Moominvalley in November by Tove Jansson Read Free Book Online Page B

even her morning hair-do which was so important to her, and with Mymble in the house, too. The house was damp and musty and dusty and ought to be aired, a cross-draught through all the rooms and masses of warm water and a marvellous, colossal, thorough spring-cleaning...

    Hardly had Fillyjonk thought of spring-cleaning when a wave of dizziness and nausea overcame her and for one terrifying moment she was hanging over the abyss. She knew: I shall never again be able to clean. How can I go on living if I can neither clean or prepare food? There's nothing else worth doing.
    Fillyjonk went very slowly downstairs. The others were sitting on the veranda drinking coffee. Fillyjonk looked at them. She looked at Grandpa-Grumble's buckled hat and Toft's tousled head, the Hemulen's solid neck, which was a little red from the chill morning air, there they all sat and Mymble's hair was, oh dear, so beautiful - and suddenly Fillyjonk was overcome by a great tiredness and she thought: they don't like me at all.
    She stood in the middle of the drawing-room and looked around. The Hemulen had wound up the clock, he had tapped the barometer. The furniture was all in place and everything that had ever happened in the room was shut away and out of sight and didn't want to have anything to do with her.
    Suddenly, quickly, Fillyjonk went to fetch some wood from the kitchen. She wanted to make a big fire in the stove to warm up the desolate house and all those who were attempting to live in it.
    *
    'Listen you in there, whatever your name is,' shouted Grandpa-Grumble outside the tent. 'I've saved the Ancestor! My friend the Ancestor! She had forgotten that he lives in the stove, how could she! And now she's lying on her bed crying.'
    'Who?' Snufkin asked.
    'The one who wears the feather-boa, of course,' exclaimed Grandpa-Grumble. 'Isn't it awful?!'
    'She's calming herself down,' Snufkin muttered from inside the tent.
    Grandpa-Grumble was taken aback, he was very disappointed. He thumped his stick on the ground and said many disgraceful things to himself, and then went down to the bridge, where Mymble was sitting combing her hair.
    'Did you see how I saved the Ancestor?' he asked severely. 'One second more and he would have burnt up.'
    'But he wasn't,' said Mymble.
    Grandpa-Grumble explained to Mymble: 'None of you understands when something big happens nowadays. You all have the wrong feelings. Perhaps you don't even admire me.' He pulled up his fishing contraption. It was empty.
    'It's in the spring that there are fish in this river,' said Mymble.
    'It isn't a river, it's a brook,' he shouted. 'It's my brook and it's full of fish!'
    'Now listen, Grandpa-Grumble,' said Mymble calmly. 'It's neither a river nor a brook. It's a stream. But if the Moomin family call it a river, it's a river. I'm the only one who can see that it's a stream. Why do you want to make such a fuss about things that don't exist and things that haven't happened?'
    'To make things more fun,' Grandpa-Grumble replied.
    Mymble combed and combed and the comb rustled like water on a sandy beach, wave after wave, lazily and untroubled.
    Grandpa-Grumble stood up and said with great dignity: 'If you do see this as a stream, do you have to mention it? Horrid child, why do you want to make me feel unhappy?'
    Mymble stopped combing her hair, she was very surprised. 'I like you,' she said, 'I don't want to make you feel unhappy.'
    'That's good,' said Grandpa-Grumble. 'But you must stop telling me about the way things are and let me go on believing in nice things.'
    'I'll try,' Mymble said.
    Grandpa-Grumble was very upset. He stamped off to the tent and shouted: 'You inside there! Is this a brook or is it a river or is it a stream? Are there any fish in it or not? Why is nothing like it used to be? And when are you coming out to take an interest in things?'
    'Soon,' Snufkin answered peevishly. He listened anxiously, but Grandpa-Grumble didn't say anything else.
    I must go and join them,