It has recently been raining, but to the narrator's surprise, the Princess is outside. She's playing in the mud, and the narrator asks what she likes to do in the mud. She replies that she likes making mud castles, playing with Scruff in the mud, and throwing mud pies. She keeps playing, when a worm pops up, repulsing her.
She tells the Prime Minister, who comes over with her, bringing a trash bin lid to use as a shield and a broom to fight the creature with. When he sees the worm, he insists that it's a normal, mundane creature but the Princess is still grossed out and insists on finding a new place to play.
The two start throwing mud at each other, when the Maid comes up and chews the Princess out, so they try to find another new place to play. They finally think they've found the perfect place, but then another worm shows up. The Princess runs to the Gardener and asks him where there is mud but no worms, but he tells her that worms are everywhere.
Frustrated, she goes in for lunch and is served spaghetti, but loses her appetite because it reminds her of the worms. She tries to brush her teeth because she's repulsed by the idea of a worm-shaped object in her mouth, but the blob of toothpaste comes out worm-shaped too.
Some time later, the Princess is in a bad mood, because she wants to play in the mud like the Prime Minister and Scruff are doing, but doesn't want to see worms. The Gardener then calls her down to show her a worm. He explains that worms move the way they do because it's a requirement of living in the mud, and that their chewing of mud raises its quality.
The Princess is no longer disgusted by the worms' appearance, but is still a little grossed out by the idea of touching them, so she puts on oven mitts, Wellington boots, and an apron to go and play in the mud. This works out fine until her boot gets stuck. She sees a worm, but starts to warm up to the idea of touching them, and gives it a cautious touch. She then decides that worms are kind of funny and cute despite their weird wriggling.
At dinner that night, the Princess brings a bunch of worms in and decides to keep them as pets.
This episode provides examples of
- Artistic License – Biology: The worms have eyes, even though real worms don't.
- Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: The Princess tries to get her mind off the worms, but then finds spaghetti and a worm-shaped blob of toothpaste.
- Continuity Nod: The Princess puts on Wellington boots, oven mitts, and an apron to protect herself from getting something gross on her, just like she did in "I Don't Want a Bath".
- Filthy Fun: The Princess, the Prime Minister, and Scruff play in the mud a lot in this episode.
- Fully-Clothed Nudity: When the Gardener sees the General in his underwear, the latter freaks out and covers his crotch, even though he's not only all covered up, he's wearing a union suit.
- Leitmotif: A little tune plays whenever the worms, or worm-shaped items, move.
- Put Off Their Food: The Princess is put off her spaghetti because it reminds her of worms.
- Running Gag: A running gag in this episode is Puss's head getting dirty from mud or toothpaste and him trying to clean himself.
- Slipping into Stink: The Princess and Prime Minister end up falling backwards into the mud, but they don't mind because they were playing in the mud anyway.
- Squick: In-Universe, the reason the Princess hates worms is because they gross her out.Princes: "But they make me feel... blurgh!"
- Title Drop: The Princess yells the episode title in frustration after discovering the second worm.
- Ugly Cute: In-Universe, the Princess ends up thinking that worms are kind of cute despite their slightly gross appearances.
