Astrid Lindgren - Emil from Lenneberg. Astrid LindgrenThe Adventures of Emil from Lönneberga Lindgren how Emil got his head into a tureen

Emil from Lenneberga. That was the name of the boy who lived near Lenneberg. Emil was a little tomboy and stubborn, not at all as nice as you. Although he looks like a good guy - what’s true is true. And then until he starts screaming. His eyes were round and blue. The face is also round and pink, the hair is blond and curly. If you look at him, he’s just an angel. Just don’t get moved ahead of time. Emil was five years old, but he was as strong as a young bull. He lived on the farm of Katthult, near the village of Lenneberg, in the province of Småland. And this rogue spoke in the Smoland dialect. But there’s nothing you can do about it! Everyone in Småland says so. If he wanted to put on his hat, he didn’t say, like you: “I want a hat!”, but shouted: “I want a hat!” His hat was just an ordinary, rather unsightly cap with a black visor and a blue top. His father once bought it for him when he was visiting the city. Emil was delighted with the new thing and in the evening, going to bed, said: “I want a cap!” His mother did not like that Emil was going to sleep in a cap, and she wanted to put it on a shelf in the entryway. But Emil screamed so loudly that it could be heard throughout Lenneberg: “I want a cap!”

And for three whole weeks Emil slept in the cap every night. Whatever you say, he achieved his goal, although for this he had to get into trouble. He really knew how to insist on his own. In any case, he didn’t do what his mother wanted. One New Year's Eve she tried to persuade him to eat stewed beans: after all, vegetables are so healthy for children. But Emil flatly refused:

- I won’t!

“Well, are you not going to eat vegetables and greens at all?” - Mom asked.

- Will! - Emil answered. - Only real greens.

And, hiding behind the New Year's tree, Emil began to gnaw on green twigs.

But soon he got tired of this activity, the Christmas tree needles were too prickly.

And this Emil was stubborn! He wanted to command mom and dad, and all of Katthult, and even all of Lenneberg. But the Lennebergers did not want to obey him.

– I feel sorry for these Svenssons from Katthult! - they used to say. - What a spoiled boy they have! Nothing good will come of it, that's for sure!

Yes, that's what the Lennebergers thought of him. If they had known in advance who Emil would become, they would not have said that. If only they knew that he would be the chairman of the municipality when he grew up! You probably don’t know who the chairman of the municipality is? This is a very, very important person, you can believe me. So, Emil became the chairman of the municipality, but not right away, of course.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but tell you in order about what happened when Emil was little and lived on the Katthult farm near Lennebergi, in the province of Småland, with his dad, whose name was Anton Svensson, and with his mother, whose name was Alma Svensson , and his little sister Ida. They also had a worker Alfred and a maid Lina in Katthult. After all, in those days when Emil was little, both in Lenneberg and in other places there had not yet been a shortage of workers and maids. The workers plowed, followed horses and oxen, stacked hay and planted potatoes. Maids milked cows, washed dishes, scrubbed floors and rocked children.

Now you know everyone who lived in Katthult - dad Anton, mom Alma, little Ida, Alfred and Lina. True, there lived two more horses, several bulls, eight cows, three pigs, a dozen sheep, fifteen chickens, a rooster, a cat and a dog.

Yes, and Emil.

Katthult was a small cozy village. The master's house, painted bright red, rose on a hill among apple trees and lilacs, and all around lay fields, meadows, pastures, a lake and a huge, huge forest.

How calm and peaceful life would be in Katthult if Emil weren’t there!

“He would only play pranks on this boy,” Lina once said. - And even if he doesn’t play pranks, it’s all the same - he won’t end up in trouble. I’ve never seen such a shooter in my life.

But Emil’s mother took him under protection.

“Emil is not bad at all,” she said. “Look, today he only pinched Ida once and spilled the cream while he was drinking coffee.” That's all the pranks... Well, I also chased the cat around the chicken coop! No, whatever you say, he becomes much calmer and kinder.

And it’s true, it cannot be said that Emil was evil. He loved both his sister Ida and the cat very much. But he had to pinch Ida, otherwise she would never have given him the bread and jam. And he chased the cat without any bad intentions, he just wanted to see who could run faster, but the cat didn’t understand him.

So it was on the seventh of March. On the day when Emil was so kind that he only pinched Ida once, spilled the cream while drinking coffee, and also chased the cat.

Now listen to what happened to Emil on other, more eventful days. It doesn’t matter if he was just playing a prank, as Lina said, or if everything worked out on its own, because something always happened to Emil. So, let's begin our story.

How Emil landed his head in a tureen

That day there was meat soup for lunch at Katthult. Lina poured the soup into a flower-painted tureen and placed it on the kitchen table. Everyone started eating with gusto, especially Emil. He loved soup, and it was obvious from the way he slurped it.

-Why are you slurping like that? – Mom asked in surprise.

“Otherwise no one will know that it’s soup,” Emil answered.

True, his answer sounded different. But what do we care about this Smolandic dialect! Listen to what happened next!

Everyone ate to their heart's content, and soon the tureen was empty. Only a tiny, tiny drop remained on the bottom. And it was this drop that Emil wanted to eat. However, it could only be licked off by sticking your head into the tureen. Emil did so, and everyone heard him smack his lips with pleasure. But can you imagine, Emil couldn’t pull his head back out! The tureen sat tightly on the head. Then Emil got scared and jumped out from the table. He stood in the middle of the kitchen, and on his head, like a tub, stood a tureen, sliding down over his eyes and ears. Emil tried to pull the tureen off his head and screamed at the top of his voice. Lina was alarmed.

- Oh, our wonderful tureen! - she began to wail. – Our wonderful tureen with flowers! Where are we going to pour the soup now?

Since Emil’s head is in the tureen, it’s clear that you can’t pour soup in there. Lina realized this, although in general she was quite clueless.

But Emil’s mother thought more about her son.

- My dears, how can we save the child? Let's break the tureen with a poker!

-Are you crazy?! - Dad exclaimed. - After all, a tureen costs four crowns.

“I’ll try,” said Alfred, a clever and resourceful guy.

Grabbing both handles of the tureen, he forcefully pulled it up. So what's the point? Along with the tureen, Alfred also lifted Emil, because Emil was stuck tightly in the tureen. He hung in the air, dangling his legs and wanting to find himself on the floor again as soon as possible.

- Leave me alone... let me go... leave me alone, who am I talking to! - he shouted.

And Alfred put him on the floor.

Now everyone was completely upset and, crowding around Emil, were wondering what to do. And no one - not dad Anton, not mom Alma, not little Ida, not Alfred and Lina - no one could figure out how to free Emil.

“Oh, Emil is crying,” said little Ida.

Several large tears flowed out from under the tureen and rolled down Emil’s cheeks.

“These are not tears,” Emil objected. - This is meat soup.

Emil i Lönnenberga

Nya hyss av Emil i Lönneberga

Än lever Emil i Lönneberga

Emil i Lönneberga © Text: Astrid Lindgren 1963 / Saltkrakan AB

Nya hyss av Emil i Lönneberga © Text: Astrid Lindgren 1966 / Saltkrakan AB

Än lever Emil i Lönneberga © Text: Astrid Lindgren 1970 / Saltkrakan AB

All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet or corporate networks, for private or public use without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Emil from Lönneberga

Emil from Lenneberg - that’s what everyone called a boy who lived in this very village of Lenneberg. He was terribly mischievous and stubborn, not like you, right? Although at first glance he seemed like a sweet and obedient boy, especially when he was sleeping.

Do you want me to describe it to you? Clear blue eyes, a round face, rosy cheeks and a shock of tangled hair the color of ripe rye - an angel, and nothing more! But you, apparently, have already realized that it would be a big mistake to think so.

At five years old he was tall and strong, like a young bull. He lived, as I said, in the village of Lönneberg, or rather, not in the village itself, but on a farm called Kathult, next to Lönneberg, located in the Småland district. And his reprimand was the most Smolandic, although this, of course, was not his fault. After all, in Småland everyone speaks differently than in the capital. For example, you need to say to Emil: “Give me a cap!” - as you or any other boy would say, and he says: “Where is my keparik?” He had this cloth cap with a small visor, which his father once brought him from the city. How happy he was with her then! Even when he went to bed, he demanded: “Where is my cap?” Mom, of course, didn’t like the fact that he slept in a cloth cap, and she hid it from him. But he raised such a cry that you could hear at the other end of Lenneberga: “Where is my keparik?!”

For three weeks, no less, Emil did not take off this cap, day or night. Can you imagine what it has become? But he achieved his goal: he did what he wanted - and this was most important to him.

One New Year's Eve, his mother decided to make him eat a plate of stewed beans at all costs - they are very healthy and contain a lot of greens. But Emil flatly refused.

– Have you decided not to eat greens at all?

- Why? Please, at least now I’ll eat, but only real greens, and not some kind of brew.

And he headed to the tree, picked off a thorny twig and began to chew it, though not for long - the needles really pricked his tongue.

Now do you understand what kind of stubborn boy this Emil was? He wanted to command everyone - mom, dad, the Kathult farm, and even the whole Lenneberg! But for some reason the Lennebergers didn’t want this at all.

- Poor Svensons from the Katkhult farm! - they exclaimed sadly. - They don’t have a boy, but a real punishment! There will be more when he grows up!..

Stupid, stupid Lennebergers! If only they knew what Emil would become when he grew up, they wouldn’t lament so much! After all, Emil, when he grew up, became no less than the chairman of the village council. And if you don’t know what the chairman of the village council is, then I can tell you that he is the most respected person in the district. And Emil achieved this. That's it!

But that’s later, but for now Emil was little and lived with his mom and dad on the Kathult farm, near the village of Lönnebergi in Småland district.

His father’s name was Anton Svenson, his mother’s name was Alma Svenson, and he also had a little sister Ida. In addition to the Svensons, another worker named Alfred and a worker named Lina lived on the farm.

In those years, men and women lived on all farmsteads to help with the housework. The workers plowed the land, looked after the horses and bulls, mowed the grass and transported hay, planted and harvested potatoes, and the female workers milked the cows, washed the dishes, polished the pots and pans until they shined, nursed the children and sang songs.

Now you know all the inhabitants of the Kathult farm near the village of Lönnebergi in Småland district. Let's list them with you: dad Anton, mom Alma, sister Ida, worker Alfred and worker Lina, plus two horses, a couple of bulls, eight cows, three pigs, a dozen sheep, fifteen chickens, one rooster, one cat and one dog. And of course Emil himself.

Kathult is a very beautiful village! The house, painted red, stands on a hillock, among apple trees and lilac bushes, fields, meadows, pastures lie around, and in the distance a lake and a large dense forest are visible. How calm and quiet life would be in Katkhult if it weren’t for Emil!

- What a mischief maker! – Lina sighed. - There is no sweetness with this boy. When he himself is not being mischievous, something will certainly happen to him. I've never seen anything like this!

But mom always took Emil under protection:

- There’s no point in attacking the boy like that! What's so scary? Today he only pinched Ida once and spilled the cream - that’s all! Just think! True, he also chased the cat around the chicken coop... And yet, Lina, he is a good boy.

Indeed, Emil was not evil. That's something you can't say about him! He loved both Ida and the cat very much. He was just forced to pinch his little sister, otherwise she wouldn’t give him a sandwich with jam, and he was chasing the cat to check if she was a good high jumper, that’s all!

But this stupid cat never realized that he had the best intentions, and meowed heart-rendingly.

So, on March 6, Emil behaved perfectly. He only pinched Ida once, played with the cat a little and spilled the cream before breakfast. And nothing else special happened that day.

And now I will tell you about other days in Emil’s life, when much more incidents happened. Why, I don’t really know myself. Either Emil really couldn’t resist playing pranks, as Lina claimed, or he always accidentally ended up in different stories.

So let's start with...

when Emil hit his head in the tureen

That day we cooked meat broth for lunch. Lina poured it from the pan into a colorful tureen. Everyone sat down at the round table and began to eat with appetite. Emil loved the broth very much, so he slurped loudly and hastily.

“Is it really necessary to squelch like that?” - Mom asked.

“Yes,” Emil answered. “Otherwise no one will know that I am eating soup.”

The broth was very tasty, everyone took as much as they wanted, and in the end only a few carrots and onions remained at the bottom of the tureen. This is what Emil decided to enjoy. Without thinking twice, he reached for the tureen, pulled it towards him and stuck his head into it. Everyone could hear him sucking up the grounds with a whistle. When Emil licked the bottom almost dry, he naturally wanted to pull his head out of the tureen. But it was not there! The tureen tightly clasped his forehead, temples and the back of his head and did not come off. Emil got scared and jumped out of his chair. He stood in the middle of the kitchen with a tureen on his head, as if wearing a knight's helmet. And the tureen slid lower and lower. First his eyes were hidden under it, then his nose and even his chin. Emil tried to free himself, but nothing worked. The tureen seemed to be attached to his head. Then he began to shout obscenities. And after him, out of fright, Lina. And everyone was seriously scared.

The funny story about Emil from Lenneberga, which was written by the wonderful Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren and brilliantly retold into Russian by Lilianna Lungina, was loved by both adults and children all over the world. This curly-haired boy is a terrible mischief-maker; he won’t live a day without getting into mischief. Well, who would think of chasing a cat to check if it jumps well?! Or put a tureen on yourself? Or set fire to the feather on the pastor's hat? Or catch your own father in a rat trap and feed the pig with drunken cherries?..

* * *

The given introductory fragment of the book The Adventures of Emil from Lönneberga (Astrid Lindgren, 1970) provided by our book partner - the company liters.

when Emil hit his head in the tureen

“Is it really necessary to squelch like that?” - Mom asked.

“Yes,” Emil answered. “Otherwise no one will know that I am eating soup.”

- Our beautiful tureen! – Lina kept repeating. - What will I serve the soup in now?

And indeed, since Emil’s head is stuck in the tureen, you can’t pour soup into it. Lina realized this immediately. But mother was worried not so much about the beautiful tureen as about Emil’s head.

“Dear Anton,” mom turned to dad, “how can we get the boy out of there more skillfully?” Should I break the tureen?

– This was not enough yet! – Emil’s dad exclaimed. - I gave four crowns for her!

“Come on, I’ll try,” said Alfred.

He was a strong and dexterous guy. He carefully took the tureen by the handles and began to shake it, slowly lifting it up, but his efforts were in vain! Only Emil was lifted into the air along with the damned tureen. Emil screamed more than ever and squirmed, feeling that the floor was disappearing from under his feet.

– Put me in my place! - he yelled. – Do you hear what they are telling you!

And Alfred had no choice but to obey.

Everyone surrounded Emil in confusion and did not know what to do.

What a sad sight! In the middle of the kitchen there is a boy with a tureen instead of a head, and around him are dad, mom, sister Ida, Alfred and Lina, and no one knows what to do.

- Look, he's crying! – Ida exclaimed and pointed to two large drops flowing down Emil’s neck.

- I don’t think so! – a dull voice was heard from the tureen. - This is broth!

Do you understand now what kind of character this boy had? Even in the tureen, he tried to behave as always, independently, although, believe me, he wasn’t having much fun. Just imagine yourself with a tureen on your head that you can’t remove. Do you understand now? Poor, poor Emil! Will he ever be able to push his cap on top of his head again?

And the mother again offered to split the tureen - she felt so sorry for her son.

- No way! - Dad muttered. “Chop an object worth four crowns with your own hands!” No, I’m not crazy yet!.. Let’s better go to the doctor in Marianneland. That's why he's a doctor, to help the child. The visit will cost three crowns, so we will still gain one crown.

Mom decided that this was a worthwhile offer. After all, it’s not every day that you manage to earn a whole crown. How many wonderful things you can buy with it! For example, a gift for little Ida, who will stay at home when they go to Marianneland.

And so all the inhabitants of Katkhult began to fuss. It was necessary to change Emil into a Sunday suit, it was necessary to wash his hands, and, frankly speaking, his ears.

Mom tried to stick her finger under the tureen to get to Emil’s ears, but her finger was also stuck in the tureen.

At this point dad became seriously angry, although usually there was little that could make him angry.

“I won’t let anyone get stuck in a soup tureen anymore!” – he said menacingly. “Otherwise I’ll have to take the whole Katkhult to the city for a doctor’s appointment.”

Mom obeyed and with difficulty pulled her finger out of the tureen.

“You're lucky, son,” she said, catching her breath. – You won’t have to wash your ears. – And she blew on her reddened finger.

A sigh of relief came from the tureen:

- Hooray! Thank you, tureen. You saved me!

Meanwhile, Alfred harnessed the horse and drove the chaise to the porch.

Emil came out first. In a new striped suit, in shiny black shoes, with a beautiful tureen on his head, he looked so elegant that his soul rejoiced. Yes, it was truly a wonderful tureen! All in bright colors, it looked like the most fashionable hat. One thing was surprising: why did Emil pull it so low that you couldn’t even see his face? However, maybe this is the fashion now.

Soon the chaise started moving.

– Keep an eye on Ida! - Mom shouted goodbye.

She sat next to dad in the front seat. And the entire back seat was occupied by Emil with a tureen instead of a head. His old blue cap was lying next to him on the pillow. He can't go home without a hat!

This is how he, Emil, thinks about everything!

- What to cook for dinner?! – Lina shouted after them.

“Whatever you want,” my mother answered. – Think for yourself, my head is occupied with other things!..

“I’ll cook some meat noodles,” Lina decided.

But at that moment a earthenware ball in bright colors swayed above the retreating chaise, and Lina remembered with horror that the tureen was no longer there. She turned worriedly to little Ida and Alfred and said in a fallen voice:

– We’ll have to have pork and bread for dinner today.

Emil has already been to Mariannelunda several times. He loved to ride in the chaise and, swaying rhythmically, look at the farmsteads along the road, at the children playing in the estates, at the dogs barking hoarsely after him, at the horses and cows peacefully chewing the grass... But today everything was different. He sat in complete darkness and saw absolutely nothing except the toes of his new shoes, and even then he had to contrive and squint his eyes painfully. That’s why he kept asking his dad: “Where are we going?.. And what have we passed now?.. Pancake Farm?.. Is Piglet Farm already visible?..”

Don't let these names surprise you. Emil gave nicknames to all the farms. He called the farm Pancake because he once saw two kids eating pancakes behind its fence, and Pig - another farm in honor of a very funny little pig, who once, when they were driving past, was amusingly scratching his side against a hefty stone.

And now, with a stupid tureen on his head, he saw absolutely nothing: neither the kids, nor the pig... What could he do but bother his dad: “And now where are we?.. And what do you see?.. And it’s still far away.” to Marianneland?..”

The doctor's waiting room was full of patients when they entered. Everyone waiting looked with sympathy at the boy with a tureen instead of a head.

They understood that something bad had happened. Only one evil old man began to laugh and laughed tirelessly, as if it was so funny to land your head in a tureen and get stuck in it.

- Oh oh oh! Ah-ah-ah! – the old man did not let up. – Are your ears cold?

“No,” Emil answered. - Not now.

- So who did you put this pot on?

“So that your ears don’t freeze,” Emil said. Even though he is still small, he won’t reach into his pocket for a word.

But then they took him by the hand and led him into the office. The doctor didn't laugh. He just said:

- Hello, well done. Who are you hiding from?

Emil did not see the doctor, but turned towards the voice, shuffled his foot, as he had been taught, and politely tilted the tureen. There was a crash and the tureen broke into two halves. You ask why? Here's why: when Emil politely bowed his head, greeting the doctor, he hit the tureen with all his might on the corner of the table. That's all.

“My four crowns were crying!” – Dad whispered sadly in Mom’s ear.

But the doctor still heard his words.

- What are you talking about, my dear, on the contrary, you won the crown. When I take the children out of the tureens, I take five crowns, and your fellow coped with this task without my help.

And just imagine, dad immediately cheered up. He was even grateful to Emil for breaking the tureen and thereby earning the crown. He picked up the halves from the floor, and all three of them - dad, mom and Emil - left the office together. On the street, mom asked dad:

- Well, what will we buy with the crown Emil earned?

- Nothing! - Dad answered. - We will save her! But we will give Emil five eras so that he can put them in his piggy bank. It will be fair.

Dad's words never differed from his deeds. He immediately took out his wallet, took out a coin and handed it to Emil. Can you imagine how happy he was!

Without wasting any time, they got into the chaise and set off on their way back.

Now Emil was very pleased with everything: he was again sitting in the back seat, but in his fist he had a five-öre coin clutched in his fist, on his head was not a tureen, but a blue cap, and he looked at whatever he wanted - at children, at dogs, at cows, on trees by the side of the road.

If Emil had been an ordinary boy, nothing else would have happened to him that day, but that’s the thing: he was not ordinary. Listen to what else he did. In order not to lose the coin, he put it behind his cheek. And at that very moment, when they were passing by the farm, which Emil nicknamed Piglet, some strange sound reached mom and dad. It was Emil who swallowed the coin.

- Oh! - Emil exclaimed. - How quickly she passed!

Emil's mother became worried again:

- Dear, how can we get this coin out of the boy? I'll have to go back to the doctor.

- Well, you think, there’s nothing to say! – Emil’s dad grumbled. “It turns out we’ll pay the doctor five crowns to get five öre.” What was your arithmetic test when you went to school?

Emil was not at all upset. He patted his stomach and said:

“I’ve now become a piggy bank myself.” Five-era coins in my belly will be as safe as in a pig. You can’t take anything out of it either, I’ve tried more than once. And I picked it with a kitchen knife... So I know.

But mom didn’t give up. She insisted that they take Emil to the doctor again.

“I didn’t say anything when he ate all the buttons from his pants,” she convinced Emil’s dad. - But a five-era coin is much more inedible, it can end badly, believe me!

She looked at Emil's dad with alarm and begged him to turn his horse and ride to Marianneland so much that he finally agreed. After all, Emil’s dad was also worried about his little boy.

Out of breath, they rushed into the doctor's office.

- What's happened? Have you forgotten anything here? – the doctor was surprised.

“No, Emil just swallowed a five-era coin,” dad explained. - Would you agree to perform a small operation on him... So four crowns, huh? The five-era coin will also be yours to keep.

But then Emil poked dad in the back and yelled:

- Never! This is my coin!

The doctor, of course, did not even think of taking her away from Emil. He explained that there was no need to perform any operation: the coin would come out on its own in a few days.

“It would be good for you to eat about five butter buns,” the doctor continued, “so that the coin doesn’t get bored alone and scratch your stomach.”

He was a very kind doctor, and he didn’t take money for advice either. Emil's dad was beaming. But mom wanted to immediately go to Miss Anderson’s bakery and buy five buns for Emil.

“This is out of the question,” said dad, “we have a lot of buns at home.”

Emil thought for a moment. His head worked well, and he also wanted to eat, so he said:

“After all, I have a five-era coin in my stomach.” If I could get it, I would buy myself some buns. - He thought a little again and asked: - Tell me, dad, could you lend me five öre for a few days? You'll get them back, sure as hell!

Emil's dad gave up, they went to Miss Anderson's bakery, bought Emil five round, rosy buns sprinkled with powdered sugar, and he said, hastily devouring them:

“This is the best medicine I have ever taken in my life.”

And Emil’s dad suddenly became so happy that he completely lost his head.

“We earned a lot of money today, we can afford something,” he said, and without thinking twice he bought caramels for little Ida at five ore.

Note that all this happened in those distant times when children did not take care of their teeth, they were so stupid and imprudent then. Now the children in Lönneberg no longer eat sweets, but they have excellent teeth!

Arriving home at the farm, dad, without even taking off his hat and coat, immediately glued the tureen together. It was a simple matter, because it split into two halves. Seeing the tureen, Lina even jumped for joy and shouted to Alfred, who was unharnessing his horse in the yard:

– Now they will eat soup again in Katkhult!

Gullible Lina! She apparently forgot about Emil. That evening Emil played for a very long time with his little sister Ida. He built a hut for her in the meadow between the boulders. She really liked it there. True, he pinched her once or twice, but he also wanted caramels.

When it began to get dark, the children went home to bed. On the way, they looked into the kitchen: was their mother there?

But mom wasn't there. There was no one there at all. Only one tureen. It stood on the table, freshly glued and very beautiful. Emil and little sister Ida looked with all their eyes at this amazing tureen, who had been traveling all day.

“Just think, she visited Marianneland,” said little sister Ida. And then she asked: “Tell me, how did you manage to stick your head into it?”

“There’s nothing tricky here,” Emil answered. - Look!

At that moment my mother entered the kitchen. And the first thing she saw was Emil with a tureen on his head. Emil made some wild movements, trying to free himself, little sister Ida roared, and Emil too: despite all his efforts, he could not pull his head out of the tureen, just like then.

And then my mother took the poker and hit the tureen so hard that the ringing echoed throughout Lenneberg. Bam!..

The tureen shattered into pieces. The fragments fell like rain on Emil.

Emil's dad was in the sheepfold, but when he heard the ringing, he ran into the kitchen.

He froze on the threshold. He stood and silently looked at Emil, at the fragments and at the poker, which his mother was still holding in her hand.

Emil's dad didn't say a word. He turned and walked back to the sheepfold.

Yes, now you can roughly imagine what Emil was like. This whole tureen story happened on Tuesday, May 22. But maybe you would like to hear about...

Technological map of a literary reading lesson

by program "Planet of Knowledge"

School, class : 3 B

Lesson topic : A. Lindgren “How Emil landed his head in a tureen”, theme and main idea of the work

Lesson type :

The purpose of the lesson:

Personal results

- understand

Meta-subject results :

Regulatory UUD

- define and shape

Studyexpress

Cognitive UUD:

– draw conclusions

– find answers

Communicative UUD

Subject results:

Educational resources and equipment: Planet of knowledge. “Russian language” L.Ya.Zheltovskaya, T.M.Andrianova, V.A.Ilyukhina - M.: AST:Astrel, 2013.- 575 pp., - (Planet of Knowledge), Textbook Russian language for 3rd grade: textbook for four liters beginning school: at 2 o'clock / JI. Ya. Zheltovskaya. - 2nd ed. - M.: ACT; Astrel, 2017, presentation.

During the classes

Formation of UUD

1. Self-determination for activity.

Organizing time.

- The bell rang and fell silent.

The lesson begins.

Today in the lesson we will continue to “travel” through the section “Both jokingly and seriously.”

ANDI want to start it with the words of the heroes of one work.

Not a boy, but a real punishment.

Did you recognize the hero?

By what expressions did you recognize the hero?

- Who are we talking about?

Preparing the class for work.

Children's guesses

Children name the hero: Emil

Personal: developing a positive attitude towards cognitive activity.

2. Updating basic knowledge .

– Of course it's Emil

Do you know the name of the storyteller who invented this hero?

Now we’ll check how attentive you were while reading?

Card.

If the statement is true, put +, if not, then –

Emil hit his head in the tureen.

Mom wanted to break the tureen.

Dad agreed with mom.

Alfred took the tureen off Emil's head.

Emil cried in despair.

Emil was taken to the doctor.

All the patients looked at Emil with sympathy.

The doctor helped remove the tureen.

Emil hit the corner and the tureen broke into two halves.

Dad was upset.

Children's statementsSlide 1

Slide 2

Self-test according to the sample

Key: + + - - - + - - + -

Personal: showing interest in the educational material.

understanding the question, constructing an answer in accordance with it;brain teaser - reasoning skillsin the form of a connection of simple judgments about an object.

Regulatory UUD: Formulation of educational tasks, goal setting.

Communication UUD: communication skills to construct statements that are understandable to a partner.

3. Statement and solution of the educational problem

Work in groups (remember the rules of working in a group)

Can't there really be something extraordinary in the most ordinary boy?

The most ordinary children often find themselves in unusual situations and participate in various adventures. Children love to fantasize and imagine things. And in the world of fantasy, any miracles can happen.

Why is Emil the main character of the work? What is unusual about his character? How to find out?

- Each group must prepare answers to the questions written on the questionnaire.

children offer all sorts of options.

In the textbook

Teacher, book, classmate

FINK - WRIGHT - ROUND ROBIN

Rules for working in a group

Do what is written on the flow chart.

Agree who will answer first, and then go clockwise.

Remember, everyone must answer the question.

Agree who will be the leader in the group or who will be responsible in front of the class.

Listen carefully to each other, do not interrupt.

Discussions can only be held in a whisper so as not to disturb the work of other groups.

Execution (children complete the task, then read the answers out loud.)

Personal: evaluate people's actions and life situations from the point of view of generally accepted norms and values; evaluate specific actions as good or bad;

Cognitive UUD: general education – searching for information to solve a cognitive problem; performing educational actions, conscious and voluntary construction of speech utterances orally;brain teaser - comparison, analysis and synthesis of the objects being studied; establishing cause-and-effect relationships.

Regulatory UUD: accepting and maintaining a learning task appropriate to the stage of learning; planning your actions in accordance with the task and the conditions for its implementation.

Communication UUD: formulating your own opinion; ability to ask questions; taking into account different opinions and the desire to coordinate various positions in cooperation.

4. Physical education minute

MIX Freeze Group

5.Staging of characters.

And now I suggest you show the character of the heroes you described.

Group performance

Personal: evaluate people's actions and life situations from the point of view of generally accepted norms and values; evaluate specific actions as good or bad

6. Reflection of activity.

Summarizing.

We read with you an excerpt from A. Lindgren’s work.

Remember the topic of the lesson, the goal.

What questions were answered and goals achieved?

How did you see Emil, mom, dad and other family members?

Why was the main character able to change at the end of the work?

Could you have a friend like Emil? Why? What are you like?

Children's answers.

Summarize their work, formulate the final result, ways to achieve the task.

Cognitive UUD: general education – searching for the necessary information to complete educational tasks.

Regulatory UUD: monitoring the results;Communication UUD: adequately use means of oral communication to solve communication problems.

5.Homework

Reading a work from a textbook pp. 57-60

Self-analysis of the lesson literary reading in grade 3

School, class : 3 B

Lesson topic : A. Lindgren “How Emil landed his head in a tureen”, character descriptions.

Lesson type : lesson on setting and solving an educational problem

The purpose of the lesson:

To promote the formation of students’ ideas about the features of the author’s work, the development of the ability to think about the character and actions of the hero; the idea of the author creating the image of a literary character, developing the ability to analyze the text, draw conclusions in accordance with the solution of the assigned problems.

Personal results

Learn to express your attitude towards the characters of the work you read;

- understandemotions of other people, sympathize, empathize;

Know the basic moral standards of behavior in everyday life.

Meta-subject results :

Regulatory UUD

- define and shapethe purpose of the lesson activities with the help of the teacher;

Accept and save the learning task;

Take into account the action guidelines identified by the teacher;

Studyexpressyour guess (version) based on working with the textbook illustration;

Understand the action guidelines identified by the teacher (using technological maps);

Cognitive UUD:

– draw conclusionsas a result of joint work of the class and the teacher;

– find answersto questions in the text, illustrations;

Based on the analysis of the work, draw conclusions and group the material on a given basis

Communicative UUD

Realize the need to communicate with peers;

Allow for the existence of different points of view;

Agree, come to a common decision;

Participate in different forms of work in class and follow the rules of working in pairs and groups.

Subject results:

Create conditions for students to develop the ability to:

Read the text consciously, correctly and expressively;

Change the positions of listener, reader, viewer depending on the learning task;

Find the answer to the question asked in the text;

Carry out analysis, make comparisons;

Generalize, master the basics of semantic reading of a text;

Basic forms and methods of organizing students’ cognitive activity: frontal, independent, verbal, visual, problem dialogue

Main content of the topic, concepts and terms:

main character, portrait of a hero; biography of the writer

The following teaching methods were used in the lesson:

1. Partially search - knowledge was not offered to students in a ready-made form, it was necessary to obtain it on their own; students, under my guidance, independently reasoned, solved emerging cognitive problems, analyzed, generalized, drew conclusions, thereby forming conscious, solid knowledge. The problematic and creative nature of cognitive activity predominated.

2.Method of generating ideas – Students express their ideas and opinions.

Teaching technologies used in the lesson:

1. ICT – presentation, listening to music.

2. Problem dialogue – work in groups.

3.Game technology – competitive game.

4. Health-saving technology - physical exercise.

In this lesson, I tried to implement important for a modern lessonapproaches :

Text-oriented: working with text.

Functional: the theme of the work was determined through a proverb.

Integrated. There was a connection with music, art, the surrounding world

The person-centered approach was implemented through attention to the speech of other people and learning coherent speech.

In my opinion, the time allocated for all stages of the lesson was distributed rationally, the pace of the lesson was maintained throughout the entire activity. All stages of the lesson were interconnected and worked towards the main goal.

All didactic material was prepared based on the objectives of the lesson and the age characteristics of the students. Work with didactic material and ICT was aimed at achieving the goals.

During the lesson, the following basiccompetencies , How

Communicative and informational (the ability to understand a text, make a judgment, answer a question, work with information),

ability to work in a team to achieve a goal,

personal (reflection on one’s own activities, self-esteem)

The development of communication skills was facilitated by organizing the lesson in the form of a game-competition. During the lesson, I provided measured assistance to students, asking additional questions, and tried to create a situation of success for each student.
During the lesson, I turned to the children’s existing knowledge and skills, and worked to create an atmosphere of mutual interest among students in each other’s work when they worked in groups..

I tried to create a pleasant psychological and emotional atmosphere in the lesson. For emotional release and relief of physical stress, I held a physical minute. Maintained friendly relations with students and used a variety of tasks.

Creative homework was given at the end of the lesson.

In my opinion, the lesson was successful, interesting and fruitful. All my goals and objectives have been achieved.

Astrid Lindgren

Emil from Lenneberga

Translation by L. Braude and E. Paklina, 1986

EMIL OF LENNEBERG

- I won’t!

“Well, are you not going to eat vegetables and greens at all?” - Mom asked.

- Will! - Emil answered. - Only real greens.

And, hiding behind the New Year's tree, Emil began to gnaw on green twigs.

But soon he got tired of this activity, the Christmas tree needles were too prickly.

And this Emil was stubborn! He wanted to command mom and dad, and all of Katthult, and even all of Lenneberg. But the Lennebergers did not want to obey him.

– I feel sorry for these Svenssons from Katthult! - they used to say. - What a spoiled boy they have! Nothing good will come of it, that's for sure!

Yes, and Emil.

Katthult was a small cozy village. The master's house, painted bright red, rose on a hill among apple trees and lilacs, and all around lay fields, meadows, pastures, a lake and a huge, huge forest.

How calm and peaceful life would be in Katthult if Emil weren’t there!

“He would only play pranks on this boy,” Lina once said. - And even if he doesn’t play pranks, it’s all the same - he won’t end up in trouble. I’ve never seen such a shooter in my life.

But Emil’s mother took him under protection.

So it was on the seventh of March. On the day when Emil was so kind that he only pinched Ida once, spilled the cream while drinking coffee, and also chased the cat.

How Emil landed his head in a tureen

-Why are you slurping like that? – Mom asked in surprise.

“Otherwise no one will know that it’s soup,” Emil answered.

True, his answer sounded different. But what do we care about this Smolandic dialect! Listen to what happened next!

- Oh, our wonderful tureen! - she began to wail. – Our wonderful tureen with flowers! Where are we going to pour the soup now?

Since Emil’s head is in the tureen, it’s clear that you can’t pour soup in there. Lina realized this, although in general she was quite clueless.

But Emil’s mother thought more about her son.

- My dears, how can we save the child? Let's break the tureen with a poker!

-Are you crazy?! - Dad exclaimed. - After all, a tureen costs four crowns.

“I’ll try,” said Alfred, a clever and resourceful guy.

- Leave me alone... let me go... leave me alone, who am I talking to! - he shouted.

And Alfred put him on the floor.

“Oh, Emil is crying,” said little Ida.

Several large tears flowed out from under the tureen and rolled down Emil’s cheeks.

“These are not tears,” Emil objected. - This is meat soup.

He still swaggered around, but apparently he was having a hard time. Just think, what if he never gets rid of the tureen? Poor Emil, what will he wear his cap on now? Emil's mother was very sorry for the baby. She again wanted to grab the poker and break the tureen, but dad said:

- Never! The tureen cost four crowns. We'd better go to Marianneland to see the doctor. He will free Emil. And he will only take three crowns from us, so we will still gain one crown.

Mom liked dad's idea. After all, it’s not every day that you win a whole crown. So many things you can buy with that much money! There will also be something for little Ida, who will sit at home while Emil goes to see doctors.

Hasty preparations began in Katthult. It was necessary to clean up Emil, wash him and dress him in a festive suit. It was, of course, impossible to comb his hair. True, the mother managed to stick her finger into the tureen to scrape the dirt out of the boy’s ears, but it ended badly: the finger also got stuck in the tureen.

“Pull him, pull him like this,” little Ida advised, and dad Anton got really angry, although in general he was a kind man.

- Well, who else? Who wants to cling to a tureen? - he shouted. – Please don’t be shy! I’ll take a big hay cart and at the same time take the whole Katthult to the doctor in Marianneland!

But then Emil’s mother pulled her hand hard and pulled her finger out of the tureen.

“Apparently we shouldn’t wash your ears today,” she said, blowing on her finger.

A satisfied smile flashed from under the tureen, and Emil said:

- At least this tureen is of some use.

Then Alfred dashingly drove the cart to the porch, and Emil left the house. He was so smart in a striped festive suit, black shoes with buttons and a tureen on his head. In truth, the tureen on the head was, perhaps, unnecessary, but, bright and colorful, it, for that matter, resembled some kind of unusually fashionable summer hat. The only bad thing is that every now and then she moved into Emil’s eyes.

It was time to go to Marianneland. Soon everyone was ready, and the cart set off.

– Take good care of Ida without us! – Emil’s mother shouted to Lina.

She settled into the front seat next to her dad. Emil was sitting in the back seat with a tureen on his head. His cap lay next to him. Don't come back with your head uncovered!

It's good that he thought about this in advance.

- What to cook for dinner? – Lina shouted after him.

- What you want! - Mom answered. - I have no time for that now!

“Then I’ll make meat soup!” - said Lina. And then, seeing how the bright flowered tureen disappeared around the bend, she remembered what had happened and, turning to Alfred and little Ida, said sadly:

Emil has traveled to Marianneland more than once. He liked to sit high on the beam and watch how the road twisted. He liked to look at the farmsteads they passed by, the children who lived there, the dogs barking at the gates, the horses and cows that grazed in the meadows. However, this time the trip was not a fun one. This time he was sitting with a tureen on his head. She completely closed his eyes, and he saw nothing except the toes of his own shoes, which he could hardly see from under the tureen through a narrow crack. Every minute he had to ask his father:

- Where are we now? Have you passed “Bliny” yet? "Piglet" coming soon?

Emil himself came up with these names for all the farms along the road. He called one “Pancakes” because one day, while driving past, he saw two fat boys at the gate pecking down pancakes on both cheeks. He christened another farmstead “Piglet” in honor of the playful little pig whose back he sometimes scratched.

Now Emil sat gloomily behind, staring at the toes of his shoes, and did not see either pancakes or playful piglets. No wonder he whined all the time:

- Where are we now? Is Mariannelund still far away?...

When Emil, with a tureen on his head, entered the doctor's waiting room, it was full of people. Everyone who sat in the waiting room felt sorry for the boy. And it’s clear: trouble befell him. Only one puny old man couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Emil, as if it was so funny to be stuck in a soup tureen.

- Ho-ho-ho! - the old man laughed. “Are your ears feeling cold, baby?”

“Nope,” Emil responded.

- Why did you put on this cap then? - asked the old man.

“So that your ears don’t get cold,” Emil answered.

He didn’t mince words, even though he was small!

But then Emil was called to the doctor. The doctor didn't laugh, he just said:

- Hello hello! What are you doing there in the tureen?

Emil could not, of course, see the doctor, but it was simply necessary to say hello to him. Emil bowed politely, bowing his head low along with the tureen. And then there was a ringing sound: ding! The tureen, split into two halves, lay on the floor. Because Emil hit his head on the doctor's desk.

“Our four crowns were crying,” Emil’s dad quietly said to his mother.

But the doctor heard him.

“No, no, you still won one crown,” he noted. “When I pull little boys out of tureens, I charge five crowns for it.” And this time he pulled himself out.

Dad was very happy. He was even grateful to Emil for breaking the tureen and winning one crown. Quickly picking up both halves of the tureen, dad left the office with Emil and his mother. On the street my mother said:

- Just think, we won again. What will we spend the crown on?

“No matter,” dad answered. - We will save her. And Emil honestly earned five ores. Let him put them in his piggy bank at home.

Taking a five-era coin from his wallet, dad gave it to Emil. Guess whether Emil was happy or not?

And so they set off on their way back. Satisfied Emil, with his cap on his head, sat behind, clutching a coin in his fist. He looked at all the children and all the dogs, all the horses, cows and piglets that caught his eye. If Emil had just been an ordinary kid, nothing else would have happened to him that day. But Emil was not like everyone else. So guess what else he did! He put the five-er coin in his mouth just as they passed the Piglet. And immediately mom and dad heard a strange sound from the back seat - a “splash.” Hiccupping slightly, Emil swallowed the coin.

- Oh! - said Emil. - That's great! How quickly I swallowed it!

Emil's mother began to wail again:

- My dears, how can we get a five-era coin out of a child? We're going back to the doctor.

Emil took the incident calmly. Patting his stomach, he said:

“I’ll be my own piggy bank: storing a coin in your stomach is much safer than storing a coin in a piggy bank at home.” No one can get it from here, but from a piggy bank you can. I've already tried opening it with a kitchen knife, so I know...

But Emil’s mother did not give up. She wanted to show Emil to the doctor at all costs.

“I didn’t say anything that time when he ate all the panty buttons,” she reminded dad. “But it’s much more difficult to digest a coin, no matter how bad it is!”

She scared dad so much that he turned his horse and rode back to Marianneland. Because Emil’s dad was also worried about his boy.

Out of breath, they ran into the doctor's office.

-Have you forgotten anything? - asked the doctor.

“No, only our Emil swallowed a coin in five eras,” said dad. - Would you agree, doctor, to operate on him a little... for four crowns and... another five-öre coin in addition?

But then Emil tugged at dad’s coat and whispered:

- Just try to give him a coin! The coin is mine!

But the doctor did not at all think of taking the coin from Emil in five eras.

- No surgery is necessary. In a few days the coin will return to you on its own,” he told Emil. “Eat five buns so that the coin doesn’t get bored on its own and so it doesn’t scratch your tummy.”

What a wonderful doctor! I didn't take any advice. Emil's dad was extremely pleased and beamed when he went outside again with Emil and his mother.

Emil's mother immediately went to Sister Andersson's bakery to buy Emil five buns.

- Here's another! - said dad. – We have buns at home. – Emil thought about it, although not for long. He was figuring out something about the count, and besides, he was hungry. Patting his stomach, he said:

“I have a five-öre coin here, if only I could get to it, I’d buy myself some buns.”

- Dad, can you lend me five öre for a few days? I'll give them back to you, honestly!

Then dad gave up, and they went to Sister Andersson and bought Emil five buns. The buns were very appetizing, round and rosy, sprinkled with powdered sugar. Emil quickly ate them. “The most delicious medicine in the world,” he said.

And dad’s head went spinning in joy, and he decided to allow himself an unheard-of luxury.

“We earned a lot of money today,” he said cheerfully and, giving up on everything, bought a whole five era worth of mint candies for little Ida.

You know, in those days, children were stupid and improvident, they did not think about whether they would need teeth in life or not. Now the children in Lenneberg don’t eat as much candy, but their teeth are intact!

Then the farmers drove back to Katthult. As soon as he crossed the threshold, still in his frock coat and hat, dad began gluing the tureen together. It was as easy as shelling pears - after all, it split into two equal halves. Lina jumped for joy and shouted to Alfred, who was unharnessing the horse:

– We will have meat soup again in Katthult!

Did Lina really hope for this? Apparently she forgot about Emil.

That evening Emil played for a long time with little Ida. On the lawn between huge boulders, he built a toy hut for his sister. She was having a lot of fun. And he pinched her lightly and only when he wanted to eat a mint candy.

But then it began to get dark, and Emil and little Ida began to think whether it was time to sleep. They ran into the kitchen to see if mom was there. She wasn't there. And in general there was no one there, there was only a tureen - already glued, it was on the table. Emil and little Ida, clinging to the table, stared at the miracle tureen, which had traveled all day.

“Look, you’ve made it all the way to Marianneland!” – little Ida said with envy. And then she asked curiously: “Emil, how did you manage to stick your head in there?”

- It's a couple of trifles! - Emil answered. - Like this!

Then Emil’s mother entered the kitchen. And the first thing she saw was Emil with a tureen on his head. Emil tore the tureen off his head, and little Ida screamed. Emil also squealed, because the tureen was firmly on his head again.

Then my mother grabbed the poker and hit the tureen with it so hard that the ringing sound spread throughout the entire area. Ding! - and the tureen shattered into a thousand small shards. The fragments rained down on Emil.

Dad was in the sheepfold, but when he heard the ringing, he rushed to the kitchen. Frozen on the threshold, he silently looked from Emil to the shards, from the shards to the poker in his mother’s hands. Without saying a word, dad turned and went back to the barn.

Two days later he received five ores from Emil - still a consolation, albeit a small one.

Now you know approximately what Emil was like.

This story with the tureen happened on Tuesday, May twenty-second. But maybe you want to hear about Emil’s other trick?

How Emil raised little Ida to the flagpole

On Sunday, the tenth of June, there was a holiday in Katthult. A great many guests were expected from Lenneberg and other places. Emil's mother began preparing the treat ahead of time.

“This holiday will cost us a pretty penny,” Dad complained. - But feast like that! There is no need to be stingy! Although the cutlets could have been made a little smaller.

“I make the cutlets I need,” said my mother. - Just right. Moderately large, moderately round, moderately crispy.

And she continued to cook. She prepared smoked brisket, veal meatballs, herring salad and pickled herring, apple pie, baked eel, stewed and fried meat, puddings, two huge cheese cakes and a special, incredibly tasty sausage. Guests eagerly came from far away to taste this famous sausage, even from Vimmerby and Hultsfred.

Emil also really loved this sausage.

The day for the holiday turned out to be a great one. The sun was shining, the apple trees and lilacs were blooming, the air was ringing with birdsong, and the entire Katthult farmstead, spread out on the hill, was as beautiful as a dream. Everything was in order: the yard was cleared with a rake to the very last corner, the house was tidy, the food was prepared. Everything was ready for the arrival of the guests. Only one thing was missing!

“Oh, we forgot to raise the flag,” said mom.

Her words seemed to spur Dad on. He rushed to the flagpole, followed by Emil and little Ida. They wanted to see the flag fly from the top of the flagpole.

– It seems to me that today’s holiday will be great! – Emil’s mother said to Lina when they were alone in the kitchen.

“But first of all, we need to lock Emil up - it will be more accurate, otherwise nothing will happen,” Lina noted.

Emil's mother looked at her reproachfully, but said nothing.

Shaking her head, Lina muttered:

- What do I care? Wait and see!

– Emil is a wonderful baby! - Mom said firmly.

Through the window one could see the “wonderful baby” running like mad across the lawn, playing with his little sister. “How good they are both! - Mom thought. “Well, just angels.” Emil was in his striped festive suit and a cap on his curly head, and plump Ida was in a new red dress with a white belt.

Mom smiled. But, looking uneasily at the road, she said:

“The guests will be here any minute, if only Anton has time to raise the flag.”

Things seemed to be going well with the flag. But what a shame! Before Emil’s dad had time to unfurl the flag, Alfred came running from the barnyard and shouted:

- The cow is calving! The cow is calving!

It’s clear that it was Brooka – what a nasty cow! She felt the urge to calf when she had her fill of things to do and the flag had not yet been raised. Dad threw the flag and rushed to the barnyard. Emil and Ida remained at the flagpole.

Throwing her head back, Ida admired the gilded spire at the top of the flagpole.

- How high! - she said. – From up there you can probably see everything all the way to Marianneland?

Emil thought about it. But not for long.

“We’ll check now,” he said. - Do you want me to lift you up there?

Little Ida laughed with joy. How kind Emil is! And he can’t come up with anything!

- I wouldn’t want to! I want to see Marianneland! - said Ida.

“You’ll see now,” Emil promised affectionately and warningly.

He took the hook to which the flag was attached, and, firmly hooking it into Ida’s belt, pulled the rope with both hands.

- Let's go! - said Emil.

- Hee-hee-hee! – little Ida laughed.

And she went up. To the very top of the flagpole. Then Emil deftly secured the rope below, exactly as dad did. He didn’t want Ida to fall down and die. And now it is already hanging at the top as securely and beautifully as the flag used to hang.

– Do you see Mariannelund? - Emil shouted.

“Nope,” responded little Ida, “only for Lenneberg.”

- What a miracle, Lenneberga... Then maybe we should take you downstairs? – asked Emil.

- Nope, not yet! – Ida shouted. – It’s also interesting to look at Lenneberg... Oh, guests are coming!

And sure enough, guests arrived in Katthult. The lawn in front of the barnyard was already full of carts and horses. But then the guests poured into the yard and walked decorously towards the house. Mrs. Petrel herself walked ahead of everyone. She came by droshky from Vimmerby just to try Emil’s mother’s sausages.

Yes, Fru Petrel was a gorgeous lady in a hat with ostrich feathers and a veil.

Fru Petrel looked around with pleasure. Katthult had always been extremely beautiful, and now, flooded with sunlight, in apple and lilac blossoms, it seemed especially festive. And even the flag was raised... Yes, it was raised. Fru Petrel saw him, although she was slightly shortsighted.

Flag?! Suddenly Mrs. Petrel stopped in confusion. And what these Svenssons from Katthult come up with, you’re simply amazed!

Emil’s dad was just leaving the barnyard, and Mrs. Petrel shouted to him:

- Dear Anton, what does this mean? Why did you raise the Dannebrog?

Emil stood next to Fru Petrel. He didn't know what kind of thing the Dannebrog was. He had no idea that this was the name of the red and white flag of Denmark, the country where the Danes live. But he knew very well that the red and white at the top of the flagpole was no Dannebrog.

- Hee-hee-hee! – Emil laughed. “It’s just little Ida.”

And little Ida at the top of the flagpole also laughed.

- Hee-hee-hee! It's just me! - she screamed. – I can see the whole of Lenneberg!

But dad didn't laugh. He hastily lowered little Ida to the ground.

- Hee-hee-hee! - she said. - Oh, how much fun it was, just like when Emil dipped me in lingonberry jam!

She remembered the time when she and Emil were playing Indians and Emil pushed her into a large copper basin with lingonberry jam so that she would become red-skinned, like a real Indian.

What is true is true, Emil always made sure that Ida did not get bored. But no one thanked him for this. Vice versa!

Grabbing Emil, dad shook him thoroughly.

“Well, what did I say,” Lina said triumphantly, seeing Emil’s dad dragging the boy to the carpenter’s shop, where he was usually imprisoned for all sorts of mischief.

Emil resisted and, sobbing, shouted:

- She herself wanted to see Mary... anne... lu... und!

Well, is this fair on Dad’s part? After all, no one ever told Emil that little Ida should not be shown Marianneland. Is it his fault that she saw nothing but Lenneberga?

Emil roared at the top of his lungs. But only until dad locked the door and left. Then the roar immediately stopped. In fact, it was very cozy in the carpentry room. There were as many different sticks, lumps, and boards lying around there, from which all sorts of wonderful things could be cut. Every time Emil sat in the barn after another prank, he carved a funny little wooden old man. There are already fifty-four old people, and it seems that over time there could be even more of them.

“I sneezed at their stupid party,” said Emil. “Let dad hang the flag himself now, without me!” And I will plan a brand new wooden old man and I will always be angry and scary, and everyone will be afraid of me.

Emil, of course, knew that he would soon be released. They never kept him in the carpentry shop for a long time.

“You will sit until you thoroughly repent of your trick,” dad usually said. “And don’t even think about resuming the old ways.”

But Emil was prudent and rarely repeated the same trick twice; he always came up with a new one.

He was planing his old wooden man and thinking about how he raised Ida on a flagpole instead of a flag. He did it quickly, one or two - and it was done! What is there to rack your brains for? And he also planed quickly and skillfully.

Then Emil wanted to go free. However, the parents and guests at their feast apparently completely forgot about him. He waited and waited, but no one came. Then Emil began to think about how he could get out of here himself.

“Maybe through the window? This is probably a couple of trifles,” thought Emil. The window was high up, right under the roof, but Emil easily reached it along the boards piled up against the wall.

Having opened the window, the boy was about to jump off, but saw that the ground below was completely overgrown with these vile nettles. And jumping into a thicket of nettles is not pleasant! Emil had already done this once - just to try how it burned. Now he knew how, and he didn’t want to repeat his experience.

“I’m still sane,” said Emil. - No, I’ll come up with something better.

If you have ever been to a farm like Katthult, you yourself know how many buildings and outbuildings there are. Once you get to the farm, you immediately want to play hide and seek. In Katthult there were not only a stable, a barnyard, a pigsty, a chicken coop and a sheepfold, but also many different outbuildings and sheds. There was a smokehouse where Emil’s mother smoked her famous sausage, and a laundry where Lina washed dirty clothes, and two more sheds that stood next to each other. One held firewood and various carpentry tools, and the other held a rolling pin, roller and various tasty foods.

Emil and little Ida loved to play hide and seek in the evenings, running between all these buildings. Of course, where there were no nettles.

But now Emil could not play anything. He was locked up, and it was also impossible to jump out of the window, because the small area between the carpentry and the storeroom was thickly overgrown with nettles.

Suddenly Emil saw that the pantry window was open, and an unusually successful idea occurred to him. Nonsense! He will place a board between the windows of the carpentry and the storeroom and climb over it. He was pretty tired of this carpentry, and besides, he was hungry.

Emil never thought for a long time when unusually successful thoughts came into his head. He instantly threw the board from one window to another and crawled along it! It was unsafe because the board was thin and Emil was heavy.

“If everything goes well, I’ll give Ida my parsley,” Emil mentally promised. The board under him crackled treacherously, and, accidentally looking down at the nettles, he got scared and lost his balance.

- Help! – Emil screamed, hanging by his arms. He almost fell straight into the nettles, but at the last second he managed to catch his feet on the board and climb up again. Not even a minute had passed before he found himself in the pantry.

“It’s a nonsense thing,” said Emil. “But I’ll still give the parsley to Ida... maybe... just, I think... another time... and maybe he’s broken, too.” Well, I'll take a look again...

He kicked the board and it rolled back into the carpentry room. Emil loved order in everything.

Jumping to the floor, he ran to the door and pulled its handle. The door was locked.

“I knew it,” said Emil. - But soon they will come for the sausage, and then... guess: who will jump out of here then?

Emil sniffed the air. The pantry smelled of something delicious. So, there will be something to enjoy. Emil looked around carefully. And in fact, the pantry was full of food! Upstairs, under the ceiling, hung smoked hams and coats, strung on a pole. There were quite a few of them, because Emil’s dad loved paltas with bacon and white sauce. In the corner there was a stall with loaves of wonderful fragrant wheat bread, and next to it a folding table - on it lay yellow heads of cheese and clay pots with freshly churned butter. Behind the table sat a wooden tub of salted bacon; next to it, in a large cupboard, Emil’s mother kept raspberry juice, pickled cucumbers, prunes and her best strawberry jam. And on the middle shelf she kept her famous sausage.

Emil simply adored this sausage.

The festival in Katthult was in full swing. The guests had already drank coffee and buns and now sat and waited for their appetite to work up again so that they could start all over again and taste smoked brisket, herring salad, sausage and all sorts of other things.

But then my mother exclaimed:

– Oh, we completely forgot about Emil! Poor thing, he stayed too long in this carpentry!

Dad immediately rushed to the carpenter's shop, and little Ida followed him.

- Well, Emil, come out! - Dad shouted, opening the door wide.

Guess - was dad surprised or not? Emil was not there.

- He escaped through the window, such a rogue! - said dad.

But, looking out the window, he saw that the thick nettles under the window were still standing tall and lush and not at all trampled. Then dad got scared.

“Something is wrong,” he thought. “The nettle is not dented, no one walked on it.”

Little Ida burst into tears. Where did Emil go? Lina often sang a sad song about a girl who turned into a white dove and flew away so as not to be locked up. Emil was also locked up, and who knows if he turned into a dove and flew away from them? Little Ida looked around to see if she could see a dove somewhere. But there was only one fat white hen walking around the barn, pecking out worms.

Little Ida burst into tears even more and, pointing to the chicken, asked:

– Maybe it’s Emil?

Dad didn't think so. But just in case, I ran to my mother to ask if she had noticed that Emil could fly.

No, my mother didn’t notice anything like that. There was a terrible commotion in Katthult. What a holiday this is. Everyone rushed to look for Emil.

“Of course, where should he be if not in the carpentry,” mom said to dad.

And everyone rushed there and began to search all the corners.

But Emil was not in the carpentry shop. There were only fifty-five wooden old men lined up in rows on a shelf. Fru Petrel had never seen so many wooden old men at once and was surprised who could plan them.

– Who else if not our Emil! - Mom said and cried. – He was such a wonderful baby!

- Still would! – Lina assented, jerking her head. And then she added in the purest Smålandic dialect: “Let’s have a better look in the pantry!”

For Lina, this was not stupid at all. Everyone rushed to the pantry. But Emil wasn’t there either!

Little Ida cried bitterly and inconsolably, then went up to the white hen and whispered:

- Don’t fly away, dear Emil! I will feed you chicken food, I will carry you full buckets of water, just stay in Katthult!

But the chicken did not promise anything specific. She just cackled and walked away.

Yes, the poor inhabitants of Katthult got it! Where did they look! In the woodshed and in the ironing room - but Emil was not there either! In the stable, in the barnyard and in the pigsty - but he wasn’t there either! In the sheepfold and in the chicken coop, in the smokehouse and in the laundry - the boy was not there! Then they looked into the well - but even there Emil was not there. Actually, nothing bad had happened yet, but the hosts and guests roared in unison. Lenneberg residents invited to the celebration whispered:

- That’s right, this little Emil was wonderful! And not such a tomboy! I never called him that!...

- Or maybe he fell into the stream? – suggested Lina.

The stream in Katthulta was turbulent, fast and dangerous - it would not take long for small children to drown.

“You know, Emil wasn’t allowed to go there,” my mother said sternly.

“Heh, that’s why he went there,” Lina answered cockily, shaking her head.

Then everyone rushed to the stream. Although, fortunately, Emil was not found even there, everyone’s tears flowed in three streams. And what was it like for Emil’s mother! She hoped so much that the holiday would be a success!

There was nowhere else to look.

- What do we do? - Mom asked.

“Perhaps we’ll have a little refreshment,” dad answered.

You couldn’t say it better, because while they were grieving and looking for Emil, everyone managed to get hungry again.

Mom immediately began setting the table. Her tears dripped into the herring salad as she placed it on the table along with veal meatballs, smoked brisket, cheese cakes and other delicacies. Fru Petrel licked her lips. Everything was so delicious. Although the sausage was not visible, and this worried her a little.

Then Emil’s mother realized it herself:

- Lina, we forgot the sausage! Bring her quickly!

Lina ran to the pantry. Everyone waited patiently, and Mrs. Petrel said, nodding her head:

- Finally they will bring the sausage! Now we will enjoy ourselves, despite our grief.

Then Lina returned, but without the sausage.

- Let's go! – she said mysteriously. - I'll show you something.

She looked a little strange, but she had always been strange, so no one paid attention to it.

- What other nonsense have you come up with? – Emil’s mother asked sternly.

Lina’s face became even stranger, and she laughed quietly and wonderfully.

- Let's go! – she repeated.

And everyone who was at the festival in Katthulta went with her.

Lina walked in front, and the rest, perplexed, walked behind. You could hear her giggle quietly and wonderfully. Opening the heavy door, Lina crossed the high threshold, and everyone rushed after her into the pantry. Lina led the guests to a large closet and, opening the doors with a bang, pointed to the middle shelf, where Emil’s mother usually kept her famous sausage.

Now there was no sausage there. But Emil was there. He slept. Nestled on a shelf among the sausage skins, he slept, this wonderful, this golden boy. And his mother was so happy, as if she had accidentally discovered a gold bar in the closet. How important is it that Emil gobbled up all the sausage! It is a thousand times better to find Emil on the shelf than even a few kilograms of sausage. And dad thought the same thing.

- Hee-hee-hee! – little Ida laughed. - Here comes Emil. He didn't turn into a dove at all. So far it's not very noticeable.

Just think, one single boy who has eaten too much sausage can make so many people happy at once! In the end, the feast at Katthult was a great success. Mom found a piece of sausage that had by chance survived, which Emil was unable to finish, and it went to Mrs. Petrel, to her great joy. But the other guests who didn’t get the sausage didn’t go home hungry either. After all, at the holiday they also treated them to smoked brisket and veal meatballs, pickled herring, herring salad, and stew, and pudding, and baked eel. And at the end, the guests were served an excellent cheese scone with strawberry jam and whipped cream.

“There is nothing tastier than a cheese cake in the world,” said Emil in the purest Smålandic dialect.

And if you have ever tasted such a cheese cake as in Katthult, then you know: Emil spoke the truth!

Evening came, and twilight fell over Katthult, over all of Lenneberg and all of Småland. Emil's dad lowered the flag. Emil and little Ida stood nearby and watched him carefully.

Thus ended the festival in Katthult. Everyone began to go home. One after another, the carts drove onto the road. The last to drive off in her droshky was the noble lady Petrel. Emil and little Ida listened to the clatter of horse hooves fading behind the hills.

“If only she doesn’t offend my little rat,” Emil said worriedly.

-What little rat? – Ida was surprised.

“Which I stuffed into her bag,” Emil said calmly.

- What for? – asked little Ida.

“I felt sorry for the little rat,” Emil answered. “He hasn’t seen anything in his life yet except a cabinet with sausage.” So I thought: at least let Vimmerby take a look.

- Of course, it won’t offend you, wait! - said Emil.

It happened on the tenth of June, when Emil raised his sister Ida to the flagpole and ate all the sausage. Maybe you can hear about his other tricks?

How Emil had a lot of fun on the Hultsfred Plain

Alfred, the same one who served in Katthult, loved children very much. Especially Emil. Emil played endless pranks and was a real tomboy, but Alfred didn't pay attention to it. He still loved Emil and even carved him a beautiful wooden gun. It looked like a real one, although, of course, it didn’t shoot. But Emil shouted “bang-bang!” and still shot, so that the Katthult sparrows did not show up in the farmyard for a long time out of fear. Emil adored his gun and did not want to part with it even at night.

- I want a gun! - he screamed in the purest Smolandic dialect and was not at all happy when his mother, mishearing, brought his cap.

- I don’t want a cap! - Emil yelled. - I want a gun!

And mom brought a gun.

Yes, Emil adored his gun, and even more – Alfred, who made him a gun. And it is not surprising that Emil burst into tears when Alfred had to go to the Hultsfred Plain to serve his military service. You probably don’t know what it means to “serve military service”? You see, that’s what military training was called in the old days, where they taught soldiering. All workers from Lenneberg, and from other villages as well, had to serve military service and learn to fight.

- Just think about it! And this must happen just when it’s time to haul the hay,” said Emil’s dad.

He was not at all happy about losing Alfred in the midst of haymaking, at the busiest time. But the workers from Lenneberg were not commanded by Emil’s dad, but by the king and his generals. They decided when these guys would go to Hultsfred to learn to be soldiers. True, Alfred was supposed to return home again when he was thoroughly trained in the soldier's craft. And this won’t take much time. So Emil had no need to cry. But he still roared, and Lina roared along with him. Because it wasn't only Emil who loved Alfred.

Alfred didn't cry. He said there was plenty of fun to be had in Hultsfred. And when the carriage with Alfred rolled out of the yard and the saddened household members waved goodbye to him, Alfred grinned and sang so that no one else would grieve. This is the verse he sang:

In the town of Ecsche on the Rennes Valley

They dance the Swedish polka as a joke,

And from the farmsteads on the Hultsfred Plain

The girls dance around until the morning.

Halli-dayen, halli-dalli-da,

Bally-dayen, bally-dally-da...

They didn’t hear anything else from Alfred’s song, because Lina began to scream at the top of her lungs, and soon the cart with Alfred disappeared around the bend.

Emil's mother tried to console Lina.

“Don’t worry, Lina,” she persuaded. – Calm down at least until the eighth of July. Then there will be a holiday in Hultsfred, and we will go there and visit Alfred.

– I will also go to Hultsfred. “I also want to have a lot of fun and visit Alfred,” said Emil.

“Me too,” said little Ida.

But mom shook her head:

– There is nothing fun for children at these holidays. You will only get lost in such a crush.

“Getting lost in a crush is also fun,” Emil said with conviction, but it still didn’t help him.

On the morning of the eighth of July, dad, mom and Lina went to the holiday in Hultsfred, leaving Emil and little Ida at home with Cresa Maya, who was ordered to look after the children. Cresa Maya was a small, frail old lady; sometimes she came to Katthult to help with the housework.

Little Ida was a kind and obedient girl. She immediately climbed onto Crece-Maia's lap and demanded scary, scary ghost stories. Fairy tales distracted and amused Ida.

Emil is another matter. He was simply seething with anger. With a gun in his hands, he ran up the hill to the stable, saying:

- Pipes, so I’ll listen to them! I will also go to Hultsfred and have a lot of fun. How am I worse than others? It's decided. Do you understand, Yullan?

The last words were addressed to the old mare, who was grazing on the lawn behind the stable. There was also a young stallion in Katthult, his name was Marcus. But at that moment Marcus was running along the road to Hultsfred, taking away mom, dad and Lina. Yes, some people can leave home and have fun!

- Nothing! Someone will gallop after them, so fast that the wind will whistle in your ears! – Emil muttered angrily. - Let's go, Yullan!

No sooner said than done! Emil put a bridle on the mare and led her off the lawn.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said to the horse. “Alfred will be happy when I arrive, and you’ll probably find some girlfriend, a good old filly, as a mate.” You'll laugh together, since you won't be able to have as much fun as I can.

He led Yullan to the gate, because he needed to climb on something in order to climb onto her back. Wow, this boy was cunning!

- Whoops! - said Emil. - Halli-dayen, halli-dalli-da! Yes, and say goodbye to Cresa Maya? Okay, we'll say goodbye when we get back.

Yullan trotted down the hill. Emil sat proudly on her back, holding a gun at the ready. He, of course, took the gun with him to Hultsfred! Since Alfred is a soldier, Emil also decided to become a soldier; Alfred has a rifle, Emil has a gun. It's all one, now they are both soldiers. It couldn’t be otherwise, Emil decided.

Yullan was quite old. She slowly trotted along the hills, and so that the horse would not lose interest in the journey, Emil sang a song to her in the purest Smålandic dialect:

The filly is trotting a little,

Very bad, very old.

Well, no problem! Well, no problem!

Just let him take me!

The road is smooth!

And although Yllan dozed off as she walked, barely moving her hooves and stumbling at every step, they eventually arrived in Hultsfred.

- Hey! - Emil shouted. - Now we'll have a lot of fun!

But he immediately fell silent, eyes wide in surprise. He had heard, of course, that there were tons of people in the world, but he didn’t know that they would all gather right here, in Hultsfred. He had never seen so many people. Thousands of people surrounded the huge plain on all sides, and in the middle, on the site, military exercises were going on. The soldiers threw their guns onto their shoulders, stood to the right and to the left, and generally did everything that soldiers usually do. Some fat old man was riding around on a horse; he snorted, shouted at the soldiers and ordered them, and they obeyed him without objection and did everything he ordered. Emil was surprised by this.

-Who is in charge here? Isn't it Alfred? – he asked the peasant boys standing nearby.

But they only looked at the soldiers with all their eyes and did not answer.

At first, Emil was also amused by the way the soldiers raised their guns. But he soon got tired of it, and he wanted to find Alfred. Why did he come here? But all the soldiers were in the same blue uniforms and looked alike. Finding Alfred here was not easy.

“Well, well, let Alfred see me himself!” - Emil said to his horse. “He will laugh, run up to me, and then let this feisty old man throw the gun on his shoulder as much as he pleases.”

So that Alfred would notice him quickly, Emil rode forward from the crowd and, stopping in front of the line of soldiers, screamed at the top of his lungs:

- Alfred, where are you? Come out, let's have some fun! Can't you see I'm here?

Of course, Alfred saw Emil - Emil in his cap and with a gun, Emil riding an old mare. But Alfred stood in line with other soldiers and did not dare to approach Emil, fearing the fat, angry old man who snorted, yelled and commanded endlessly.

Instead of Alfred, the fat, angry old man himself drove up to Emil and asked in a very kind voice:

- What happened, boy? You are lost? Where are your mom and dad?

Emil had not heard such stupid questions for a long time.

- Am I the one who got lost? – asked Emil. - I’m here! And if anyone is lost, it’s mom and dad.

Emil was absolutely right. His mother said that small children could get lost on the Hultsfred Plain. But now she, along with her dad and Lina, found herself in a terrible crush, and they all felt lost because none of them could even move.

True, they saw Emil! Yes, they saw how he appeared in his “hat”, with his “gun” riding on an old mare, and Emil’s dad said gloomily:

“Well, my heart feels, Emil will have to whittle another old man!”

- Looks like it! - Mom confirmed. - But how can we get to Emil?

That's the whole point! If you've ever been to a festival like Hultsfred's, you'll understand what was going on there. As soon as the soldiers finished marching and left, the huge crowd that surrounded the plain poured in from all sides. A terrible crush began, and there was nothing to think about finding Emil, so as not to get lost. Not only mom and dad were looking for Emil, but also Alfred, who had received a leave of absence. He wanted to have fun with Emil. In the terrible crowd on the Hultsfred Plain, however, it was not at all easy to find anyone. Almost everyone who was there was looking for someone. Alfred was looking for Emil, Emil was looking for Alfred, Emil’s mother was looking for her son, Lina was looking for Alfred, and Emil’s dad was looking for his mother. So she was truly lost, and dad had to look for her for almost two hours until he finally saw her, completely desperate, squeezed into a crowd of fat townspeople from Vimmerby.

But Emil found no one, and no one found Emil. Then he realized that it was time to have some fun alone, otherwise he would miss everything.

But before he started having fun, he had to attach Yullan to some girlfriend, a good old filly, so that they would laugh for company, because he almost promised her this.

Emil did not find any old filly for Yullan. But he found Marcus, and that was much better. At the edge of the forest, tied tightly to a tree, Marcus was chewing hay. And nearby stood their own old cart from Katthult, which Emil immediately recognized. Yullan was visibly happy when she met Marcus. Emil tied her to the same tree and threw her an armful of hay from the cart - they always carried hay with them at that time - and Yullan also began to chew. Here Emil felt a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach from hunger.

“But I don’t want any hay,” he said.

And why does he need hay? After all, there are so many stalls around selling as many sausage sandwiches, buns and gingerbread as you like. Of course, those who have money in their pockets.

And the fair was full of all sorts of entertainment for those who wanted to have a lot of fun. Circus and dance floor, amusement rides, restaurants, carousel and other entertainment. Just think about it! There was a sword swallower who knew how to swallow swords, and a fire swallower who knew how to swallow fire, and one very impressive-looking lady with a thick beard who could not swallow anything, except perhaps coffee and buns, and then no more than once an hour. Of course, you won't get rich from this, but she was lucky: she had a beard. She showed off her beard for money and made good money from it.

On the Hultsfred Plain you had to pay for everything, and Emil had no money.

But, as you already know, he was a cunning boy, and he wanted to see as much as possible. He started with the circus because it turned out to be the easiest. All you had to do was climb onto the box on the other side of the booth and look through the hole in the canvas. Emil laughed so much at the clown who was amusing everyone that he finally fell off the box with a roar and hit his head on a stone. Then he gave up on the circus. Besides, he was very hungry.

“What fun is there on an empty stomach,” said Emil, “but without money you won’t get food.” Need to come up with something.

He saw that there were many different ways to make money here on the Hultsfred Plain, so one might be useful to him. He didn’t know how to swallow fire or swords, he didn’t have a beard, what could he do?

Emil stood indecisive and pondered. Suddenly he saw that in the middle of the crowd a poor blind old man was sitting on a box and singing songs. The songs were sad and pitiful, but they gave him money for them. There was a hat on the ground next to the beggar, and good people kept throwing small coins into it.

“So can I,” thought Emil. “I’m very lucky, the hat is just right for me.”

Putting his cap on the ground, he got into a pose and began bawling the song “The filly is trotting a little…” for everyone who was not too lazy to listen to him.

People immediately crowded around.

“What a nice little boy,” people said. “He must be very poor if he sings here for money.”

In those days there were many poor children who had nothing to eat. And then one kind woman came up to Emil and asked:

- Tell me, my friend, did they feed you anything today?

- Yes, nothing but hay! - Emil answered.

Then everyone began to feel sorry for him. And the kind short peasant from the village of Vienna even had tears in his eyes. He cried with pity for this unfortunate child, a poor orphan with such a beautiful curly head.

Coins of two, five and ten eras flew into Emil's cap. And a good short peasant from the village of Vienna fished out a coin worth two ores from his pants pockets, but immediately regretted it and put it back in his pocket, whispering to Emil:

“If you come to my cart, I will feed you plenty of hay.”

But now Emil had plenty of money. He went to the tent and bought a whole mountain of sandwiches, buns, gingerbread and lots and lots of juice.

Having swallowed all this food in an instant, he rode the carousel forty-two times for four crowns and twenty öre. Emil had never had a chance to ride a carousel before; he didn’t even know that there were such fun entertainments in the world.

“Well, now I’m having fun from the bottom of my heart,” he thought, spinning on the carousel so fast that his curly hair fluttered to the sides. “There have been a lot of interesting things in my life, but never something like this.”

Then he saw his fill of the sword-swallower, the fire-swallower, and the bearded lady. After all these pleasures, he only had two eras left.

“Should I sing and get some money again? – thought Emil. “Everyone here is so kind!”

But then he felt that he was tired. He no longer wanted to sing, and there was no time to earn money... He gave the last coin of two eras to a blind old man.

Then he hung around a little more in the crowd, trying to find Alfred, but to no avail.

Emil was wrong in thinking that all people are kind. There were also evil ones; some of them came that day to the Hultsfred Plain. At that time, a daring thief nicknamed Sparrow was rampant in the area. The whole of Småland was afraid of him, and a lot was written about Sparrow’s desperate antics in newspapers - in the Småland Gazette and in the Hultsfred Post. At all holidays and fairs, wherever there were people and money, Sparrow appeared out of nowhere and carried everything that came to hand. So that no one could recognize him, he always put on a new beard and mustache. On that very day, he arrived on the Hultsfred Plain with a black mustache and a black wide-brimmed hat pulled down over his eyes, and he darted around in search of prey. But no one knew that the Sparrow was prowling the plain, otherwise everyone would have been scared to death.

If Sparrow had been smarter, he would not have appeared on the Hultsfred Plain on the very day when Emil from Lenneberga rode there with his gun. Guess what happened there.

Emil wandered leisurely in search of Alfred and accidentally ended up again at the bearded lady's booth. The curtain covering the doorway was raised, and he saw that she was counting money, checking how much she had earned on this holiday on the Hultsfred Plain.

The income was apparently considerable, because she grinned contentedly and stroked her beard. Suddenly she saw Emil.

- Come in, baby! - she shouted. – You can look at my beard for free. You are so nice!

Emil had already seen this beard, but he did not feel comfortable saying “no”, since he was so kindly invited. And besides, it’s completely free. He entered the booth with his “hat” and his “gun” and stared at the bearded lady. He had seen enough of her beard for at least twenty-five years.

-Where did you get such a beautiful beard? – he asked politely.

But the bearded lady did not have time to answer him. At that very moment, someone’s terrifying voice whispered:

- Lay out the money, or I’ll tear your beard off!

It was Sparrow, who sneaked into the booth unnoticed.

The bearded lady turned pale. Poor thing, she would have immediately given all the money to Sparrow if Emil had not been with her. He whispered:

- Take my gun quickly!

And the bearded lady grabbed his gun, which Emil had so prudently thrust into her hands. In the semi-darkness of the booth, the bearded lady thought that the gun was real and could be fired from. But the most interesting thing is... Sparrow thought so too!

- Hands up! I will shoot! – the bearded lady screamed.

Sparrow turned pale and raised his hands. He was trembling all over with fear while the bearded lady, in a loud voice that thundered over the entire Hultsfred Plain, called the police for help.

The police showed up, and since then no one has ever seen Sparrow again, either in Hultsfred or in any other place. And then came the end of theft in Småland. Honestly, I’m not lying, that’s how it happens in the world!

The bearded lady was much praised in both the Småland Gazette and the Hultsfred Post for catching the Sparrow. But no one said a word about Emil and his “gun”. So, in my opinion, the time has come to tell the truth about how everything really happened.

“I was lucky that I captured both a cap and a gun in Hultsfred,” said Emil when the police took Sparrow to the jail.

“Yes, yes, you are a wonderful boy,” said the bearded lady. – You can look at my beard as much as you want for free.

But Emil was tired. He didn't want to look at any beard. He didn’t even want to have as much fun as he could, and he didn’t want anything at all. Just to get some sleep. Because evening had already fallen over the Hultsfred Plain. Just think, a whole long day has passed, and Emil still hasn’t found Alfred!

Emil's dad and mom, and Lina, were tired too. They searched endlessly for Emil, while Lina continually searched for Alfred, and they didn’t have the strength to search anymore.

- Oh, my legs! – Emil’s mother moaned, and dad shook his head gloomily.

“It’s a fun holiday, there’s nothing to say,” he grumbled. - Let's go home to Katthult, we have nothing else to do here.

And they dragged themselves to the edge of the forest to harness the horse and set off. And then they saw that Yullan was tied to the tree next to Marcus and that they were chewing hay together.

Mom started crying.

– Where is my little Emil? - she wailed.

Lina, shaking her head, said angrily:

– He’s always up to his tricks, this boy! This is a real daredevil!

And then suddenly dad, mom and Lina heard that someone was rushing towards them at full speed. It was Alfred, completely out of breath.

-Where is Emil? - he asked. – I looked for him all day.

“What do I care about him,” Lina said angrily and got into the cart to go home.

Just think about it! She immediately ran into Emil!

There was still some hay left in the cart, and Emil slept on this hay. It is clear that he woke up when Lina perched herself on top of him. And he immediately saw the one who came running here out of breath and stood next to him.

Emil grabbed Alfred's neck, dressed in a blue soldier's uniform.

– Is that you, Alfred?! - he asked.

And then he fell asleep again.

Then the farmers went home to Katthult. Marcus pulled the cart, and Yullan, tied to the cart, trotted behind. From time to time Emil woke up and saw a dark forest and a bright summer sky; he felt the freshness of the night, inhaled the smell of hay and horses, heard their hooves knocking and the wheels of the cart creaking. But still, he slept most of the way, and he dreamed that Alfred would soon return home, to Katthult, to him - Emil. Alfred must definitely return.

It was the eighth of July when Emil had a lot of fun at the festival in Hultsfred. Guess who else was looking for Emil that day. Ask Cresa-Maia. No, it’s better not to, otherwise she will be very upset and red spots will appear on her hands, which are very itchy and then do not go away for a long time.

Now you have heard what Emil did on the seventh of March, and the twenty-second of May, and the tenth of June, and the eighth of July, but there are still any number of free days in the calendar for those who want to play pranks. But Emil wanted it. He played pranks almost every day, all year long, and especially on the nineteenth of August, the eleventh of October and the third of November. Ha ha ha! I'm just dying of laughter when I remember what he did on the third of November! But I promised Emil’s mother never to tell anyone about this! Although it was on that day that the Lennebergers sent out a subscription list throughout the district. Feeling sorry for their neighbors, the Svenssons from Katthult, the same ones who had not a child, but a real daredevil, they formed fifty öre each, tied the collected money in a bundle and came to Emil’s mother.

– Is this money enough to send Emil to America? - they asked.

Needless to say, great idea! Send Emil to America!... It is still unknown who would then become the chairman of the municipality! Well, when the time comes. Fortunately, Emil's mother did not agree to this stupid proposal. In her hearts, she threw the bundle with such force that the money scattered throughout Lenneberg.

“Emil is a wonderful baby,” said his mother, “and we love him just the way he is!”

Although mother always protected her Emil, she herself was a little worried about him. Mothers always worry when people come to complain about their children. And then one evening, when Emil was lying in bed with his “hat” and his “gun,” she came up and sat down next to him.

“Emil,” she said, “you will soon grow up and go to school.” How will you behave at school, since you are such a tomboy and there is no end to your pranks?

Emil was lying in bed - well, just an angel: fair, curly, blue-eyed.

“Halli-dayen, halli-dalli-da,” he sang, since he did not want to listen to such chatter.

“Emil,” my mother repeated sternly, “how will you behave at school?”

“Okay,” Emil promised. “Maybe I’ll stop playing pranks... when I go to school.”

Emil's mother sighed.

“Well, let’s hope so,” she said and went to the door.

- But I can’t guarantee...

NEW Tricks of EMIL FROM LENNEBERG

Have you never heard of Emil from Lenneberga? Well, about that same Emil who lived on the Katthult farm near Lenneberg, in the province of Småland? That's it, haven't you heard? Amazing thing! Believe me, there is not a single person in all of Lenneberg who does not know the terrible little brat from Katthult, this same Emil. There were more pranks for him than there were days in the year; Once he frightened the Lennebergers so much that they decided to send him to America. Yes, yes, indeed, I'm not lying! The Lenneberg residents tied the collected money in a bundle, came to Emil’s mother and asked:

– Is this money enough to send Emil to America?

They thought that if they got rid of Emil, Lenneberg would become much calmer, and they were right. But Emil’s mother became terribly angry and in her anger threw the money with such force that it scattered all over Lenneberg.

“Our Emil is a wonderful baby,” she said, “and we love him just the way he is.”

– We need to think at least a little about the Americans. They didn’t do anything bad to us, why are we pushing Emil to them?

Mom looked closely at Lina, and she realized that she had said something stupid. She wanted to correct the mistake, and she mumbled:

– You see, mistress, in the newspaper “Vimmerby” they wrote that they had a terrible earthquake in America... Isn’t it too much - such a misfortune, and even Emil into the bargain...

- Shut up, Lina. “It’s none of your business,” Mom said. - Go to the barnyard, it’s time for you to milk the cows.

Grabbing the milk pan, Lina ran to the barnyard and began milking the cows... When she was even a little angry, her work went smoothly. This time Lina milked even faster than usual, and splashes flew in all directions. At the same time, she kept muttering to herself:

“There must be at least some kind of justice in the world!” It’s impossible for all the troubles to fall on the heads of Americans. But I would change with them. Maybe write to them: “Here’s Emil, bring an earthquake here!...”

In truth, Lina was just showing off! Where could she write to America! Even in Småland they wouldn’t have been able to make out her scribbles, much less in America. No, if anyone could write there, it would be Emil’s mother. That's who was the master of writing! She wrote about all her son's tricks in a blue notebook, which she kept in her chest of drawers.

“It’s a waste,” said dad, “to write about all the pranks of this boy.” You won't have enough pencils. Have you thought about this?

Emil's mother ignored his words. She conscientiously kept a record of Emil's antics. When the boy grows up, let him know what he did as a child. Yes, then he will understand why his mother turned gray, and maybe he will love her more: after all, Alma’s hair turned white only because of him.

But please don’t think that Emil was evil, not at all. He was kind. His mother was right when she said that he was actually a wonderful baby. Yes, he really looked like an angel with his blond curly hair and gentle blue eyes. Of course, Emil was kind, and his mother quite correctly wrote down the twenty-seventh of July in her blue notebook:

“Emil was good yesterday - he didn’t talk all day. This patama is that Nivo had a high tempirature and he didn’t get wet at all.”

But already on the twenty-eighth of July, Emil’s temperature dropped, and the description of his pranks took up several pages in the blue notebook. This boy was strong, like a young bull, and as soon as he got better, he played pranks without restraint.

“I’ve never seen such a boy in my life,” said Lina.

Apparently, you have already realized that Lina did not really favor Emil. She loved Ida more, his younger sister, kind and obedient. But if anyone loved Emil, it was the worker Alfred, and no one knows why. Emil also loved Alfred, and after Alfred had completed his work, they spent time together. Alfred taught Emil all sorts of useful things: harnessing a horse, catching pike with a seine and chewing tobacco. In truth, chewing tobacco is not very useful, and Emil tried it only once. And only because he wanted to be able to do everything that Alfred could do. Alfred carved a wooden gun for Emil. He's a good guy, isn't he? This gun was the boy's most precious treasure. And his other precious treasure was a nondescript cap, which one day, without knowing what he was doing, his father bought him in the city.

- I love my cap and my gun! - Emil spoke in the purest Smolandic dialect and every evening he took a cap and a gun to bed with him.

Do you remember who lived in Katthult? Do you remember Emil's dad - Anton, Emil's mother - Alma, Emil's sister - Ida, worker Alfred, maid Lina and Emil himself?

And also Cresa Maya, we shouldn’t forget about her either. Cresa-Maya was a wizened torpark woman. Do you know who the torparis are? These are peasants in Sweden who do not have their own land and take someone else’s land for money. It's called a torp. So Kresa-Maya lived on such a farm in the forest, but often came to Katthult to help with the housework: to iron, stuff sausage, and at the same time to scare Emil and Ida with her creepy tales about devils, ghosts and ghosts, about murderers and terrible thieves and other pleasant and interesting stories. And she knew them enough.

But now maybe you want to hear about Emil’s new tricks? After all, he played pranks all day long, except for those days when he had a high fever. So we can take any day and see what Emil was doing then. Well, for example, the twenty-eighth of July.

How Emil accidentally dropped a dish of dough for coats on his father’s head and carved out the hundredth wooden old man

In the kitchen at Katthult there was an old wooden sofa, painted blue. Lina slept on this sofa. At the time in question, all Småland kitchens were filled with sofas with hard mattresses on which the maids slept. And the flies were buzzing all over the maids. Katthult was no different from other farms. Lina slept soundly on her sofa. Nothing could wake her up before half past five in the morning, when the alarm clock went off in the kitchen. Then she got up and went to milk the cows.

As soon as Lina left the kitchen, dad quietly sneaked in to quietly drink a cup of coffee until Emil woke up.

“How nice it is to sit alone at the table like this,” thought dad. - Emil is not around, birds are singing in the yard, chickens are clucking. Just drink some coffee and rock on your chair. The cool floorboards underfoot, which Lina scrubbed white…” Did you understand what Lina scrubbed? Floorboards, of course, and not dad’s feet, although maybe it wouldn’t hurt to scrape them too, who knows. Emil's dad walked barefoot in the morning, and not only because he liked it that way.

“It doesn’t hurt to take care of your shoes,” he once said to Emil’s mother, who stubbornly refused to walk barefoot. “If you tramp around in shoes all the time, like you, you’ll have to buy them endlessly, endlessly... every ten years.”

“Well, so be it,” Emil’s mother answered, and there was no more conversation about it.

As already mentioned, no one could wake Lina until the alarm clock went off. But one morning she woke up for a different reason. This happened on the twenty-seventh of July, exactly the day when Emil had a high fever. Already at four o'clock in the morning Lina woke up because a huge rat jumped right on her. What a horror! Lina screamed terribly, jumped up from the sofa and grabbed the log, but the rat had already disappeared into a hole near the closet door.

When he heard about the rat, dad lost his temper.

“It’s a nice story, nothing to say,” he muttered. - Rats in the kitchen... They can eat both bread and bacon!

“And me,” said Lina.

“Bread and bacon,” Emil’s dad repeated. – We’ll have to let the cat into the kitchen at night.

Emil heard about the rat and, although he still had a fever, he immediately began to figure out how to catch it if he couldn’t let the cat into the kitchen.

At ten o'clock in the evening on the twenty-seventh of July, Emil's temperature had completely subsided, and he was cheerful and cheerful again. That night all of Katthult slept peacefully. Emil's dad, Emil's mom and little Ida slept in the room next to the kitchen, Lina on her sofa. Alfred is in the staff room near the carpentry shop. The piglets slept in the pigsty, and the chickens in the chicken coop. Cows, horses and sheep are on green pastures. The only one who couldn’t sleep was the cat, who was in the kitchen yearning for the barnyard, where there were a lot of rats. Emil was also awake; Having got out of bed, he, stepping carefully, crept into the kitchen.

“Poor Monsan, they locked you in,” said Emil, seeing the cat’s burning eyes at the kitchen door.

“Meow,” Monsan meowed in response.

Emil, who loved animals, took pity on the cat and let it out of the kitchen. Although he, of course, understood that the rat had to be caught at all costs. And since there is no cat in the kitchen, we need to come up with something else. He got a rat trap, put a piece of tasty bacon on the hook and placed the rat trap near the hole in the closet. And then I thought about it. After all, as soon as a rat sticks its nose out of a hole, the first thing it will see is a rat trap, suspect something is wrong and will not allow itself to be tricked. “It’s better to let the rat run quietly around the kitchen, and then suddenly - bam, when he least expects it, he stumbles upon a rat trap,” Emil decided. He almost put a rat trap on Lina’s head - after all, the rat liked to jump into it - but he was afraid that Lina would wake up and ruin everything. No, you'll have to put the rat trap somewhere else. Maybe under the kitchen table? The rat often tinkers there looking for bread crumbs that have fallen on the floor. But it’s useless to put a rat trap where dad sits - you won’t get a lot of crumbs near his chair.

- Oh! That's fear! – Emil suddenly said, freezing in the middle of the kitchen. – What if the rat ends up right next to daddy’s chair, doesn’t find any crumbs there and starts gnawing on daddy’s fingers instead?...

No, Emil will make sure that doesn’t happen. And he put the rat trap where dad usually put his feet, and then went back to bed, very pleased with himself.

He woke up when it was already dawn outside, from a loud scream coming from the kitchen.

“They are screaming for joy, apparently they have caught a rat,” thought Emil. But the next second my mother ran into the room. Pulling her son out of bed, she whispered in his ear:

- March to the carpentry until dad pulls his leg out of the rat trap. Otherwise you'll be in trouble!

And, grabbing Emil by the hand, his mother dragged him out of the house. He was wearing only a shirt, since he didn’t have time to get dressed in a hurry, but something else was bothering him.

- And the gun and the cap! - Emil yelled. - I'll take them with me!

And, grabbing the gun and cap, he rushed to the carpenter's shop with such speed that his shirt was streaked in the wind. For all his tricks, Emil was usually sent to the carpenter's room. Emil’s mom bolted the door from the outside so that Emil couldn’t get out, and Emil locked the door with a hook from the inside so that dad couldn’t get in—reasonably and prudently on both sides. Emil’s mother believed that Emil should not meet his father yet. Emil didn't mind. That's why he locked the door so carefully. Then he calmly sat down on a block of wood and began to carve a funny wooden old man. He did this every time he found himself in the carpentry room after another prank, and had already managed to cut out ninety-seven figures. The old men were beautifully arranged in order on the shelf, and Emil was happy looking at them. Soon there will probably be a hundred of them. That's when the real holiday will happen!

“I’ll throw a feast at the carpentry that day, but I’ll invite only Alfred,” Emil decided to himself, sitting on a block of wood with a cutter in his hand.

The father's screams could be heard from afar, then they gradually died down. And suddenly a piercing squeal was heard. Emil was surprised and worried that something else had happened to his mother. But I remembered that today they were going to slaughter a pig, apparently it was she who squealed. Poor pig! It turned out to be a gloomy day for her on the twenty-eighth of July! Well, someone else wasn’t very lucky today either!

By lunchtime, Emil was released from the carpentry room, and when he came into the kitchen, a beaming Ida rushed towards him.

“And we’ll have coats for lunch,” she said joyfully.

Maybe you don’t know what coats are? These are large dark breads filled with lard that taste like blood sausage, only they are even tastier. And the coats are prepared in almost the same way as blood sausage, from blood and flour, with spices. When a pig is slaughtered in Katthult, they always cook the coats there.

Mom was kneading blood dough on the table in a large clay dish, and water was boiling in cast iron on the stove. Soon the coats will be ready, and they’ll be so delicious you’ll lick your fingers!

End of free trial.

Astrid Lindgren - Emil from Lenneberg. Astrid LindgrenThe Adventures of Emil from Lönneberga Lindgren how Emil got his head into a tureen

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