Further Doings of Milly-Molly-Mandy Read online

  As she passed the duck-pond she saw Billy Blunt hanging over the rail to see if he could see a tiddler.

  And Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “Hullo, Billy? What do you think? Jilly’s got a new bicycle!” And Billy Blunt said, “I know. I’ve seen it.”

  “I wish we had bicycles, don’t you?” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “I have got one,” said Billy Blunt surprisingly.

  “You haven’t!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “I’ve got two, if I wanted ’em,” said Billy Blunt.

  “Where are they?” asked Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “In our shed,” said Billy Blunt.

  “I don’t believe it!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “You’re only funning. Because you’d ride them if you had them—only you wouldn’t have two, anyhow!”

  But Billy Blunt only grinned; and Milly-Molly-Mandy walked on homeward.

  As she passed the Moggs’ cottage she saw little-friend-Susan on the other side of the wall playing with her baby sister. And Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “Hullo, Susan? What do you think? Jilly’s got a new bicycle!”

  “Oh!” said little-friend-Susan, “I wish we’d got bicycles.”

  And Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “I wish we could ride, anyhow – then p’r’aps Jilly would let us have a tiny little ride on hers.” And then Milly-Molly-Mandy walked on home to the nice white cottage with the thatched roof and gave Mother her basket of groceries.

  A few days later, coming home from school in the afternoon (Miss Muggins’ Jilly had just gone in at Miss Muggins’ side door, which they passed first), Billy Blunt stopped as he was going in at the little white gate by the corn-shop, and said to Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan, “Want to see something?”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan of course said “Yes!” at once.

  And Billy Blunt said, “Come on and see!”

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan went with him through the little white gate into the Blunts’ garden.

  “What is it?” asked Milly-Molly-Mandy. But Billy Blunt only led the way to the old shed at the farther end. “Oh, I know!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, with a sudden guess. “It’s your old bicycles – but I don’t believe it!”

  Billy Blunt solemnly undid the rickety door of the shed and pulled it open. “There you are, Miss!” he said, grinning triumphantly. “Now you can just unsay what you said.”

  And there in the dusty, mouldy-smelling shed, among a lot of boxes and bottles and paint-tins and other lumber, stood two old bicycles leaning against the wall.

  They were covered all over with rust and cobwebs, and their tyres were falling off in rags.

  “Oh-h-h!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan together, pushing in closer to look.

  “They aren’t any good,” said little-friend-Susan disappointedly.

  “Oh, wait! They might be! Can’t we make them be?” cried Milly-Molly-Mandy excitedly.

  Billy Blunt wheeled one of the bicycles out – only it wouldn’t wheel because the wheels were all rusty. Milly-Molly-Mandy pulled the other one out; it was a lady’s bike, and just a bit smaller (and it did make her hands dirty!).

  “Oh, Billy!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, “if we could only make the wheels go round you could learn on that one and we could learn on this one. What fun!”

  And little-friend-Susan said, “Oh, we never could, but let’s try!” and she pulled a whole mass of cobwebs off the spokes, and jumped as a big black spider ran away.

  Billy Blunt put his cap and school satchel down on the grass, and started poking and scraping with a bit of stick to loosen the rust. And then the others started working the wheels backward and forward to make them turn. And they pulled off the ragged tyres in strips, and rubbed at the rust with bunches of grass; and they DID get dirty, all red rusty dirt! (But they enjoyed it!)

  They forgot all about tea till Mrs Blunt called Billy Blunt in; then Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan ran off to their homes, promising to come back directly after.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy ate her tea as quickly as she could, talking about bicycles all the time; and Mother made her take an old overall to put on, and gave her a bundle of rags with which to rub the rust and dust off. And then she ran down the road to little-friend-Susan’s, and the two of them ran along together back to the Blunts’ garden.

  Billy Blunt was already hard at work again with an old kitchen knife and an oil-can, and he had got one wheel to go round quite nicely. They were pleased!

  Then the three had a real set-to, scraping and rubbing and oiling (and chattering) until it got quite dusk, and Mrs Blunt came out and said they must run along home to bed now.

  The next day, after school, they wheeled the two bikes (making such a rattle!) on to the waste ground at the back of Mr Blunt’s corn-shop, where the grass was nice and soft for falling on (or at any rate softer than the road!). And there they started to practise cycling – Billy Blunt on the gentleman’s bicycle, and Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan taking turns riding and holding each other up on the lady’s bicycle. (Mr Blunt had hammered the saddles down for them as low as they would go.)

  It was fun!

  And what a rattling, scraping, creaking noise they did make, to be sure, over the grass! And how they did keep on toppling over sideways, and calling to each other to hold them up, and falling with a crash among the buttercups! And how they did scratch and scrape and bump themselves! And HOW they did enjoy it all!

  By the end of the evening Billy Blunt could ride half as far as the tree before he fell off, and Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan could do nearly as well (but of course they had to take turns, which made them a bit slower).

  Milly-Molly-Mandy could hardly wait for the night to go, she was so keen to get back to her riding!

  It was Saturday, next day, so they were able to spend nearly all day in the field, rattling and bumping round over the tufty grass and the molehills. And presently they started riding up and down the path by the forge, where it was easier going, only harder if you fell off (but they didn’t fall off so much now).

  WHAT A RATTLING, SCRAPING, CREAKING NOISE THEY DID MAKE!

  Mr Rudge the Blacksmith laughed at them as they rattled past the open door of the forge, where he was clanging away with his big hammer; but they didn’t mind. Billy Blunt even managed to wave to him once without falling off!

  Miss Muggins’ Jilly came and watched them for a while. And presently she said, “You are riding nicely! I’ll let you have a ride on my bicycle soon, Milly-Molly-Mandy.”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy thanked her very much, and thought it would be nice to know how it felt to be on a real bicycle. But all the same, she couldn’t help thinking that no bicycle in the whole world could be half as thrilling to ride on as these rusty, rattling, creaking old bikes of Billy Blunt’s!

  9

  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 h
ome 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!

  “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.

  SHOWED HER A FINE NEW RED EARTHENWARE BOWL

  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 smallsycamore-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’ 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 because 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”!

  10

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Camps Out

  Once upon a time Milly-Molly-Mandy and Toby the dog went down to the village, to Miss Muggins’ shop, on an errand for Mother; and as they passed Mr Blunt’s corn-shop Milly-Molly-Mandy saw something new in the little garden at the side. It looked like a small, shabby sort of tent, with a slit in the top and a big checked patch sewn on the side.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy wondered what it was doing there. But she didn’t see Billy Blunt anywhere about, so she couldn’t ask him.

  When she came out of Miss Muggins’ shop she had another good look over the palings into the Blunts’ garden. And while she was looking Billy Blunt came out of their house door with some old rugs and a pillow in his arms.

  “Hullo, Billy!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “What’s that tent-thing?”

  “It’s a tent,” said Billy Blunt, not liking its being called “thing”.

  “But what’s it for?” asked Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “It’s mine,” said Billy Blunt.

  “Yours? Your very own? Is it?” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Ooh, do let me come and look at it!”

  “You can if you want to,” said Billy Blunt. “I’m going to sleep in it tonight – camp out.”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy was very interested indeed. She looked at it well, outside and in. She could only just stand up in it. Billy Blunt had spread an old mackintosh for a ground sheet, and there was a box in one corner to hold a bottle of water and a mug, and his electric torch, and such necessary things; and when the front flap of the tent was closed you couldn’t see anything outside, except a tiny bit of sky and some green leaves through the tear in the top.