Milly-Molly-Mandy’s Summer Read online

  Contents

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Gets Up Early

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Makes a Garden

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Finds a Nest

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Goes for a Picnic

  Milly-Molly-Mandy On Bank Holiday

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Finds a Train

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Gets Up Early

  Once upon a time, one beautiful summer morning, Milly-Molly-Mandy woke up very early.

  She knew it was very early, because Father and Mother were not moving (Milly-Molly-Mandy’s cot-bed was in one corner of Father’s and Mother’s room). And she knew it was a beautiful summer morning, because the cracks around the window-blinds were so bright she could hardly look at them.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy (whose full name was really Millicent Margaret Amanda) knelt up on the foot of her cot-bed and softly lifted one corner of the blind, and peeped out.

  And it was the most beautiful, quiet summer morning that ever was.

  The doves in the dove-cote were saying “Coo-roo-o-o!” to each other, in a soft, lazy sort of way; and the hens round the hen-house in the field were saying “Ker-ruk-ruk!” to each other, in a soft, busy sort of way; and Old Marmaduke the cock was yelling “Doodle-doo!” to everybody, at the top of his voice, only it sounded soft because he was right the other side of the barn.

  “Well!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy to herself. “It’s much too beautiful a morning to stay in bed till breakfast-time. I think I’ll get up very, very quietly, so’s not to wake Father and Mother.”

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy slid out of bed very, very quietly, and she slid into her socks, and into her clothes as far as her petticoat.

  And then she crept to the wash-stand, but she didn’t think she could manage the big water-jug without waking Father and Mother. So she took up her shoes and her pink-striped cotton frock, and she creepy-crept to the door and opened it, only making just one tiny little click.

  And then she creepy-crept down the stairs, without disturbing Grandpa or Grandma or Uncle or Aunty, into the kitchen.

  It looked funny and dark in the kitchen, for the curtains were still drawn. Topsy the cat jumped off Grandma’s chair and came yawning and stretching to meet her, and Milly-Molly-Mandy had to stoop down and let Topsy the cat dab her little cold nose very, very lightly against her warm cheek, for “Good morning”.

  And then Milly-Molly-Mandy went into the scullery to wash.

  But when she turned on the tap she suddenly thought of the brook at the bottom of the meadow. So she just washed her hands and neck and saved her face to wash in the brook. And then she put on her frock and shoes and softly unlocked the back door, and slipped outside.

  It really was a most beautiful fresh morning, full of little bird-voices; and Toby the dog was making little thumping noises in his kennel, because he had heard her and was excited to think somebody was up.

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy ran and let him off the chain, but she held his collar and whispered, “Hush, Toby! Hush, Toby!” very sternly, until they got as far as the meadow.

  Then she let him go, and Toby the dog barked and capered, and Milly-Molly-Mandy, with the breeze in her hair, ran hoppity-skip down to the brook through the long grass and dewdrops that sparkled all colours in the sun.

  The water looked so lovely and clear and cold, rippling over the stones, that Milly-Molly-Mandy couldn’t decide all at once which was the nicest spot to wash her face in. So she was walking along beside it a little way, when suddenly whom should she see in the next field but little-friend-Susan, up early too.

  “Su-san!” called Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “Milly-Molly-Mandy!” called little-friend-Susan. “There’re mushrooms in this field!”

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy and Toby the dog ran and clambered through the railings into the next field. And there were mushrooms in that field, for Milly-Molly-Mandy nearly trod on one straight away. Only she just didn’t – she picked it and ran to show it to little-friend-Susan and say, “Fancy you being up so early, Susan!” And little-friend-Susan ran to show Milly-Molly-Mandy her three mushrooms and say, “Fancy you being up so early, Milly-Molly-Mandy!”

  Then they searched all over the field together, but they didn’t find any more mushrooms. And then they came to another field, and suddenly whom should they see in the middle of the other field but Billy Blunt, up early too.

  “Bil-ly!” called Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “Mushrooms!” called Billy Blunt.

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan and Toby the dog ran and clambered over the stile into the other field, and went to show Billy Blunt their mushrooms and say, “Fancy you being up so early, Billy!” And Billy Blunt came to show them his two mushrooms and say, “Fancy anybody stopping in bed!”

  “There’re mushrooms in this field!”

  And then they found quite a lot of mushrooms growing together in one patch, and they all gave a gasp and a shout and set to work picking in great excitement.

  When they had finished gathering whom should they see coming into the field with a basket over his arm but a shabby boy who had run in a race with Billy Blunt at a fête last Bank Holiday (and beaten him!).

  He seemed to be looking for mushrooms too; and as he came near Milly-Molly-Mandy smiled at him a bit, and he smiled a bit back. And little-friend-Susan said, “Hullo!” and he said, “Hullo!” And Billy Blunt said, “Plenty of mushrooms here.” And the boy said, “Are there?”

  Then Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “Look what we’ve got!” And the boy looked.

  And then little-friend-Susan said, “How many’ve you got?” And the boy showed his basket, but there weren’t many in it.

  And then Billy Blunt said, “What are you going to do with them?”

  And the boy said, “Sell them to Mr Smale the Grocer, if I can get enough. If not, we eat them, my grandad and I. Only we’d rather have the money.”

  Then Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “Let’s help to get the basket full!”

  So they spread about over the field and looked everywhere for mushrooms, and they really got quite a lot; but the basket wasn’t full. Then Billy Blunt and Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan looked questioningly at each other and at their own heap of mushrooms, and then they nodded to each other and piled them all into the basket.

  “My word!” said the boy, with a beaming face. “Won’t Grandad be pleased today!” Then he thanked them all very much and said good-bye and went off home.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan and Billy Blunt felt very satisfied with their morning’s work. They had enjoyed it so much that they made plans to get up early another morning and go mushrooming together, with baskets – for themselves, this time.

  And then they all said “Good-bye” till they should meet again for school, and Milly-Molly-Mandy called Toby the dog, and they went off home to their breakfast.

  And it wasn’t until she got in that Milly-Molly-Mandy remembered she had never washed her face in the brook after all, and she had to go up and do it in a basin in the ordinary way!

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Makes a Garden

  Once upon a time Milly-Molly-Mandy was very excited.

  There was to be a grand Flower and Vegetable Show in the village in a month’s time (the posters telling about it were stuck on the back of the forge); and besides prizes being given for all the usual things – such as the finest potatoes and strawberries and garden flowers, and the best home-made jams and pickles – there were also to be prizes for the prettiest posy of wild flowers, and the best miniature garden (grown in a bowl).

  “Ooh!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy to little-friend-Susan (they were reading the poster together after morning school); “I wonder!”

  “What!
” said little-friend-Susan.

  “I wonder,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, “if I shall grow a little garden in a bowl, and send it to the Flower Show!”

  “Oh, could you?” said little-friend-Susan. “And do you suppose I could make a posy and send it in too? Wouldn’t it be lovely to win a prize?”

  “I don’t suppose we could,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, “but it would be such fun to try. I’m going to ask Mother.”

  So when Milly-Molly-Mandy got home she asked if she might make a little garden and send it to the Flower Show. And Mother said, “If you can make it nicely enough you may, Milly-Molly-Mandy. Father is going to send in some of his best gooseberries, and I am going to send some pots of jam and pickles; so we shall make a good showing, all together!”

  Then Mother got out a brown pottery pie-dish from the kitchen cupboard and asked Milly-Molly-Mandy if she thought that would do to grow her garden in; and after Milly-Molly-Mandy had considered it well she thought it would. She put some broken bits of flower pot at the bottom (to help to drain off the wet), and then she filled the dish with the brownest, softest earth she could find. And then she had to think what to plant in her garden so that it would look just like a real big one, if it weren’t so very little!

  It took a lot of thinking.

  After school Milly-Molly-Mandy told Billy Blunt about the Flower Show in case he hadn’t about it; but he said he had.

  “Are you going to go in for any of the prizes?” asked Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “Huh!” was all Billy Blunt said; but Milly-Molly-Mandy knew he was!

  “Which one?” she asked. And Billy Blunt took her into the old cycle-shed beside the corn-shop and showed her – a fine new red earthenware bowl filled with soft brown earth!

  Showed her a fine new red earthenware bowl

  “Billy!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Fancy your going in for that one! So am I! And we can’t both win the prize.”

  “Don’t suppose either of us will,” said Billy Blunt, “but I mean to have a good try.”

  “So do I,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “And the best one wins,” said Billy Blunt.

  The next day Milly-Molly-Mandy set the first plant in her garden. It was a tiny little holly-tree which she had found growing almost in the path under the big holly-tree by the hedge. (It had grown from one of the fallen berries.) Milly-Molly-Mandy knew it would only be trodden on if left there, so she carefully dug it up and planted it in the soft brown earth in her bowl.

  Next she went poking about down by the brook, and she found some nice moss-grown bits of rotten wood; one bit looked just like a little green mossy cave, so she took it home and put it in the bowl by the holly-tree; and then she planted some grass and a daisy root in the rest of the space, and it really looked quite a pretty garden. It grew so nicely, and the baby holly-tree opened out its new little leaves as if it felt quite at home there.

  Billy Blunt wouldn’t let anyone see his garden until he had got it arranged to his liking. And then one day he said Milly-Molly-Mandy might have a look if she liked. And he fetched it down from his bedroom to show her.

  And it was pretty!

  There was more room in Billy Blunt’s bowl, and he had made it like a rock garden with rough-looking little stones; and a small sycamore-tree was growing between them in one place, and a wee sage-bush in another; and little tiny plants – scarlet pimpernels, and rock-roses, and lady’s bedstraw – sprouted here and there. Milly-Molly-Mandy did like it.

  “Oh, Billy!” she said, “yours is much prettier than mine! Except that yours hasn’t got a cave in it. You’ll get the prize.”

  But when Billy Blunt saw the mossy cave in Milly-Molly-Mandy’s garden he wasn’t so sure.

  The day of the Flower Show drew near. It was to be held in the village Institute on the Saturday, and everybody who was going to send in (and nearly everybody was) was feeling very busy and important. Mr Jakes the Postman had some fine gooseberries and red-currants which he meant to enter, and little-friend-Susan said her father and Mrs Green were going to show lots of flowers and vegetables from the garden at the Big House with the iron railings (Mr Moggs was gardener at Mrs Green’s), and Mrs Green was making a miniature garden too.

  And then, just the very day before the Show (which, of course, was sending-in day), what do you think happened?

  Billy Blunt’s little sycamore-tree lost all its leaves!

  Either he hadn’t managed to get all its roots when he dug it up or else it had been left too long in the hot sun, without much earth to grow in; anyhow, when he came back from school there it was, with its leaves all curled up and spoiled.

  Billy Blunt was dreadfully disappointed, and so was Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “Whole thing’s done for now,” said Billy Blunt; “it’s nothing without that tree.”

  “Can’t we find another one somewhere?” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Let’s look!”

  “I looked everywhere before I found that one,” said Billy Blunt. “Besides, there isn’t any time to look. It’s got to go in. Only it’s no good sending it now.”

  “Oh, Billy!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. She was as disappointed as he was. “It won’t be any fun sending mine in now. It wouldn’t seem fair if I did get a prize. But I don’t expect I’ll get one anyhow – Susan says Mrs Green is sending in a garden.”

  “Hers won’t have a cave in it,” said Billy Blunt.

  And then, suddenly, Milly-Molly-Mandy had an idea.

  “I tell you what! Couldn’t we make one beautiful garden between us and send it in together? Why not? Your big bowl and garden, with my tree and the mossy cave? Couldn’t we?”

  Billy Blunt was very doubtful. “I don’t know that we could send in together,” he said slowly.

  “Why couldn’t we? Mr Moggs and Mrs Green at the Big House do,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “I’ll go and fetch my garden and we’ll see how it would look!”

  So she ran all the way home to the nice white cottage with the thatched roof and fetched her little garden; and then she walked carefully with it all the way back. And what do you think she found Billy Blunt doing? He was writing a label to see how it would look for the Flower Show: “Sent in by Billy Blunt and Milly-Molly-Mandy.”

  “Looks quite businesslike,” he said. “Did you fetch your tree?”

  The little garden in the pottery dish looked so pretty it almost seemed a pity to spoil it, but Milly-Molly-Mandy insisted. So together they took out the little holly-tree and planted it in place of the sycamore-tree; and then they arranged the mossy bit of wood at one side of the bowl; and it looked so real you almost felt as if you could live in the little green cave, and go clambering on the rocks, or climb the tree, if you wished!

  “Well!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, sitting back on her heels, “it just couldn’t be prettier!”

  “Umm!” said Billy Blunt, looking very satisfied. “It’s prettier than either of them was before. Let’s take it in now.”

  So they walked across to the Institute and handed in the precious miniature garden, with the sixpence entrance fee between them.

  It was so hard to wait till the next day! But on Saturday, as soon as the judges had decided which things had won prizes, the Flower Show was opened and the shilling people could go in. Most people waited till the afternoon, when it cost only sixpence; Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty and Milly-Molly-Mandy (who was half-price) went then.

  The place was filled with people and lovely smells of flowers and strawberries, and there was a great noise of people talking and exclaiming, and cups clattering somewhere at the back, and the village band was tuning up.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy could not see Billy Blunt or the miniature gardens; but Father’s gooseberries had got first prize, and his basket of vegetables second prize (Mr Moggs’s got the first), and Mother had first prize for her jam, but nothing for her marrow-chutney (Mrs Critch, the Thatcher’s wife, won that). Little-friend-Susan was there, skipping up and down gleefully bec
ause her wild posy had won a third prize.

  And then Milly-Molly-Mandy saw Billy Blunt. He was grinning all over his face!

  “Seen the gardens?” he said. “Come on. This way.” And he pulled her through the crowd to a table at the farther end, where were arranged several miniature gardens of all sorts and sizes, some of them very pretty ones indeed.

  But right in the middle, raised up by itself, was the prettiest one of all; and it was labelled:

  “FIRST PRIZE. Sent in by Billy Blunt and Milly-Molly-Mandy”!

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Finds a Nest

  Once upon a time, one warm summer morning, Uncle came quickly in at the back door of the nice white cottage with the thatched roof and shouted from the kitchen, “Milly-Molly-Mandy!”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy, who was just coming downstairs carrying a big bundle of washing for Mother, called back, “Yes, Uncle?”

  “Hi! quick!” said Uncle, and went outside the back door again.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy couldn’t think what Uncle wanted with her, but it had such an exciting sound she dropped the big bundle on the stairs in a hurry and ran down to the passage. But when she got to the passage she thought she ought not to leave the big bundle on the stairs, lest someone trip over it in the shadow; so she ran back again in a hurry and fetched the big bundle down, and ran along to the kitchen with it. But she was in such a hurry she dropped some things out of the big bundle and had to run back again and pick them up.

  But at last she got them all on to the kitchen table, and then she ran out of the back door and said, “Yes, Uncle? What is it, Uncle?”

  Uncle was just going through the meadow gate, with some boards under one arm and the tool-box on the other. He beckoned to Milly-Molly-Mandy with his head (which was the only thing he had loose to do it with), so Milly-Molly-Mandy ran after him down the garden path to the meadow.