Raggedy Ann Stories
J >> Johnny Gruelle >> Raggedy Ann StoriesRAGGEDY ANN
STORIES
Written & Illustrated by
JOHNNY GRUELLE
[Illustration]
LITTLE SIMON
New York London Toronto Sydney
[Illustration]
PREFACE AND DEDICATION
As I write this, I have before me on my desk, propped up against the
telephone, an old rag doll. Dear old Raggedy Ann!
The same Raggedy Ann with which my mother played when a child.
There she sits, a trifle loppy and loose-jointed, looking me squarely in
the face in a straightforward, honest manner, a twinkle where her
shoe-button eyes reflect the electric light.
Evidently Raggedy has been to a "tea party" today, for her face is
covered with chocolate.
She smiles happily and continuously.
True, she has been nibbled by mice, who have made nests out of the soft
cotton with which she has been stuffed, but Raggedy smiled just as
broadly when the mice nibbled at her, for her smile is painted on.
What adventures you must have had, Raggedy!
What joy and happiness you have brought into this world!
And no matter what treatment you have received, how patient you have
been!
What lessons of kindness and fortitude you might teach could you but
talk; you with your wisdom of fifty-nine years. No wonder Rag Dolls are
the best beloved! You are so kindly, so patient, so lovable.
The more you become torn, tattered and loose-jointed, Rag Dolls, the
more you are loved by children.
Who knows but that Fairyland is filled with old, lovable Rag
Dolls--soft, loppy Rag Dolls who ride through all the wonders of
Fairyland in the crook of dimpled arms, snuggling close to childish
breasts within which beat hearts filled with eternal sunshine.
So, to the millions of children and grown-ups who have loved a Rag Doll,
I dedicate these stories of Raggedy Ann.
JOHNNY GRUELLE.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
INTRODUCTION
Marcella liked to play up in the attic at Grandma's quaint old house,
'way out in the country, for there were so many old forgotten things to
find up there.
One day when Marcella was up in the attic and had played with the old
spinning wheel until she had grown tired of it, she curled up on an old
horse-hair sofa to rest.
"I wonder what is in that barrel, 'way back in the corner?" she thought,
as she jumped from the sofa and climbed over two dusty trunks to the
barrel standing back under the eaves.
It was quite dark back there, so when Marcella had pulled a large bundle
of things from the barrel she took them over to the dormer window where
she could see better. There was a funny little bonnet with long white
ribbons. Marcella put it on.
In an old leather bag she found a number of tin-types of queer looking
men and women in old-fashioned clothes. And there was one picture of a
very pretty little girl with long curls tied tightly back from her
forehead and wearing a long dress and queer pantaloons which reached to
her shoe-tops. And then out of the heap she pulled an old rag doll with
only one shoe-button eye and a painted nose and a smiling mouth. Her
dress was of soft material, blue with pretty little flowers and dots all
over it.
Forgetting everything else in the happiness of her find, Marcella caught
up the rag doll and ran downstairs to show it to Grandma.
"Well! Well! Where did you find it?" Grandma cried. "It's old Raggedy
Ann!" she went on as she hugged the doll to her breast. "I had
forgotten her. She has been in the attic for fifty years, I guess! Well!
Well! Dear old Raggedy Ann! I will sew another button on her right
away!" and Grandma went to the machine drawer and got her needle and
thread.
Marcella watched the sewing while Grandma told how she had played with
Raggedy Ann when she was a little girl.
"Now!" Grandma laughed, "Raggedy Ann, you have two fine shoe-button eyes
and with them you can see the changes that have taken place in the world
while you have been shut up so long in the attic! For, Raggedy Ann, you
have a new playmate and mistress now, and I hope you both will have as
much happiness together as you and I used to have!"
Then Grandma gave Raggedy Ann to Marcella, saying very seriously,
"Marcella, let me introduce my very dear friend, Raggedy Ann. Raggedy,
this is my grand-daughter, Marcella!" And Grandma gave the doll a twitch
with her fingers in such a way that the rag doll nodded her head to
Marcella.
"Oh, Grandma! Thank you ever and ever so much!" Marcella cried as she
gave Grandma a hug and kiss. "Raggedy Ann and I will have just loads of
fun."
And this is how Raggedy Ann joined the doll family at Marcella's house,
where she began the adventures of Raggedy Ann, told in the following
stories.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
RAGGEDY ANN LEARNS A LESSON
One day the dolls were left all to themselves.
Their little mistress had placed them all around the room and told them
to be nice children while she was away.
And there they sat and never even so much as wiggled a finger, until
their mistress had left the room.
Then the soldier dolly turned his head and solemnly winked at Raggedy
Ann.
And when the front gate clicked and the dollies knew they were alone in
the house, they all scrambled to their feet.
"Now let's have a good time!" cried the tin soldier. "Let's all go in
search of something to eat!"
"Yes! Let's all go in search of something to eat!" cried all the other
dollies.
"When Mistress had me out playing with her this morning," said Raggedy
Ann, "she carried me by a door near the back of the house and I smelled
something which smelled as if it would taste delicious!"
"Then you lead the way, Raggedy Ann!" cried the French dolly.
"I think it would be a good plan to elect Raggedy Ann as our leader on
this expedition!" said the Indian doll.
At this all the other dolls clapped their hands together and shouted,
"Hurrah! Raggedy Ann will be our leader."
So Raggedy Ann, very proud indeed to have the confidence and love of all
the other dollies, said that she would be very glad to be their leader.
"Follow me!" she cried as her wobbly legs carried her across the floor
at a lively pace.
The other dollies followed, racing about the house until they came to
the pantry door. "This is the place!" cried Raggedy Ann, and sure
enough, all the dollies smelled something which they knew must be very
good to eat.
But none of the dollies was tall enough to open the door and, although
they pushed and pulled with all their might, the door remained tightly
closed.
The dollies were talking and pulling and pushing and every once in a
while one would fall over and the others would step on her in their
efforts to open the door. Finally Raggedy Ann drew away from the others
and sat down on the floor.
When the other dollies discovered Raggedy Ann sitting there, running her
rag hands through her yarn hair, they knew she was thinking.
"Sh! Sh!" they said to each other and quietly went over near Raggedy Ann
and sat down in front of her.
"There must be a way to get inside," said Raggedy Ann.
"Raggedy says there must be a way to get inside!" cried all the dolls.
"I can't seem to think clearly to-day," said Raggedy Ann. "It feels as
if my head were ripped."
At this the French doll ran to Raggedy Ann and took off her bonnet.
"Yes, there is a rip in your head, Raggedy!" she said and pulled a pin
from her skirt and pinned up Raggedy's head. "It's not a very neat job,
for I got some puckers in it!" she said.
"Oh that is ever so much better!" cried Raggedy Ann. "Now I can think
quite clearly."
"Now Raggedy can think quite clearly!" cried all the dolls.
"My thoughts must have leaked out the rip before!" said Raggedy Ann.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
"They must have leaked out before, dear Raggedy!" cried all the other
dolls.
"Now that I can think so clearly," said Raggedy Ann, "I think the door
must be locked and to get in we must unlock it!"
"That will be easy!" said the Dutch doll who says "Mamma" when he is
tipped backward and forward, "For we will have the brave tin soldier
shoot the key out of the lock!"
"I can easily do that!" cried the tin soldier, as he raised his gun.
"Oh, Raggedy Ann!" cried the French dolly. "Please do not let him
shoot!"
"No!" said Raggedy Ann. "We must think of a quieter way!"
After thinking quite hard for a moment, Raggedy Ann jumped up and said:
"I have it!" And she caught up the Jumping Jack and held him up to the
door; then Jack slid up his stick and unlocked the door.
Then the dollies all pushed and the door swung open.
My! Such a scramble! The dolls piled over one another in their desire to
be the first at the goodies.
They swarmed upon the pantry shelves and in their eagerness spilled a
pitcher of cream which ran all over the French dolly's dress.
The Indian doll found some corn bread and dipping it in the molasses he
sat down for a good feast.
A jar of raspberry jam was overturned and the dollies ate of this until
their faces were all purple.
The tin soldier fell from the shelf three times and bent one of his tin
legs, but he scrambled right back up again.
Never had the dolls had so much fun and excitement, and they had all
eaten their fill when they heard the click of the front gate.
[Illustration]
They did not take time to climb from the shelves, but all rolled or
jumped off to the floor and scrambled back to their room as fast as
they could run, leaving a trail of bread crumbs and jam along the way.
Just as their mistress came into the room the dolls dropped in whatever
positions they happened to be in.
"This is funny!" cried Mistress. "They were all left sitting in their
places around the room! I wonder if Fido has been shaking them up!" Then
she saw Raggedy Ann's face and picked her up. "Why Raggedy Ann, you are
all sticky! I do believe you are covered with jam!" and Mistress tasted
Raggedy Ann's hand. "Yes! It's JAM! Shame on you, Raggedy Ann! You've
been in the pantry and all the others, too!" and with this the dolls'
mistress dropped Raggedy Ann on the floor and left the room.
When she came back she had on an apron and her sleeves were rolled up.
She picked up all the sticky dolls and putting them in a basket she
carried them out under the apple tree in the garden.
There she had placed her little tub and wringer and she took the dolls
one at a time, and scrubbed them with a scrubbing brush and soused them
up and down and this way and that in the soap suds until they were
clean.
Then she hung them all out on the clothes-line in the sunshine to dry.
There the dolls hung all day, swinging and twisting about as the breeze
swayed the clothes-line.
"I do believe she scrubbed my face so hard she wore off my smile!" said
Raggedy Ann, after an hour of silence.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
"No, it is still there!" said the tin solder, as the wind twisted him
around so he could see Raggedy. "But I do believe my arms will never
work without squeaking, they feel so rusted," he added.
Just then the wind twisted the little Dutch doll and loosened his
clothes-pin, so that he fell to the grass below with a sawdusty bump and
as he rolled over he said, "Mamma!" in a squeaky voice.
Late in the afternoon the back door opened and the little mistress came
out with a table and chairs. After setting the table she took all the
dolls from the line and placed them about the table.
They had lemonade with grape jelly in it, which made it a beautiful
lavender color, and little "Baby-teeny-weeny-cookies" with powdered
sugar on them.
After this lovely dinner, the dollies were taken in the house, where
they had their hair brushed and nice clean nighties put on.
Then they were placed in their beds and Mistress kissed each one good
night and tiptoed from the room.
All the dolls lay as still as mice for a few minutes, then Raggedy Ann
raised up on her cotton-stuffed elbows and said: "I have been thinking!"
"Sh!" said all the other dollies, "Raggedy has been thinking!"
"Yes," said Raggedy Ann, "I have been thinking; our mistress gave us the
nice dinner out under the trees to teach us a lesson. She wished us to
know that we could have had all the goodies we wished, whenever we
wished, if we had behaved ourselves. And our lesson was that we must
never take without asking what we could always have for the asking! So
let us all remember and try never again to do anything which might cause
those who love us any unhappiness!"
"Let us all remember," chimed all the other dollies.
[Illustration]
And Raggedy Ann, with a merry twinkle in her shoe-button eyes, lay back
in her little bed, her cotton head filled with thoughts of love and
happiness.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
RAGGEDY ANN AND THE WASHING
"Why, Dinah! How could you!"
Mamma looked out of the window and saw Marcella run up to Dinah and take
something out of her hand and then put her head in her arm and commence
crying.
"What is the trouble, Dear?" Mamma asked, as she came out the door and
knelt beside the little figure shaking with sobs.
Marcella held out Raggedy Ann. But such a comical looking Raggedy Ann!
Mamma had to smile in spite of her sympathy, for Raggedy Ann looked
ridiculous!
Dinah's big eyes rolled out in a troubled manner, for Marcella had
snatched Raggedy Ann from Dinah's hand as she cried, "Why, Dinah! How
could you?"
Dinah could not quite understand and, as she dearly loved Marcella, she
was troubled.
Raggedy Ann was not in the least downhearted and while she felt she must
look very funny she continued to smile, but with a more expansive smile
than ever before.
Raggedy Ann knew just how it all happened and her remaining shoe-button
eye twinkled.
She remembered that morning when Marcella came to the nursery to take
the nighties from the dolls and dress them she had been cross.
Raggedy Ann thought at the time "Perhaps she had climbed out of bed
backwards!" For Marcella complained to each doll as she dressed them.
And when it came Raggedy's time to be dressed, Marcella was very cross
for she had scratched her finger on a pin when dressing the French doll.
So, when Marcella heard the little girl next door calling to her, she
ran out of the nursery and gave Raggedy Ann a toss from her as she ran.
Now it happened Raggedy lit in the clothes hamper and there she lay all
doubled up in a knot.
A few minutes afterwards Dinah came through the hall with an armful of
clothes and piled them in the hamper on top of Raggedy Ann.
Then Dinah carried the hamper out in back of the house where she did the
washing.
Dinah dumped all the clothes into the boiler and poured water on them.
The boiler was then placed upon the stove.
When the water began to get warm, Raggedy Ann wiggled around and climbed
up amongst the clothes to the top of the boiler to peek out. There was
too much steam and she could see nothing. For that matter, Dinah could
not see Raggedy Ann, either, on account of the steam.
So Dinah, using an old broom handle, stirred the clothes in the boiler
and the clothes and Raggedy Ann were stirred and whirled around until
all were thoroughly boiled.
When Dinah took the clothes a piece at a time from the boiler and
scrubbed them, she finally came upon Raggedy Ann.
Now Dinah did not know but that Marcella had placed Raggedy in the
clothes hamper to be washed, so she soaped Raggedy well and scrubbed her
up and down over the rough wash-board.
[Illustration]
Two buttons from the back of Raggedy's dress came off and one of
Raggedy Ann's shoe-button eyes was loosened as Dinah gave her face a
final scrub.
[Illustration]
Then Dinah put Raggedy Ann's feet in the wringer and turned the crank.
It was hard work getting Raggedy through the wringer, but Dinah was very
strong. And of course it happened! Raggedy Ann came through as flat as a
pancake.
It was just then, that Marcella returned and saw Raggedy.
"Why, Dinah! How could you!" Marcella had sobbed as she snatched the
flattened Raggedy Ann from the bewildered Dinah's hand.
Mamma patted Marcella's hand and soon coaxed her to quit sobbing.
When Dinah explained that the first she knew of Raggedy being in the
wash was when she took her from the boiler, Marcella began crying again.
"It was all my fault, Mamma!" she cried. "I remember now that I threw
dear old Raggedy Ann from me as I ran out the door and she must have
fallen in the clothes hamper! Oh dear! Oh dear!" and she hugged Raggedy
Ann tight.
Mamma did not tell Marcella that she had been cross and naughty for she
knew Marcella felt very sorry. Instead Mamma put her arms around her and
said,
"Just see how Raggedy Ann takes it! She doesn't seem to be unhappy!"
And when Marcella brushed her tears away and looked at Raggedy Ann, flat
as a pancake and with a cheery smile upon her painted face, she had to
laugh. And Mamma and Dinah had to laugh, too, for Raggedy Ann's smile
was almost twice as broad as it had been before.
"Just let me hang Miss Raggedy on the line in the bright sunshine for
half an hour," said Dinah, "and you won't know her when she comes off!"
So Raggedy Ann was pinned to the clothes-line, out in the bright
sunshine, where she swayed and twisted in the breeze and listened to the
chatter of the robins in a nearby tree.
[Illustration]
Every once in a while Dinah went out and rolled and patted Raggedy until
her cotton stuffing was soft and dry and fluffy and her head and arms
and legs were nice and round again.
Then she took Raggedy Ann into the house and showed Marcella and Mamma
how clean and sweet she was.
Marcella took Raggedy Ann right up to the nursery and told all the dolls
just what had happened and how sorry she was that she had been so cross
and peevish when she dressed them. And while the dolls said never a word
they looked at their little mistress with love in their eyes as she sat
in the little red rocking chair and held Raggedy Ann tightly in her
arms.
And Raggedy Ann's remaining shoe-button eye looked up at her little
mistress in rather a saucy manner, but upon her face was the same old
smile of happiness, good humor and love.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
RAGGEDY ANN AND THE KITE
Raggedy Ann watched with interest the preparations.
A number of sticks were being fastened together with strings and covered
with light cloth.
Raggedy Ann heard some of the boys talk of "The Kite," so Raggedy Ann
knew this must be a kite.
When a tail had been fastened to the kite and a large ball of heavy
twine tied to the front, one of the boys held the kite up in the air and
another boy walked off, unwinding the ball of twine.
There was a nice breeze blowing, so the boy with the twine called, "Let
'er go" and started running.
Marcella held Raggedy up so that she could watch the kite sail through
the air.
How nicely it climbed! But suddenly the kite acted strangely, and as all
the children shouted advice to the boy with the ball of twine, the kite
began darting this way and that, and finally making four or five
loop-the-loops, it crashed to the ground.
"It needs more tail on it!" one boy shouted.
Then the children asked each other where they might get more rags to
fasten to the tail of the kite.
"Let's tie Raggedy Ann to the tail!" suggested Marcella. "I know she
would enjoy a trip 'way up in the sky!"
The boys all shouted with delight at this new suggestion. So Raggedy Ann
was tied to the tail of the kite.
This time the kite rose straight in the air and remained steady. The boy
with the ball of twine unwound it until the kite and Raggedy Ann were
'way, 'way up and far away. How Raggedy Ann enjoyed being up there! She
could see for miles and miles! And how tiny the children looked!
Suddenly a great puff of wind came and carried Raggedy Ann streaming
'way out behind the kite! She could hear the wind singing on the twine
as the strain increased.
Suddenly Raggedy Ann felt something rip. It was the rag to which she was
tied. As each puff of wind caught her the rip widened.
When Marcella watched Raggedy Ann rise high above the field, she
wondered how much Raggedy Ann enjoyed it, and wished that she, too,
might have gone along. But after the kite had been up in the air for
five or ten minutes, Marcella grew restless. Kites were rather tiresome.
There was more fun in tea parties out under the apple tree.
"Will you please pull down the kite now?" she asked the boy with the
twine. "I want Raggedy Ann."
"Let her ride up there!" the boy replied. "We'll bring her home when we
pull down the kite! We're going to get another ball of twine and let her
go higher!"
Marcella did not like to leave Raggedy Ann with the boys, so she sat
down upon the ground to wait until they pulled down the kite.
But while Marcella watched Raggedy Ann, a dot in the sky, she could not
see the wind ripping the rag to which Raggedy was tied.
Suddenly the rag parted and Raggedy Ann went sailing away as the wind
caught in her skirts.
Marcella jumped from the ground, too surprised to say anything. The
kite, released from the weight of Raggedy Ann began darting and swooping
to the ground.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
"We'll get her for you!" some of the boys said when they saw Marcella's
troubled face, and they started running in the direction Raggedy Ann had
fallen. Marcella and the other girls ran with them. They ran, and they
ran, and they ran, and at last they found the kite upon the ground with
one of the sticks broken, but they could not find Raggedy Ann anywhere.
"She must have fallen almost in your yard!" a boy said to Marcella, "for
the kite was directly over here when the doll fell!"
Marcella was heartbroken. She went in the house and lay on the bed.
Mamma went out with the children and tried to find Raggedy Ann, but
Raggedy Ann was nowhere to be seen.
When Daddy came home in the evening he tried to find Raggedy, but met
with no success. Marcella had eaten hardly any dinner, nor could she be
comforted by Mamma or Daddy. The other dolls in the nursery lay
forgotten and were not put to bed that night, for Marcella lay and
sobbed and tossed about her bed.
Finally she said a little prayer for Raggedy Ann, and went to sleep. And
as she slept Marcella dreamed that the fairies came and took Raggedy Ann
with them to fairyland for a visit, and then sent Raggedy Ann home to
her. She awakened with a cry. Of course Mamma came to her bed right away
and said that Daddy would offer a reward in the morning for the return
of Raggedy.
"It was all my fault, Mamma!" Marcella said. "I should not have offered
the boys dear old Raggedy Ann to tie on the tail of the kite! But I just
know the fairies will send her back."
Mamma took her in her arms and soothed her with cheering words, although
she felt indeed that Raggedy Ann was truly lost and would never be found
again.
Now, where do you suppose Raggedy Ann was all this time?
[Illustration]
When Raggedy Ann dropped from the kite, the wind caught in her skirts
and carried her along until she fell in the fork of the large elm tree
directly over Marcella's house. When Raggedy Ann fell with a thud, face
up in the fork of the tree, two robins who had a nest near by flew
chattering away.
Presently the robins returned and quarreled at Raggedy Ann for laying so
close to their nest, but Raggedy Ann only smiled at them and did not
move.
When the robins quieted down and quit their quarreling, one of them
hopped up closer to Raggedy Ann in order to investigate.
It was Mamma Robin. She called to Daddy Robin and told him to come. "See
the nice yarn! We could use it to line the nest with," she said.
So the robins hopped closer to Raggedy Ann and asked if they might have
some of her yarn hair to line their nest. Raggedy Ann smiled at them. So
the two robins pulled and tugged at Raggedy Ann's yarn hair until they
had enough to line their nest nice and soft.
Evening came and the robins sang their good night songs, and Raggedy Ann
watched the stars come out, twinkle all night and disappear in the
morning light. In the morning the robins again pulled yarn from Raggedy
Ann's head, and loosened her so she could peep over the side of the
limb, and when the sun came up Raggedy Ann saw she was in the trees in
her own yard.
Now before she could eat any breakfast, Marcella started out to find
Raggedy Ann. And, it was Marcella herself who found her. And this is how
she did it.
Mamma Robin had seen Marcella with Raggedy Ann out in the yard many
times, so she began calling "Cheery! Cheery!" and Daddy Robin started
calling "Cheery! Cheery! Cheer up! Cheer up! Cheerily Cheerily! Cheery!
Cheery!" And Marcella looking up into the tree above the house to see
the robins, discovered Raggedy Ann peeping over the limb at her.
[Illustration]
Oh, how her heart beat with happiness. "Here is Raggedy Ann," she
shouted.
And Mamma and Daddy came out and saw Raggedy smiling at them, and Daddy
got the clothes prop and climbed out of the attic window and poked
Raggedy Ann out of the tree and she fell right into Marcella's arms
where she was hugged in a tight embrace.
"You'll never go up on a kite again, Raggedy Ann!" said Marcella, "for I
felt so lost without you. I will never let you leave me again."