Karlsson on the Roof

He put his hands into his empty pockets. Oh, good! He felt there another toffee which he had overlooked before. A large chewy, scrumptious toffee. Eric laughed.

“I bet you I’ve got another toffee,” he said. “And I bet I shall eat it up in no time,” he said, quickly popping the toffee into his mouth.

Karlsson sat down on the bed, looking offended.

“You were to be like a mother to me,” he said. “And all you do is push all the things you can into yourself. I never saw such a greedy little boy.”

He sat silent for a time, looking more annoyed than ever. “Besides, you haven’t given me the penny because my scarf tickles,” he said.

“But you’re not wearing a scarf,” said Eric.

“There isn’t a scarf in the whole house,” said Karlsson, grumpily. “But if there had been one, I’d have been wearing it, and it would have tickled, and then I would have had a penny.”

He looked pleadingly at Eric, and his eyes filled with tears. “Should I have to suffer only because there’s no scarf in the house?”

Eric did not think that he should. So he gave Karlsson-on-the-Roof his very last penny.

Chapter 5 - Karlsson Plays Tricks

“I feel like having fun now,” said Karlsson a little later. “Let’s go for a walk on the roofs around here; then we’re bound to think of something fun to do.”

Eric wanted to do that very much. He took Karlsson’s hand, and together they marched through the door and out onto the roof. It was beginning to grow dark, and everything looked very beautiful. The air had the bluish tint which it has in the spring; all the houses looked mysterious and exciting, as houses do in the twilight; the park where Eric often played seemed to glimmer strangely green far below; and from the great balsam poplar in Eric’s courtyard a wonderful scent rose all the way up to the roof.

It was a perfect evening for roof walking. Every window was open, and you could hear all sorts of sounds: people talking, children laughing, and babies crying. There was a clatter of china from a neighboring kitchen where someone was doing dishes, a dog whined, and a piano was being played somewhere.