Let’s read «Pippi»! Let’s play «Pippi'»!!!
Pippy moves into Villa Villekulla
Way out at the end of a tiny little town was an old overgrown garden, and in the
garden was an old house, and in the house lived Pippi Longstocking. She was
nine years old, and she lived there all alone. She had no mother and no father,
and that was of course very nice because there was no one to tell her to go to
bed just when she was having the most fun, and no one who could make her
take cod liver oil when she much preferred caramel candy.
Once upon a time Pippi had had a father of whom she was extremely fond.
Naturally she had had a mother too, but that was so long ago that Pippi didn’t
remember her at all. Her mother had died when Pippi was just a tiny baby and
lay in a cradle and howled so that nobody could go anywhere near her. Pippi
was sure that her mother was now up in Heaven, watching her little girl through
a peephole in the sky, and Pippi often waved up at her and called, «Don’t you
worry about me. I’ll always come out on top.»
Pippi had not forgotten her father. He was a sea captain who sailed on the great
ocean, and Pippi had sailed with him in his ship until one day her father was
blown overboard in a storm and disappeared. But Pippi was absolutely certain
that he would come back. She would never believe that he had drowned; she
was sure he had floated until he landed on an island inhabited by cannibals.
And she thought he had become the king of all the cannibals and went around
with a golden crown on his head all day long.
«My papa is a cannibal king; it certainly isn’t every child who has such a stylish
papa,» Pippi used to say with satisfaction. «And as soon as my papa has built
himself a boat he will come and get me, and I’ll be a cannibal princess. Heigh-
ho, won’t that be exciting!»
Her father had bought the old house in the garden many years ago. He thought
he would live there with Pippi when he grew old and couldn’t sail the seas any
longer. And then this annoying thing had to happen, that he was blown into the
ocean, and while Pippi was waiting for him to come back she went straight
home to Villa Villekulla. That was the name of the house. It stood there ready
and waiting for her. One lovely summer evening she had said good-bye to all the
sailors on her father’s boat. They were all fond of Pippi, and she of them.
«So long, boys.» she said and kissed each one on the forehead. «Don’t you
worry about me. I’ll always come out on top.»