The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook Read online

  And then Mother put on her apron and insisted on setting to work to make them something nice for supper, so that she should feel she was really at home.

  For it had been a perfect holiday, said Mother, but it was really like having another one to come home again to them all at the nice white cottage with the thatched roof.

  15

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Goes to the Sea

  Once upon a time – what do you think? – Milly-Molly-Mandy was going to be taken to the seaside!

  Milly-Molly-Mandy had never seen the sea in all her life before, and ever since Mother came back from her seaside holiday with her friend Mrs Hooker, and told Milly-Molly-Mandy about the splashy waves and the sand and the little crabs, Milly-Molly-Mandy had just longed to go there herself.

  Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty just longed for her to go too, because they knew she would like it so much. But they were all so busy, and then, you know, holidays cost quite a lot of money.

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy played ‘seaside’ instead, by the little brook in the meadow, with little-friend-Susan and Billy Blunt and the shells Mother had brought home for her. (And it was a very nice game indeed, but still Milly-Molly-Mandy did wish sometimes that it could be the real sea!)

  Then one day little-friend-Susan went with her mother and baby sister to stay with a relation who let lodgings by the sea. And little-friend-Susan wrote Milly-Molly-Mandy a postcard saying how lovely it was, and how she did wish Milly-Molly-Mandy was there; and Mrs Moggs wrote Mother a postcard saying couldn’t some of them manage to come down just for a day excursion, one Saturday?

  Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty thought something really ought to be done about that, and they talked it over, while Milly-Molly-Mandy listened with all her ears.

  But Father said he couldn’t go, because he had to get his potatoes up; Mother said she couldn’t go because it was baking day, and, besides, she had just had a lovely seaside holiday; Grandpa said he couldn’t go, because it was market day; Grandma said she wasn’t really very fond of train journeys; Uncle said he oughtn’t to leave his cows and chickens.

  But then they all said Aunty could quite well leave the sweeping and dusting for that one day.

  So Aunty only said it seemed too bad that she should have all the fun. And then she and Milly-Molly-Mandy hugged each other, because it was so very exciting.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy ran off to tell Billy Blunt at once, because she felt she would burst if she didn’t tell someone. And Billy Blunt did wish he could be going too, but his father and mother were always busy.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy told Aunty, and Aunty said, “Tell Billy Blunt to ask his mother to let him come with us, and I’ll see after him!”

  So Billy Blunt did, and Mrs Blunt said it was very kind of Aunty and she’d be glad to let him go.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy hoppity-skipped like anything, because she was so very pleased; and Billy Blunt was very pleased too, though he didn’t hoppity-skip, because he always thought he was too old for such doings (but he wasn’t really!).

  So now they were able to plan together for Saturday, which made it much more fun.

  Mother had an old bathing-dress which she cut down to fit Milly-Molly-Mandy, and the bits over she made into a flower for the shoulder (and it looked a very smart bathing-dress indeed). Billy Blunt borrowed a swimming-suit from another boy at school (but it hadn’t any flower on the shoulder, of course not!).

  Then Billy Blunt said to Milly-Molly-Mandy, “If you’ve got swimming-suits you ought to swim. We’d better practise.”

  But Milly-Molly-Mandy said, “We haven’t got enough water.”

  Billy Blunt said, “Practise in air, then – better than nothing.”

  So they fetched two old boxes from the barn out into the yard, and then lay on them (on their fronts) and spread out their arms and kicked with their legs just as if they were swimming. And when Uncle came along to fetch a wheelbarrow he said it really made him feel quite cool to see them!

  He showed them how to turn their hands properly, and kept calling out, “Steady! Steady! Not so fast!” as he watched them.

  And then Uncle lay on his front on the box and showed them how (and he looked so funny!), and then they tried again, and Uncle said it was better that time.

  So they practised until they were quite out of breath. And then they pretended to dive off the boxes, and they splashed and swallowed mouthfuls of air and swam races to the gate and shivered and dried themselves with old sacks – and it was almost as much fun as if it were real water!

  Well, Saturday came at last, and Aunty and Milly-Molly-Mandy met Billy Blunt at nine o’clock by the crossroads. And then they went in the red bus to the station in the next town. And then they went in the train, rumpty-te-tump, rumpty-te-tump, all the way down to the sea.

  And you can’t imagine how exciting it was, when they got out at last, to walk down a road knowing they would see the real sea at the bottom! Milly-Molly-Mandy got so excited that she didn’t want to look till they were up quite close.

  So Billy Blunt (who had seen it once before) pulled her along right on to the edge of the sand, and then he said suddenly, “Now look!”

  And Milly-Molly-Mandy looked.

  And there was the sea, all jumping with sparkles in the sunshine, as far as ever you could see. And little-friend-Susan, with bare legs and frock tucked up, came tearing over the sand to meet them from where Mrs Moggs and Baby Moggs were sitting by a wooden breakwater.

  Wasn’t it fun!

  They took off their shoes and their socks and their hats, and they wanted to take off their clothes and bathe, but Aunty said they must have dinner first. So they sat round and ate sandwiches and cake and fruit which Aunty had brought in a basket. And the Moggs had theirs too out of a basket.

  Then they played in the sand with Baby Moggs (who liked having her legs buried), and paddled a bit and found crabs (they didn’t take them away from the water, though).

  And then Aunty and Mrs Moggs said they might bathe now if they wanted to. So (as it was a very quiet sort of beach) Milly-Molly-Mandy undressed behind Aunty, and little-friend-Susan undressed behind Mrs Moggs, and Billy Blunt undressed behind the breakwater.

  And then they ran right into the water in their bathing-dresses. (And little-friend-Susan thought Milly-Molly-Mandy’s bathing-dress was smart, with the flower on the shoulder!)

  THEY RAN RIGHT INTO THE WATER IN THEIR BATHING DRESSES

  But, dear me! Water-swimming feels so different from land-swimming, and Milly-Molly-Mandy couldn’t manage at all well with the little waves splashing at her all the time. Billy Blunt swished about in the water with a very grim face, and looked exactly as if he were swimming; but when Milly-Molly-Mandy asked him, he said, “No! My arms swim, but my legs only walk!”

  It was queer, for it had seemed quite easy in the barnyard.

  But they went on pretending and pretending to swim until Aunty called them out. And then they dried themselves with towels and got into their clothes again; and Billy Blunt said, well, anyhow, he supposed they were just that much nearer swimming properly than they were before; and Milly-Molly-Mandy said she supposed next time they might p’r’aps be able to lift their feet off the ground for a minute at any rate; and little-friend-Susan said she was sure she had swallowed a shrimp! (But that was only her fun!)

  Then they played and explored among the rock-pools and had tea on the sand. And after tea Mrs Moggs and Baby Moggs and little-friend-Susan walked with them back to the station; and Aunty and Milly-Molly-Mandy and Billy Blunt went in the train, rumpty-te-tump, rumpty-te-tump, all the way home again.

  And Milly-Molly-Mandy was so sleepy when she got to the nice white cottage with the thatched roof that she had only just time to kiss Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty goodnight and get into bed before she fell fast asleep.

  16

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Minds a Baby

  Once upon a time Mill
y-Molly-Mandy had to mind a tiny little baby.

  It was the funniest, tiny little baby you could possibly imagine, and Milly-Molly-Mandy had to mind it because there didn’t seem to be anybody else to do so. She couldn’t find its mother or its father or any of its relations, so she had to take it home and look after it herself (because, of course, you can’t leave a tiny little baby alone in a wood, with no one anywhere about to look after it).

  And this is how it happened.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy wanted some acorn cups (which are useful for making dolls’ bowls, and wheels for matchbox carts, and all that sort of thing, you know). So, as little-friend-Susan was busy looking after her baby sister, Milly-Molly-Mandy went off to the woods with just Toby the dog to look for some.

  While she was busy looking she heard a loud chirping noise. And Milly-Molly-Mandy said to herself, “I wonder what sort of bird that is?” And then she found a ripe blackberry, and forgot about the chirping noise.

  After a time Milly-Molly-Mandy said to herself, “How that bird does keep on chirping?” And then Toby the dog found a rabbit hole, and Milly-Molly-Mandy forgot again about the chirping noise.

  After some more time Milly-Molly-Mandy said to herself, “That bird sounds as if it wants something.” And then Milly-Molly-Mandy went towards a brambly clearing in the wood from which the chirping noise seemed to come.

  But when she got there the chirping noise didn’t seem to come from a tree, but from a low bramble bush. And when she got to the low bramble bush the chirping noise stopped.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy thought that was because it was frightened of her. So she said out loud, “It’s all right – don’t be frightened. It’s only me!” just as kindly as she could, and then she poked about in among the bramble bush. But she couldn’t find anything, except thorns.

  And then, quite suddenly, lying in the grass on the other side of the bramble bush, Milly-Molly-Mandy and Toby the dog together found what had been making all the chirping noise. It was so frightened that it had rolled itself into a tight little prickly ball, no bigger than the penny india rubber ball which Milly-Molly-Mandy had bought at Miss Muggins’ shop the day before.

  For what DO you think it was? A little tiny weeny baby hedgehog!

  Milly-Molly-Mandy was excited! And so was Toby the dog! Milly-Molly-Mandy had to say, “No, Toby! Be quiet, Toby!” very firmly indeed. And then she picked up the baby hedgehog in a bracken leaf (because it was a very prickly baby, though it was so small), and she could just see its little soft nose quivering among its prickles.

  Then Milly-Molly-Mandy looked about to find its nest (for, of course, she didn’t want to take it away from its family), but she couldn’t find it. And then the baby began squeaking again for its mother, but its mother didn’t come.

  So at last Milly-Molly-Mandy said comfortingly, “Never mind, darling – I’ll take you home and look after you!”

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy carried the baby hedgehog between her two hands very carefully; and it unrolled itself a bit and quivered its little soft nose over her fingers as if it hoped they might be good to eat, and it squeaked and squeaked, because it was very hungry. So Milly-Molly-Mandy hurried all she could, and Toby the dog capered along at her side and at last they got home to the nice white cottage with the thatched roof.

  Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty were all very interested indeed.

  Mother put a saucer of milk on the stove to warm, and then they tried to feed the baby. But it was too little to lap from a saucer, and it was too little even to lick from Milly-Molly-Mandy’s finger. So at last they had to wait until it opened its mouth to squeak and then squirt drops of warm milk into it with Father’s fountain pen filler!

  After that the baby felt a bit happier, and Milly-Molly-Mandy made it a nest in a little box of hay. But when she put it in it squeaked and squeaked again for its nice warm mother till Milly-Molly-Mandy put her hand in the box; and then it snuggled up against it and went to sleep. And Milly-Molly-Mandy stood there and chuckled softly to herself, because it felt so funny being mistaken for Mrs Hedgehog! (She quite liked it!)

  When Father and Grandpa and Uncle came in to dinner the baby woke and began squeaking again. So Uncle picked it up in his big hand to have a look at it, while Milly-Molly-Mandy ran for more milk and the fountain pen filler.

  And the baby squeaked so loudly that Uncle said, “Hul-lo, Horace! What’s all this noise about!” And Milly-Molly-Mandy was pleased, because “Horace” just seemed to suit the baby hedgehog, and no one knew what its mother had named it (but I don’t suppose it was Horace!).

  Milly-Molly-Mandy was kept very busy all that day feeding Horace every hour or two. He was so prickly that she had to wrap him round in an old handkerchief first – and he looked the funniest little baby in a white shawl you ever did see!

  When bedtime came Milly-Molly-Mandy wanted to take the hedgehog’s box up to her little room with her. But Mother said no, he would be all right in the kitchen till morning. So they gave him a hot bottle to snuggle against (it was an ink bottle, wrapped in flannel), and then Milly-Molly-Mandy went off to bed.

  THEY WERE ALL VERY INTERESTED INDEED

  But being “mother” even to a hedgehog is a very important sort of job, and in the night Milly-Molly-Mandy woke up and thought of Horace, and wondered if he felt lonely in his new home.

  And she creepy-crept in the dark to the top of the stairs and listened.

  And after a time she heard a tiny little “Squeak! Squeak!” coming from the kitchen. So she hurried and pulled on her dressing-gown and her bedroom slippers, and then she hurried and creepy-crept in the dark downstairs into the kitchen, and carefully lit the candle on the dresser.

  And then she fed Horace and talked to him in a comfortable whisper, so that he didn’t feel lonely any more. And then she put him back to bed and blew out the candle, and creepy-crept in the dark upstairs to her own little bed. (And it did feel so nice and warm to get into again!)

  Next day Horace learned to open his mouth when he felt the fountain pen filler touch it (he couldn’t see, because his eyes weren’t open yet – just like a baby puppy or kitten). And quite soon he learned to suck away at the filler just as if it were a proper baby’s bottle! And he grew and he grew, and in a week’s time his eyes were open. And soon he grew little teeth, and could gobble bread and milk out of an egg-cup, and sometimes a little bit of meat or banana.

  He was quite a little-boy hedgehog now, instead of a little baby one, and Milly-Molly-Mandy didn’t need to get up in the night any more to feed him.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy was very proud of him, and when little-friend-Susan used to say she had to hurry home after school to look after her baby sister, Milly-Molly-Mandy used to say she had to hurry too to look after the baby Horace. She used to give him walks in the garden, and laugh at his funny little back legs and tiny tail as he waddled about, nosing the ground. When Toby the dog barked he would roll himself up into a prickly ball in a second; but he soon came out again, and would run to Milly-Molly-Mandy’s hand when she called “Horace!” (He was quite happy with her for a mother.)

  One day Horace got out of his hay-box in the kitchen, and they couldn’t find him for a long time, though they all looked – Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty and Milly-Molly-Mandy. But at last where do you think they found him? – in the larder!

  “Well!” said Uncle, “Horace knows how to look after himself all right now!”

  After that Horace’s bed was put out in the barn, and Milly-Molly-Mandy would take his little basin of bread and milk out to him, and stay and play till it got too chilly.

  And then, one frosty morning, they couldn’t find Horace anywhere, though they all looked – Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty and Milly-Molly-Mandy. But at last, a day or two after, Grandpa was pulling out some hay for the pony Twinkletoes, when what do you think he found! A little ball of prickles cuddled up deep in the hay!

  Horace
had gone to sleep for the winter, like the proper little hedgehog he was! (Grandpa said that sort of going to sleep was called “hibernating”.)

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy put the hay with the prickly ball inside it into a large box in the barn, with a little bowl of water near by (in case Horace should wake up and want a drink).

  And there she left him (sleeping soundly while the cold winds blew and the snows fell) until he should wake up in the spring and come out to play with her again!

  (And that’s a true story!)

  17

  Milly-Molly-Mandy Goes on an Expedition

  Once upon a time it was a Monday-bank-holiday. Milly-Molly-Mandy had been looking forward to this Monday-bank-holiday for a long time, more than a week, for she and Billy Blunt had been planning to go for a long fishing expedition on that day.

  It was rather exciting.

  They were to get up very early, and take their dinners with them, and their rods and lines and jam-jars, and go off all on their own along by the brook, and not be back until quite late in the day.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy went to bed the night before with all the things she wanted for the expedition arranged beside her bed – a new little tin mug (to drink out of), and a bottle (for drinking water), and a large packet of bread-and-butter and an egg and a banana (for her dinner), and a jam-jar (to carry the fish in), and a little green fishing net (to catch them with), and some string and a safety-pin (which it is always useful to have), and her school satchel (to put things in). For when you are going off for the whole day you want quite a lot of things with you.