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  So they each dropped a pin into the wishing-well, and solemnly wished.

  They couldn’t tell their wishes out loud, because that might have spoiled the magic! But I think they all wished the same wish. And as Father said, if enough people wish a wish, and it’s a good wish, it’s quite likely to come to pass.

  So let’s hope that Milly-Molly-Mandy’s and little-friend-Susan’s and Billy Blunt’s wishes all come true!

  8

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Has a Clean Frock

  Once upon a time, one beautiful, fine morning, Milly-Molly-Mandy came out in a nice clean frock. (Not for any special reason; only, of course, you have to have a clean frock sometimes, and a beautiful, fine morning seems a good enough reason.)

  It was a Monday morning, so Mother was busy with the washing. Milly-Molly-Mandy helped her to get out the tin baths, and put up the washing-lines in the garden, and find the clothes-pegs. For with Father and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty and Milly-Molly-Mandy and herself to wash for, Mother always had quite a busy time on Monday mornings.

  “Well, now I think that will do, thank you, Milly-Molly-Mandy,” said Mother at last. “You can run off and play now.”

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy called Toby the dog, and they went skipping off together in the beautiful sunshine, down the road with the hedges each side, to see if little-friend-Susan or Billy Blunt were coming out to play. She had only gone as far as the big meadow gate when whom did she see but Billy Blunt (in a nice clean shirt), coming walking along up from the village. So Milly-Molly-Mandy waved hard and called out:

  “Hullo, Billy! Where are you going?”

  Billy Blunt just came walking on till he got near enough (so that he needn’t bother to shout), and then he held up an empty jam-jar he was carrying and said:

  “Tadpoles.”

  “Oh!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Where are you going to get them? What are you going to do with them? Can I come and help you?”

  Billy Blunt said:

  “I want to watch them turn into frogs in our water-butt.”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

  “There’s tadpoles sometimes in the pond where the cows drink.”

  “I know,” said Billy Blunt. “That’s where I’m going. Come on.

  So they climbed over the top bar of the big meadow gate, and Toby the dog squeezed under the bottom bar, and they walked along a narrow little path till they came to the pond where the cows drank.

  Toby the dog ran off at once to the steep part to look for water-rats. Billy Blunt and Milly-Molly-Mandy walked round to the shallow part to look for tadpoles. But the pond was getting very low, and it was very muddy and trampled there. They couldn’t get close without mud coming right over their shoes.

  After a while they heard Toby the dog barking excitedly, because he had found a rat-hole and wanted the owner to come out and be caught. (As if any sensible rat would!) But presently the barking turned to a splashing and yelping, so Milly-Molly-Mandy and Billy Blunt ran along the bank to see what had happened.

  And – goodness me! – somehow or other Toby the dog must have slipped over the edge, for there he was, right in the pond. And he was in a mess! – all covered with mud and weedy stuff.

  “He can’t climb out there – it’s too steep,” said Billy Blunt. And he called, “Come on, Toby!” and tried to lead him along to where the bank was lower.

  But Toby the dog just kept trying to scramble out where he had slipped in.

  “He can’t swim through that mud and weedy stuff, that’s why,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. And she reached down to try to pull him out. But she just couldn’t get him, so she reached over farther.

  And then – goodness me! – somehow or other she must have reached over too far, for next moment there was Milly-Molly-Mandy in the pond too. And she was in a mess! – all covered with moss and weedy stuff.

  Billy Blunt said: “Well! Of all the cuckoos!” And he reached down to try to pull her out.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy said: “Let’s get Toby out first.”

  So they got Toby the dog out on to the bank. And directly he found himself there Toby the dog shook himself violently, and mud and weedy stuff flew out all round, right over Billy Blunt’s clean shirt.

  Billy Blunt stepped back in a hurry.

  And then – goodness me! – somehow or other he must have stepped over the edge of the bank, for next moment there was Billy Blunt in the pond now (nearly on top of Milly-Molly-Mandy). And he was in a mess! – all covered with mud and weedy stuff.

  (Milly-Molly-Mandy might have said: “Well! Of all the cuckoos!” But she was really too busy just then.)

  The pond wasn’t deep, and they were able to scramble out all right. But – goodness me! – you NEVER did see such a mess as Milly-Molly-Mandy and Billy Blunt and Toby the dog were in! – all covered with mud and weedy stuff.

  “Oh, dear!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Now what shall we do?”

  “Umm,” said Billy Blunt. “What will my mother say?”

  “Will she be very cross?” asked Milly-Molly-Mandy. “You couldn’t help it.”

  Billy Blunt only said: “It was a clean shirt.” And he tried to squeeze the water out of it.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy said: “My dress was clean too.” And she tried to squeeze the water out of it.

  But the more they squeezed the worse things seemed to get.

  “We’d better go home,” said Billy Blunt at last.

  “Let’s go to my home first,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “P’raps Mother will know what to do before your mother sees you.”

  Billy Blunt said: “Well – I suppose I’d better see you get home all right, anyhow.”

  So they went across the fields and through two hedges, instead of by the road (so that nobody should see them). And they crept through the back gate into the garden of the nice white cottage with the thatched roof (where Milly-Molly-Mandy lived).

  Mother was busy hanging sheets out on the line, and she didn’t notice them at first.

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy said: “Mother,” (but not very loudly).

  And Mother turned round. And she saw them standing there, Milly-Molly-Mandy, and Billy Blunt, and Toby the dog, all covered with mud and weedy stuff.

  “OH!” said Mother

  “We fell in the cow-pond,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy in a small voice. “Toby fell in first and I tried to get him out and I fell in and Billy tried to get me out and he fell in and – we’re very sorry, Mother.”

  And Billy Blunt nodded.

  “Oh!” said Mother again.

  And then she said: “Stay there!”

  And she went indoors.

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy and Billy Blunt and Toby the dog stayed there, wondering what Mother meant to do with them, and if she were very cross. Milly-Molly-Mandy wanted to wipe the mud off her face, but her hand was too dirty. Billy Blunt wanted to blow his nose, but his handkerchief was too wet. Toby the dog rolled in the dust to dry himself. (But it didn’t make him look better.)

  When Mother came out again she was carrying the tin bath she used for the washing, and after her came Aunty carrying the tin bath used for the rinsing, and they set them down on the grass. Then they went indoors and came out again, Mother with a big kettle and some soapflakes, Aunty with a big bucket and some towels. When they had put warm water in the two tin baths, Mother emptied the whole packet of soapflakes in and swished around with her hand in each till the bubbles rose up, and up, and UP.

  Then Mother took Milly-Molly-Mandy, and Aunty took Billy Blunt, and they peeled the clothes off them and plopped them, into the two tin baths then and there!

  “Now!” said Mother. “Get busy and clean yourselves.”

  And she gathered up the dirty clothes into the bucket and pumped water over them at the pump.

  So there were Milly-Molly-Mandy and Billy Blunt that beautiful fine morning, each in a bathful of warm bubbles nearly up to their necks, with the sheets flapping round them, and the sun shining, and the birds singing .
. .

  Then they got busy, swishing about in their baths, making more and yet more bubbles. They lathered their heads till they looked as if they had curly white hair and beards. They blew great coloured bubbles between their hands and watched them float off into the sky. They threw handfuls of bubbles at Toby the dog, which he tried to catch as the wind carried them away between the clothes that Mother and Aunty were pegging up on the clothes-lines.

  GOODNESS ME! THOSE WERE NICE BATHS

  Soon Milly-Molly-Mandy and Billy Blunt were really enjoying themselves like anything, laughing and shouting, with Toby the dog barking and the sun shining and the birds singing.

  Goodness me! Those were nice baths!

  And you can’t think how clean they both felt when at last Mother made Milly-Molly-Mandy get out into a big towel and hurried her indoors to put something dry on, and Billy Blunt got out into another big towel and Mother lent him some pyjamas of Father’s to put on.

  Then Mother washed their clothes in one of the baths and Aunty caught Toby the dog and washed him in the other. And then they threw the water out and washed the baths!

  Then Milly-Molly-Mandy came out in a dressing-gown (because both her dresses were in the wash), and she and Billy Blunt, in big pyjamas, sat in the sun together, drying their hair and eating biscuits while their clothes flapped on the line and Toby the dog rolled in dust to get the cleanness off him. (He was the only one who didn’t enjoy his bath.)

  Mother quickly ironed up Billy Blunt’s shirt and shorts and Milly-Molly-Mandy’s pink-and-white striped frock. And when they put them on again you would never dream what they had been up to that beautiful, fine morning.

  “Well,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, “I am sorry we got so dirty, Mother, but I did like that bubble-bath!”

  “Yes,” said Billy Blunt. “I wouldn’t care if I had to have a bubble-bath every day!”

  But Mother said:

  “Now listen, you two. Maybe you couldn’t help it this time. But if you come home like that again you won’t have bubble-baths! I shall put you in the cow-trough and turn the pump on you! This has been the biggest washing-day I’ve had, and I don’t want another like it.”

  So then Billy Blunt said: “No, ma’am. I’m very much obliged to you, ma’am.” And he thanked Aunty too.

  Then he went off home in his nice clean things, sure that his mother would never dream what he had been up to.

  But when Mrs Blunt saw him come in (rather late for dinner, but looking so clean and tidy) she guessed he had been up to something. And when she saw his muddy shoes, and found he hadn’t caught any tadpoles and didn’t know what he had done with his jam-jar, she pretty well guessed everything.

  But Mrs Blunt never dreamed what grand bubble-baths Billy Blunt and Milly-Molly-Mandy had had, out in the garden of the nice white cottage with the thatched roof that beautiful fine morning!

  9

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Dresses Up

  Once upon a time Milly-Molly-Mandy found an old skirt. She and little-friend-Susan were playing up in the attic of the nice white cottage with the thatched roof (where Milly-Molly-Mandy lived). They had turned out the rag-bags and dressed themselves in all sorts of things – blouses with the sleeves cut off, worn-out curtains, old night-gowns and shirts, and some of Milly-Molly-Mandy’s own out-grown frocks (which Mother kept for patching her present ones, when needed).

  Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan looked awfully funny – especially when they tried to put on the things which Milly-Molly-Mandy had outgrown. They laughed and laughed.

  (The attic was rather a nice place for laughing in – it sort of echoed.)

  Well, when Milly-Molly-Mandy found the old skirt of Mother’s, of course she put it on. The waist had to fasten round her chest to make it short enough, but that didn’t matter. She put on over it an old jumper with a burnt place in front, but she wore it back to front; so that didn’t matter either.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy walked up and down the attic, feeling just like Mother. She even wore a little brass curtain-ring on the finger of her left hand like Mother.

  And then she had an idea.

  “Let’s both dress up and be ladies,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “Ooh, yes, let’s,” said little-friend-Susan.

  So they picked out things from the rag-bags as best they could, and little-friend-Susan put on a dress which was quite good in front, only it had no back. She pulled her curls up on to the top of her head and tied them there with a bit of ribbon.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy tucked her hair behind her ears and fastened it behind with a bit of string, so that it made a funny sort of bun.

  “LET’S BOTH DRESS UP AND BE LADIES”

  “We ought to wear coats and hats,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, “then we’d look quite all right.”

  So they went downstairs in their long skirts, and Milly-Molly-Mandy took Aunty’s mackintosh from the pegs by the kitchen door for little-friend-Susan, and she borrowed an old jacket of Mother’s for herself. They borrowed their hats too (not their best ones, of course), and went up to Mother’s room to look in the mirror. They trimmed themselves up a bit from the rag-bags, and admired each other, and strutted about, enjoying themselves like anything.

  And just then Mother called up the stairs:

  “Milly-Molly-Mandy?”

  “Yes, Mother?” Milly-Molly-Mandy called down the stairs.

  “When you go out, Milly-Molly-Mandy, please go to the grocer’s and get me a tin of treacle. I shall be wanting some for making gingerbread. I’ve put the money on the bottom stair here.”

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy said: “Yes, Mother. I’ll just go, Mother.”

  And then Milly-Molly-Mandy looked at little-friend-Susan. And little-friend-Susan looked at Milly-Molly-Mandy. And they said to each other, both at the same time:

  “DARE you to go and get it like this!”

  “Ooh!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy; and “Ooh!” said little-friend-Susan. “Dare we?”

  “I’d have to tuck up my sleeves – they’re too long,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Tell you what, Susan, we might go by the fields instead of down the road; then we wouldn’t meet so many people. Look, I’ll carry a shopping-basket, and you can take an umbrella, because it’s easier when you’ve got something to carry. Come on.”

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan crept downstairs and out at the front door, so that Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty mightn’t see them. And they went down the front path to the gate.

  But there was a horse and cart clip-clopping along the road, so they hung back and waited till it went by. And what do you think? The man driving it saw someone’s back-view behind the gate, and he must have taken for granted it was Mother or Aunty or Grandma, for he called out, “Morning, ma’am!” as he passed.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan were so pleased they laughed till they had to hold each other up. But it made them feel much better.

  They straightened their hats and hitched their skirts, and then they opened the gate and walked boldly across the road to the stile in the hedge on the other side.

  It was quite a business getting over that stile. Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan had to rearrange themselves carefully again on the other side.

  Then, with their basket and umbrella, the two ladies set off along the narrow path across the field.

  “Now, we mustn’t laugh,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Ladies don’t laugh a lot, not outdoors. We shall give ourselves away if we keep laughing.”

  “No,” said little-friend-Susan, “we mustn’t. But suppose we meet Billy Blunt?”

  “We mustn’t run, either,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Ladies don’t run much.”

  “No,” said little-friend-Susan, “we mustn’t. But I do hope we don’t meet Billy Blunt.”

  “So do I,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “I’d like to meet him worst of anybody. He’d be sure to know us. We mustn’t keep looking round, either, Susan. Ladies don’t keep
on looking round.”

  “I was only wondering if anyone could see us,” said little-friend-Susan.

  But there were only cows on the far side of the meadow, and they weren’t at all interested in the two rather short ladies walking along the narrow path.

  Soon Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan came to the stile into Church Lane. This was a rather high stile, and while she was getting over it the band of Milly-Molly-Mandy’s skirt slipped from her chest to her waist, and her feet got tangled in the length of it. She came down on all fours into the grass at the side, with her hat over one eye. But, luckily, she just got straightened up before they saw the old gardener-man who looked after the churchyard coming along up the lane with his wheel-barrow.

  “Let’s wait till he’s gone,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “We’ll be looking in my basket, so we needn’t look up.”

  So they rummaged in the basket (which held only a bit of paper with the money in it), and talked in ladylike tones, until the old gardener-man had passed by.

  He stared rather, and looked back at them once, but the two ladies were too busy to notice him.

  When he was safely through the churchyard gate they went down the lane till they came to the forge at the bottom. Mr Rudge the blacksmith was banging away on his anvil. He was a nice man, and Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan thought it would be fun to stop and see what he thought of them. So they stood at the doorway and watched him hammering at a piece of red-hot iron he was holding with his tongs.

  Mr Rudge glanced up at them. And then he looked down. And then he went on hammering. And then he turned and put the piece of iron into the furnace. And while he worked the handle of the big bellows slowly up and down (to make the fire burn hot) he looked at them again over his shoulder, and said: