Pippi Goes on Board

by Astrid Lindgren

the pumps!"

  And the next second: "In vain! Well have to leave the ship. Every

  man for himself!"

  She stepped up on the back seat of the boat and dived head first

  into the water. Soon she came up again, took hold of the rope on the

  boat, and swam for shore.

  "I have to save the provisions anyway, so the crew might as well

  stay on board," she said.

  She tied the rope around a stone and helped Tommy and Annika

  ashore. Mr. Nilsson rescued himself.

  "A miracle has happened!" cried Pippi. "We are saved -at least for

  the time being, unless there are cannibals and lions on this

  island."

  Even the horse had now reached the island. He got out of the water

  and shook himself.

  "Good! Here comes the first mate too," said Pippi. "Let us all

  hold a council of war."

  Out of the sack she took a pistol which she had once found in a

  sea chest up in the attic. Holding the pistol straight in front of

  her, ready to fire, she sneaked about, looking carefully in all

  directions.

  "What's the matter, Pippi?" asked Annika worriedly.

  "I thought I heard the growling of a cannibal," said Pippi. "You

  can never be careful enough. What would be the use of saving yourself

  from drowning only to be served with stewed vegetables for a

  cannibal's dinner?"

  No cannibals were to be seen.

  "Aha! they have retreated and taken cover," said Pippi. "Or

  perhaps they are sitting looking through their cookbooks to learn how

  they could cook us. And I'll tell you this, if they serve me with

  stewed carrots I'll never forgive them, for I hate carrots."

  "Oh, Pippi, don't talk like that!" said Annika, shivering.

  "Oh, don't you like carrots either? Well, anyway, let's put up the

  tent now."

  Pippi put up the tent in a sheltered place, and Tommy and Annika

  crept in and out of it and were perfectly happy. A short distance

  from the tent, Pippi placed some stones in a ring, and on top of

  these sticks and pine cones.

  "Oh! how wonderful! Are we going to have a fire?" asked

  Annika.

  "Yes, siree!" said Pippi. She took two pieces of wood and started

  to rub them together.

  Tommy was much interested. "Oh, Pippi!" he said, delighted. "Are

  you going to make a fire the way they do in the jungles?"

  "No, but my fingers are cold," said Pippi, "and this is a good way

  to warm them. Let me see, where did I put the matches?"

  Soon a bright fire was burning, and Tommy said he thought it was

  awfully cozy.

  "Yes, and besides, it will keep the wild animals away," said

  Pippi.

  Annika drew in her breath sharply. "What wild animals?" she asked

  with a tremor in her voice.

  "The mosquitoes," said Pippi and thoughtfully scratched a large

  mosquito bite on her leg.

  Annika sighed with relief.

  "Yes, and the lions too, of course," continued Pippi. "I don't

  think it will help against pythons or against the American

  buffalo."

  She patted her pistol. "But don't worry, Annika," she said. "With

  this I'll surely be able to defend us even if we should be attacked

  by a field mouse."

  Then Pippi got out coffee and sandwiches, and the children sat

  around the fire and ate and enjoyed themselves immensely. Mr. Nilsson

  sat on Pippi's shoulder and ate too, and the horse stuck out his nose

  from time to time and got a piece of bread and a lump of sugar. There

  was also lots of tender green grass for him to eat.

  The sky was cloudy and it began to grow dark. Annika moved up as

  near to Pippi as she could get. The flames threw strange shadows. It

  seemed as if the darkness were alive outside the little circle that

  was lighted by the fire. Annika shivered. Just suppose a cannibal was

  standing behind that bush, or a lion hiding behind the big stone over

  there!

  Pippi put down her coffee cup. "'Fifteen men on a dead man's

  chest, yo, ho, ho! and a bottle of rum,'" she sang in her deep,

  hoarse voice. Annika shivered more than ever.

  "I have that song in another one of my books-a pirate book," said

  Tommy eagerly.

  "Really?" said Pippi. "Then it must be Fridolf who wrote that

  book, for he taught me the song. How often I've sat on the after deck

  of my father's ship on starlit nights, with the Southern Cross right

  over my head, and Fridolf beside me, singing. 'Fifteen men on a dead

  man's chest, yo, ho, ho! and a bottle of rum,'" sang Pippi once more

  with an even hoarser voice.

  "Pippi, I feel so funny inside me when you sing like that," said

  Tommy. "It feels so terrible and so wonderful at the same time."

  "It feels almost only terrible inside me," said Annika, "but a

  little wonderful too."

  "I'm going to sea when I get big," said Tommy decidedly. "I'm

  going to be a pirate just like you, Pippi."

  "Swell!" said Pippi. "The Terror of the Caribbean! That'll be you

  and me, Tommy. We'll plunder gold and jewels and precious stones and

  we'll have a hiding place for our treasures way in a cave on a desert

  island in the Pacific Ocean, and three skeletons to watch the cave.

  We'll have a flag with a skull and crossbones, and we'll sing

  'Fifteen men on a dead man's chest' so that you can hear it from one

  end of the Atlantic to the other, and all seafaring men will turn

  pale when they hear us and think about throwing themselves into the

  sea to avoid our bloody, bloody revenge."

  "But what about me?" asked Annika complainingly. "I don't dare

  become a pirate. What'll I do then?"

  "Oh, you can come along anyway," said PipP*, "and dust the grand

  piano."

  After a while the fire died down. "Time to go to bed," said Pippi.

  She had put spruce boughs on the ground under the tent, and on top of

  the spruce boughs several thick blankets.

  "Do you want to sleep with us in the tent," Pippi asked the horse,

  "or would you rather Stand out here under a tree with a blanket over

  you? Oh, so you always feel sick when you sleep in a tent? Okay, just

  as you like!" Pippi gave him a friendly pat.

  Soon all three children and Mr. Nilsson lay rolled up in blankets

  in the tent. Outside the waves lapped against the shore.

  "Hear the ocean breakers!" said Pippi dreamily.

  It was as dark as pitch, and Annika held Pippi's hand, for

  everything seemed less dangerous then. Suddenly it began to rain. The

  raindrops splashed on the tent, but inside everything was warm and

  dry, and it seemed very pleasant to hear the pitter-patter of the

  raindrops. Pippi went out and put another blanket on the horse. He

  stood under a thick spruce tree, so he kept pretty dry.

  "Isn't this wonderful?" Tommy sighed when Pippi came in again.

  "Sure!" said Pippi. "And look what I found under a stone-three

  chocolate bars!"

  Three minutes later Annika was asleep with her mouth full of

  chocolate and her hand in Pippi's.

  "We forgot to brush our teeth tonight," said Tommy, and then he

  too fell asleep.

  When Tommy and Annika woke up,
Pippi had disappeared. They hurried

  to crawl out of the tent. The sun was shining brightly. In front of

  the tent a new fire was burning and Pippi was squatting by the fire,

  frying ham and boiling coffee.

  "Congratulations and Happy Easter!" she called when she saw Tommy

  and Annika.

  "Oh, it's not Easter now," said Tommy.

  "Isn't it? Save the wish until next year, then," Pippi replied.

  The good smell of ham and coffee tickled the children's nostrils.

  They squatted around the fire, and Pippi passed around ham and eggs

  and potatoes, after which they drank coffee and ate molasses cookies

  and never had a breakfast tasted so wonderful.

  "I think we have it better than Robinson Crusoe," said Tommy.

  "Yes, and if we could only get a little fresh fish for dinner I'm

  afraid Robinson Crusoe would be green with envy," said Pippi.

  "Ugh! I don't like fish," said Tommy.

  "I don't either," said Annika.

  But Pippi cut off a long, narrow branch, tied a string to one end,

  made a hook out of a pin, and put a piece of bread on the hook and

  herself on a large stone down near the water's edge.

  "Now we'll see," she said.

  "What will you fish for?" asked Tommy.

  "Octopus," said Pippi. "That's a delicacy beyond compare."

  She sat there a whole hour, but no octopus bit. A perch came up

  and sniffed at the piece of bread, but Pippi quickly drew up the

  hook.

  "No, thank you, my boy," she said. "When I say octopus I mean

  octopus, and you shouldn't come stealing the bait."

  After a while Pippi threw the fishpole into the lake. "You were

  lucky," she said. "We'll have to eat pancakes. The octopuses are

  stubborn today." Tommy and Annika were satisfied.

  The water glistened invitingly in the sun. "Shall we go for a

  swim?" asked Tommy.

  Pippi and Annika were game. The water was quite cold. Tommy and

  Annika stuck their big toes in, but quickly pulled them out

  again.

  "I know a better way," said Pippi. There was a rock quite near the

  shore, and on top of the rock was a tree. The branches of the tree

  stretched themselves out over the water. Pippi climbed up into the

  tree and tied a rope around a branch. "Like this-see?"

  She took hold of the rope, swung herself out, and dropped into the

  water.

  "You get ducked all over at once, this way," she cried as her head

  came up out of the water.

  Tommy and Annika were a little doubtful at first, but it looked

  like so much fun that they decided to try it, and when they had tried

  it once they never wanted to stop, for it was even more fun than it

  looked. Mr. Nilsson wanted to try too. He slid down the rope, but

  just before he reached the water he turned and scampered back up at a

  terrific pace. He did this each time, although the children called to

  him and told him that he was a coward. Then Pippi found that you

  could sit on a piece of board and slide down into the water, and that

  was fun too, for it made a terrific splash when you landed.

  "That Robinson Crusoe, did he slide down a piece of board too? I

  wonder," said Pippi as she sat at the top of the rock ready to take

  off.

  "No-it doesn't say so in the book, at least," said Tommy.

  "Well, that's what I thought. I don't think there was much to his

  shipwreck. What did he do all day, cross stitch embroidery? Here I

  come!"

  Pippi slid down into the water, with her red braids streaming out

  behind her.

  After their swim the children decided to explore the desert island

  thoroughly. All three got on the horse, and he jogged off

  good-naturedly. Up hill and down dale they rode, through the

  underbrush and between clumps of spruce, through marshes and over

  pretty little clearings where the grass was thick with wild flowers.

  Pippi sat with the pistol ready, and from time to time she fired a

  shot so that the horse jumped high into the air with fright.

  "There! I shot a lion!" she said with satisfaction.

  Or: "Now that cannibal has planted his last potato."

  "I think this island should be ours forever," said Tommy when they

  returned to the camp and Pippi had started to make pancakes. Pippi

  and Annika thought so too.

  The pancakes tasted wonderful when you ate them steaming hot.

  There were no plates and "no knives or forks, and Annika asked, "May

  we eat with our fingers?"

  "It's all right with me if you do," said Pippi, "but for my part

  I'll stick to the old method of eating with my mouth."

  "Oh, you know what I mean, silly!" said Annika. She took a pancake

  in her hand and put it in her mouth with great enjoyment.

  And then night came again. The fire burned down. Snuggled close to

  each other, their faces smeared with pancake, the children lay in

  their blankets. A big star shone through a crack in the tent. The

  "ocean breakers" lulled them to sleep.

  "We have to go home today," said Tommy sadly the next morning.

  "Isn't it a shame!" said Annika. "I would like to stay here all

  summer, but Mommy and Daddy are coming home today."

  After breakfast Tommy went exploring down by the shore. Suddenly

  he gave a loud cry. The boat! It was gone!

  Annika was much upset. How would they ever be able to get away

  from there? She did want to be on the island all summer, but it was

  different when you knew that you couldn't go home. And what would

  poor Mommy say when she found that Tommy and Annika had disappeared,

  Annika's eyes filled with tears when she thought about it.

  "What's the matter with you, Annika?" asked Pippi. "What is your

  idea of a shipwreck anyway? What do you think Robinson Crusoe would

  have said if a ship had come along and picked him up when he had been

  on the desert island only two days? 'Here you are, Mr. Crusoe, please

  come aboard and be saved and bathed and shaved and get your toenails

  cut.' No, thank you. I think surely Mr. Crusoe would have run and

  hidden behind a bush. For if you've at last landed on a desert island

  you would like to stay there at least seven years."

  "Seven years!" Annika shivered, and Tommy looked thoughtful.

  "Well I don't mean that we should stay here forever," said Pippi

  comfortingly. "When Tommy has to go to Military School we'll have to

  let folks know where we are, I guess, but perhaps he can get a year

  or two's postponement."

  Annika became more and more desperate. Pippi looked at her

  searchingly. "Well, if yOu're going to take it like that, there's

  nothing for us to do but send off the bottle-letter."

  She dug the empty bottle out of the sack. She also managed to find

  some paper and a pencil. Putting these on a stone in front of Tommy,

  she said, "You know more about the art of writing than I do."

  "But what shall I write?" asked Tommy. "Let me think a moment."

  Pippi ponded. "You can write this: 'Help us before we perish-we have

  been on this island for two days without snuff.'"

  "Oh, but Pippi, we can't write that!" said Tommy reproachfully.

  "It isn't true." "What isn't true?"

  "We can'
t write without snuff,'" said Tommy. "Oh, we can't?" said

  Pippi. "Have you any snuff?" "No," said Tommy. "Has Annika any

  snuff?" "No, of course not-but-" "Have I any snuff?" continued Pippi.

  "No, maybe you haven't," said Tommy, "but we don't use snuff."

  "Well, that's just what I want you to write: 'We've been without

  snuff for two days.'"

  "Yes, but if we write that people will think we use snuff,"

  insisted Tommy.

  "Now look here, Tommy," said Pippi, "will you just answer this.

  What people are more often without snuff -the ones who use it or the

  ones who don't?"

  "The ones who don't, of course," said Tommy,

  "Well, what are you fussing about, then?" asked Pip- pi. "Write it

  as I tell you."

  So Tommy wrote: "Help us before we perish-we have been on this

  island for two days without snuff."

  Pippi took the paper, stuffed it into the bottle, put the stopper

  in, and threw the bottle into the water.

  "Now we should soon be rescued," she said.

  The bottle floated off but shortly came to rest, caught in some

  tree roots near the shore.

  "We'll have to throw it out farther," said Tommy.

  "That would be the most stupid thing we could do," said Pippi,

  "for if it floats far away our rescuers won't know where to look for

  us. But if it lies here we can call to them when they have found it,

  and then we'll be rescued right away."

  Pippi sat down by the shore. "It's best that we keep our eyes on

  the bottle the whole time," she said.

  Tommy and Annika sat down beside her. After ten minutes Pippi said

  impatiently, "People must think that we haven't anything else to do

  but sit here and wait to get rescued. Where can they be, anyway?"

  "What people?" asked Annika.

  "The ones who are going to rescue us," said Pippi. "It's

  unforgivable when you consider that human lives are at stake."

  Annika began to believe that they really were going to perish on

  the island, but suddenly Pippi raised her finger in the air and

  cried, "My goodness, but I'm thoughtless! How could I forget it?"

  "What?" asked Tommy.

  "The boat!" said Pippi. "I carried it up on shore last night after

  you had gone to sleep."

  "But why did you do that?" asked Annika reproachfully.

  "I was afraid that it might get wet," said Pippi.

  In a jiffy she had fetched the boat, which lay well hidden under a

  spruce. She shoved it into fhe lake and said grimly, "There! Now the

  rescuers can come! For when they come to rescue us they'll come in

  vain, because now we are rescuing ourselves, and that will just be a

  good one on them. It will teach them to hurry up the next time."

  "I hope we'll get home before Mommy and Daddy," said Annika when

  they were in the boat and Pippi was rowing toward shore with strong

  strokes. "How worried Mommy will be otherwise!"

  "I don't think she will," said Pippi.

  Mr. and Mrs. Settergren got home half an hour before the children.

  No Tommy and Annika were in sight, but in the mailbox was a piece of

  paper on which was printed:

  FOR GUDNES SAK DONT TINK YUR CHILDRUN R DED R LOS THEY R

  NT ATAL THEY R JUS ALTTTAL SHIPREKD AN WIL SUN CUM HORN I SWER.

  GRITINS FRUM

 

  PIPPI

  7.

  Pippi Gets Unexpected Company

  ONE summer evening Pippi, Tommy, and Annika sat on the steps of

  Pippi's porch, eating wild strawberries which they had picked that

  morning. It was a lovely evening, with birds singing and the perfume

  of the flowers-and the strawberries. Everything was peaceful. The

  children ate and said hardly a word. Tommy and Annika were thinking

  how lovely it was that it was summer and how nice that school