A Mouse in Love
- As the Mouse Council drum echoes through the castle, Despereaux continues to sit with Princess Pea as her father plays song after song.
- The princess tells her father that she's going to keep this little mouse and that they're going to be great friends. But when the king realizes that Despereaux is a mouse and not a bug, his mood sours.
- He tells the princess that she cannot keep a rodent because of her mother—and because of their own dark past with rodents, specifically the rats that live in the basement.
- The princess starts crying and Despereaux holds out his tiny handkerchief to her, but the king is appalled and tells him not to speak to her.
- As a rodent, Despereaux isn't allowed to speak to royalty. The king warns him to get out before he has him killed.
- Despereaux leaves, but he tells the princess his name first…and tells her that he honors her. That's what the knight says to the princess in the story.