad princess?
- Shark King: Certainly not. Where in Salacia would you get such a silly idea is that?
- Polvina: [giggling] Silly ideas can be found everywhere, Your Highness.
- Shark King: I’m just pleased you did the right thing, unlike some princesses.
- Tubarina: Oh, who… who do you mean, Father? Soraia, right? Or…or Leia? Or, you know, you must mean Marli. She’s always in trouble.
- Ester: [whispering]
- Tubarina: Oh.
- Polvina: The boys knew that they did the wrong thing.
- Ester: So they didn’t need a lesson?
- Polvina: Not at all.
- Tubarina: We should’ve guessed it would never work.
- Ester: You could never be a bad princess.
- Tubarina: Oh, you’re just too good, Polvina.
- Polvina: I can be bad if I want to.
- Ester: You? [scoffs] Never.
- Tubarina: Yeah, we’ve seen your bad, and it’s still good.
- Polvina: [sputters] I’ll show you I can be bad!
- Ester: Go on, Polvina, try your worst.
- Tubarina: Let’s see you as bad.
- Polvina: [thinks] Well… I’m sure I could think of something bad if I had more time.
- Ester: We knew it.
- Tubarina: You’re too good, Polvina.
- Polvina: Maybe I am. [sweeps into some parrotfish] Oh no! The parrotfish!
- [the parrotfish peck at Ester and Tubarina]
- Ester: Stop tickling!
- Tubarina: Ooh, not the tickling!
- [the two are laughing]
- Ester: Polvina, this is all your fault!
- Tubarina: This is so bad!
- Polvina: [giggles] Maybe I can be bad after all.
- [Ester and Tubarina continue laughing]