Chapter 1

Off to the Countryside

Once there were three children, named Jo, Bessie and Fanny. They had always lived in a city, but when their father found a job at the railway station, they had to move in the countryside.

Jo, Bessie and Fanny were delighted. They had always wanted to live among flowers and green lush green beneath a brilliant blue sky. They hated the city, with its stony streets and dirty chimneys and houses.

'It's going to be so much fun going to the countryside!' Fanny cried excitedly, at breakfast. 'I shall pick flowers all day long!'

'We will have our own garden!' yelled Jo, who had always wanted to have a garden of his very one.

'I shall fly like a bird!' shrieked Bessie, jumping with excitement. 'When is the van going to arrive, Father?'

'Don't get over-excited, children,' Mr. Brown said, who was reading his newspaper and sipping his coffee. 'At 12o' clock, I should think.'

So at noon, the vans arrived and Mr. Brown and the truck drivers piled all furniture onto them quite quickly. They hardly had too many items; they weren't very well off as you will see. After everything was packed and the vans set off, Mr. Brown led his family into the train station so that they could catch a train to the countryside. (The vans had no room for them) The family had a compartment all to themselves, and the children spent their time talking to each other very loudly.

The train—a scarlet, steam-engine—began to drive slowly. During the first hour, it passed through the crowded city, making Jo, Bessie and Fanny very impatiently. They badly wanted to see the countryside. Mrs. Brown had packed a lunch for them in a cardboard box—two dozen sandwiches and five bottles of homemade lime juice. The children hungrily began to munch their tinned meat sandwiches, for they were all very hungry.

'It's so nice to go into the countryside!' Bessie sighed in relief, as she took a sip of her lime juice.

'We might see fairies there!' whispered Fanny, who was quite imaginative.

'We shall have adventures!' cried Jo.

Mr. Brown snorted in disbelief. 'I doubt you will,' he laughed. 'I bet you'll find it dull there.' But there he was quite wrong, because all day they enjoyed themselves someway or other. They also happened to have a creepy forest in their backyard, which they couldn't wait to explore. Gosh, the crazy people they met over there!

The train reached the countryside at afternoon. They quickly got out from the train station, each one carrying their bags over the shoulders. Mr. Brown found no one at the sleepy train station to help them with the bags, so they had the hard task of pulling it themselves. They started walking along the narrow, deserted road, which had green trees on other sides. It formed a green tunnel over their heads. But the sun was shining scorching hot, sending beads of sweat running down the children's foreheads. Nonetheless, everyone still enjoyed the walk very much and was glad there wasn't any bus or vehicles on the road.

After nearly an hour of walking, they finally came to a gap in the hedge on the left hand side of the road where there was a five-barred gate. 'This way,' Mr. Brown said, opening the gate. They were now walking along a narrow lane that was no more than a rutted cart track. There was a high hedge of hazel on other side.

They walked over the lane slowly. A few small birds nestled around in the hazel branches, chirping merrily. A blackbird started singing a tune very sweetly. Bessie and Fanny hugged each other in joy.

They came to a small green-gate, half-buried in the hedge on the right and almost hidden by the overhanging branches. A van was leaning on the gate; the van drivers had reached the countryside before them and were waiting patiently. Mr. Brown put his hand on the gate and opened it slowly and told the excited children, 'This is our Little Cottage.'

Jo, Bessie and Fanny saw a narrow, stone path leading to a small red-bricked cottage. The first thing they noticed that it had two floors. The bricks were red and flowers were growing around the cottage, so it looked sweet. It had a crimson coloured slate roof and two chimneys, and there were two windows at the front, which were no longer than a sheet of tabloid newspaper. On the side of the narrow, stony path daffodils and roses had grown, dancing slowly in the slight breeze. An enormous oak stood there, overshadowing the cottage. Its massive spreading branches seemed to be enfolding and embracing the cottage and perhaps hiding it from the rest of the world.

'This isn't much!' Mr. Brown said humbly. But Jo, Bessie and Fanny loved their house. They said, 'Oh, no, Father! It's the best little house! And it's straight out of a fairy—tale!'

They walked along the path, Fanny picking the flowers. She had intended to decorate the house with it. When they reached the cottage, they saw the van drivers. They announced, 'We have brought your furniture. The children will wait outside while we help you put the furniture in its correct position.'

Mr. Brown and Mrs. Brown, with the help of the van drivers, took all the furniture to the cottage. They shut the doors and the windows because they wanted to surprise the children of how their cottage should look. But the children were not feeling bored, sitting there. They had decided to explore their house. They went to the backyard and found many astonishing things.

There were long grass there and thistles and nettles and the garden was extremely big. A huge gate was separating their garden from a wood, which they did not explore, in fear of getting lost. They enjoyed the afternoon by playing in their humungous big garden and picking flowers. At tea, their mother came, looking excited and cried, 'Tea—time! And a surprise for you! Come inside, children!'

They all went inside, very anxious and excited to see how their little cottage should look. And it indeed looked very nice and grand! At first they came to a small room, where they saw that their mother and father had put their two comfortable sets of sofas, and the red carpet and the television and the piano and the shelf of books. There was a fireplace, and the fire was blazing. The room was coloured blue and it looked very nice.

'This is the living—room, children!' Mrs. Brown cried.

They went into the second room, just behind the dining—room, which they found was the kitchen. The kitchen was big and it was very neat, because all the plates and sets of crockery had been put into separate cupboards. And then coming out from the kitchen, they saw another door, on the right hand side leading into the dining—room. It was organized too, and looked very tidy.

A stairway led upstairs and so they climbed up. There were three rooms upstairs. The biggest room was Mr. and Mrs. Brown's bedroom. Then the second—biggest room was Bessie and Fanny's and the smallest was Jo's. Their clothes had been put into the cupboard, and their toys were in their rooms too. The children were very happy to see their lovely little cottage. A ladder at upstairs led to the attic.

'I am afraid this cottage is too little!' Mrs. Brown said.

'Oh, no Mother!' Jo cried. 'The apartment where we lived was so stuffy! This is so nice and—and—free!'

'Pretty!' Fanny yelled.

'Wonderful and fantastic!' Bessie said.

'Yes, it is, but it won't be!' Mrs. Brown sighed. Then she added brightly, 'Now, wash yourselves for tea. Beside Father wants to discuss something with you.'

'He does?' Bessie cried. 'Well, I wonder why? Anyway, where is he?'

'He just went out to see how the environment is,' Mrs. Brown explained and went downstairs.

The children dressed themselves up in their new rooms. They wore their light cotton clothes. Bessie and Fanny were dancing in the room when Jo came and together they went downstairs to have tea.

Mrs. Brown was cutting the bread. Bessie and Fanny hurriedly went to the kitchen to help their mother. Bessie made tea. Fanny took out the butter and strawberry jam from the refrigerator. Mother boiled some eggs, and took the bottle of honey. Fanny took a packet of biscuits too. So, it was after all quite a wonderful tea.

When Bessie, Fanny and Mrs. Brown had finished putting the plates at the table, a loud hoot was heard. And the astonishing thing was that it was coming from inside the house. Could there be an owl in the house?

'An owl in the house!' Jo cried. He was upstairs playing with his toys and when he had heard the noise; he quickly went downstairs, anxious to tell his mother about the owl.

'It's not an owl!' cried his mother, going to the front door. 'It's just the bell! Oh, your father, must be home!'

And so he was. Mr. Brown came a few minutes later, wearing a coat. He went into the dining—room and asked the three children whether they liked their new home. They said they were.

'Glad!' Mr. Brown said, sitting down on a chair and spreading a little strawberry jam on his bread. Then he added a little of honey and then butter and began to munch it.

Jo poured him a cup of tea and said, 'Oh, this place is really nice! I love it!'

'Me too!' Fanny and Bessie cried, with their mouths full of strawberry jam.

'I want to discuss something with you!' Mr. Brown cried, sipping his cup of tea. 'I bet you coaxed your mother.'

'Well, no,' Jo said. 'What is it?'

'I'll tell you before you go to bed. There's work to be done after tea.'

After tea, Jo and Mr. Brown went outside because they had lots of work to be done. They had to make their garden a vegetable one, and it would be hard work because the garden had tangled grass and thistles. Jo and Mr. Brown started pulling off the thistles, while Bessie and Fanny helped their mother to clean up the plates. And when they did it, the little girls went outside and started clearing away the weeds of the untidy vegetable bed.

At supper—time, all of them went upstairs, and took a bath because they were covered in mud and dirt. Then they all had supper, which was meat, bread and a delicious stew. While eating, Mrs. Brown said to the girls, 'My dear, before you go to sleep, start sewing the curtains. I know you want to talk before you go to bed, but please do the task for me.'

So, when everything was cleared up, the entire Brown family went into the living room. Bessie and Fanny started sewing the curtains with thread, needle, thimbles etc. while sitting on the sofas. Mrs. Brown was doing it too. Mr. Brown was reading his newspaper and Jo was playing with his toys, which he had brought from upstairs.

Bessie and Fanny sewed for half an hour. After that, Mrs. Brown took the needles, and the thimbles and the curtains away, telling them they had done a fine job. They were pleased.

'Now, my children,' Mr. Brown said. 'I've some bad things to say to you.'

'What is it?' cried the three children in despair.

'You see, in the city I had plenty of money,' Mr. Brown explained. 'Plenty of money to give you fine education, a fine house. But I have suddenly lost the job and now I can do nothing but live in the countryside. And I cannot get as much money as I did in the city. So, as money is scarce, I cannot give you everything. You cannot go to school, I'm afraid. And nor can we buy such comfortable sofas or things. So, we all must work hard. We must grow vegetables, as we cannot afford to buy them. Oh, I am so sorry, that for me, you will have to carry these burdens!' Tears rolled down his cheeks.

'Father, don't be ashamed!' Fanny cried for her father face had grown black and sad. 'We'll work hard. Beside, education is not that important. I mean, the most important thing is love each other and help each other.'

'Well, yes,' Mr. Brown agreed.

'Father, we will work hard,' Bessie and Jo and Fanny promised. 'We will do anything we can to help you. Families help each other. Remember it, Father. Don't be ashamed and grieved.'

Mr. Brown had thought that his children would feel very sad and thought of him as not a good father. And he was astonished to see that his children were not unhappy to carry these burdens. Mr. Brown smiled at them and said, 'You are such nice children. I'm proud of you all!'

The children grinned at their father. Mr. Brown kept on saying that he was sorry, but the children told him not to feel ashamed. And that, families helped each other whenever they should. And education was not important. And the children said that they were not ungrateful to God, because He had already given them much joy.

Then the children and their parents sang, as usual, before they go to bed. None of them ever had music lessons, not even in the town, but Bessie was born singer. She had a soft way to touch the keys of the piano and she had a very lovely voice—very soft. Fanny had a sweet voice too. The two sisters were very talented in music. The two little girls' dreams were to sing together throughout the whole nation.

'What lovely musicians you two are!' Mr. Brown encouraged. 'Is your ambition of life to become musicians, girls?'

'Oh, yes, Father,' both the girls cried.

'I am sure you will become too,' Mr. Brown said. 'Although I cannot afford to let you go to a good music school, I can buy some music books, once a month. And I am sure you will learn from it, very nicely.'

'Oh Father!' Bessie cried joyfully. 'Oh, Father, how can we be sad when we have already been given so much? And oh, Father, oh, thank you! Thank you!'

Mr. Brown was happy to hear Bessie's word of thanks. They talked for some time, when Mrs. Brown came to the room, saying that it was the children's bedtime. Their mother went with them upstairs, and then after looking at their rooms, said, 'The girls, will have red curtains, and Jo will have blue curtains. Does it suit you?'

'Oh, thanks Mother,' Jo cried, who had finished dressing up and brushing his teeth. He lay on the bed, and said, 'I can't sleep today. I am sort of too happy to do so.'

Mrs. Brown smiled at him. The two girls also said they could not sleep, but their mother knew that they would be. They had done many things. They had walked for half an hour, played in the garden, worked in the garden, and the girls had sewed for quite a lot of time. Mrs. Brown gave them their goodnight kisses and then went away.