Original subtitles

(bird singing)

(light music)

(gentle music)

(bubbly music)

- [Hetty] Whoa, whoa, slow down.

(grunting)

- I'm just going inside.

- Yes, but then you'll be right back out again,

and I don't want you catching another cold, child.

- I liked having a cold.

You let me lie in bed all day,

and you gave me hot lemon and honey,

and you read to me because my eyes were sore.

- I see, so that's why that cold lasted two weeks.

Now, don't be late getting home,

you hear? - I won't.

- And don't forget to wear your gloves.

And don't run!

Oh.

- Excuse me, ladies.

- Giddy up.

- [Felix] If they're only two for a penny,

then I'll have 10, Mrs. Lawson.

Thank you.

- The winning mother and daughter

will receive a trip for two to Charlottetown

and will have their photographic portrait

featured in an upcoming issue of Mother's Own Magazine.

- And all you have to do to win is write an essay?

- What is it, a contest?

I love contests.

- Yes, and it's not one of those country-wide contests

where you have virtually no chance of winning.

A winner will be chosen just from this area.

- What is it we're supposed to write about?

- It's to choose a mother of the year.

The winning mother will be chosen

from an essay written by a daughter

explaining why she thinks her mother deserves to win.

- Well, I'm going to write that my mom's deserving

because she's forever helping me with my schoolwork.

- Well, that explains a lot.

(laughing)

- I know what I'm going to write about my ma.

She's the best ma there is.

Because...

Because...

- Because she's the only one you've got.

You're going to have to think of a better

reason than that, Clemmie Ray.

Though, considering your mother,

it's going to require some invention.

You're going to spoil your appetite.

- Felicity, give it back!

- No sweets before supper!

You know what mother says.

- [Felix] Give them back!

- I'm going to write about Aunt Hetty.

- Sara, don't be ridiculous.

- Hetty King?

You think Hetty King is a candidate

for the mother of the year?

You know how she is at school,

can you imagine going home with her after school?

- Aunt Hetty's a good a mother as any of yours.

- Honestly, Sara.

The contest is strictly for mothers and daughters.

An aunt simply doesn't qualify.

The contest rules are quite specific.

(light music)

- The contest rules are quite specific.

(bell ringing)

- [Felicity] My mother has an excellent chance of winning.

She's never crossed me,

but of course, that's just because I never

give her reason to be cross.

- [Sally] In my essay, I'm gonna write about how my mother

absolutely dotes on me.

She curls my hair every night

and is forever fussing over my dresses.

- [Felicity] Forever fussing over it

because it needs so much mending.

- I have plenty of new dresses, Felicity King,

I simply don't wear them around the likes of you.

Besides, I have a bedroom all to myself.

I don't have to share, unlike some.

- I'd rather share a bedroom in my house

then live in that-- - And I have a huge mirror!

I sit in front of it in my new dresses,

and my mother curls my hair.

- Sally, Sally Potts, you come here right now!

- [Sally] Yes, mother dear!

- Hello, Mrs. Potts!

- Oh, hello, Felicity dear.

How are you today?

- Fine, thank you. - Right here, right now,

and none of your lazy dawdling, missy!

- Hurry up, Sally,

mother dear wants you to try on

some of your new dresses,

and then she wants to curl your hair.

(laughing)

- Felicity, that was mean.

- Could you imagine having a mother like Sally's?

Thank goodness I was born a King and not a Potts.

- That Felicity.

Some day she's gonna fall off her high horse.

I just hope I'm there to see it happen.

- I don't care what she says.

I don't care if I don't qualify.

(light music)

Aunt Olivia,

we're just like sisters, aren't we?

- I like to think so, Sara.

- But Aunt Hetty isn't really like a sister.

I mean, she's my aunt just like you are,

but she's more like a mother, wouldn't you say?

- Well, I suppose so.

She certainly feels about you

the way a mother would.

- Then you wouldn't be upset if I wrote an essay

that said Aunt Hetty was like a mother to me?

- Of course I wouldn't be upset.

(sighs)

Is this about the mother of the year contest?

- You know about it?

- Oh, Sara no one in Avonlea

seems to talk about anything else.

- So you think it's a good idea?

My sending in an essay about Aunt Hetty,

even if she and I don't exactly qualify?

- Fiddlesticks.

Aunt Hetty may be only an aunt,

but she qualifies in every other way.

I think it's a lovely idea.

- I knew it!

I knew you'd say that!

But don't tell Aunt Hetty, alright?

I wanna keep it a surprise.

It's not that I think we're gonna win or anything,

or that we even have a chance.

- Sara?

Olivia, is dinner started?

Heaven's, Sara, have you finished your homework yet?

- Hetty King, don't you track in all over my clean floor!

- [Hetty] My boots are quite dry, thank you, Olivia.

(horse blowing)

(light music)

(humming)

(sighs)

- Would you fetch me a glass of water, dear?

- Why I believe my mother is deserving

of the title mother of the year,

by her daughter, Felicity King.

- Oh, very sweet.

- I have sung your praises, mother.

You would blush to read it.

- [Janet] Really, dear?

- Though, of course, I haven't mentioned

your lapses as a homemaker.

- Why thank you, Felicity.

- I've told you time and again, mother,

if you wait for the glasses to dry by themselves,

they're bound to streak.

- Oh well, Felicity dear,

one day you'll realize

that when it comes to raising a family,

there are some things more important

than sparkling glassware.

- I won't be mentioning that you said

that in my essay, mother.

I'd like to win this contest.

- I thought this was for mother of the year,

not daughter of the year.

- There, and I bet it tastes even better

in a clean glass than spotty one.

(playful music)

Sara, Sara, wait!

Mailing something?

I'm mailing my essay for the contest.

- Really, so am I.

- Sara, you aren't!

You're only going to embarrass yourself.

Did you hear?

Sara's entering the contest after all.

- She isn't!

- I bet she lied!

I bet she says Hetty King's her mother, not her aunt.

- I did not.

I said she's like a mother.

- Then prove it, show us your essay.

- Why should I?

Felicity, that's private!

- It's not sealed properly.

- Give it back!

Felicity!

Give it back!

Sally, give it to me!

(laughing)

Give it back!

- A mother's love is unselfish, kind.

(laughing)

- [Sara] Give it back!

- A mother's love is wise, full-hearted, the deepest well.

The deepest well?

- It doesn't sound like Hetty King to me.

- Sara, you're just letting your imagination

run wild again.

- Give it back, Felicity.

Give it back or I swear I'll rip you limb from limb

and the feed the rest to the dogs!

- [Clemmie Ray] I don't have it.

- Neither do I.

- Where did it go?

- You're all mean!

Mean and hateful, all of you!

- Sara!

Come back!

Sara, it's right here.

Oh, for heaven's sake, don't be so dramatic!

(light music)

- [Janet] Felix, are you in the kitchen?

- No, mother!

- [Janet] Well, don't spoil your appetite before dinner!

- It's not spoiled!

Yet.

What's wrong?

What is it?

Oh, let me guess, Felicity.

- [Sara] You say you wanna see her fall off her high horse?

- The higher the better.

- All I need is the horse.

- Any ideas?

- No.

I'll think of something.

(light music)

- [Elvira] She certainly will be the best

dressed baby in Avonlea, Janet.

- Oh, why Clara, thank you, it's lovely!

- You're welcome, Janet, such a pretty thing, isn't it?

It only needed a tiny bit of mending,

belonged to my Sally.

Don't fidget, Sally, and don't slouch!

You have such lovely posture, Felicity,

you should give my Sally some lessons,

she's sorely in need of it, as we can see.

- Well, thank you all for such lovely gifts.

I'm sure my baby will thank you too,

when she's learned how to speak, that is.

- But mother, I thought you said that you were sure

it would be a boy.

- Yes, and now I'm sure it'll be a girl.

- Nonsense, Janet, how could you know either way?

- Oh, instinct, Hetty dear.

A mother always knows.

- Instinct?

I happen to know that, to date,

no scientist has discovered a means

for determining the gender of an unborn child.

- Well, that's because none of them are mothers.

(laughing)

- Well, now, boy or girl,

the baby will certainly be welcome.

- Indeed.

And Janet, if anyone deserves

to be mother of the year, it's you.

You've done more than your share.

- Well, Elvira, it's been a privilege.

Of course, no one who hasn't given birth

can understand the sacred bond

that exists between mother and child.

- Well, now surely, Janet,

a child who has been adopted into a family

can develop that bond.

- Oh, ladies, please.

All this hocus pocus about motherhood.

It's all highly overrated, in my estimation.

Being a mother surely has more to do with

nurturing a child,

educating it,

raising it to be a responsible adult

than merely giving birth.

- Merely giving birth?

Oh, Hetty, you couldn't hope to understand

the joy, the exquisite, all-engulfing emotion

of nature's most primal act.

Why, I can remember my firstborn.

- As I do, Janet.

- Oh yes, of course!

I'd nearly forgotten!

Why, my firstborn was almost your firstborn!

(laughing)

- What?!

- Oh, well, you see,

way back before Dr. Blaire,

there was a Dr. Sloane who was very progressive,

and he thought all women should give birth in hospitals.

- Silly man.

(laughing)

- Yes, and he insisted that all Avonlea mothers

give birth to their firstborn in the hospital,

which Clara and I did on the very same day!

- [Clara] At the very same hour!

- At the very same moment!

I to you, Felicity.

- [Clara] And I to my Sally.

- I knew we had the same birthday,

but I never knew about this.

- [Janet] And Clara and I shared adjoining rooms,

and I heard her through her labor just shrieking

to raise the rafters.

- And there was poor Dr. Sloane,

running from your room to my room and back again!

(shouting)

- Oh yes, and that confused nurse Pringle.

I had to talk to her twice

to make sure she didn't confuse our babies!

- [Clara] Isn't that the truth, Janet!

Poor woman still wasn't sure when we left

we had the right babies.

(laughing)

- How thrilling! - Almost like being sisters!

- Except I was born a King,

and you were born a Potts.

- How thrilling, indeed.

- [Clara] I wonder what ever became of nurse Pringle.

- [Janet] Heaven knows!

But I'm glad she won't be around for this delivery!

(playful music)

- Felix!

I thought of something!

- Switched your baby!

Oh, Sara!

What a low, mean, spiteful,

devious, cruel trick!

- It is good, isn't it?

- Yeah!

(scraping)

- Felicity, dear, I cleaned that stove yesterday.

- Well, some of us have higher standards

of cleanliness, mother.

(scraping)

- Well, I'm off.

- Off where, father?

- To Charlottetown on business.

- And to pick up the new crib.

It's been made by an expert craftsman.

- I tell you, my dear,

nothing is too good for this late arrival

to the King family.

- Come on, dear.

Let's see your father off.

- Oh, the buggy's ready for you, father.

- Oh, thank you, Felix.

Now, children, you're gonna take care of your mother.

I'll be back in two days time.

Unless there's a snow storm.

Janet, try not to overexert yourself.

Let Felicity take care of things.

Bye bye.

- Bye.

I'm just going to lie down for a while, Felicity.

- Let Felicity take care of things.

As if I don't take care of things

even at the best of times.

Mother simply doesn't care enough.

Can you imagine, I even saw a dust ball yesterday!

- I saw one too, under the bench.

- No, really?!

Look.

This letter must've fallen behind.

Mrs. Felicity King.

How odd.

I wonder whether it's meant for me or for mother.

I'll let mother open it first.

- No.

I mean.

It must be meant for you.

Otherwise, why would it be in your name?

- True.

And mother is resting.

Dear Mrs. King,

I was the nurse to Dr. Sloane

the day of your daughter's birth.

You see, it must be for mother.

- Keep on reading, Felicity.

Aren't you at all curious?

- I'm old now, close to meeting my maker,

and it is my dying wish to correct past wrongs.

I regret to tell you that I mistakenly

switched your baby with another woman's.

And by the time I realized what I had done,

it was too late.

(light music)

- I ask your forgiveness

for having given your real child

to Mrs. Clara Potts of Avonlea.

Yours sincerely, Nurse Pringle.

(light music)

- It can't be true!

I won't believe it!

This woman is clearly confused.

- Poor Felicity.

You were switched at birth

with Sally Potts.

- Don't, don't even say it!

I'll tell you it's not believable.

I won't even show the letter to mother.

Now, if you'll excuse me, Sara,

I have work to do.

(scraping)

- She didn't bite.

- Sara, take the advice of an old fisherman.

To land the biggest and plumpest trout takes patience.

They didn't get that big by being silly.

They circle around and around the hooks,

sometimes for hours!

You just gotta wait and keep dangling the bait.

Don't worry, Sara,

we'll just let on a little bit more line.

If I know Felicity, she'll bite.

(laughing)

- [Elvira] Those are the seven double A's.

- Well, I wonder which lucky mother

will have her photograph, a portrait on the coverage.

- Well, my Sally is such a dear,

she spent ages working on her essay for the contest.

She fairly exhausted herself,

thinking about ways to compliment me.

- Oh, my Felicity wouldn't let me read her essay!

She said it would make me blush at all the adjectives.

(laughing)

- Fuss and bother over nothing.

It's just a trick to sell more magazines, if you ask me.

Here's my order, Elvira.

I'll need it delivered, thank you.

- Of course, Hetty.

I hope this afternoon will be convenient.

- Poor Hetty, how unfortunate for you

that you are ineligible for the contest,

given the rules, of course.

- Not at all.

Don't need a magazine to tell me

what kind of a mother I am

to my niece.

- Well, surely you mean aunt, Hetty dear.

I mean, there's somewhat of a distinction.

Oh, unless, your scientists have come up

with something we haven't heard of.

(laughing)

- Just look at yourselves.

Clucking away like a bunch of hens

in a tight coop.

(laughing)

Do better to be home taking care of your children,

since that's what mothering is all about.

- Well, some people do speak their minds, don't they?

- Indeed, I'd like to.

If I had my way, there'd be a proper test for mothers.

In which case, I'm sure at least half of you'd fail.

(cooing)

(light music)

- What are you doing?

- Nothing.

(light music)

- What is it?

- Nothing.

- I didn't do anything, I promise!

I did all my chores, Felicity,

and some of Felix's too!

- Your nose!

- What's wrong with it?

- It doesn't look anything like mine!

- Is that bad?

- You look like each other!

- Is that good?

- No!

It's not, it's terrible!

- You know, I've never noticed it before,

but Felicity, you don't look like either of us!

Or mother and father, come to think of it.

(suspenseful music)

- Where are we going? - To Sally Potts!

- [Cecily] Do I have to do her chores too?

- I knew it, I knew it!

I knew she would take the bait!

(playful music)

Sara, Sara, come quick!

Oh, hello, Aunt Hetty. - Heaven's, Felix,

is it a fire?

- A fire, no!

A trout, a real hungry one!

Sara, our trout just swallowed the bait!

- I'll get my coat. - Trout?

What are you two up to, ice fishing?

Sara, Sara Stanley! - Come on!

It's time to reel in our catch.

- Trout.

(softly chuckles)

(light music)

- [Sally] Felicity, Cecily, what are you doing here?

- [Cecily] Felicity's acting very strangely, Sally.

- It is true.

Same eyes.

Same hair.

Same nose.

- She keeps talking about my nose.

- Sally, you left the kettle on the boil.

Oh, Felicity, Cecily.

Oh, do forgive my appearance.

Would you like to come in for tea?

The kettle's on the boil.

- Thank you, Mrs. Potts.

Another time, perhaps.

- Oh, indeed, Felicity dear.

You are always welcome.

(light music)

- She swallowed it.

Hook, line.

- [Both] And sinker!

- Sara, that was splendid!

I can't wait to see the look on Felicity's face

when you tell her it was all made up.

- Why tell her now?

The fun is just beginning!

(owl hooting) (eerie music)

- [Felix] No, Felicity!

- Same eyes. - Ive never noticed it before.

But you don't look like either of us!

- Same hair. - Or mother and father,

come to think of it! - That confused nurse Pringle,

running back and forth

to your room and my room.

- Same nose. - Felicity's acting

very strangely.

- Right here, right now,

and none of your lazy dawdling, missy!

(scraping)

Don't think your work stops here, missy!

You still have all the windows to wash

and a pile of ironing too.

Scrub, scrub harder!

You call this a clean floor?!

Do it again, and don't get your dress filthy!

It's your good one.

- This rag?!

- Who do you think you are to complain, a King?

- Yes, yes, I am!

My name is Felicity King!

My mother is Janet King!

And my father is Alex King!

- What's the matter?

Aren't you proud to be a Potts?

Give a smile to your own dear, sweet mother.

- [Felix] You mean, Felicity,

all these years you weren't my sister?

(screaming) (laughing)

- [Sara] I ask your forgiveness, Mrs. King,

for having given your real child to Mrs. Potts.

Poor Felicity, you were switched at birth with Sally Potts.

(echoing)

(clanking)

- Morning, dear, breakfast is almost ready.

- Mother.

I need to know.

You must tell me about how...

How I was born.

- How you were born?

Which part of the story do you want to know about?

- Everything.

Right from the very beginning.

- You mean,

when your father and I.

- Yes, I need to know.

- Well, Felicity.

Birth is...

Well, I mean, that is...

It all begins when a man and a woman...

Have you ever seen two doves in the spring?

When the sun, oh the sun

warms the sleeping land and the little crocuses

and the daffodils open up and bloom.

- Mother.

- Yes, dear.

- You said that when I was born,

the doctor was very busy,

and nurse Pringle got confused with the babies.

(sighs)

- Oh, that!

Well, Felicity, why didn't you tell me in the first place?

Yes, nurse Pringle was very confused.

And, well, I was little dazed, myself,

because I remember thinking

that I'd had a little blond baby,

and I was quite surprised

when they brought me in this little dark-haired baby,

but it was you, my own dear child.

- It must be true.

It must be true!

- Felicity?

- [Clara] Don't think your work stops here, missy.

You still have all the windows to wash

and a pile of ironing too.

Oh, Felicity!

- Hello, Mrs. Potts.

I'm sorry to call so early.

- Oh, not at all, my dear, do come in.

How pretty you look.

Look who's here to see you, Sally.

Sally, get up, show your manners.

- But you said I had to finish the floors!

- Don't talk back to your mother,

I'm sure Felicity doesn't talk back to hers.

I'm so pleased that you consider my Sally your friend.

She would do well to copy your manners and deportment.

You do your mother proud, my dear.

Stand up straight, girl, get the hair out of your eyes.

I'll just get changed, shall I?

I was not dressed for company.

Then we shall have a nice cup of tea.

- What do you want?

- Oh, Sally, I have terrible news.

I just didn't know who else to talk to.

And since it concerns you as well,

I just don't know what to think.

- You believe this letter?

- Well, even our mothers said

that there was confusion with the babies.

- Us, switched? - And now this is proof.

- I knew it!

I knew I wasn't meant to be a Potts.

- The only thing that we can do now

is we just keep it all a secret.

For the sake of everyone,

and just leave things the way that they are.

- All this time.

All this time, I've been a King!

- What?!

- She doesn't care about me, anyway.

Nothing I ever do is right.

She's never satisfied.

You know that essay I wrote for the contest?

I had to write all these nice things

that I said about her, just so that I could win.

- Where are you going?

- I'm going home.

Home to mother, my real mother.

Don't worry, Felicity,

she's always liked you better anyway!

- Who?

- Mrs. Potts, your mother.

(light music)

Goodbye, Miss Potts!

- Here we are, kettle's on the boil.

- I don't care!

I don't care if you are my real mother!

(knocking)

- Don't trouble yourself, mother, I'll get it.

Sally.

Won't you come in?

- It's like all my prayers have been answered.

I feel...

I feel as I've just been ushered

through the pearly gates.

- [Janet] Felix, dear, who is it?

- Mother!

- Mother?

- Good morning, Sally, have you come for eggs?

Cecily's just out gathering them now.

- Mrs. King?

I am...

You are...

I think you are my mother!

- Mother?

- [Sally] Mother.

- Mama? - Mother!

- Oh now, only two of you girls are mine.

- That's right.

But I'm not one of them.

- What?

Sally and I were switched at birth.

She's your real daughter.

I have the proof.

- [Janet] Oh, Felicity, where did you get such a notion?

(clanking)

- Do come in.

- Sally Potts, what in heaven's name are you up to?

- Sally King, not Potts, Sally King!

- It's not Sally's fault, Mrs. Potts.

It's the fault of nurse Pringle.

She switched us at birth.

It says so right here in this letter.

- [Clara] Let me see that, Felicity.

(light music)

- What?!

What's happened?!

Felicity?

(light music)

- I saw the doctor put my baby down on the table

next to your baby, then he turned away.

- Yes, and then nurse Pringle entered the room,

picked up my baby, and--

- Handed her to me?!

- It is possible.

Oh, dear lord, it is possible.

- [Clara] Janet, what are we to do?

- Sally, don't look at me like that.

- Sally Potts, would you so quickly

abandon your own mother?

That is, the one who raised you?

(sobbing)

- [Janet] There, there, Clara,

we don't know anything for sure.

- Aunt Janet, this has been all my fault.

- Oh, Sara dear, go home, this isn't the time,

and the rest of you, into the parlor!

- But I can explain it! - No, out!

Out, all of you children, out.

- But I! - Oh, please dear!

Mrs. Potts and I need to gather our thoughts.

(sobbing)

- I'll miss you, Felicity.

- Don't say that, Cecily!

I'm not going anywhere without you.

- But I don't wanna go to Mrs. Potts!

- Would you like to see the parlor, Sally?

- Oh, Sara.

Everything, my whole world.

It's all been taken from me.

I've lost my mother.

And what if I have to go and live with strangers?

- I had to once.

- Oh, Sara, I've been so unkind to you.

So heartless.

- Felicity, nothing in that letter was true.

- It's no use!

You're just saying that to try and make me feel better.

- The house was built by my grandfather,

your grandfather too, come to think of it.

- It's so big and spacious!

- We like it.

Would you like to see your room now?

- [Felicity] Felix!

- It's the first door on your right,

and don't forget to look at Felicity's dresses.

They're yours now too.

- [Felicity] Sally Potts, you stay out of my bedroom!

- [Sally] It's my room now.

- Felix, what are you doing?

- Revenge, revenge is sweet.

- This was my revenge, not yours.

- Who cares, it's too much fun!

- What have I done?

(humming)

- There you are, really, Sara?

Rushing off, leaving me with all the sheets.

- Aunt Hetty,

I've done a terrible thing.

- That sounds like an understatement.

Has it anything to do with a trout, by any chance?

- I wrote a letter that said Sally and Felicity

were switched at birth.

- Oh, Sara.

- And they both believe it.

And so does Aunt Janet.

And Mrs. Potts does too!

- They do, do they?

- Felicity and Sally made fun.

They said you didn't count as a mother,

that you were just an aunt.

I was upset.

I wanted to get back at them, and now.

- Oh, now, don't fret, child.

We'll soon set things right.

Tell you the truth, it'll be a pleasure to do so.

I'll get my coat.

(light music)

- One look at that first angelic smile, and we knew.

There was no other name for her but Felicity.

(sniffling)

- Sally said her first word at nine months.

She said, "Mama."

- Oh, Hetty, thank heaven's you've come.

- Sara's told me everything.

Go on, now fetch the others, child, go on.

Show me the letter.

- Nurse Pringle must be found and questioned.

I refuse to believe any of this

until we've had a full and proper investigation.

- Well, Janet.

It appears to me

that you and Clara will simply

have to exchange daughters, is all.

- [Both] What?!

- Hetty, this is madness!

I have not loved and raised a child all these years

simply to turn her over to a stranger.

- I'm not giving up my Sally.

- Oh, she's not your real child, Clara.

It says so right here.

- Well, I don't care what it says,

I am her mother whether I gave birth to her or not.

- Oh, what about the sacred bond of motherhood?

Didn't you both tell me that

that superseded all other ties.

- Oh no, Hetty!

Motherhood is not simply about giving birth.

- I see. - No, indeed it is not.

I have loved and nurtured that child.

Does that count for nothing?

- Oh, on the contrary.

It counts for a great deal, in my opinion.

And now, ladies.

- Mother!

Don't let them take me away from you!

- Sally, my own, my dearest.

I could never bear to be parted from you.

- You don't mean that, Mrs. Potts!

- Don't call me that!

I am your mother.

- Listen to me, all of you.

- Hello, everyone!

- Oh, Alex.

A tragedy.

It's nothing short of a tragedy.

- It's a what? - Don't let them take me

too, father! - Oh, attention, please!

Just let me explain.

- What is going on here?

- Felicity's gotta go.

She's not one of us.

- [Alex] Not one of us, what are you talking about, Felix?

- I've been so mean to you.

I'm always taking you for granted and criticizing you.

I just wish I could have a second chance.

- Oh, no one will part us, dear, you can believe that.

- Is no one gonna tell me what's going on here?

(muttering)

- Oh, quite simple, really, Alex.

At least, it started out that way.

Read it.

- Just as my mother did with me.

It's only, I've had disappointments in my life,

and I've wanted to spare you a life like mine.

- Oh, mother.

- There you see, that's how it started, but--

- Felicity is not our child?

- No one is taking her from me!

- I can explain!

- Sally stays with me.

Without her, I would die.

- Won't anyone let me explain?!

- But the letter! - I don't want to go.

- Mother, I want to stay with you!

- I wrote the letter!

- [Alex] You what?

- I wrote the letter!

- Sara!

Why?!

- I'm so sorry, Aunt Janet.

I know it was a dreadful thing to do.

- Sara Stanley, what a cruel and heartless child.

It will be very difficult to forgive you.

- Clara Potts, now don't you dare.

Has it occurred to no one here

that all this babble about mothers and daughters

might've been a painful reminder to our Sara?

I know it occurred to neither Sally, nor Felicity,

who apparently acted very cruelly toward her, indeed.

(light music)

(clanking)

- I brought your essay for the mother of the year contest.

Sara, I don't blame you.

I brought it upon myself.

But in a strange way,

I'm grateful.

There's still time to mail in your essay.

- There's no point, Felicity.

Aunt Hetty and I just don't qualify.

- Of course you do, Sara!

- I know, but not in a way

that anyone else would understand.

(banging)

- Thank you, Daniel, take your seat.

Everyone, now, be seated.

Good morning, children.

- [All] Good morning, Ms. King.

(light music)

- Sara, your bows were in the same drawer

they're always in, I don't know why

you couldn't find them.

Which one?

- There's no point.

I don't really feel like going.

- Sara, it will be fun.

You'll see, come on.

- No, it won't.

I'm not going.

- Sara.

- Aunt Hetty, would you mind if we didn't go?

- Why?

'Cause we have no chance of winning the contest?

- I wanted to tell people how I felt about you.

Just like the other girls.

- We don't need a contest to do that, child.

We know what we are to each other,

and that's what counts, isn't it?

I assure you, we've as much right to be there

as any other mother and daughter.

More, but they have no choice in the matter, you know.

But you and I,

we chose each other.

Besides, knowing how badly Sally Potts writes,

dear oh dear,

no doubt in my mind her mother won't win.

The pleasure of seeing Clara Potts lose.

(laughing)

It's too good to resist.

- [Olivia] Well, you two, are we going or not?

- We're going.

- Good!

(light music)

- Hetty!

Oh, Hetty, I'm so glad you decided to come.

- Oh, why wouldn't I come?

- Hetty,

you know, the confusion the other day.

Well, I was wondering.

If you knew that Sara wrote that letter,

why didn't you just come straight out and say so?

- Well, to be honest with you, Janet,

I wanted to--

- To make a point?

Well, rest assured, you made your point.

(light music)

- Isn't this exciting?

Sara, I've been meaning to thank you.

- Thank me?

- Ever since you played your prank,

my mother's been so nice to me.

We get along so well now.

She never nags me anymore.

Well, hardly ever.

And best of all, she hasn't mentioned Felicity's name once!

- Sally Potts, stand up straight!

Oh, look at you!

You've left a button undone,

what will I ever do with you?

- She means well. - Come along now, Sara.

Let's take our seats.

(light music)

- Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats,

and we'll be underway.

Ladies and gentlemen.

Mothers and daughters.

It gives me great pleasure,

as representative of Mother's Own Magazine,

to announce the winner of our mother of the year contest

for the Avonlea-Markdale area.

(applause)

We have received many essays

from young women in this area.

And ladies, they have done you proud.

Some of you would blush

at the glowing descriptions your daughters

have submitted to us.

One girl spoke of her mother's help with her homework.

Another spoke of her mother's making many dresses

and curling her hair.

But one essay in particular

struck a chord with the judges.

And I would like to read you an extract

from our winning essay.

I wake up in the morning, and she is there.

She is there as I close my eyes at night.

Her presence is a comfort, a beacon,

a rock I cling to when I am afraid.

She is my champion, my inspiration,

my guide.

A mother's love is unselfish, kind.

A mother's love is wise, full-hearted,

the deepest well.

And though she did not give me birth,

she loves me as a mother would.

We, the judges and I,

feel that this is perhaps the best description

of a mother that we have ever read.

Consequently, our mother of the year winner

is Ms. Hetty King.

(gasping)

(applause)

Would Ms. King please come forward to collect her prize?

(laughing)

- Sara, I realized that I was wrong,

so I mailed your essay for you.

- Felicity!

(gentle music)

(bird singing)

(light music)

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