Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson Read Free Book Online Page B

eyes and smiled.
    'Do you know,' said Moomintroll hastily, 'it's most extraordinary, but as time goes on I'm beginning to prefer girls without hair?'
    'Really?' she said with a look of surprise. 'Why is that?'
    'Hair looks so untidy!' replied Moomintroll. The Snork Maiden immediately lifted her paw to pat her hair - but alas! All she got hold of was a little burnt tuft, which she stared at in horror.
    'You've gone bald,' said Sniff.
    'It suits you - really,' Moomintroll said consolingly. 'Please don't cry!'
    But the Snork Maiden threw herself down on the sand and wept bitterly over the loss of her crowning glory.
    They all crowded round trying to cheer her up but in vain.
    'Listen,' said the Hemulen. 'I was born bald on top and really I get along very well.'
    'We'll rub your head with oil so that it's sure to grow again,' said Moominpappa.
    'And then it will be so curly!' added Moominmamma.
    'Will it really?' sobbed the Snork Maiden.
    'Of course it will,' soothed Moominmamma. 'Think how sweet you'll look with curly hair!' So the Snork Maiden stopped crying and sat up.
    'Look how lovely it is!' said Snufkin. The island had been washed by the rain and now sparkled in the early morning sunlight. 'I shall play a morning song,' he went on taking out his mouth-organ. So they all sang lustily after him:
    'There's no need to worry or fear or fret:
    There's plenty of life in all of us yet.
    The Hattifatteners, every one,
    Have sailed away to the rising sun.
    And after beauty we'll never more crave,
    For the Snork Maiden's getting a permanent wave.'
    'Come and bathe!' cried Moomintroll. And the whole lot pulled on their swimming suits and rushed out into the breakers (except the Hemulen and Moominmamma and pappa who thought it was still too cold).
    Glass-green and white waves rolled in over the sand. Oh, to be a Moomin and to dance in the waves while the sun gets up! The night was forgotten and a long June day lay before them. They dived like porpoises through the waves and sailed in on the crests towards the beach where Sniff was playing in the shallow water. Snufkin was floating on his back far out and looking up into the blue and gold sky.

    Meanwhile Moominmamma was making coffee and looking for the butter-jar which she had hidden from the sun in the damp sand. But she looked in vain - the storm had washed it away. 'Oh dear, what can I give them for sandwiches?' she wailed.
    'Never mind,' said Moominpappa. 'We'll see if the storm has given us something else instead. After coffee we'll make a tour of inspection along the beach and see what the sea has washed up!' And this they did.
    On the farther side of the island shining slippery rocks reared up out of the sea and there you could find both patches of shell-strewn sand (the mermaids' private dance floor) and secret black chasms into which the breakers thundered, as though they were battering on an iron door; in fact there were caves and gurgling whirlpools and all manner of exciting things to be found.

    Everyone set out on his own to see what had been washed up. (This is the most exciting occupation, for you can find the strangest things, and it is often quite difficult and dangerous to save them from the sea.)
    Moominmamma clambered down to a little patch of sand which was hidden by some fearsome rocks. Here clumps of blue sea-pinks grew and the sea-oats rattled and whistled as the wind forced its way up their narrow stalks. She lay down in a sheltered spot from which she could see only the blue sky and the sea-pinks that waved over her head. 'I'll rest just a little while,' she thought, but soon she was fast asleep in the warm sand.
    But the Snork ran to the top of the highest hill and looked round. He could see from shore to shore, and the island seemed to him to float like a giant water-lily on the uneasy sea. He saw Sniff - just a speck - looking for wreckage; he even caught sight of Snufkin's hat; and surely that was the Hemulen digging up a rare shell-orchid... And there!