Moominsummer Madness by Tove Jansson Read Free Book Online

drawing-room. It was Emma's bitter laugh.
    'Ha, ha!' she laughed. 'There you are now! That'll teach you not to whistle on the stage!'



CHAPTER 6
About revenge on Park Keepers
    IF Little My had been only slightly bigger, who knows if she wouldn't have drowned. Now she bobbed light as a bubble through the whirls of water and, snorting and spitting, popped her head above surface again. She floated like a cork, and was swiftly carried away by the current.
    'This is fun,' said Little My to herself. 'My sister's going to wonder.' She looked around her and discovered Moominmamma's cake-tin and work-basket afloat quite near. After some hesitation (because she knew there were still a few cakes left) she chose the work-basket and clambered aboard it.
    She had a nice long time examining everything in it and cutting up a couple of skeins. Then she curled up in the angora wool and went to sleep.
    The work-basket sailed on. The house had gone aground in the middle of an inlet, and now the basket drifted shorewards, where, in among the reeds, it finally stopped in the mud. This didn't wake Little My who had always been a sound sleeper. She didn't awake at first even when a fishing-hook came flying and caught in the work-basket. There was a jerk when the line tightened and was slowly pulled home.
    Dear reader, prepare for a surprise. Chance and coincidence are strange things. Without knowing anything of each other and each other's business the Moomin family and Snufkin had happened to arrive at the same little inlet on Midsummer Eve. It was Snufkin himself in his old green hat who now stood on the shore and stared at the work-basket he had caught.
    'By my hat, if it isn't a small Mymble,' he said and took the pipe from his mouth. He then poked at Little My with the crochet hook and said kindly: 'Don't be afraid!'
    'I'm not even afraid of ants,' replied Little My and sat up.
    They looked at each other.
    The last time they had met Little My had been so small as to be nearly invisible, so it wasn't very strange that they didn't recognize each other now.
    'Well, well, dear child,' remarked Snufkin and scratched his head.
    'Well, yourself, with knobs on,' said Little My.
    Snufkin sighed. He was here on important business, and he had really hoped to be alone for a few days more before returning to the Moomin Valley for the summer. And then some careless Mymble went and put her child to sea in a work-basket. Just for the fun of it.
    'Where's mother?' he asked.
    'Somebody ate her,' replied Little My untruthfully. 'Have you any food?'
    Snufkin pointed with his pipe-stem. A small kettle of peas was simmering over his camp-fire nearby. Beside it stood another with hot coffee.
    'But I suppose milk's what you drink,' he said.
    Little My gave a contemptuous laugh. She did not bat an eyelid as she swallowed two brimming teaspoonfuls of coffee and ate no less than four peas.
    Then Snufkin carefully extinguished his camp-fire with water and remarked: 'Well?'
    'Now I want to sleep some more,' said Little My. 'I always sleep best in pockets.'
    'Quite,' said Snufkin and pocketed her. 'The main thing in life is to know your own mind.' He tucked in the angora wool after her.
    Then Snufkin continued his way across the meadows by the shore.
    The great flood-wave had never reached as far as the inlet. Here summer was as it had always been. Nothing was known about the volcanic eruption, even if Snufkin often had wondered at the splendidly red sunsets, and the ashes drifting with the wind, of late. He knew nothing at all about the things that had happened to his friends in the Moomin Valley, and he supposed that they had at this moment gathered on their verandah for the usual quiet Midsummer celebration.
    He had thought sometimes of Moomintroll, who was probably waiting for him to return. But first he had to settle his account with the Park Keeper. And that could be done only on Midsummer Eve.
    Tomorrow all would be over.
    Snufkin produced his mouth organ and began