Aesop's Fables: A Whodunnit Musical

## Stats

***Aesop's Fables: A Whodunnit Musical*** is the thirteenth episode of the third season of Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, and the thirty-ninth episode in total. It aired on July 18, 2000 and is the final episode of the series to be aired.

## Summary

Once upon a time in London, England, there was a gala event held, and all of the characters from Aesop's Fables were there. Everyone, including people who were ugly, beautiful, etc. The Boy Who Cried Wolf is the trickster of the night. He tells Crow that she has mustard on her dress, but laughs because it was just a lie. He also shouts that someone ate all the food and there is no more left, but once again he is kidding. Suddenly, the storm lightning strikes and there is a brief blackout, and the book of Aesop's Fables is gone. The Boy Who Cried Wolf announces this, but nobody believes him. Fretting nobody believes him, a detective arrives at the exact time, saying there has never been a case she couldn't crack.

The detective gathers the characters around and does a roll call with the characters. Most of them are there, but the detective asks for Hare, but the Tortoise says she is late. She comes barging in right at the moment. The detective asks her where she was when the book was stolen, and Hare starts when she and Tortoise got invitations to the gala. The Hare gets dressed in a split and decides to race Tortoise there, but first, she takes a nap before getting to the gala. Tortoise starts moving slowly, but she is far by the time Hare wakes up. She actually catches up to Tortoise and slightly gets ahead even, until she trips and gets stunned, and Tortoise beats her to the library at her own speed. So Hare wasn't there in the first place. The detective insists she check fingerprints. Crow doesn't want to ruin her manicure as she "ruined it already", which raises suspicion. Miss Fox creeps away, and the detective stops her. She says she isn't interested in a book anyway, and proves with grapes that if she can't has something she really wants, she puts it down. The detective also questions The Grasshopper and his ants who had nothing to do with it either.

Monsieur Fox admires the detective's skills and outfit, but she doesn't take kind to flattery. Crow suggests she checks him out as she recalls the time he stole from her. Using flattery, her piece of cheese lands right into his mouth. The Boy Who Cried Wolf goes next, but the detective comments that he isn't sure whether to believe him or not with whatever he says, as everyone knows his famous fable. He cries "WOLF!" for laughs and angers the people who run to him until a wolf really comes, but by then his mistake is done. The detective accidentally triggers a turning bookshelf, and finds the book of Aesop's Fables. She finally gets the conclusion on who did it - most of them. She states that The Grasshopper knows how fuse boxes work because of the ants who construct, so he tampered with it to dim the lights. Miss Fox stole the book because she can see in the dark, and Crow managed to find the book that triggered the bookshelf. The detective finds a red nail that belongs to the Hare as well. Reading in the book, that has Hare's handwriting in it, she reads that the endings of their stories are changed and good happens rather than bad. The detective decides to take in the crooks, but Mouse says that this isn't necessary as they could change the pencil writing. The characters learn that crime doesn't pay and the readers could learn something from their original stories, such as "slow and steady wins the race" and "it is best to prepare for the days of necessity". After this crime story, the characters all lived happily ever after.

## Cast

Angie Dickinson as the Detective

Diahann Carroll as the Crow

Dabney Coleman as Monsieur Fox

Harvey Korman as the Lion

Jaleel White as The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Katey Sagal as the Hare

Kevin Pollak as the Mouse and the Grasshopper

Melanie Chartoff as Grape Fox

Ruth Brown as the Tortoise and the Ant

## Songs

* A Case I Couldn't Crack
* The Fastest Hare Alive
* Sour Grapes
* We'll Be Workin'
* I Love Birds
* I'm Bored
* The Narrator's Song