Milly-Molly-Mandy Again Read online

  Contents

  1 Milly-Molly-Mandy Has a New Dress

  2 Milly-Molly-Mandy Finds a Train

  3 Milly-Molly-Mandy and the Surprise Plant

  4 Milly-Molly-Mandy and the Blacksmith’s Wedding

  5 Milly-Molly-Mandy and Dum-dum

  6 Milly-Molly-Mandy and the Gang

  7 Milly-Molly-Mandy Goes Sledging

  About the Author

  1

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Has a New Dress

  Once upon a time Milly-Molly-Mandy was playing hide-and-seek with Toby the dog.

  First Milly-Molly-Mandy threw a stone as far as she could, and then while Toby the dog was fetching it Milly-Molly-Mandy ran the other way and hid in among the gooseberry and currant bushes or behind the wall. And then Toby the dog came to look for her. He was so clever he always found her almost at once – even when she hid in the stable where Twinkletoes the pony lived (only he was out in the meadow eating grass now).

  She shut the lower half of the stable door and kept quite quiet, but Toby the dog barked and scratched outside, and wouldn’t go away till Milly-Molly-Mandy pushed open the door and came out.

  Then Toby the dog was so pleased to see her, and so pleased with himself for finding her, that he jumped up and down on his hind legs, pawing and scratching at her skirt.

  And suddenly – rrrrrip! – there was a great big tear all the way down the front of Milly-Molly-Mandy’s pink-and-white striped cotton frock.

  “Oh dear, oh dear!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Oh, Toby, just see what you’ve done now!”

  Then Toby the dog stopped jumping up and down, and he looked very sorry and ashamed of himself. So Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “All right, then! Poor Toby! You didn’t mean to do it. But whatever will Mother say? I’ll have to go and show her.”

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy, looking very solemn and holding her dress together with both hands, walked back through the barnyard where the cows were milked (only they, too, were out in the meadow eating grass now).

  Uncle was throwing big buckets of water over the floor of the cowshed, to wash it. “Now what have you been up to?” he asked, as Milly-Molly-Mandy, looking very solemn and holding her dress together with both hands, passed by.

  “I tore my dress playing with Toby, and I’m going to show Mother,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “Well, well,” said Uncle, sending another big bucketful of water swashing along over the brick floor. “Now you’ll catch it. Tell Mother to send you out to me if she wants you to get a good spanking. I’ll give you a proper one!”

  “Mother won’t let you spank me!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy (she knew Uncle was only joking). “But she won’t like having to mend such a great big tear, I expect. She mended this dress only a little while ago, and now it’s got to be done all over again. Come on, Toby.”

  So they went through the gate into the kitchen garden (where Father grew the vegetables) and in by the back door of the nice white cottage with the thatched roof where Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty and, of course, Milly-Molly-Mandy all lived together.

  “Now what’s the matter with little Millicent Margaret Amanda?” said Grandma, who was shelling peas for dinner, as Milly-Molly-Mandy came in, looking very solemn and holding her dress together with both hands.

  “I’m looking for Mother,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “She’s in the larder,” said Aunty, who was patching sheets with her machine at the kitchen table. “What have you been up to?”

  But Milly-Molly-Mandy went over to the door of the larder, where Mother was washing the shelves.

  “Mother,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, looking very solemn and holding her dress together with both hands, “I’m dreadfully sorry, but I was playing hide-and-seek with Toby, and we tore my dress. Badly.”

  “Dear, dear, now!” said Grandma.

  “Whatever next!” said Aunty.

  “Let me have a look,” said Mother. She put down her wash-cloth and came out into the kitchen.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy took her hands away and showed her frock, with the great big tear all down the front of it.

  Mother looked at it. And then she said:

  “Well, Milly-Molly-Mandy! That just about finishes that frock! But I was afraid it couldn’t last much longer when I mended it before.”

  And Grandma said, “She had really outgrown it.”

  And Aunty said, “It was very faded.”

  And Mother said, “You will have to have a new one.”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy was pleased to think that was all they said about it. (So was Toby the dog!)

  Mother said, “You can go out in the garden and tear it all you like now, Milly-Molly-Mandy. But don’t you go tearing anything else!”

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy and Toby the dog had a fine time tearing her old dress to ribbons, so that she looked as if she had been dancing in a furze bush, Grandpa said. And then Mother sent her upstairs to change into her better frock (which was pink-and-white striped, too).

  During dinner Mother said, “I’m going to take Milly-Molly-Mandy down to the village this afternoon, to buy her some stuff for a new dress.”

  Father said, “I suppose that means you want some more money.” And he took some out of his trousers’ pocket and handed it over to Mother.

  MILLY-MOLLY-MANDY SHOWED HER DRESS WITH THE TEAR ALL DOWN THE FRONT

  Grandma said, “What about getting her something that isn’t pink-and-white striped, just for a change?”

  Grandpa said, “Let’s have flowers instead of stripes this time.”

  Aunty said, “Something with daisies on would look nice.”

  Uncle said, “Oh, let’s go gay while we are about it, and have magenta roses and yellow sunflowers – eh, Milly-Molly-Mandy?”

  But Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “I don’t ’spect Miss Muggins keeps that sort of stuff in her shop, so then I can’t have it!”

  After dinner Milly-Molly-Mandy helped Mother to wash up the plates and things, and then Mother changed her dress, and they put on their hats, and Mother took her handbag, and they went together down the road with the hedges each side towards the village.

  They passed the Moggs’ cottage, where little-friend-Susan lived. Little-friend-Susan was helping her baby sister to make mud pies on the step.

  “Hullo, Susan,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “We’re going to buy me some different new dress stuff at Miss Muggins’ shop, because I tore my other one!”

  “Are you? How nice! What colour are you going to have this time?” asked little-friend-Susan.

  “We don’t know yet, but it will be something quite different,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  They passed the forge, where Mr Rudge the Blacksmith and his new boy were making a big fire over an iron hoop which, when it was red-hot, they were going to fit round a broken cart-wheel to mend it. Milly-Molly-Mandy wanted to stay and watch, but Mother said she hadn’t time.

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy just called out to Mr Rudge, “We’re going to buy some different-coloured dress stuff, because I tore my other one!”

  And Mr Rudge stopped to wipe his hot face on his torn shirt sleeve, and said, “Well, if they’d buy us different-coloured shirts every time we tear ours, you’d see us going about like a couple of rainbows! Eh, Reginald?”

  And the new boy grinned as he piled more brushwood on the fire. (He’d got a tear in his shirt too.)

  They passed Mr Blunt’s corn-shop, where Billy Blunt was polishing up his new second-hand bicycle, which his father had just given him, on the pavement outside.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy and Mother stopped a minute to admire its shininess (which was almost like new). And then Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “We’re going to buy me some diffe
rent-coloured dress stuff, because I tore my other!”

  But Billy Blunt wasn’t very interested (he was just testing his front brake).

  Then they came to Miss Muggins’ shop.

  And just as they got up to the door so did two other people, coming from the other way. One was an old lady in a black cloak and bonnet, and one was a little girl in a faded flowered dress, with a ribbon round her hair. Mother pushed open the shop door for the old lady and set the little bell jangling above, and they all went in together, so that the shop seemed quite full of people, with Miss Muggins behind the counter too.

  Miss Muggins didn’t know quite whom to serve first. She looked towards the old lady, and the old lady looked towards Mother, and Mother said, “No, you first.”

  So then the old lady said, “I would like to see something for a dress for a little girl, if you please – something light and summery.”

  And Mother said, “That is exactly what I am wanting, too.’

  So then Miss Muggins brought out the different stuffs from her shelves for both her customers to choose from together.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy looked at the little girl. She thought she had seen her before. Surely it was the new little girl who had lately come to Milly-Molly-Mandy’s school. Only she was in the “baby class”, so they hadn’t talked together yet.

  The little girl looked at Milly-Molly-Mandy. And presently she pulled at the old lady’s arm and whispered something, whereupon the old lady turned and smiled at Milly-Molly-Mandy, so Milly-Molly-Mandy smiled back.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy whispered up at Mother (looking at the little girl). “She comes to our school!”

  So then Mother smiled at the little girl. And the old lady and Mother began to talk together as they looked at Miss Muggins’ stuffs. And Milly-Molly-Mandy and the little girl began to talk too, as they waited.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy found out that the little girl was called Bunchy, and the old lady was her grandmother, and they lived together in a little cottage quite a long way from the school and the crossroads, in the other direction from Milly-Molly-Mandy’s.

  Bunchy hadn’t come to school before because she couldn’t walk so far. But now she was bigger, and Granny walked with her half the way and she ran the rest by herself. She liked coming to school, but she had never played with other little girls and boys before, and it all felt very strange and rather frightening. So then Milly-Molly-Mandy said they should look out for each other at school next Monday, and play together during play-time. And she told her about little-friend-Susan, and Billy Blunt, and Miss Muggins’ Jilly, and other friends at school.

  Then Mother said to Miss Muggins, “And this is all you have in the way of printed cottons? Well, now, I wonder, Milly-Molly-Mandy.”

  And Bunchy’s Grandmother said, “Look here, Bunchy, my dear.”

  So they both went up to the counter.

  There was a light blue silky stuff which Mother and Bunchy’s Grandmother said was “not serviceable”. And a stuff with scarlet poppies and corn-flowers all over it which they said was “not suitable”. And there was a green chintz stuff which they said was too thick. And a yellow muslin which they said was too thin. And there was a stuff with little bunches of daisies and forget-me-nots on it. And a big roll of pink-and-white striped cotton.

  And there was nothing more (except flannelette or bolton-sheeting and that sort of thing, which wouldn’t do at all).

  Milly-Molly-Mandy thought the one with daisies and forget-me-nots was much the prettiest. So did Bunchy. Milly-Molly-Mandy thought a dress of that would be a very nice change.

  But Miss Muggins said, “I’m afraid I have only this short length left, and I don’t know when I shall be having any more in.”

  So Mother and Bunchy’s Grandmother spread it out, and there was really only just enough to make one little frock. Bunchy’s Grandmother turned to look at the pink-and-white striped stuff.

  Bunchy said, “That’s Milly-Molly-Mandy’s stuff, isn’t it? It’s just like the dress she has on.”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “Do you always have flowers on your dresses?”

  “Yes,” said Bunchy, “because of my name, you know. I’m Violet Rosemary May, but Granny calls me Bunchy for short.”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy said to Mother, “She ought to have that stuff with the bunches of flowers on, oughtn’t she? The striped one wouldn’t really suit her so well as me, would it?”

  Mother said, “Well, Milly-Molly-Mandy, we do know this striped stuff suits you all right, and it washes and wears well. I’m afraid that blue silky stuff doesn’t look as if it would wash, and the yellow muslin wouldn’t wear. So perhaps you’d better have the same again. I’ll take two yards of this striped, please, Miss Muggins.”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy looked once more at the flowery stuff, and she said, “It is pretty, isn’t it! But if Bunchy comes to school I can see it on her, can’t I?”

  Bunchy’s Grandmother said, “It would be very nice if you could come and see it on Bunchy at home too! If Mother would bring you to tea one Saturday, if you don’t mind rather a walk, you could play in the garden with Bunchy, and I’m sure we should both be very pleased indeed, shouldn’t we, Bunchy?”

  Bunchy said, “Yes! We should!”

  Mother said, “Thank you very much. We should like to come” – though she had not much time for going out to tea as a rule, but she was sure Aunty would get tea for them all at home for once.

  So it was settled for them to go next Saturday, and the little girl called Bunchy was very pleased indeed about it, and so was Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  Then Miss Muggins handed over the counter the two parcels, and Milly-Molly-Mandy and Bunchy each carried her own dress stuff home.

  And when Milly-Molly-Mandy opened her parcel to show Father and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty what had been bought for her new dress after all, there was a beautiful shiny red ribbon there too, which Mother had bought to tie round Milly-Molly-Mandy’s hair when she wore the new dress. So that would make quite a nice change, anyhow.

  And as little-friend-Susan said, if Milly-Molly-Mandy didn’t wear her pink-and-white stripes people might not know her at once.

  And that would be a pity!

  2

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Finds a Train

  Once upon a time Milly-Molly-Mandy was playing with Billy Blunt down by the little brook (which, you know, ran through the fields at the back of the nice white cottage with the thatched roof where Milly-Molly-Mandy lived).

  They had got their shoes and socks off, and were paddling about in the water, and poking about among the stones and moss, and enjoying themselves very much. Only it was so interesting just about where their feet were that they might have missed seeing something else interesting, a little farther off, if a woodpecker hadn’t suddenly started pecking in an old tree near by, and made Billy Blunt look up.

  He didn’t see the woodpecker, but he did see the something else.

  “I say – what’s that, there?” said Billy Blunt, standing up and staring.

  “What’s what, where?” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, standing up and staring too.

  “There,” said Billy Blunt, pointing.

  And Milly-Molly-Mandy looked there.

  And she saw, in the meadow on the farther side of the brook, what looked like a railway train. Only there was no railway near the meadow.

  “It looks like a train,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “Um-m,” said Billy Blunt.

  “But how did it get there?” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “Must have been pulled there,” said Billy Blunt.

  “But what for? Who put it there? When did it come?” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  Billy Blunt didn’t answer. He splashed back to get his boots and socks, and he splashed across the brook with them, and sat on the grass on the other side, and began to dab his feet with his handkerchief. So Milly-Molly-Mandy splashed across with her shoes and began to put them on too. And with her toes scrunched up in the shoes (beca
use they were still damp and wouldn’t straighten out at first) she ran and hopped after Billy Blunt, up the little bank and across the grass to the train.

  They walked all round it, staring hard. It hadn’t got an engine, or a guard’s van. It was just a railway carriage, and it stood with its big iron wheels in the grass, looking odd and out-of-place among the daisies and buttercups.

  “It’s like a funny sort of house,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, climbing up to peep in the windows. “I wish we could play in it. Look – that could be the kitchen, and that’s the sitting-room, and that’s the bedroom. I wish we could get in!”

  It had several doors either side, each with a big 3 painted on. Billy Blunt tried the handles in turn. They all seemed to be locked. But the last one wasn’t! It opened heavily, and they could get into one compartment.

  “It’s old,” said Billy Blunt, looking about. “I expect they’ve thrown it away.”

  THEY WALKED ALL ROUND IT, STARING HARD

  “What a waste!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Well, it’s ours now. We found it. We can live in it, and go on journeys!”

  It was very exciting. They shut the door and they opened the windows. And then they sat down on the two wooden seats, and pretended they were going away for a holiday. When they stood up, or walked to the windows to look out, it was difficult to do it steadily, because the train rushed along so fast! Once it let out a great long whistle, so that Milly-Molly-Mandy jumped; and Billy Blunt grinned and did it again.

  “We are just going through a station,” he explained.

  The next moment Milly-Molly-Mandy nearly fell over and knocked Billy Blunt.

  “We’ve stopped suddenly – the signal must be up,” she explained. So they each hung out of a window to look. “Now it’s down and we’re going on again,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “We’re going into a tunnel now,” said Billy Blunt, pulling up his window by the strap. So Milly-Molly-Mandy pulled up hers – to keep the smoke out!