Pippi Longstocking Chapter 6 Summary

Pippi Arranges a Picnic

  • Annika and Tommy have a day off from school for "Scrubbing Vacation." (Presumably, this is a time when the school is closed for a deep cleaning.)
  • Pippi sees this as another injustice ("Do I get any Scrubbing Vacation? Indeed I don't, though goodness knows I need one" (6.2)).
  • She proceeds to scrub her kitchen floor by tying scrub brushes onto her feet and skating around; when she finishes, the three children head out for a picnic in a pasture.
  • There's a cow blocking the gate, but Pippi lifts it out of the way and they go in and find a rock on which to lay out their picnic.
  • After Pippi attempts to fly (which is apparently one of the few things she can't do), they notice that Mr. Nilsson (the monkey—remember him?) has gone missing.
  • Pippi, frustrated with the monkey, throws her shoe into a pond.
  • She then goes in to retrieve it and saves herself a salon visit by washing her hair while she's there.
  • The children split up to hunt for Mr. Nilsson, and Tommy encounters a bull.
  • The bull charges Tommy, and Pippi arrives on the scene just in time to grab it by the tail and give it a stern talking to and creep us out by breaking off its horns.
  • When the bull charges her, she rides it until it lies down exhausted and takes a nap.
  • At this point Pippi resumes her search for Mr. Nilsson.
  • She spots him sitting in a pine tree, and the monkey skips down and perches on her shoulder.
  • On the way home, Pippi's shoes and skirt, which are still wet from the pond, make squishing noises which inspire Pippi to come up with her own lyrics to a song that Tommy and Annika begin singing.