For all Families with a teddy bear
Contents
1 Teddy Robinson’s Night Out
2 Teddy Robinson Goes to the Toyshop
3 Teddy Robinson Keeps House
4 Teddy Robinson Has a Birthday Party
5 Teddy Robinson Goes to the Dancing-Class
6 Teddy Robinson and the Teddy-Bear Brooch
7 Teddy Robinson is Brave
8 Teddy Robinson Has a Holiday
9 Teddy Robinson Goes to Hospital
10 Teddy Robinson’s Concert Party
11 Teddy Robinson and the Beautiful Present
12 Teddy Robinson Tries to Keep Up
13 Teddy Robinson and the Band
14 Teddy Robinson and Toby
15 Teddy Robinson is Put in a Book
1
Teddy Robinson’s Night Out
Teddy Robinson was a nice, big, comfortable, friendly teddy bear. He had light brown fur and kind brown eyes, and he belonged to a little girl called Deborah.
One Saturday afternoon Teddy Robinson and Deborah looked out of the window and saw that the sun was shining and the almond-tree in the garden was covered with pink blossom.
“That’s nice,” said Deborah. “We can play out there. We will make our house under the little pink tree, and you can get brown in the sun, Teddy Robinson.”
So she took out a little tray with the dolls’ tea set on it, and a blanket to sit on, and the toy telephone in case anyone rang them up, and she laid all the things out on the grass under the tree. Then she fetched a colouring book and some chalks for herself, and a book of nursery rhymes for Teddy Robinson.
Deborah lay on her tummy and coloured the whole of an elephant and half a Noah’s ark, and Teddy Robinson stared hard at a picture of Humpty-Dumpty and tried to remember the words. He couldn’t really read, but he loved pretending to.
“Hump, hump, humpety-hump,” he said to himself over and over again; and then, “Hump, hump, humpety-hump, Deborah’s drawing an elephump.”
“Oh, Teddy Robinson,” said Deborah, “don’t think so loud – I can’t hear myself chalking.” Then, seeing him still bending over his book, she said, “Poor boy, I expect you’re tired. It’s time for your rest now.” And she laid him down flat on his back so that he could look up into the sky.
At that moment there was a loud rat-tat on the front door and a long ring on the doorbell. Deborah jumped up and ran indoors to see who it could be, and Teddy Robinson lay back and began to count the number of blossoms he could see in the almond-tree. He couldn’t count more than four because he only had two arms and two legs to count on, so he counted up to four a great many times over, and then he began counting backwards, and the wrong way round, and any way round that he could think of, and sometimes he put words in between his counting, so that in the end it went something like this:
“One, two, three, four,
someone knocking at the door.
One, four, three, two,
open the door and how d’you do?
Four, two, three, one,
isn’t it nice to lie in the sun?
One, two, four, three,
underneath the almond-tree.”
And he was very happy counting and singing to himself for quite a long time.
Then Teddy Robinson noticed that the sun was going down and there were long shadows in the garden. It looked as if it must be getting near bedtime.
Deborah will come and fetch me soon, he thought; and he watched the birds flying home to their nests in the trees above him.
A blackbird flew quite close to him and whistled and chirped, “Goodnight, teddy bear.”
“Goodnight, bird,” said Teddy Robinson and waved an arm at him.
Then a snail came crawling past.
“Are you sleeping out tonight? That will be nice for you,” he said. “Goodnight, teddy bear.”
“Goodnight, snail,” said Teddy Robinson, and he watched it crawl slowly away into the long grass.
She will come and fetch me soon, he thought. It must be getting quite late.
But Deborah didn’t come and fetch him. Do you know why? She was fast asleep in bed!
This is what had happened. When she had run to see who was knocking at the front door, Deborah had found Uncle Michael standing on the doorstep. He had come in his new car, and he said there was just time to take her out for a ride if she came quickly, but she must hurry because he had to get into the town before teatime. There was only just time for Mummy to get Deborah’s coat on and wave goodbye before they were off. They had come home ever so much later than they meant to because they had tea out in a shop, and then on the way home the new car had suddenly stopped and it took Uncle Michael a long time to find out what was wrong with it.
By the time they reached home Deborah was half-asleep, and Mummy had bundled her into bed before she had time to really wake up again and remember about Teddy Robinson still being in the garden.
He didn’t know all this, of course, but he guessed something unusual must have happened to make Deborah forget about him.
Soon a little wind blew across the garden, and down fluttered some blossom from the almond-tree. It fell right in the middle of Teddy Robinson’s tummy.
“Thank you,” he said, “I like pink flowers for a blanket.”
So the almond-tree shook its branches again, and more and more blossoms came tumbling down.
The garden tortoise came tramping slowly past.
“Hallo, teddy bear,” he said. “Are you sleeping out? I hope you won’t be cold. I felt a little breeze blowing up just now. I’m glad I’ve got my house with me.”
“But I have a fur coat,” said Teddy Robinson, “and pink blossom for a blanket.”
“So you have,” said the tortoise. “That’s lucky. Well, goodnight,” and he drew his head into his shell and went to sleep close by.
The Next Door Kitten came padding softly through the grass and rubbed against him gently.
“You are out late,” she said.
“Yes, I think I’m sleeping out tonight,” said Teddy Robinson.
“Are you?” said the kitten. “You’ll love that. I did it once. I’m going to do it a lot oftener when I’m older. Perhaps I’ll stay out tonight.”
But just then a window opened in the house next door and a voice called, “Puss! Puss! Puss! Come and have your fish! fish! fish!” and the kitten scampered off as fast as she could go.
Teddy Robinson heard the window shut down and then everything was quiet again.
The sky grew darker and darker blue, and soon the stars came out. Teddy Robinson lay and stared at them without blinking, and they twinkled and shone and winked at him as if they were surprised to see a teddy bear lying in the garden.
And after a while they began to sing to him, a very soft and sweet and far-away little song, to the tune of Rock-a-Bye Baby, and it went something like this:
“Rock-a-Bye Teddy, go to sleep soon.
We will be watching, so will the moon.
When you awake with dew on your paws
Down will come Debbie and take you indoors.”
Teddy Robinson thought that was a lovely song, so when it was finished he sang one back to them. He sang it in a grunty voice because he was rather shy, and it went something like this:
“This is me
under the tree,
the bravest bear you ever did see.
All alone
so brave I’ve grown,
I’m camping out on my very own.”
The stars nodded and winked and twinkled to show that they liked Teddy Robinson’s song, and then they sang Rock-a-Bye Teddy all over again, and he stared and stared at them until he fell asleep.
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Very early in the morning a blackbird whistled, then another blackbird answered, and then all the birds in the garden opened their beaks and twittered and cheeped and sang. And Teddy Robinson woke up.
One of the blackbirds hopped up with a worm in his beak.
“Good morning, teddy bear,” he said. “Would you like a worm for your breakfast?”
“Oh, no, thank you,” said Teddy Robinson. “I don’t usually bother about breakfast. Do eat it yourself.”
“Thank you, I will,” said the blackbird, and he gobbled it up and hopped off to find some more.
Then the snail came slipping past.
“Good morning, teddy bear,” he said. “Did you sleep well?”
“Oh, yes, thank you,” said Teddy Robinson.
The Next Door Kitten came scampering up, purring.
“You lucky pur-r-son,” she said as she rubbed against Teddy Robinson. “Your fur-r is damp but it was a pur-r-fect night for staying out. I didn’t want to miss my fish supper last night, otherwise I’d have stayed with you. Pur-r-haps I will another night. Did you enjoy it?”
“Oh, yes,” said Teddy Robinson. “You were quite right about sleeping out. It was lovely.”
The tortoise poked his head out and blinked.
“Hallo,” he said. “There’s a lot of talking going on for so early in the morning. What is it all about? Oh, good morning, bear. I’d forgotten you were here. I hope you had a comfortable night.” And before Teddy Robinson could answer he had popped back inside his shell.
Then a moment later Teddy Robinson heard a little shuffling noise in the grass behind him, and there was Deborah out in the garden with bare feet, and in her pyjamas!
She picked him up and hugged him and kissed him and whispered to him very quietly, and then she ran through the wet grass and in at the kitchen door and up the stairs into her own room. A minute later she and Teddy Robinson were snuggled down in her warm little bed.
“You poor, poor boy,” she whispered as she stroked his damp fur. “I never meant to leave you out all night. Oh, you poor, poor boy.”
But Teddy Robinson whispered back, “I aren’t a poor boy at all. I was camping out, and it was lovely.” And then he tried to tell her all about the blackbird, and the snail, and the tortoise, and the kitten, and the stars. But because it was really so very early in the morning, and Deborah’s bed was really so very warm and cosy, they both got drowsy; and before he had even got to the part about the stars singing their song to him both Teddy Robinson and Deborah were fast asleep.
And that is the end of the story about how Teddy Robinson stayed out all night.
2
Teddy Robinson Goes to the Toyshop
One day Teddy Robinson and Deborah were going with Mummy to a big toyshop. Deborah had ten shillings to spend. It had been sent to her at Christmas.
“You must help me choose my present, Teddy Robinson,” said Deborah. “It will be nice for you to see all the toys.”
“Yes,” said Teddy Robinson. “You couldn’t really manage without me. Shall I wear my best purple dress?”
“No,” said Deborah, “your trousers will do. It isn’t a party.”
When they got to the toyshop there were so many things to look at that Deborah just couldn’t make up her mind. Teddy Robinson got quite tired of being pushed up against the counter and squashed against ladies’ shopping-baskets.
“Perhaps I’ll have a glove-puppet,” said Deborah.
“Then put me down for a bit,” said Teddy Robinson. “I’m tired of being squashed, and I don’t much care about glove-puppets anyway.”
So Deborah sat Teddy Robinson down by a large dolls’ house, and he sang a little song to himself while he was waiting. This is what he sang:
“See Saw,
knock at the door,
ask me in and shake my paw.
How do you do? It’s only me,
it’s half-past three,
and I’ve come to tea.”
Teddy Robinson peeped through one of the upper windows of the dolls’ house. A tiny little doll inside was sitting at a tiny little dressing-table. When she saw Teddy Robinson’s big furry face looking in at the window she gave a tiny little scream. Then she said, in a tiny little, very cross voice:
“How dare you stare in at my window? How very rude of you!”
“I’m so sorry,” said Teddy Robinson politely. “I’d no idea you were there. I was just looking to see if the windows were real or only painted on. I didn’t mean to look in your bedroom window.”
The tiny little doll came over to the window of the dolls’ house and looked out.
“That’s the worst of living in a shop,” she said. “Everybody comes poking about the house, and looking in at the windows, and asking how much you cost, and wanting to come inside and look round. Well, I’ll tell you now – we cost a great deal of money, we’re very dear indeed, and you can’t come in and look round, so there!”
Then the tiny little doll made a rude face at Teddy Robinson, and pulled the tiny little muslin curtains across the tiny little windows so that he couldn’t see inside any more.
“Dear me!” said Teddy Robinson to himself. “What a very cross lady! I’m sure I don’t want to go in her house. I couldn’t, anyway – I’m far too big. But it would have been politer if she’d asked me to, even though she could see I was too fat to get through the door.”
Just then Deborah came over and picked Teddy Robinson up.
“I’ve decided I don’t want a glove-puppet after all,” she said, “so we’re going to look at the dolls now.”
So Deborah and Teddy Robinson and Mummy went to find the doll counter. On the way they passed dolls’ prams, and scooters, and tricycles, and a little farther on they came to a toy motor-car with a big teddy bear sitting inside it.
“Oh, look!” said Deborah. “Isn’t that lovely!”
“The dolls are over there,” said Mummy, walking over to the counter.
“Listen, Teddy Robinson,” said Deborah, “if I put you down here you can look at that bear in the car while I go and look at the dolls.” And she put him down close to the car so that he wouldn’t get walked on or knocked over, and ran off to join Mummy.
Teddy Robinson had a good look at the toy motor-car and the teddy bear sitting inside it. It was a beautiful car, very smart and shiny, and painted cream. The teddy bear inside it was very smart and shiny too. He had a blue satin bow at his neck, and pale golden fur which looked as though it had been brushed very carefully.
Teddy Robinson was surprised that he didn’t seem at all excited to be sitting in such a beautiful car. He looked bored, and was leaning back against the driving-seat as if he couldn’t even be bothered to sit up straight.
“Good afternoon,” said Teddy Robinson. “I hope you don’t mind me looking at your car?”
“Not at all, actually,” said the bear in the car.
“Are you a shop bear?” asked Teddy Robinson.
“Yes, actually I am,” said the bear.
“You’ve got a very fine car,” said Teddy Robinson. “Are you going anywhere special in it?”
“No, actually I’m not at the moment,” said the shop bear. “Don’t lean against it, will you? It’s a very expensive car, actually.”
“No, I won’t,” said Teddy Robinson. “Why do you keep saying ‘actually’?”
“It’s only a way of making dull things sound more interesting,” said the shop bear. “Anything else you want to know?”
“Yes,” said Teddy Robinson. “Can you drive that car?”
“Actually, no,” said the shop bear. Then, all of a sudden, he leaned over the driving-wheel and said in a quite different voice, “Look here, you’re a nice chap – I don’t mind your knowing. Don’t tell, but it’s all a pretend. This car doesn’t belong to me at all, and I don’t know how to drive it. They put me here just to make people look, and then they hope they’ll buy the car.”
“Fancy that!” said Teddy Robinson. “And
I was thinking how lucky you were to have such a very fine car all of your own. You look so smart and handsome sitting inside it.”
“Yes, I know,” said the shop bear. “That’s why they chose me to be the car salesman. But it’s a dull life, really. If only I knew how to drive this car I’d drive right out of the shop one day and never come back.”
“All the same,” said Teddy Robinson, “it must be rather grand to be a car salesman.”
“What are you?” asked the shop bear.
“Me? I’m a teddy bear. Don’t I look like one?”
“Yes, of course,” said the shop bear. “I meant, what is your job?”
Teddy Robinson had never been asked this question before, so he had to think hard for an answer.
“I suppose I’m what you’d call a Lady’s Companion,” he said. “I belong to that little girl over there. She isn’t exactly a lady yet, but I expect she will be one day.”
Just then Deborah ran back, so Teddy Robinson had to say goodbye to the shop bear very quickly.
“You must come and see the dolls,” said Deborah. “There aren’t any nice ones for ten shillings, but some of them are simply beautiful just to look at.”
She carried Teddy Robinson over to where Mummy was looking at a very large doll, dressed as a bride.
“Now just look at that one,” said Deborah. “She’s quite three times as big as you are, Teddy Robinson.”
“And she can walk, and talk, and you can curl her hair,” said the shop-lady who was standing by.
“She really is beautiful,” said Mummy, looking at the price-ticket, “but we couldn’t possibly buy her.”
“Is she very dear, Mummy?” asked Deborah.
“Yes,” said Mummy, “very dear indeed. She is five pounds.”
“Dearer than me?” said Teddy Robinson.
“Oh, yes,” said Deborah, “a lot dearer than you. She costs five whole pounds.”
“Well,” said Teddy Robinson, “if she costs five pounds I bet I cost a hundred pounds. Ask Mummy.”
The Teddy Robinson Storybook Page 1
