Milly-Molly-Mandy’s Spring Read online

  Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “Very well, thank you!”

  “My husband’s told me about your brass-cleaning,” said Mrs Jakes. “I’ve got a whole mantel-shelf full that wants doing!”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan were very pleased, and arranged to come in directly school was over in the afternoon and clean it.

  And they cleaned a mug and three candlesticks and two lamps – one big and one little – and a tray and a warming-pan, and they didn’t spill or waste any of the polish. Mrs Jakes seemed very satisfied, and gave them each a penny and a piece of cake.

  So now they had tenpence-ha’penny for refreshments.

  But when they got outside Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “Farver and Muvver and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty and Mrs Moggs and the Postman and Mrs Postman – I wonder if we’ve earned enough, Susan!”

  As they turned home they passed the forge, and of course they had to stop a moment at the doorway, as usual, to watch the fire roaring, and Mr Rudge the Blacksmith banging with his hammer on the anvil.

  Little-friend-Susan was just a bit nervous of the Blacksmith – he was so big, and his face was so dirty it made his teeth look very white and his eyes very twinkly when he smiled at them. But Milly-Molly-Mandy knew he was nice and clean under the dirt, which he couldn’t help while he worked. So she smiled back.

  And the Blacksmith said, “Hullo!”

  And Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “Hullo!”

  Then the Blacksmith beckoned with his finger and said, “Come here!”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy gave a little jump, and little-friend-Susan pulled at her hand, but Milly-Molly-Mandy knew he was really just a nice man under the dirt, so she went up to him.

  And the Blacksmith said, “Look what I’ve got here!” And he showed them a tiny little horseshoe, just like a proper one, only smaller, which he had made for them to keep. Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan were pleased!

  Milly-Molly-Mandy thanked him very much. And then she looked at the Blacksmith and said, “If you were invited to a party, would you come?”

  And the Blacksmith looked at Milly-Molly-Mandy with twinkly eyes and said he’d come quite fast – so long as it wasn’t before five o’clock on Saturday, when he was playing cricket with his team in the meadow.

  When they got outside again Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “Farver and Muvver and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty and Mrs Moggs and the Postman and Mrs Postman and the Blacksmith. We’ll ask them for half-past five, and we ought to earn some more money, Susan!”

  Just then they met Billy Blunt coming along, pulling his box on wheels with a bundle in it.

  And Billy Blunt grinned and said, “I’m fetching Mrs Bloss’s washing, for the firm!” Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan were pleased!

  When Saturday morning came all the invitations had been given out, and the firm of Millicent Margaret Amanda, Susan and Co. was very busy putting things tidy in the barn, and covering up things which couldn’t be moved with lots of green branches which Grandpa was trimming from the hedges.

  And when half-past five came Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan, with clean hands and paper caps and aprons, waited by the barn door to welcome the guests. And each gentleman received a marigold buttonhole, and each lady a pansy.

  Everybody arrived in good time, except the Blacksmith, who was just a bit late – he looked so clean and pink in his white cricket flannels, Milly-Molly-Mandy hardly knew him – and Billy Blunt. But Billy Blunt came lugging a gramophone and two records which he had borrowed from a bigger boy at school. (He never told, but he had given the boy all the rest of his collection of farthings – fifteen of them, which makes three-pence-three-farthings – in exchange.)

  Then Billy Blunt, who didn’t want to dance, looked after the gramophone, while Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty and Mrs Moggs and the Postman and Mrs Postman and the Blacksmith and Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan danced together in the old barn till the dust flew. And Milly-Molly-Mandy danced a lot with the Blacksmith as well as with everybody else, and so did little-friend-Susan.

  They did enjoy themselves!

  And then there were refreshments – raspberry drops and aniseed balls on saucers trimmed with little flowers; and late blackberries on leaf plates; and sherbet drinks, which Billy Blunt prepared while Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan stood by to tell people just the very moment to drink, when it was fizzing properly. (It was exciting!) And a jelly which Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan had made themselves from a packet, only it had to be eaten rather like soup, as it wouldn’t stand up properly.

  And then there were refreshments!

  But Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty and Mrs Moggs and the Postman and Mrs Postman and the Blacksmith all said they had never enjoyed a jelly so much. And the Blacksmith, in a big voice, proposed a vote of thanks to the firm for the delightful party and refreshments, and everybody else said “Hear! Hear!” and clapped. And Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan joined in the clapping too, which wasn’t quite proper, but they were so happy they couldn’t help it!

  And then all the guests went home.

  And when the firm came to clear up the refreshments they found there was only one aniseed ball left. But placed among the empty saucers and glasses on the bench were a small basket of pears and a bag of mixed sweets with a ticket “For the Waiter and Waitresses” on it!

  Milly-Molly-Mandy books

  Adventures

  Family

  Friends

  School Days

  Spring

  Summer

  Autumn

  Winter

  The stories in this collection first appeared in

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories (1928)

  More of Milly-Molly-Mandy (1929)

  Further Doings of Milly-Molly-Mandy (1932)

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Again (1948)

  Milly-Molly-Mandy & Co. (1955)

  Published by George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd

  First published 2012 by Macmillan Children’s Books

  This edition published 2012 by Macmillan Children’s Books

  a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

  20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR

  Basingstoke and Oxford

  Associated companies throughout the world

  www.panmacmillan.com

  ISBN 978-1-447-21612-4 EPUB

  Text and illustrations copyright © Joyce Lankester Brisley 1928, 1929, 1932, 1948, 1955

  The right of Joyce Lankester Brisley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

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