"Have you seen34 a little girl with red hair and brown eyes?"
But the people said, "No, we haven't35."
My father went home. He did not know what to do. When we came home, my mother went to the kitchen and said:
"Why didn't you give Nancy her bread and butter?"
Father told her all about my naughty little sister.
And then my mother said:
"I know where she is. She is with old Mr. Smith."
We all went to Mr. Smith, and there we saw my naughty little sister. She was playing with little boxes.
"Come home," said my father.
"I don't want to," said my naughty little sister.
"Come home. It is late. You must drink your milk," said my mother.
"I don't want to."
Then Mr. Smith said, "Take this picture and give it to your doll. She will like it." And Mr. Smith took his beautiful picture from the wall and gave it to my naughty little sister.
My sister was very happy. She forgot to say Thank you to Mr. Smith and ran home very quickly.
And we all went home, too.
IX. My Naughty Little Sister Goes to School
One day when I was a little girl, my mother got a letter from my grandmother. She was ill, and she asked my mother to come to her.
"Take your sister to school with you," said my mother to me.
"She can't sit still for five minutes," I said.
"I can sit still," said my little sister.
My mother wrote a letter to my teacher. My teacher answered:
"Yes, Nancy may come to school if she is a good girl."
My sister was very happy. Do you know what she did? She found my father's old bag and put a pencil and a notebook into the bag. She went to bed very early. She was a very good girl.
In the morning she got up early. She washed her face and neck and dressed quickly. After breakfast my mother went to my grandmother, and we went to school.
Our lessons began at 9 o'clock. But we came to the schoolyard earlier. My sister said Good morning to everybody in the yard.
When we came into the classroom, the teacher said:
"Jack is ill. So your sister may sit at his desk."
My little sister did not talk. She looked and looked. She looked at the teacher, she looked at the schoolboys and schoolgirls. She looked at the blackboard and at the pictures on the wall.
The children opened their bags and took out their pencils and notebooks. My sister opened her bag, too. She took out her pencil and her notebook.
Then the teacher called all the children's names. The children said: "Present." But she did not call my sister's name, because she was not a pupil. Then my naughty little sister got up and said:
"I want a present, too."
Everybody laughed36. Then the teacher gave her some plasticine37. My little sister made a red flower, and the teacher said it was very nice.
The teacher read us a story, and my sister listened, too. When the teacher asked questions about this story, all the children put up their hands and my sister put up her hand. And she gave a good answer. The teacher said:
"Your little sister is very clever."
Then we drew pictures. I drew a house, a tree and a lake. But do you know what my little sister drew? She drew our teacher. Yes, she drew our nice teacher. She drew her with very little eyes and very long black hair, and a very big mouth.
"I like your picture," said our teacher. "I like it very much."
Then we all went to the schoolyard and played there. We played ball. My little sister played ball, too.
Then we went to the classroom again. We read a story in a book, but my little sister could not read, so she fell asleep38. She slept till four o'clock when the lessons were over and we went home.
X. The Baby-Tooth39
When I was a little girl and my little sister was a very little girl, we had an apple-tree behind our house. We liked to pick apples and eat them.
One day my little sister picked a very big green apple. When she began to eat it, one of her little teeth got loose40. My little sister began to cry.
"Don't cry," said my mother. "It's a baby-tooth. All your little baby-teeth will get loose and new teeth will grow."
My little sister liked to show her tooth to everybody. She showed it to the postman and to her friend the shoe-mender.
"Come," said my mother. "I'll pull it out41."
"No, no! Don't pull it out!" said my naughty little sister. "I like my tooth."
Then the shoe-mender said, "You must show it to the doctor. The doctor likes to see nice baby-teeth."
"I want to go to the doctor," said my naughty little sister to my mother. "I want to show him my baby-tooth. He likes to see nice baby-teeth."
"All right!42" said my mother.
So my little sister went to the doctor. She showed her tooth to the people who were there. Everybody liked her little tooth.
"You have a very nice tooth," said the doctor. "I collect nice teeth. Can you give me your tooth? I want to show it to the people who come to me."
And do you know what my little sister did? She pulled out her tooth and gave it to the doctor.
"Here it is," she said. "You may take it. You can show it to the people who come to you."
She was a funny little girl, wasn't she?
XI My Naughty Little Sister Goes to the Theatre
Once when my little sister was four, our mother took us to the theatre.
The theatre was very beautiful. My sister and I liked it very much.
When we were in the theatre, my little sister did not talk. She looked at the curtain and at the beautiful walls and the big lamps over our heads.
She looked at the boys and girls and at their mothers and fathers. But when the curtain went up43 and a little funny man came out, she looked only at this funny man. His name was Humpty-Dumpty44. He said:
"How do you do, little boys and girls?"
"How do you do?" we all said.
But my little sister cried:
"Hullo, Humpty-Dumpty!"
Everybody laughed, and Humpty-Dumpty said:
"Hullo, little girl!"
Then beautiful dolls came out and danced. They had very beautiful dresses on, all white and blue.
Humpty-Dumpty began to dance, too, but he fell on the floor.
And then Humpty-Dumpty said:
"Who wants to dance with me?"
You know that my little sister was very naughty, don't you?45
Do you know what she did?
She ran to Humpty-Dumpty and said:
"I want to dance with you."
Everybody laughed. Humpty-Dumpty laughed, too. The other children ran to him, too, and they all began to dance.
"Now, children," he said, "go to you seats."
All the children went to their seats, but my little sister did not go to her seat.
Do you know why she did not go to her seat?
She ran away. Yes, she ran away. She wanted to see the dolls behind the curtain. She found the dolls. The beautiful dolls talked to my sister, and they gave her an ice.
36
В английском языке есть два одинаковых по написанию, но разных по значению слова: present-присутствующий, a present-подарок.
44
Humpty-Dumpty - Шалтай-Болтай (герой детских стишков; он очень неуклюж и постоянно падает)