Pippi in the South Seas
Astrid Lindgren
Begin Content
UFFIN BOOKS
PIPPI IN THE SOUTH SEAS
"My name is Pippi Longstocking," she said. "And
this is Tommy and Annika." She pointed to her
friends. "Is there anything we can do for you-tear down a
house or chop down a tree? Or is there anything
else that needs to be changed? Just say the word!"
In this characteristic manner Pippi introduced herself to a
rather unpleasant gentleman who was trying
(unsuccessfully were to buy Villa Villekulla,
where Pippi, that red-headed and fabulously strong
girl, lived alone with her horse and monkey. Her
father was away in the South Seas, busy being king of
Kurrekurredutt Island.
When the king sent for Pippi, she decided to take
Tommy and Annika along with her, because they
had had the measles, and she thought the change would do them
good. They found the island a fantastic place-and
what with Pippi's usual feats of derring-do, one
rollicking adventure followed another.
Those who already know the fantastic, outrageously
funny, but oddly logical Pippi will join with new
readers in the general enthusiasm she always arouses.
"We're always going to have fun," said Annika.
"In Villa Villekulla, on
Kurrekurredutt Island, anywhere." And you will
too.
other books about pippi are
Pippi Longstocking Pippi Goes on Board
Pippi
in the South Seas
ASTRID LINDGREN
Translated by Gerry Bothmer Illustrated
by Louis S. Glanzman
PUFFIN BOOKS
Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth,
Middlesex, England
Penguin Books. 40 West 23rd Street.
New York, New York 10010, U.s.a.
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood.
Victoria, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Limited. 2801
John Street, Markham, Ontario. Canada
L3R1B4 Penguin BooksggNZ.)
Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland
10, New Zealand
First published by The Viking Press 1959
Viking Seafarer Edition published 1970
Reprinted 1972,1973,1974 (twice), 1975
Published in Puffin Books 1977
Reprinted 1978.1979.1981 (twice).
1982,1983.1984
Copyright Astrid Lindgren, 1959 All rights
reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication
Data
Lindgren, Astrid Ericsson, Pippi in the
South Seas.
Translation of Pippi Langstrump i
SB-DERHAVET.
Summary: The adventures of the strongest girl in the
world,
who takes her two friends with her when she travels from
Sweden
to visit her father, king of an island in the South
Seas.
were 1. Humorousstories] I. Glanzman,
Louis S., II. Title.
(Pz7.l6585Ph8] [Ffc]
ISBN 0-1030958
Printed in the United States of America
by Offset Paperback Mfriends., Inc., Dallas,
Pennsylvania
Set in Primer
Except in the United States of America, 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
Contents
1Villa Villekulla
g
2Pippi Cheers Aunt Laura Up22
3Pippi Finds a Spink30
4 Pippi Arranges a Question-and-Answer
Bee
5Pippi Gets a Letter53
6Pippi Goes on Board60
7Pippi Goes Ashore69
8Pippi Talks Sense to a Shark78
9Pippi Talks Sense to Jim and Buck86
10Pippi Gets Bored with Jim and Buckzoi
11Pippi Leaves Kurrekurredutt
Island106
12 Pippi Longstocking Doesn't Want to
Grow Up
Pippi in the South Seas
Villa Villekulla
The little Swedish town was very picturesque, with its
cobblestone streets, its tiny houses and the gardens that
surrounded them. Everyone who visited there must have
felt that this would be a calm and restful place
to live. But as far as tourist attractions went, there
wasn't much to see-almost nothing, in fact. There was a
folklore museum, and an old grave mound, and that
was all. But wait, there was one more thing!
The people of the little town had neatly and carefully put up
signs to show visitors the way to the sights.
To the folklore museum was printed in large letters
on one sign with an arrow underneath. To the grave mound
read another sign.
There was still a third sign, saying, in rather crooked
letters:
Pippi in the South Seas
To villa villekulla
That sign had been put up quite recently. It had
often happened lately that people would come and ask how
to get to Villa Villekulla-as a matter of
fact, more often than they would ask the way to the local
museum or the grave mound.
One beautiful summer day a man came driving through
the little town. He lived in a much bigger town and
therefore he considered himself finer and more distinguished than the
people who lived in smaller ones. Then, too, he had
a very fine car and he was a very grand person, with shoes
that were polished till they gleamed, and a thick gold
ring on his finger. So it was perhaps not so strange that he
thought of himself as fine and distinguished.
When he drove through the streets he honked his horn
loudly so that everyone would notice him as he went
by.
When the fine gentleman saw the signposts he
laughed heartily.
To
the Folklore Museum-
how do you like that? he said to himself. I can do without that.
To
the Grave Mound,
he read on the other sign. This is getting better
and better. ... But what sort of nonsense is this?
he thought when he saw the third sign.
ToVilla Villekulla-
what a name!
He thought about this for a moment. A villa could hardly
be a tourist attraction in the same way that a
folklore museum or a grave mound was. He
decided that the sign must have been put there for another
reason. Finally the answer came to him. The villa
was of course for sale. The sign had been put up
to show the way to people who might want to buy the house.
For a long time he himself had been thinking that he would
buy a house in a small town, wh
ere there was not so much
noise as in the big city. Naturally he would not
live there all the time, but he would go there to rest now and
then. In a small town people would also be much more likely
to notice what an unusually fine and distinguished man
he really was. He decided to go and have a look at
Villa Villekulla right away.
All he had to do was follow the direction of the arrow.
But he had to drive to the edge of the town before he found
what he was looking for. And there, printed with red
crayon on a very broken-down garden gate, he
read:
villa villekulla
Inside the gate was an overgrown garden with old
trees covered with moss, and unmowed lawns, and
lots of flowers which were allowed to grow exactly as they
pleased. At the end of the garden was
Pippi in the South Seas
a house-and what a house! It looked as if it would
fall to pieces any minute. The fine gentleman
stared
at it, and all of a sudden he groaned. A horse
was
standing on the veranda! The fine gentleman wasn't
used to horses standing on verandas. That is why he
groaned.
On the veranda steps three small children were sitting in
the sunshine. The girl in the middle had lots of
freckles on her face and two red pigtails which
stuck straight out. A pretty blond
curly-haired little girl in a blue checkered
dress and a little boy with neatly combed hair
sat one on either side of her. On the shoulder of the
redheaded girl sat a monkey.
The fine gentleman was puzzled. He must have the
wrong house. Surely no one would think there was a
possibility of selling such a tumbledown shack?
"Listen, children," he called out to them,
"is
this miserable hovel really Villa Villekulla?"
The girl in the middle, the redheaded one, got up and
came to the gate. The other two trudged slowly
behind.
"Lost your tongue?" said the fine gentleman before the
redheaded girl had reached him. "Is this shack
Villa Villekulla?"
"Let me think," said the redheaded girl and frowned.
"It isn't the museum and it isn't the grave
mound. Now I have it," she cried, It is Villa
Villekulla!"
"Don't be so rude," said the fine gentleman and
got out of the car. He decided to take a closer
look at the place. "I could of course tear this
house down and build another one," he mumbled
to himself.
"Yes, let's start right away!" cried the redheaded
girl. She ran back to the house and
briskly started to rip a few boards from the porch.
The fine gentleman paid no attention to her. He
wasn't interested in children, and besides he now had something
on his mind. The garden in its wild, state really
looked quite pleasant and attractive in the sunshine.
If a new house were built, the lawns cut, the
paths raked, and flowers properly planted, then
even a very fine gentleman could live there. The fine
gentleman decided to buy Villa Villekulla.
He looked around, trying to think of more ways
to improve the place. Of course the old
moss-covered trees would have to go. He glared sourly
at the old gnarled oak with its tremendous trunk and
its branches which arched over the roof of Villa
Villekulla.
"I'll cut that one down," he said with finality.
The pretty little girl in the blue checkered dress
cried out in a frightened voice, "Oh, Pippi,
did you hear?"
Unconcerned, the redheaded girl continued to skip
around on the garden path.
"Yes, I'll chop down that old rotten oak," the
fine gentleman mumbled to himself.
The little girl in the blue checkered dress stretched
her hands toward him pleadingly. "Oh, no,
don't do that," she said. "It's such a wonderful
tree to climb. And it's hollow, so we can play in
it."
"Nonsense," said the fine gentleman. "I don't
climb trees; you ought to understand that."
The boy with the neatly combed hair came forward. He
looked anxious. "But soda grows in that tree,"
he said imploringly. "And chocolate too. On
Thursdays."
"Listen, I think you kids have been sitting in the
sun too long," said the fine gentleman. "Everything
seems to be going round and round in your heads. But
that's none of my business. I'm going to buy this
place. Can you tell me where I can find the owner?"
The little blue checkered girl began to cry, and the little
boy with the neatly combed hair ran up to the redheaded
girl, who was still skipping. "Pippi," he said,
"don't you hear what he is saying? Why don't you
do something?"
"Why don't I
do
something?" echoed the redheaded girl. "Here I am,
skipping for all I'm worth,
and then you tell me I'm not doing anything. Skip
yourself and see how easy it is!"
She walked over to the fine gentleman. "My name
is Pippi Longstocking," she said. "And this is
Tommy and Annika." She pointed to her friends.
"Is there anything we can do for you-tear down a house
or chop down a tree? Or is there anything else
that needs to be changed? Just say the word!"
"Your names don't interest me," said the fine
gentleman. 'The only thing I would like to know is where
I can find the owner of this place. I intend to buy
it."
The redheaded girl, the one called Pippi
Long-stocking, had gone back to her skipping. 'The
owner is quite busy now," she said. She kept on
skipping in a very determined way as she talked. "As
a matter of fact, terribly busy," she said,
skipping around the fine gentleman. "But do sit down
and wait a while, and she will probably come along."
"She"
said the fine gentleman with a pleased look. "Is it
a
she
who owns this miserable house? So much the better.
Women don't understand business. In that case there's
a hope of getting it cheap."
"We can always hope," said Pippi
Longstocking.
As there didn't seem to be any other place to sit
down, the fine gentleman sat down on the veranda
steps. The monkey anxiously leaped back and forth
on the railing. Tommy and Annika were standing at a
distance, looking at him in a frightened way.
"Do you live here?" asked the fine gentleman.
"No," said Tommy, "we live in the villa
next door."
"But we come here every day to play," said Annika
shyly.
"There will be an end to that now," said the fine
gentleman. "I don't want any youngsters running
around in my garden. Children are the worst thing I know."
"I think so too," said Pippi and stopped skipping
for a second: "All children ought to be shot."
"How can y
ou say that?" said Tommy, hurt.
Tesi I mean it: all children ought to be shot," said
Pippi "But that isn't possible because then no nice
little uncles would ever grow up. And we can't do without
them!"
The fine gentleman looked at Pippi's red
hair and decided to have a little fun while he was
waiting. "Do you know why you're like a newly lighted
match?" he asked.
"No," said Pippi. "But I have always wondered."
The fine gentleman pulled one of Pippi's
pigtails quite hard. "Both of you are fiery on
top-ha-ha!"
"One
has to listen a lot before the ears fall off," said
Pippi. "How strange that I haven't happened
to think of that before!"
The fine gentleman looked at her and said, "I
really think you're the ugliest child I've ever seen."
"Well," said Pippi, "you're not exactly a
beauty yourself."
The fine gentleman looked hurt, but he didn't
say anything. Pippi stood and looked at him in
silence for a while with her head tilted to one side.
"Do you know in what way you and I are alike?"
"Just between us," said the fine gentleman, "I hope
there is
no
likeness."
There is," said Pippi. "Both of us have big
mouths. Except me."
A faint giggle could be heard from Tommy and
Annika.
. "So, you're being insolent!" the man
shouted. "But I'll soon thrash that out of you."
He reached out his fat arm to grab Pippi, but she
quickly jumped to one side and a second later she was
sitting perched in the hollow oak. The fine
gentleman gaped in astonishment.
"When are we going to start with the thrashing?" asked
Pippi, as she made herself comfortable on a branch.
"I have time to wait," said the fine gentleman.
Villa Villekulla 19
"Good!" said Pippi "Because I'm thinking of
greater-than staying up here until the middle of
November."
Tommy and Annika laughed and clapped their hands.
But that they shouldn't have done, because now the fine
gentleman was terribly angry. When he couldn't
reach Pippi he grabbed Annika by the nape of the
neck and said, "Then I'll give you a hiding
instead. It seems as if you need one too."
Annika had never in her life been spanked and she
let out a cry of pain and fright. There was a thud as
Pippi jumped out of the tree. With one leap she was
standing beside the fine gentleman.
"Oh, no," she said. "Better not start a fight
now." Then she grabbed the fine gentleman around his
fat waist and threw him up in the air
several times. And on her outstretched arms she
carried him to his car and threw him down in the back
seat.
"I think we'll wait to tear down the house until
another day," she said. "You see, one day a week
I tear down houses. But never on Fridays, because
this is housecleaning day. Therefore I usually vacuum
the house on Friday and tear it down on
Saturday. Everything has its own time."
With great difficulty the fine gentleman scrambled
up to the steering wheel and drove off in great haste.
He was both frightened and angry and it annoyed him that
he hadn't been able to talk to the
owner of Villa Villekulla. He was anxious
to buy
the place and chase away those nasty children.
Then he met one of the town policemen. He stopped
his car and said, "Can you help me to find the lady who
owns Villa Villekulla?"
"With great pleasure," said the policeman. He
hopped into the car and said, "Drive to Villa
Villekulla."
"No, she isn't there," said the fine gentleman.
"Yes, I'm sure she's there," said the
policeman.
The fine gentleman felt quite safe with the policeman
along, and he drove back to Villa
Villekulla as the policeman had told him to.
He was very eager to talk to the owner.
"There is the lady that owns Villa
Villekulla," said the policeman and pointed
toward the house.
The fine gentleman looked in the direction in which the
policeman was pointing. He put his hand to his
forehead and groaned. There on the veranda steps was the
redheaded girl, that awful Pippi Long-stocking.
And on her outstretched arms she was carrying the
horse. The monkey was sitting on her left
shoulder.
"Hi, Tommy and Annika," shouted Pippi,
'let's go for a ride before the next spicalator
comes!"
"It's called
speculator,"
said Annika.
"Is that-the owner of the villa?" said the fine
gentleman in a weak voice. "But she is only a
little girl."
"Yes," said the policeman, "only a little girl,
the strongest little girl in the world. She lives
there all alone."
The horse with the three children on his back came
galloping toward the gate.
Pippi looked down at the fine gentleman and said,
"It was fun to solve riddles with you a while ago.
Come to think of it, I know one more. Can you tell me
what the difference is between my horse and my
monkey?"
The fine gentleman was really not at all in the mood
to solve riddles any more, but he had gained so much
respect for Pippi that he didn't dare not
to answer.
