After Pippi's performance at the circus there was
not a single person in all the little town who did
not know how strong she was. There was even a
piece about her in the paper. But people who lived
in other places, of course, didn't know who Pippi
was.
One dark autumn evening two tramps came
walking down the road past Villa Villekulla. They
were two bad thieves wandering about the coun-
try to see what they could steal. They saw that
there was a light in the windows of Villa Villekulla
and decided to go in to ask for a sandwich.
That evening Pippi had poured out all her gold
pieces on the kitchen floor and sat there counting
them. To be sure, she couldn't count very well, but
she did it now and then anyway, just to keep every-
thing in order.
"Sixty-five, sixty-six, sixty-seven, sixty
eight, sixty-nine, sixty-ten, sixty-eleven, sixty
twelve, sixty-thirteen, sixty-sixteen, whew, It
makes my throat feel like sixty! Goodness, there
must be some more numbers in the arithmetic,
oh, yes, now I remember, one hundred four, one
thousand. That certainly is a lot of money," said
Pippi.
There was a loud knock on the door.
"Walk in or stay out, whichever you choose!"
shouted Pippi. "I never force anyone against his
will."
The door opened and the two tramps came in.
You can imagine that they opened their eyes when
they saw a little red-headed girl sitting all alone on
the floor, counting money.
"Are you all alone at home?" they asked
craftily.
"Of course not," said Pippi. "Mr. Nilsson is at
home too."
The thieves couldn't very well know that Mr.
Nilsson was a monkey sleeping in a little green bed
with a dolls quilt around his stomach. They
thought the man of the house must be named Mr.
Nilsson and they winked at each other. "We can
come back a little later" is what they meant, but
to Pippi they said, "We just came in to ask what
your clock is."
They were so excited that they had forgotten all
about the sandwich.
"Great, strong men who don't know what a
clock is!" said Pippi. "Where in the world were you
brought up? The clock is a little round thingama-
jig that says "tick tack, tick tack," and that goes and
goes but never gets to the door. Do you know any
more riddles? out with them if you do," said Pippi
encouragingly.
The tramps thought Pippi was too little to tell
time, so without another word they went out
again.
"I don't demand that you say "tack", [thanks in
Swedish], shouted Pippi after them, "but you
could at least make an effort and say "tick." You
haven't even as much sense as a clock has. But by
all means go in peace." And Pippi went back to
her counting.
No sooner were the tramps outside than they
began to rub their hands with delight. "Did you
see all that money? Heavenly day!" said one of
them.
"Yes, once in a while luck is with us," said the
other. "All we need to do is wait until the kid and
that Nilsson are asleep. Then we'll sneak in and
grab the dough."
They sat down under an oak tree in the garden
to wait. A drizzling rain was falling; they were
very hungry, so they were quite uncomfortable,
but the thought of all that money kept their spirits
up.
From time to time lights went out in other
houses, but in Villa Villekulla they shone on. It so
happened that Pippi was learning to dance the
shottische, and she didn't want to go to bed until
she was sure she could do it. At last, however, the
lights went out in the windows of Villa Villekulla
too.
The tramps waited quite a while until they were
sure Mr. Nilsson would have gone to sleep. At last
they crept quietly up to the kitchen door and pre-
pared to open it with their burglar tools. Mean-
while one of them, his name, as a matter of fact,
was Bloom, just happened to feel the doorknob.
The door was not locked!
"Well, some people are smart!" he whispered to
his companion. "The door is open!"
"So much the better for us," answered his com-
panion, a black-haired man called Thunder-Karls-
son by those who knew him. Thunder-Karlsson
turned on his pocket flashlight, and they crept into
the kitchen. There was no one there. In the next
room was Pippi's bed, and there also stood Mr.
Nilsson's little doll bed.
Thunder-Karlsson opened the door and looked
around carefully. Everything was quiet as he
played his flashlight around the room. When the
light touched Pippi's bed the two tramps were
amazed to see nothing but a pair of feet on the
pillow. Pippi, as usual, had her head under the
covers at the foot of the bed.
"That must be the girl," whispered Thunder
Karlsson to Bloom. "And no doubt she sleeps
soundly. But where in the world is Nilsson, do you
suppose?"
"Mr. Nilsson, if you please," came Pippi's calm
voice from under the covers. "Mr. Nilsson is in
the little green doll bed."
The tramps were so startled that they almost
rushed out at once, but then it suddenly dawned
on them what Pippi had said. That Mr. Nilsson
was lying in a doll's bed! And now in the light of
the flashlight they could see th