wouldn't start for a long time. What Pippi thought about, no one
knows.
"Pippi, now you have lived here in Villa Villekulla a whole year,"
said Annika suddenly, hugging Pippi's arm.
"Yes, time flies and one begins to grow old," said Pippi. "This
autumn I'll be ten, and then I guess I'll have seen my best
days."
"Do you think you will live here always?" asked Tommy. "I mean
until you're old enough to become a pirate?"
"No one knows," said Pippi. "I don't suppose my father will stay
on that island forever. As soon as he gets a boat made he'll surely
come for me."
Tommy and Annika sighed.
Suddenly Pippi sat upright on the steps. "Look, there he comes
now!" she exclaimed, pointing toward the gate. She covered the garden
walk in three leaps. Tommy and Annika followed her hesitatingly, just
in time to see her throw herself on the neck of a very fat gentleman
with a short red mustache and blue sailor pants.
"Papa Efraim!" cried Pippi, waving her legs so eagerly as she hung
around his neck that her big shoes fell off. "Papa Efraim, how you
have grown!"
"Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim's Daughter
Longstocking, my beloved child! I was just going to say that you have
grown."
"I knew that," said Pippi. "That's why I said it first. Ha,
ha!"
"My child, are you just as strong as you used to be?"
"Stronger," said Pippi. "Shall we lock arms?"
"Go ahead!" said Papa Efraim.
There was a table in the garden, and there Pippi and her father
sat down to lock arms while Tommy and Annika looked on. There was
only one person in the world who was as strong as Pippi, and that was
her father. There they sat, bending with all their might, but neither
succeeded in bending the other's arm.
At last Captain Longstocking's arm began to tremble a little, and
Pippi said, "When I'm ten I'll bend your arm, Papa Efraim."
Papa Efraim thought so too.
"Oh, my goodness!" said Pippi. "I forgot all about introducing
you. This is Tommy and Annika, and this is my father, the Captain and
His Majesty, Efraim Long- stocking, because you are a Cannibal King,
aren't you, Papa?"
"That's right," said Captain Longstocking. "I am king over the
Kurredutt natives on an island known as the Kurrekurredutt Island. I
floated ashore there after I had blown into the water, you
remember."
"Well, that's just what I knew all along. I never believed that
you were drowned."
"Drowned! I should say not! It's just as impossible for me to
drown as for a camel to thread a needle. I float on my fat."
Tommy and Annika looked at Captain Longstocking wonder ingly.
"Why aren't you wearing cannibal-king clothes?' asked Tommy.
"Oh, I have them here in my bag," said Captain Long- stocking.
"Oh, put them on, please put them on!" cried Pippi. "I want to see
my father in royal robes."
They all went into the kitchen. Captain Longstocking disappeared
into Pippi's bedroom, and the children sat on the woodbox,
waiting.
"It's just like at the theater," said Annika, excitedly.
Then-pang!-the door opened and there stood the cannibal king! He
had a grass skirt around his middle, and on his head he wore a crown
of gold! Around his neck hung many strands of big colored beads. In
one hand he held a spear, and in the other a shield. Under the grass
skirt a couple of fat, hairy legs stuck out, with thick gold
bracelets on the ankles.
"Ussamkussor mussor filibussor," said Captain Long-stocking,
frowning threateningly.
"Oh, he speaks native language!" said Tommy, delighted. "What does
that mean, Uncle Efraim?"
"It means 'Tremble, my enemies!' "
"Listen, Papa Efraim," said Pippi. "Weren't the natives surprised
when you floated ashore on their island?"
"Yes, terribly surprised," answered Captain Long-stocking. "First
they wanted to eat me, but when I had torn down a palm tree with my
bare hands they changed their minds and made me king. After that I
ruled in the mornings and built my boat in the afternoons. It took a
long time to finish it, as I had to do everything all by myself. It
was just a little sailboat, of course. When it was finished I told
the natives I had to leave them for a little while but that I would
was Pip-pilotta. Then they beat on their shields and shouted,
'Ussomplussor, ussomplussor!'"
"What does that mean?" asked Annika.
"It means 'Bravo, bravo!' Then I ruled hard for two weeks so that
it would last during the whole time I was away. And then I set sail,
and the natives cried 'Ussamkura kussomkara.' That means 'Come back
soon, fat white chief.' Then I steered straight for South Arabia, and
what do you think was the first thing I saw when I jumped ashore
there? My old faithful schooner, the Hoptoad and my faithful old
Fridolf, standing by the rail and waving with all his might.
'Fridolf,' I said, 'now I will take command.' 'Aye, aye, Captain,' he
said, and so I did. The whole old crew was there, and now the Hoptoad
is down here in the harbor so you can go and see all your old
friends, Pippi."
Pippi was so happy that she stood on her head on the kitchen
table, kicking her legs. But Tommy and Annika couldn't help feeling a
little sad. It was just as if someone were trying to take Pippi away
from them, they thought.
"Now we'll celebrate," cried Pippi as she came down on her feet
again. "Now we'll celebrate so that the whole house shakes!" And then
she dished up a big supper, and everyone sat down at the kitchen
table to eat. Pippi gobbled up three hard-boiled eggs with the shells
on. From time to time she bit her Papa's ear, just because she was so
happy to see him. Mr. Nilsson, who had been sleeping, suddenly came
running out and rubbed his eyes in surprise when he saw Captain
Longstocking.
"Well, I see you still have Mr. Nilsson," said Captain Longstocking.
"You bet, and I have another pet too," said Pippi and went out and
fetched the horse, who also got a boiled egg to chew on.
Captain Longstocking was very glad that his daughter had settled
herself so comfortably in Villa Villek Kulah and he was glad that she
had had her suitcase of gold coins, so that she had not been in need
while was away.
When everyone had eaten, Captain Longstocking took a tom-tom out
of his bag. It was one of those the natives used to beat time on for
their dances and sacrificial feasts. Captain Longstocking sat down on
the floor and beat on the drum. It sounded strange weird, different
from anything that Tommy and Anika had ever heard.
"Native-ish!" explained Tommy to Annika.
Pippi took off her big shoes and danced in her stocking feet, a
dance that also was weird. Then King Ejfraun danced a wild war dance
that he had learned on kurredutt Island. He swung his spear and waved
his shield wildly,
and his naked feet stomped so hard Pippi cried,
"Look out you don't break through the kitchen floor!"
"That doesn't matter," cried Captain Longstocking and whirled
along. "For now you are going to be a cannibal princess, my darling
daughter."
Pippi jumped up and danced with her Papa.
danced back and forth facing each other, yelling and shouting, and
from time to time leaping high into the air, so that Tommy and Annika
were dizzy just from watching them. Mr. Nilsson must have become
dizzy too, for he sat and held his hands over his eyes the whole
time.
By and by the dance turned into a wrestling match between Pippi
and her father. Captain Longstocking threw his daughter so that she
landed on the hat shelf, but she didn't stay there long. With a wild
cry she leaped across the kitchen and landed right on Papa Efraim,
and the next second had tossed him so that he flew like a meteor,
head first into the woodbox. His ,fat legs stuck right up in the air.
He couldn't get out by himself, for in the first place he was too
fat, and in the second place he was laughing so hard. A rumbling like
thunder came from the woodbox.
Pippi took hold of his feet to pull him up, but then he laughed so
he almost choked. He was so terribly ticklish!
"Don't ti-ck-le me!" he cried, giggling hysterically. "Throw me
into the sea or throw me through the window, do anything, but don't
ti-ck-l-e the bottoms of my feet!"
He laughed so that Tommy and Annika were afraid that the woodbox
would burst. At last he managed to get out, and as soon as he was
back on his feet he lunged at Pippi and threw her across the kitchen.
She landed on her face on the stove, which was black with soot.
But she was up in an instant and threw herself at her father. She
punched him so that the grass in his skirt came loose and flew all
over the kitchen. The gold crown fell off and rolled under the
table.
At last Pippi succeeded in getting her father down on the floor,
"Yes, you won," said Captain Longstocking, and then they both
laughed till they cried. Pippi bit her Pappa lightly on the nose, and
he said, "I haven't had so much fun since you and I got mixed up in
that sailors' fight in Singapore."
He crawled under the table and picked up his crown. "The cannibals
should see this," he said, "the royal crown lying under the kitchen
table in Villa Villekulla.
He put on the crown and combed out his grass skirt, which looked
rather scanty.
"You'll have to send that to Invisible Mending," said Pippi.
"Yes, but it was worth it," answered Captain Long-stocking.
He sat down on the floor and wiped the perspiration from his
forehead. "Well, Pippi, my child," he said, "do you ever lie
nowadays?"
"Yes, when I have time, but it isn't very often," said Pippi
modestly. "How about you? You weren't so backward about lying
either."
"Well, I usually lie a little for the natives on Saturday nights,
if they have behaved well during the week. We usually have a little
lie-and-song evening, with accompaniment of drums and firelight
dances. The more I lie, the harder they beat the drums."
"Is that so?" asked Pippi. "No one here drums for me. Here I go in
my loneliness and puff myself so full of lies that it is a pleasure
to hear me, but no one even plays on a comb for me. The other night,
when I had gone to bed, I lied a long story about a calf who
crocheted lace and climbed trees, and just think, I believed every
word of it! That I call good lying! But nobody beat a drum for me.
Oh, no!"
"Well, then, I'll do it," said Captain Longstocking, and he beat a
long riffle on the drum for his daughter, and Pippi sat on his knee
and rubbed her sooty face against his cheek so that he became just as
black as she was.
Annika was thinking about something. She didn't know if it was
quite proper to say it, but she just had to. "It's not nice to lie,"
she said. "Mommy says that."
"Oh, how silly you are, Annika!" said Tommy. "Pippi doesn't really
lie. She just lies for fun. She makes up things, don't you
understand, stupid?"
Pippi looked thoughtfully at Tommy. "Sometimes you speak so wisely
that I'm afraid you will become great," she said.
It was evening. Tommy and Annika had to go home. It had been a
full day and it had been such fun to see a real live cannibal king,
and of course it was nice for Pippi that her father had come home,
but still... still...
When Tommy and Annika had crept off to bed, they didn't lie there
talking, as they usually did. There was absolute silence in the
nursery.
Suddenly a sigh was heard. It was Tommy.
After a while another sigh was heard. This time it was Annika.
"What are you sighing about?" asked Tommy crossly.
But he didn't get an answer, for Annika was crying with her head
under the quilt.
8.
Pippi Has a Farewell Party
WHEN Tommy and Annika came into the kitchen at Villa Villekulla
the next morning, the, whole house was resounding with the most
terrible snores. Captain Longstocking was not yet awake, but Pippi
stood in the middle of the kitchen floor, doing her morning
exercises. She was just turning her fifteenth somersault when Tommy
and Annika interrupted her.
"Well, now I don't have to worry about my future any more," said
Pippi. "I'm going to be a cannibal princess. Yes, for half the year
I'm going to be a cannibal princess and half the year I'm going to
sail around on all the oceans of the vvorld on the Hoptoad. Papa
thinks that if he rules hard over the natives half the year, they'll
get along without a king during the other half; for you know an old
sea dog like him has to feel a deck under his feet occasionally, and
then he has to think about my education too. If I'm going to be a
really good pirate, it wouldn't do to spend all my time at court.
That's weakening, Papa says."
"Aren't you going to spend any time at all in Villa Villekulla?"
asked Tommy sadly.
"Yes, when we've retired and got a pension," answered Pippi, "in
about fifty or sixty years. Then we'll play and have lots of fun,
won't we?"
This wasn't much comfort to Tommy and Annika.
"Just think, a cannibal princess!" said Pippi dreamily. "Not many
children get to be that. Oh, I'll be so fine, I'll have rings in my
ears and a little larger ring in my nose."
"What else are you going to wear?" asked Annika.
"Not another thing," answered Pippi. "Never anything else."
She sighed ecstatically. "Princess Pippilotta! What a life! What
glamour! And how I shall dance! Princess Pippilotta dances in the
firelight to the beating of the drums! Just imagine how my nose ring
will jingle!"
"When-when are you going to leave?" asked Tommy. His voice sounded
a bit rusty.
"The Hoptoad is lifting anchor tomorrow," said
Pippi.
All three children were silent a long while; there didn't seem to
be anything more to say. At last, however, Pippi turned another
somersault and said, "But tonight we'll have a farewell party in
Villa Villekulla-a farewell party! I say no more. All who want to
come to say good-by to me are welcome."
The news spread like wildfire among all the children in the little
town.
"Pippi Longstocking is going to leave town, and she is having a
farewell party tonight in Villa Villekulla. Everyone who wants to may
go to the party."
There were several who wanted to-in fact there were thirty-four
children. Tommy and Annika had persuaded their mother to promise that
they could stay up as long as they wanted to that night. She
understood that this was absolutely necessary.
Tommy and Annika would never forget the evening of Pippi's
farewell party. It was one of those wonderful warm and beautiful
summer evenings when you say to yourself, "Ah, this is summer!" All
the roses in Pippi's garden glowed in the fragrant dusk. The wind
whispered softly in the old trees. Everything would nave been
wonderful if only-if only-Tommy and Annika couldn't bear to finish
the thought.
All the children from town had brought their bird whistles and
were playing merrily as they came up the garden walk of Villa
Villekulla. Tommy and Annika led them. Just as they reached the porch
steps, the door was flung open and Pippi stood on the threshold. Her
eyes gleamed in her freckled face.
"Welcome to my humble dwelling!" she said and threw out her arms.
Annika looked at her closely so that she would always remember
just how Pippi looked. Never, never would she forget her as she stood
there with her red braids and freckles and her happy smile and her
big black shoes.
In the distance was heard a soft beating on a drum. Captain
Longstocking sat in the kitchen with his native drum between his
knees. He was wearing his royal robes today too. Pippi had especially
asked him to. She realized that all the children wanted to see a real
live cannibal king.
The whole kitchen was soon full of children staring at King
Efraim, and Annika thought that it was a good thing no more had come,
for there wouldn't have been room for them. Just as she was thinking
this, the music of an accordion was heard from the garden, and in
came the whole crew from the Hoptoad, led by Fridolf. It was he who
was playing the accordion. Pippi had been down to the harbor that day
to see her friends and had asked them to come to the farewell
party.
Now she rushed at Fridolf and hugged him until he was blue in the
face. Then she let go of him and cried, "Music! Music!"
Fridolf played on his accordion, King Efraim beat his drum, and
all the children blew their bird whistles.
The lid on the woodbox was closed, and on it stood long rows of
bottles of soda pop. On the large kitchen table were fifteen layer
cakes covered with whipped cream, and on the stove a huge kettle full
of sausages.
King Efraim began by grabbing eight sausages. All the others
followed his example, and soon nothing was heard in the kitchen
except the sound of people eating sausages. Afterward each child was
allowed to help himself to all the soda pop and layer cake he
wanted.
It was a little crowded in the kitchen, so the guests spread out
onto the porch and even into the garden. The whipped cream on the
cake shone white in the dusk.
When everyone had eaten as much as he could,Tommy suggested that
they should shake down thesausages and cake by playing a game-Follow
theLeader, for instance. Pippi didn't know that game, butTommy
explained to her that one person would be the leader and all the rest