Pippi Longstocking. Part 1. Chapter 6 - How Pippi arranges an excursion (Astrid Lindgren)
“We’re not studying today,” said Tommy, “we have a sanitary day at school.”
- How! - Pippi exclaimed. - Injustice again. Why don't I have any sanitary day? And I need him so much! Just look how dirty the kitchen floor is. However, I can wash it without a sanitary day. I'll do it now! I would like to see who will stop me from doing this. And you guys, sit down on the kitchen table and don’t get in your way.
Tommy and Annika obediently climbed onto the table. Mr. Nilsson jumped there - he loved to sleep, curled up in a ball, on Annika's lap. Pippi warmed up a large pot of water and, without hesitation, poured the hot water directly onto the floor. Then she took off her shoes and carefully placed her huge black shoes on the bread bin. Having tied a brush to each leg, she began to drive around the floor, gliding through the water as if on water skis.
“When I mop the floor, I always feel like I’m a figure skating champion,” she said, and lifted her left leg so high that the brush fell off her leg and broke off the edge of the glass lampshade of the hanging lamp. - Well, I have more than enough elegance and grace! – she added and jumped over the back of the chair.
“That’s all,” said Pippi a few minutes later and untied the second brush. - The kitchen is clean now.
- Why don’t you wipe the floor with a rag? – Annika asked in surprise.
- No, why, let him dry in the sun... I think he won’t catch a cold...
Tommy and Annika jumped off the table and, careful not to get their feet wet, walked out of the kitchen.
The sky was amazingly blue and the sun was shining brightly even though it was the height of September. The day turned out to be unusually clear, and I was tempted to go into the forest. Suddenly Pippi suggested:
- Let's take Mr. Nilsson and go on a tour.
- Let's! Let's! – Tommy and Annika shouted enthusiastically.
“Then run home quickly and ask your mom for time off.” In the meantime, I’ll pack a basket of food for the road.
Tommy and Annika did just that. They ran home and soon returned. Pippi was already waiting for them at the gate. In one hand she held a hefty stick, in the other a basket of provisions, and Mr. Nilsson was sitting on her shoulder.
At first the guys walked along the highway. Then we turned into a meadow. Beyond the meadow, an inviting path wound its way among birch trees and hazel bushes. So slowly they reached the hedge, behind which an even more attractive lawn could be seen. But there was a cow standing right next to the gate, and it was clear from everything that she did not intend to move a single step from here. Annika, of course, was scared, and then Tommy courageously approached the cow and tried to drive it away. But the cow didn’t even move and just stared at the guys with her big, bulging eyes. Pippi got tired of waiting, she put the basket on the grass, walked up to the cow and pushed it so hard that the cow rushed off into the hazel grove without looking back.
- Just think - a cow, but stubborn as a donkey! - said Pippi and jumped over the fence.
- Oh, what a beautiful lawn! – Annika exclaimed and skipped across the grass.
Tommy took out a penknife - a gift from Pippi - and cut a stick for himself and Annika. True, he injured his finger in the process, but he said it was nothing.
“Let’s pick mushrooms,” Pippi suggested and picked a beautiful red fly agaric. – I don’t know for sure whether this mushroom is edible. But I think so, since you can’t drink it, that means you can eat it. What else can you do with it?
She took a large bite of the mushroom and began to chew it.
- Really, very tasty! But let’s better pick mushrooms another time,” she said cheerfully and threw the fly agaric high, high, even higher than the trees.
- What's in your basket, Pippi? – Annika asked.
“But I won’t tell you this for anything in the world,” answered Pippi. – First we must find a suitable place for a picnic.
They scattered in search of a suitable place. Annika suggested we sit next to a large flat stone.
“It’s very cozy here,” she said.
“But there are a lot of red ants here, and I don’t intend to eat with them, because I’m unfamiliar with them,” Pippi objected.
“Besides, they bite really well,” Tommy added.
- Right! – Pippi picked up. “And I think it’s better to bite yourself than to be bitten.” No, there's not enough sun here for my freckles. And what could be better than freckles!
The guys went further and soon saw a rather high hill, which they easily climbed. At the top there was a small platform that looked like a terrace, as if it had been specially made. There they decided to stay.
– Close your eyes while I play tablecloth.
Tommy and Annika closed their eyes. They heard Pippi open the lid of the basket and rustle the paper.
- One, two, three - look! - Pippi shouted.
Tommy and Annika opened their eyes and screamed with delight when they saw all the supplies that Pippi had laid out on the stone. Two huge sandwiches, one with meatballs, the other with ham, a whole mountain of sugared pancakes, several slices of smoked sausage and three small pineapple puddings. After all, Pippi learned to cook from the cook on the ship.
“Oh, it’s beautiful when there’s a sanitary day,” Tommy said with difficulty, since his mouth was stuffed with pancakes. – If only every day were sanitary!
“No, I don’t agree to wash the floor so often,” said Pippi. – Of course, it’s fun, I don’t argue, but every day is still tiring.
In the end, they were so full that they were no longer able to move, and silently basked in the sun.
“I don’t think that flying is so difficult...” Pippi suddenly said, looking thoughtfully from the hill into the ravine: the path ran steeply down the slope, and it was far from the lawn.
“I’m just sure that you can learn to fly,” Pippi continued. “Of course, it’s not sweet to hit the ground, but you don’t have to start right away from a great height.” Honestly, I'll try it now.
- No, Pippi, please don’t! – Tommy and Annika shouted in fear. - Pippi, dear, don’t do this!
But Pippi was already standing at the edge of the cliff.
- “Geese, geese!” - “Ha-ha-ha!” - “Do you want to eat?” - "Yes Yes Yes!" “Well, fly as you wish!” And the geese flew.
When Pippi said: “And the geese flew!”, she waved her arms and jumped from the hill. Half a second later there was a dull thud - Pippi flopped to the ground. Tommy and Annika, lying on their stomachs, looked down in horror. But Pippi immediately jumped to her feet and rubbed her bruised knees.
– I didn’t flap my wings! I forgot! – she explained cheerfully. “Besides, I’m heavy from the pancakes.”
And only then did the guys realize that Mr. Nilsson had disappeared. It was clear that he had decided to take the excursion on his own. Just a few minutes ago he was sitting nearby and cheerfully fiddling with the twigs of the basket. And when Pippi decided to learn to fly, they forgot about him. And now there is no trace of Mr. Nilsson. Pippi was so upset that she threw one shoe into a deep ditch with water.
– No, you should never take a monkey with you if you go somewhere! Why didn't I leave Mr. Nilsson at home? I would sit there with my horse. “It would only be fair,” said Pippi and climbed into the ditch for the shoe. The water there was waist-deep.
- Well, since this is the case, we’ll have to plunge headlong into it. – Pippi dived and sat under the water for so long that bubbles began to appear. Finally she surfaced.
“Well, now you don’t have to go to the hairdresser to wash your hair,” she said, snorting. She looked very pleased.
Pippi crawled out of the ditch and put on her shoes. Then everyone went in search of Mr. Nilsson.
“And now I look like rain,” Pippi suddenly said. - The dress is dripping: drip-drip! It's squelching in the shoes: squelch-squelch... How pleasant it is! And you, Annika, try diving!
Annika looked so elegant: she was wearing a pink dress that went very well with her golden curls, and on her feet were white leather shoes.
“Definitely, just another time,” she answered slyly.
The guys moved on.
- Well, how can I not be angry with Mr. Nilsson? It's always like that with him. Once in Sarabaya, he ran away from me just like that and entered the service of an old widow... Well, about the widow, of course, I came up with an idea,” Pippi added after a pause.
And then Tommy suggested that everyone go in different directions. Annika was afraid to go alone, but Tommy said:
- Oh, you coward!
Not wanting to be ridiculed any longer, Annika obediently but reluctantly walked alone along the path, while Tommy walked across the meadow. He didn’t find Mr. Nilsson, but he saw a huge bull—or rather, the bull saw Tommy. And the bull didn't like Tommy. He was an angry bull, and he hated children. The bull lowered his head and rushed at Tommy with a roar. Tommy screamed throughout the forest. Pippi and Annika heard the scream and ran to the rescue. And they saw how the bull lifted Tommy on his horns and threw him very high.
“What a stupid bastard,” Pippi said to Annika, who was crying bitterly. - Is that how they behave? Look, he got Tommy's white sailor suit dirty! I’ll have to talk to him, teach him some sense.
Pippi ran up to the bull and grabbed his tail.
“Sorry if I disturbed you,” she said. At first the bull did not pay any attention to her, but Pippi pulled harder. Then the bull turned around and saw a girl, whom he also wanted to hang on his horns.
– I repeat, please forgive me if I interrupted. Forgive me so generously for the fact that I am forced to hit you... - with these words, Pippi hit the bull on the horn with all her might. – This season it is not fashionable to wear two horns. All the best bulls have already switched to one horn, and some have completely abandoned horns,” she finished and hit the other horn.
Since bulls' horns do not feel pain, our bull did not know whether he still had horns or not. Just in case, he still decided to butt heads, and if anyone else had been Pippi, he would have left a wet spot.
- Ha-ha-ha! Stop tickling me! – Pippi laughed. “You can’t even imagine how afraid I am of tickling.” Ha ha ha! Stop it! Stop it, otherwise I'll die of laughter.
But the bull did not heed her request, and Pippi had to jump on his back in order to rest for at least a minute. But there was no respite, because the bull didn’t like that Pippi sat astride him. He began to jump, kick, lift his head and twist his tail, trying in every possible way to free himself from his burden. But Pippi dug her heels into her sides and tenaciously held onto her withers. The bull rushed like mad across the meadow and bellowed. His nostrils flared, and Pippi laughed and screamed and waved to Tommy and Annika, who were trembling with fear. And the bull continued to rush, still hoping to throw Pippi off.
- Oh, my dear, dance and knock your hooves! - Pippi hummed, sitting firmly on the bull’s back.
Finally, the bull was so tired that he lay down on the grass, dreaming of only one thing: for all the children to disappear from the face of the earth. Before, he had never even imagined that children were so difficult to cope with.
- Oh, did you want to take a nap? – Pippi asked him friendly. “Well, then I won’t interfere.”
She jumped off the back of the bull and headed towards Tommy and Annika standing at a distance. Tommy stopped crying; falling, he tore off the skin on his hand, but Annika bandaged his wound with a handkerchief, and it no longer hurt.
“Oh Pippi!..” Annika exclaimed passionately when Pippi approached them.
“Hush,” Pippi said in a whisper, “don’t wake the bull, otherwise he will wake up and be capricious.” Mister Nilsson! Mister Nilsson! – she screamed at the top of her lungs, not at all afraid of disturbing the bull’s sleep. - It's time for us to go home!
And suddenly the children saw Mr. Nilsson. He sat on the top of a pine tree and tried in vain to catch his tail. He looked very sad, and in fact, it was not very pleasant for such a little monkey to be alone in the forest. He immediately descended from the pine tree, sat down on Pippi’s shoulder and, as always in a fit of joy, began waving his straw hat.
“So this time you didn’t hire yourself into the service of an elderly widow?” True, this is a lie. But the truth cannot be a lie, and besides, Mr. Nilsson knows how to cook meatballs very well, to everyone’s surprise,” Pippi suddenly said.
The guys decided to return home. Water was still dripping from Pippi's dress - drip-drip, and there was still a squelch in her shoes - squelch-squelch. Tommy and Annika thought that, despite the adventures with the bull, they had had a great day, and sang the song they had been learning in school. Strictly speaking, it was a summer song, and now it was autumn, but nevertheless it seemed to them that it was suitable for such an occasion. Pippi also sang, but since she didn’t know the words, she made them up herself.
Read Next: Pippi Longstocking. Part 1. Chapter 7- How Pippi goes to the circus (Astrid Lindgren)
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Fairy tales with orchestra. Astrid Lindgren. "Pippi Longstocking"
[TABS] [TABS=Vladimir Ponkin] Vladimir Ponkin is one of the leading contemporary conductors in Russia. He was awarded the title of People's Artist of Russia, twice - the Russian National Theater Award "Golden Mask", the Polish medal "For Merit in the Field of Culture", the medal "For Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Kuban" II degree, the Cross "Defender of the Fatherland" I degree, the Order " For service to Russia”, Cossack Order “For Love and Loyalty to the Fatherland”, 1st degree, Order of Friendship. <>
A native of Irkutsk, Vladimir Ponkin graduated from the Gorky Conservatory and then the Moscow Conservatory and completed an assistantship in opera and symphony conducting with Gennady Rozhdestvensky. In 1980, he was the first young Soviet conductor to win the V Rupert Foundation World Conducting Competition in London. Over the years, the maestro led the Yaroslavl Symphony Orchestra, the Russian State Symphony Orchestra of Cinematography, the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra, the State Symphony Orchestra, the National Academic Orchestra of Folk Instruments of Russia named after N.P. Osipova. Currently, he is the artistic director of the Kuban Symphony Orchestra.
Opera occupies a special place in V. Ponkin’s work. In 1996, he was invited to the post of chief conductor of the Moscow Academic Musical Theater named after K.S. Stanislavsky and V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. His first works were productions of the ballets “The Taming of the Shrew”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Shulamith”, “Othello” and “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, which gained great success.
Since 1999, the maestro has been actively collaborating with the Helikon Opera Theater, in 2002–2017 he was the theater’s chief conductor, and is currently a guest conductor. Here, under his leadership, a number of opera productions were successfully carried out, including “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, “Lulu”, “Kashchei the Immortal”, “Dialogues of the Carmelites”, “Fallen from the Sky”, “Siberia”, “Sadko”. In 2002–2006 was the chief conductor of the Galina Vishnevskaya Center for Opera Singing, where he took part in productions of many operas by Russian and foreign composers.
Since 2021, Vladimir Ponkin has been the conductor of the Klaipeda State Musical Theater.
As a guest conductor, he has worked with such ensembles as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Honored Ensemble of Russia, the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Leningrad Philharmonic, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, leading orchestras in Italy, Australia, the USA and others. Regularly performs with the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic (artistic director Yu. Simonov).
The musician successfully tours around the world. He performed with many famous performers, including singers L. Alberti, M. Biesu, J. Mazurok, Z. Sotkilava, D. Hvorostovsky, P. Burchuladze, A. Georgiou, H. Cura, E. Nesterenko, V. Noreika, pianists V. Krainev, N. Petrov, E. Virsaladze, E. Kisin, D. Matsuev, I. Pogorelich, D. Pollak, G. Sokolov, E. Chen, V. Yampolsky, violinists A. Korsakov, O. Rat, S. Stadler, cellist N. Gutman.
The maestro presented to the Russian public a number of premieres of works by K. Penderecki and W. Lutoslawski.
Vladimir Ponkin treats children's audiences with special sensitivity. Children's concerts are very popular, in which the maestro takes on the role of host and invites young spectators to talk about music.
Since 2004 he has been teaching at the Moscow Conservatory (professor). He is also a professor at the Department of Opera and Symphony Conducting at the State Musical Pedagogical Institute named after
M. M. Ippolitova-Ivanova, gives master classes abroad. Since 2017, he has been a professor at the Maimonides State Classical Academy.
[/TAB] [TAB=Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic]
Throughout its history, the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic has been among the best domestic orchestras and worthily represents Russian musical culture abroad.
Tikhon Khrennikov Jr. is the great-grandson of the famous Soviet composer Tikhon Khrennikov. Born in 1987 in Moscow. He started studying music quite late - at the age of 13. He studied composition with Tatyana Chudova at the Academic College at the Moscow State Conservatory and with Alexander Tchaikovsky at the Moscow Conservatory (graduated in 2012).
During his student years, he became a laureate of the V International Composer Competition named after Andrei Petrov “Crystal Tuning Fork”. Received two first prizes at STAM festivals (Modern Tonal Academic Music). In 2009, he won the Grand Prix of the “Inspiration” arts festival, in 2010 he won the All-Russian competition “Young Talents of Russia”, and a year later - at the VII International Composer Competition named after Aram Khachaturian in Yerevan.
Tikhon is the author of works in various genres of academic music: piano sonata, trio, wind quintet, romances, choirs based on poems by V. Vysotsky, concertina for soprano saxophone and string orchestra, “Eletsky Lace” for an orchestra of folk instruments and others. In memory of his great-grandfather he created the cello piece “Everything Is Not Forever.” Since 2015, he has been composing music for theatrical productions. He is a member of the Youth Branch of the Union of Composers of the Russian Federation (MolOt).
In the project “Fairy Tales with an Orchestra,” Tikhon Khrennikov Jr. made his debut in May 2021 as the author of original musical illustrations for the fairy tale “The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends.”
The 2017/18 concert season opens with a new work by the young composer - music for the fairy tale “Pippi Longstocking”. [/TAB] [/TABS]
