It really did look just like a wishing-well!

  Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan and Billy Blunt leaned over to see if they could see any pins lying at the bottom.

  But – other people must have been there too, and – would you believe it? – they had thrown in old tins and ice-cream cartons and litter, and there it was all lying under the water that was clear as crystal and cold as ice.

  “Oh, dear!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan and Billy Blunt. “Oh, dear; oh, dear!”

  For you couldn’t think of dropping a pin in and wishing there. You couldn’t even have a drink.

  Then Father said: “Mates, there’s a spot of work to be done around here. We’d better get busy.”

  And he fished up some rusty tins out of the well with his stick.

  Then Billy Blunt fished out some wet papers and cartons with his stick. And Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan picked up bits of silver-paper and bus-tickets scattered about. And Father buried it all down a hole under a rock, where it couldn’t be seen.

  The well didn’t look clear now, but Father said it would soon settle and be crystal clear again, as a wishing-well should be. So they thought they had better wait before making their wishes.

  Meantime Mother and Aunty had chosen the best spot for the picnic, so Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan and Billy Blunt got busy collecting all the scraps of paper lying about, and Uncle put a match to them. (He took good care to do it where nothing else could catch fire or hurt the growing things, because, of course, when you have roots like trees and plants you can’t move out of the way when you’re getting hurt!) Billy Blunt collected bits of broken glass too, lest Toby the dog should cut his paws, and Father buried it safely.

  By then it was time for the picnic, so they all washed their hands in the little stream running through the middle, and sat down to enjoy themselves.

  They had hard-boiled eggs, and brown bread-and-butter, and cheese, and tomatoes, and buns and a big jam-tart. And to drink there was hot tea from a Thermos for the grown-ups, and cold milk for the young ones. And they were all so thirsty they drank up every drop. (Toby the dog drank all he wanted from the little stream.)

  When everyone had quite done they packed everything tidily away in their baskets to take home with them, all their empty bottles and wrapping-papers and string.

  And then Father gave a great sigh of satisfaction, and lay back in the sunshine and put his hat over his face. And Mother sat in the shade and took up her knitting. And Uncle pulled out his newspaper with the cross-word puzzle. And Aunty opened her nice new lady’s magazine.

  But Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan and Billy Blunt (and Toby the dog) all wanted to be up and doing. So they ran about, paddling in the little stream and climbing the trees and playing hide-and-seek. And wherever they went they tidied up until there wasn’t a bit of litter to be seen.

  “Well!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, looking about when it was almost time to go. “This picnic place looks ever so much nicer now we’ve visited it! I should think the next people would be pleased.”

  “I wish,” said little-friend-Susan, “everybody would leave nice places nice when they visit them.”

  That made Billy Blunt remember something. And he said:

  “We never made our wishes at the wishing-well.”

  So they all three rushed over to the wishing-well. And there it was, clear as crystal and cold as ice right down to the bottom, as a wishing-well should be. Mother gave them a cup, and they all drank, and filled up their bottle.

  “Dropping just a pin in won’t spoil it now, will it?” said Milly-Molly-Mandy.

  “We can’t make a proper wish without a pin,” said little-friend-Susan.

  “Won’t make any difference anyhow,” said Billy Blunt.

  But he looked a bit disappointed, all the same, when Mother could find only two pins, which she gave to Milly-Molly-Mandy and little-friend-Susan. But then Father found one under his coat lapel, and handed it to Billy Blunt. And Billy Blunt looked quite pleased as he took it!

  So they each dropped a pin into the wishing-well, and solemnly wished.

  They couldn’t tell their wishes out loud, because that might have spoiled the magic! But I think they all wished the same wish. And as Father said, if enough people wish a wish, and it’s a good wish, it’s quite likely to come to pass.

  So let’s hope that Milly-Molly-Mandy’s and little-friend-Susan’s and Billy Blunt’s wishes all come true!

  3

  Milly-Molly-Mandy

  Has a Clean Frock

  Once upon a time, one beautiful, fine morning, Milly-Molly-Mandy came out in a nice clean frock. (Not for any special reason; only, of course, you have to have a clean frock sometimes, and a beautiful, fine morning seems a good enough reason.)

  It was a Monday morning, so Mother was busy with the washing. Milly-Molly-Mandy helped her to get out the tin baths, and put up the washing-lines in the garden, and find the clothes-pegs. For with Father and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty and Milly-Molly-Mandy and herself to wash for, Mother always had quite a busy time on Monday mornings.

  “Well, now I think that will do, thank you, Milly-Molly-Mandy,” said Mother at last. “You can run off and play now.”

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy called Toby the dog, and they went skipping off together in the beautiful sunshine, down the road with the hedges each side, to see if little-friend-Susan or Billy Blunt were coming out to play. She had only gone as far as the big meadow gate when whom did she see but Billy Blunt (in a nice clean shirt), coming walking along up from the village. So Milly-Molly-Mandy waved hard and called out:

  “Hullo, Billy! Where are you going?”

  Billy Blunt just came walking on till he got near enough (so that he needn’t bother to shout), and then he held up an empty jam-jar he was carrying and said:

  “Tadpoles.”

  “Oh!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Where are you going to get them? What are you going to do with them? Can I come and help you?”

  Billy Blunt said:

  “I want to watch them turn into frogs in our water-butt.”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

  “There’s tadpoles sometimes in the pond where the cows drink.”

  “I know,” said Billy Blunt. “That’s where I’m going. Come on.”

  So they climbed over the top bar of the big meadow gate, and Toby the dog squeezed under the bottom bar, and they walked along a narrow little path till they came to the pond where the cows drank.

  Toby the dog ran off at once to the steep part to look for water-rats. Billy Blunt and Milly-Molly-Mandy walked round to the shallow part to look for tadpoles. But the pond was getting very low, and it was very muddy and trampled there. They couldn’t get close without mud coming right over their shoes.

  After a while they heard Toby the dog barking excitedly, because he had found a rat-hole and wanted the owner to come out and be caught. (As if any sensible rat would!) But presently the barking turned to a splashing and yelping, so Milly-Molly-Mandy and Billy Blunt ran along the bank to see what had happened.

  And – goodness me! – somehow or other Toby the dog must have slipped over the edge, for there he was, right in the pond. And he was in a mess! – all covered with mud and weedy stuff.

  “He can’t climb out there – it’s too steep,” said Billy Blunt. And he called, “Come on, Toby!” and tried to lead him along to where the bank was lower.

  But Toby the dog just kept trying to scramble out where he had slipped in.

  “He can’t swim through that mud and weedy stuff, that’s why,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. And she reached down to try to pull him out. But she just couldn’t get him, so she reached over farther.

  And then – goodness me! – somehow or other she must have reached over too far, for next moment there was Milly-Molly-Mandy in the pond too. And she was in a mess! – all covered with moss and weedy stuff.

  Billy Blunt said: “Well! Of all the cuckoos!” And he reached down to try to pull her out.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy said: “Let’s get Toby out first.”

  So they got Toby the dog out on to the bank. And directly he found himself there Toby the dog shook himself violently, and mud and weedy stuff flew out all round, right over Billy Blunt’s clean shirt.

  Billy Blunt stepped back in a hurry.

  And then – goodness me! – somehow or other he must have stepped over the edge of the bank, for next moment there was Billy Blunt in the pond now (nearly on top of Milly-Molly-Mandy). And he was in a mess! – all covered with mud and weedy stuff.

  (Milly-Molly-Mandy might have said: “Well! Of all the cuckoos!” But she was really too busy just then.)

  The pond wasn’t deep, and they were able to scramble out all right. But – goodness me! – you NEVER did see such a mess as Milly-Molly-Mandy and Billy Blunt and Toby the dog were in! – all covered with mud and weedy stuff.

  “Oh, dear!” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “Now what shall we do?”

  “Umm,” said Billy Blunt. “What will my mother say?”

  “Will she be very cross?” asked Milly-Molly-Mandy. “You couldn’t help it.”

  Billy Blunt only said: “It was a clean shirt.” And he tried to squeeze the water out of it.

  Milly-Molly-Mandy said: “My dress was clean too.” And she tried to squeeze the water out of it.

  But the more they squeezed the worse things seemed to get.

  “We’d better go home,” said Billy Blunt at last.

  “Let’s go to my home first,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy. “P’raps Mother will know what to do before your mother sees you.”

  Billy Blunt said: “Well – I suppose I’d better see you get home all right, anyhow.”

  So they went across the fields and through two hedges, instead of by the road (so that nobody should see them). And they crept through the back gate into the garden of the nice white cottage with the thatched roof (where Milly-Molly-Mandy lived).

  Mother was busy hanging sheets out on the line, and she didn’t notice them at first.

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy said: “Mother—” (but not very loudly).

  And Mother turned round. And she saw them standing there, Milly-Molly-Mandy, Billy Blunt and Toby the dog, all covered with mud and weedy stuff.

  “OH!” said Mother

  “We fell in the cow-pond,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy in a small voice. “Toby fell in first and I tried to get him out and I fell in and Billy tried to get me out and he fell in and – we’re very sorry, Mother.”

  And Billy Blunt nodded.

  “Oh!” said Mother again.

  And then she said: “Stay there!”

  And she went indoors.

  So Milly-Molly-Mandy and Billy Blunt and Toby the dog stayed there, wondering what Mother meant to do with them, and if she were very cross. Milly-Molly-Mandy wanted to wipe the mud off her face, but her hand was too dirty. Billy Blunt wanted to blow his nose, but his handkerchief was too wet. Toby the dog rolled in the dust to dry himself. (But it didn’t make him look better.)

  When Mother came out again she was carrying the tin bath she used for the washing, and after her came Aunty carrying the tin bath used for the rinsing, and they set them down on the grass. Then they went indoors and came out again, Mother with a big kettle and some soapflakes, Aunty with a big bucket and some towels. When they had put warm water in the two tin baths, Mother emptied the whole packet of soapflakes in and swished around with her hand in each till the bubbles rose up, and up, and UP.

  Then Mother took Milly-Molly-Mandy, and Aunty took Billy Blunt, and they peeled the clothes off them and plopped them, into the two tin baths then and there!

  “Now!” said Mother. “Get busy and clean yourselves.”

  And she gathered up the dirty clothes into the bucket and pumped water over them at the pump.

  So there were Milly-Molly-Mandy and Billy Blunt that beautiful fine morning, each in a bathful of warm bubbles nearly up to their necks, with the sheets flapping round them, and the sun shining, and the birds singing . . .

  Then they got busy, swishing about in their baths, making more and yet more bubbles. They lathered their heads till they looked as if they had curly white hair and beards. They blew great coloured bubbles between their hands and watched them float off into the sky. They threw handfuls of bubbles at Toby the dog, which he tried to catch as the wind carried them away between the clothes that Mother and Aunty were pegging up on the clothes-lines.

  Soon Milly-Molly-Mandy and Billy Blunt were really enjoying themselves like anything, laughing and shouting, with Toby the dog barking and the sun shining and the birds singing.

  GOODNESS ME! THOSE WERE NICE BATHS

  Goodness me! Those were nice baths!

  And you can’t think how clean they both felt when at last Mother made Milly-Molly-Mandy get out into a big towel and hurried her indoors to put something dry on, and Billy Blunt got out into another big towel and Mother lent him some pyjamas of Father’s to put on.

  Then Mother washed their clothes in one of the baths and Aunty caught Toby the dog and washed him in the other. And then they threw the water out and washed the baths!

  Then Milly-Molly-Mandy came out in a dressing-gown (because both her dresses were in the wash), and she and Billy Blunt, in big pyjamas, sat in the sun together, drying their hair and eating biscuits while their clothes flapped on the line and Toby the dog rolled in dust to get the cleanness off him. (He was the only one who didn’t enjoy his bath.)

  Mother quickly ironed up Billy Blunt’s shirt and shorts and Milly-Molly-Mandy’s pink-and-white striped frock. And when they put them on again you would never dream what they had been up to that beautiful, fine morning.

  “Well,” said Milly-Molly-Mandy, “I am sorry we got so dirty, Mother, but I did like that bubble-bath!”

  “Yes,” said Billy Blunt. “I wouldn’t care if I had to have a bubble-bath every day!”

  But Mother said:

  “Now listen, you two. Maybe you couldn’t help it this time. But if you come home like that again you won’t have bubble-baths! I shall put you in the cow-trough and turn the pump on you! This has been the biggest washing-day I’ve had, and I don’t want another like it.”

  So then Billy Blunt said: “No, ma’am. I’m very much obliged to you, ma’am.” And he thanked Aunty too.

  Then he went off home in his nice clean things, sure that his mother would never dream what he had been up to.

  But when Mrs Blunt saw him come in (rather late for dinner, but looking so clean and tidy) she guessed he had been up to something. And when she saw his muddy shoes, and found he hadn’t caught any tadpoles and didn’t know what he had done with his jam-jar, she pretty well guessed everything.

  But Mrs Blunt never dreamed what grand bubble-baths Billy Blunt and Milly-Molly-Mandy had had, out in the garden of the nice white cottage with the thatched roof that beautiful fine morning!

  4

  Milly-Molly-Mandy and the Golden Wedding

  Once upon a time Milly-Molly-Mandy was busy dipping fingers of bread-and-butter into her boiled egg at supper-time, and listening while Father and Mother and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty talked.

  They were counting how long it was that Grandpa and Grandma had been married. And it was a very long time indeed – nearly fifty years!

  Grandma said: “Our Golden Wedding – next month!”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy was very interested, though she did not know what a Golden Wedding was. But it sounded rather grand.

  “Do you have to be married over again when you’ve been married fifty years?” she asked.

  “No,” said Mother; “it’s more like having a very special sort of birthday. When you’ve been married twenty-five years you have a Silver Wedding Day, and people give you silver presents. But when you’ve been married fifty years it’s a Golden one. We shall have to think what we can do to celebrate Grandpa’s and Grandma’s Golden Wedding Day. Dear me!”

  Milly-Molly-Mandy whispered: “Do we have to give golden presents to Grandpa and Grandma?”

  Mother whispered back: “We shall have to think what we can do about it, Milly-Molly-Mandy. But there are different sorts of gold, you know – sunshine and buttercups and, well, little girls, even, can be good as gold sometimes! We shall have to think.”

  Grandpa (eating his kipper) heard their whisperings, and said: “If Milly-Molly-Mandy promises to be as good as gold that day you can just wrap her up in tissue-paper and hand her over. She’ll do for a Golden Wedding present!”

  But Milly-Molly-Mandy wouldn’t promise to be as good as all that!

  She did wonder, though, what sort of gold presents Father and Mother and Uncle and Aunty would be giving to Grandpa and Grandma. And she wondered too, very much, what sort of a gold present she herself could give. It was important to think of something very special for such a special occasion.

  She talked with little-friend-Susan and Billy Blunt about it before school next morning.

  Little-friend-Susan said: “I’d like to give a present too. But I haven’t enough money.”

  Billy Blunt said: “I’d be rich if I could give anybody a gold present!”

  “But it doesn’t always have to be that sort of present,” Milly-Molly-Mandy told them. “There’s good-as-gold, if we could think of something like that. Only I can’t think what.”

  And then they met others on their way in to school, and had other things to think about.

  A few days later Billy Blunt showed Milly-Molly-Mandy a crumpled bit of newspaper he had in his pocket, and made her read it. It was something about a golden-jubilee concert somewhere. Milly-Molly-Mandy couldn’t think why Billy Blunt bothered to keep it.

 

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