The Adventures of Viviane and Mickee in the Seventh Dimension

(An original children's story and original theme music from "Troll's Story,"
as featured on the CD, "The Happy Electropop Music Machine,"
by Jean-Jacques Perrey and Dana Countryman)

Chapter One: Viviane and Mickee Enter the Troll's World

nce upon a time in a quiet little village, somewhere in the world, a new day was just beginning. The sun was just coming up and the first little birds of the morning were singing happily. Everyone in the village began to awaken, including a small girl named Viviane. She slowly opened her eyes, stretched her arms, and smiled. "Today is my birthday!" she exclaimed to her favorite stuffed animal, a little elephant named Mickee. (Mickee, of course, said nothing, since everyone knows that stuffed animals can't talk.) Yes, today Viviane would turn seven years old. Her parents and friends were planning a big party for her, and she could hardly wait.

She gathered up Mickee and climbed out of her bed. But before she could change out of her pajamas (or even brush her teeth), she noticed a bright light coming in through her window. It was a different kind of light, much brighter than morning sunlight. The light cast unusual patterns on her bedroom wall and she became very curious.

Viviane looked out through her open bedroom window and was amazed to see that the light was coming from the middle of her own backyard! Without even thinking, she climbed out of her window, with Mickee still in her hand. Outside, the lights were even brighter than before and what she saw was the strangest thing. Right in the middle of her lawn was a door! Nothing was attached to it, it was just a door, standing on its own, and from it came the most beautiful light she had ever seen. The light was so bright, that she had to hold her hands up a little, to protect her eyes. And the sound coming from the light was a very loud whooshing noise, kind of like the sound of a very powerful waterfall.

She wasn't afraid at all, in fact, she grew very excited. "I wonder if this is some kind of birthday surprise," she thought. Then, without hesitating, she and Mickee opened the door all the way and stepped through it. Suddenly, the most amazing thing happened! She was no longer in her own backyard. In fact, she was no longer on her own planet! She was in a completely different world. Believe it or not, Viviane (and Mickee) had entered a different dimension - the Seventh Dimension. She took a few steps forward, rubbing her eyes with amazement.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she noticed that the door going back to her own world had vanished completely, but for some reason she wasn't frightened about that either. Neither was Mickee, who was very happy about the whole thing. In fact, Mickee told Viviane in a very loud voice "This is a wonderful place!" At first, Viviane was amazed that her stuffed elephant could talk, but, after a moment, it seemed like it had always been that way. After all, she had told Mickee all her secrets and they were best friends. It's just that he had never spoken back - until now.
 

The world she had entered was completely different from her own. She was in a village, but this was a very, very small village, where everything was small, even smaller than Viviane herself. The houses were small, the streetlights were small - even the people were small! People? Yes, there were many small people, moving all around her, who, on closer inspection, didn't look like people at all. In fact, they weren't people - they were Trolls.

She'd read about Trolls in a book once, but she'd always thought it was a pretend story. Now, she was in the Troll's world, and there was nothing pretend about it. This was very real. There were mother Trolls pushing baby Trolls in baby carriages, father Trolls busily building things, and even a grandfather Troll, who seemed to be the only one sitting still. He was fishing off the end of a bridge, which was still being built by several other Trolls, all hammering away.

Everyone seemed completely unafraid of Viviane and Mickee, even though they were probably the tallest creatures the Trolls had ever seen. You see, in the Trolls' world, there is no fear. Nothing bad happens - there is no violence. In fact, it's impossible for anyone to be mean or violent in this dimension, so why would they be afraid of her?

The truth is that Viviane wasn't afraid of them, either. Neither was Mickee. For some reason, being there seemed quite natural to the little girl and her toy elephant, even though it was certainly the strangest - and the smallest - place they had ever been. Mickee told Viviane that even he was tall in a place like this, and Viviane agreed. "There is a certain magic here, which must be why you can talk!" By now, Mickee was walking on his own, and pointed to two little hats he spotted on a park bench. And strangely enough, next to the hats was a little sign reading "For Viviane and Mickee."

"Do you think they're for us?," Viviane asked. "We're the only ones I know named "Viviane and Mickee, so they must be!," said Mickee. And realizing that the larger hat would be an exact fit for a little girl, and the smaller hat would fit a little elephant perfectly, Viviane and Mickee placed the hats upon their heads. Quicker than a blink of an eye, the hats made the girl and elephant shrink down to Troll size! Even stranger - with the hats on top of their heads, they could now understand the strange Troll language perfectly, as if they had always spoken it.

A few minutes earlier they had heard the Trolls singing, but they couldn't understand a word of their song. Now, Viviane and Mickee could understand the Trolls' song quite clearly. The funny thing was, the Trolls' lips never moved as they sang. Viviane realized that they were hearing the Trolls sing by telepathy, and she told Mickee so. "What's tele-pathy?" Mickee asked. "That's when you can transfer thoughts to other people using your mind, and not your voice," she said loudly. (She had just read about this ability in a book at school.) Then she thought to herself, "Mickee's just a silly animal, and he never learned anything in school." "I heard that!" Mickee shouted. "Oh, I must be careful now what I think to myself," she thought to herself. "Yes, that's true," Mickee thought back to Viviane, smiling a very big toy elephant smile.

All of a sudden, something was happening in the Troll's world. The Trolls stopped what they were doing and began to form a long line. Viviane and Mickee fell into line behind the Trolls because it seemed like the proper thing to do. Even the animals of the forest came out and joined the line of Trolls. Slowly, the long line of Trolls and animals, (and Viviane and Mickee, of course), started moving forward. "I wonder where we're going?" Mickee thought. "We'll just have to wait and find out, Mickee," Viviane thought back.
One by one, the Trolls, the animals, (and Viviane and Mickee), entered a huge and very beautiful castle. Inside the castle, there was a very strange sound. "That sounds like a machine," Viviane thought to Mickee. "No, it's not a machine. It's the sound of a Royal Carriage, and it's coming into this room!," thought Mickee, (who was getting smarter by the minute). Sure enough, through the Royal Castle door, making the strangest sound, came the Royal Carriage, pulled by seven beautiful unicorns - each one different from the other.

Seven Royal Trumpeters walked alongside the Royal Carriage. Once they had all come to a stop inside the castle, the trumpeters produced seven very long (and very straight) trumpets. They played a Royal Fanfare as the Troll Mayor announced in a very loud telepathic thought, "Now presenting Her Majesty, the Queen of Thule!!"

Everyone bowed as the Queen Troll stepped elegantly out of her carriage, smiling and waving to her subjects. Right behind the Queen was her lady-in-waiting, a little girl Troll, carrying a red velvet pillow. Placed perfectly in the center of this pillow was the Royal Crown. "It's strange that the Queen isn't wearing her crown," Viviane thought. "That's because she cannot wear the crown until a rare blue diamond is found and placed on top of the crown," a helpful Troll standing next to Viviane thought back to her. "Oh, I see!" thought Viviane, curtseying politely to the helpful Troll.

With the Queen and her attendants comfortably inside the castle, the Royal Coach, led by the seven unicorns, pulled away, disappearing out through the castle door, its strange machine-like sound fading into the distance. Much to Viviane's surprise, as all the Trolls bowed their heads again, the Queen, followed by her attendants, walked right up to Viviane and Mickee and spoke. "Greetings, my special guests!" she thought out loud in a Royal Telepathic Thought. "Today is a very special day in our Troll world. I would like you to be my Guests of Honor and sit beside me at our Royal Ball!" thought the Queen, gently touching the girl's and the elephant's heads with the Royal Wand.

Viviane didn't know exactly what to say. But before she could say anything, the Queen asked, "Would you like that?" "Oh, yes, very much, your highness," Viviane answered, telepathically. "Yes, very, VERY much," echoed the little elephant. And with that, the Queen and all her attendants, followed by the two honored guests, proceeded into the ballroom.
No sooner were the Royal Party (including a handsome Prince Troll) and all of the Troll subjects inside the ballroom, than the Royal Trumpeters started playing a special fanfare, which led into a Royal March. "I wonder what they are announcing this time?" Mickee thought. But before Mickee could think another thought, the town's Troll Mayor exclaimed, "Presenting the Royal Adventurers!"

Before another word could be spoken, or thought, twenty-five Troll Adventurers (who looked a little like soldiers, but couldn't be soldiers, because there are no wars in the Troll's world, so there are no soldiers) arrived though the castle gates. From the back of the adventurer's group, a little boy Troll stepped forward carrying a golden pillow. All the Trolls in the room gasped when they saw that upon this pillow was a very large, and very BLUE, diamond.

"What kind of adventures did they have?" Mickee asked. "They traveled to the top of the most dangerous mountain peak to find the rare Blue Diamond," the helpful Troll replied. The Town Mayor carefully picked up the jewel, and one of the Royal Jewelers attached the stone to the top of the crown.

Instantly, the crown began to glow with a beautiful and magical light. The Queen smiled, and placed it upon her own head - happy that after so many years she could finally wear the Royal Crown. Then she announced, "Let the joyous festivities begin in honor of our very brave adventurers! They have made me very happy tonight!"

Chapter Three: The Queen's Minuet

Magically, the Royal Orchestra appeared out of nowhere and began to play a minuet. Their instruments looked like no musical instruments Viviane had ever seen before, and the music was strange, but very beautiful. The handsome Prince Troll took the Queen Troll by the hand and led her to the center of the ballroom where they began to dance the Minuet. All the Trolls of the kingdom paired up and within seconds the entire room was filled with dancing couples. Even the little birds of the forest "danced" in the air, making delicate little circles over the heads of the dancers. The little boy Troll who had presented the Blue Diamond came up to Viviane and held out his hand to her, inviting her to join the dance.

Even though she had never danced a minuet before, Viviane took his hand and bravely began to dance with him. Somehow, her feet knew exactly what to do and she found herself dancing as well as anyone else in the room. "Maybe something magic has happened to my shoes," she thought. The little boy Troll just smiled and nodded, and Mickee (who was dancing with a very pretty porcupine girl) gave Viviane a "thumbs up."

Chapter Four: The Furioso Disco and the Journey Home

Suddenly, a curtain in the ballroom went up and a teenage Troll rock and roll band began playing a very modern disco dance beat VERY LOUDLY. All the teenage Trolls cheered, (because they thought they'd have to dance to a lot of boring minuets that night.) The room went crazy with wild dancing, and even the Queen and the Prince twirled each other in the air! As the music rocked, the joyous celebration got even wilder. A few Trolls stopped dancing and simply started jumping up and down, excitedly. A company of Circus Trolls tumbled into the room and began doing some amazing acrobatics. Everyone in the room cheered as the acrobatic Trolls flipped each other high up in the air, always landing safely on their feet.

Before the end of the tune, the Queen Troll led Viviane and Mickee out of the castle and back to the same magic door they had seen in their own backyard. "Thank you for being wonderful guests," she said in a telepathic thought to them. "Thank you for having us, your majesty" Viviane thought back, as she bowed. Mickee simply smiled and nodded his stuffed elephant head up and down. The Queen then presented each of them a small Royal Crown, an old custom in the Trolls' world. They each thanked her and bowed. They knew it was time to return to their own world. The Queen slowly opened the magic door for them.

As Viviane and Mickee stepped into the bright light coming through the door, they turned back to look at the Troll world one last time. The entire kingdom of Trolls and animals had come to bid them farewell and everyone cheered and blew Troll kisses at them. Viviane and Mickee smiled and waved as the door closed behind them. Back in the real world, our heroes fell with a heavy thump onto Viviane's own bed, back in Viviane's own room. They instantly fell fast asleep.

A few moments later, Viviane's mother and father opened her bedroom door, and kissed her awake. "Good morning, Viviane! Happy Birthday, Viviane!" She opened her sleepy eyes and smiled. "Good morning, Mama and Papa." Then, realizing she was back home, Viviane sat straight up in her bed. "Mama, Papa!" Viviane exclaimed. "You'll never believe where Mickee and I just went! We were in the Seventh Dimension - the Troll world - with unicorns and a ballroom dance, and it was so beautiful and" she chattered in a very fast and excited voice. "Now, now, honey," Viviane's mother said. "I'm sure you had a very nice dream, but now it's time to get up and get dressed. Today is your birthday! We have a lot to do today!" And with that, her parents left and closed the door, leaving the little girl and elephant alone.

"But I'm sure it wasn't just a dream," Viviane said softly to herself. Just then she looked down and noticed next to her pillow a tiny, tiny Troll-sized crown - the very same one that the Queen Troll had given her. She looked at Mickee (who had his tiny Troll crown next to him, too) and said, "I knew it wasn't a dream."

And with that, Mickee, who had become an ordinary stuffed animal again, managed one last wink.

And that is the end of our story.