The Teddy Robinson Storybook

by Joan G. Robinson

“All right,” said Deborah. “We’ll make it tomorrow. How old would you like to be?”

  “A hundred,” said Teddy Robinson.

  “Don’t be silly,” said Deborah. “You can’t be a hundred.”

  “Why not? I’ve been here about a hundred years, haven’t I?”

  “No, of course you haven’t,” said Deborah. “I know it seems a long while, but it’s not as long as all that. I think you’re about three or four. I’ll ask Mummy.”

  Mummy thought it would be a good idea for Teddy Robinson to have a party.

  “You can ask Philip and Mary-Anne to tea,” she said, “and I’ll make some things for you to eat. Would Teddy Robinson like a birthday cake?”

  “Oh, yes,” said Deborah, “with candles on. But how old is he?”

  “I think he’s three really,” said Mummy, “but I’m afraid he’ll have to be one tomorrow, because there’s only one cake candle left in the box.”

  So everybody started getting ready for Teddy Robinson’s birthday party.

  Deborah bought him a little trumpet for threepence and wrapped it up in pink tissue paper. Then she made a paper crown for him to wear on his head (because he was going to be the birthday king). Mummy made the cake, and iced it, and wrote TEDDY on top with tiny silver balls. Then she made a lot of very small jellies in egg-cups. And Teddy Robinson sat and sang to himself all day long, and felt very proud and important, because he was going to have a birthday all of his own.

  It was beautifully sunny the next day, so Deborah and Teddy Robinson decided they would have the party in the garden.

  “We will have the little nursery-table under the almond-tree,” said Deborah, “and you shall sit at the head, Teddy Robinson, and wear your purple dress and the birthday crown.”

  “Yes,” he said, “that will be lovely.”

  “Now I must find something for us all to sit on,” said Deborah. “I think my own little chair and stool will do for Mary-Anne and me, and the dolls will have to sit on the benches. Philip can have the toy-box turned upside down.”

  “And will there be three chairs for me?” asked Teddy Robinson.

  “No, not three,” said Deborah. “Why ever should you want three?”

  “But don’t they always have three chairs for somebody special?”

  “Oh, you mean three cheers,” said Deborah. “That means three hoorays.”

  “Oh,” said Teddy Robinson; “then can I have three hoorays if I can’t have three chairs?”

  “Yes, I expect so,” said Deborah. “Now, don’t interrupt me, because I want to get everything ready.”

  So Teddy Robinson sat and watched Deborah putting the chairs and benches out, and began singing his three hoorays, because he was so happy and excited.

  “Hooray, hooray, hooray,

  my birthday party’s today.

  You can come to tea

  at half-past three,

  and stay for ever, hooray.”

  “Oh, don’t say that,” said Deborah. “It will all have to be cleared away and washed up afterwards, so we can’t have people staying for ever.”

  “All right, then,” said Teddy Robinson:

  “Hooray, hooray, hooray,

  my birthday party’s today.

  You can come to tea

  at half-past three,

  and stay until we tell you to go, unless

  somebody’s fetching you.”

  “Is that better?”

  “Yes,” said Deborah, but she wasn’t really listening, because she was so busy thinking about where everybody was going to sit, and what she should use for a tablecloth, and whether there would be enough cups and saucers.

  At half-past three the visitors arrived. The dolls were already sitting in their places, admiring the birthday cake with its one candle, and the little jellies, and the chocolate biscuits, and the piles of tiny sandwiches that Mummy had made.

  And Teddy Robinson, wearing his best purple dress and his crown, was sitting on a high stool at the head of the table, and feeling like the King of all teddy bears.

  “You do look grand,” said Philip. “May I sit beside you?”

  “Oh, yes,” said Teddy Robinson, and felt very pleased at being asked. Philip gave him a small tin cow and some dolly mixture in a matchbox for his present.

  “Oh, thank you,” said Teddy Robinson. “I love cows, and Deborah loves dolly mixture. That is a good present.”

  Mary-Anne had brought Jacqueline with her. Jacqueline was her beautiful doll, who wore a pink silk dress and a frilly bonnet to match. Teddy Robinson was surprised to see that Jacqueline’s eyes were shut, although she wasn’t lying down.

  Mary-Anne said, “Many happy returns of the day, Teddy Robinson. This is Jacqueline. Her eyes are shut, because she’s rather tired today.” (“They’re stuck, really,” she whispered to Deborah.) “But she is so looking forward to the party.”

  Jacqueline had such a beautiful smile that nobody minded her eyes being shut, and Teddy Robinson was very pleased when she was put to sit on his other side at the table.

  “And this is Jacqueline’s present to you,” said Mary-Anne, and she put a little parcel down on the table in front of him. Inside was a beautiful little paper umbrella. It was red with a yellow frill all round the outside edge.

  Teddy Robinson was very pleased indeed. “It’s just what I was wanting,” he said. “Can I have it up now?”

  “Yes,” said Deborah, “it can be a sunshade today.” And she opened it up for him. With a sunshade as well as a crown, Teddy Robinson felt grander than ever.

  They had a lovely tea. Deborah poured the milk into the dolls’ cups and saucers while Mary-Anne handed round the sandwiches, and Philip made everybody laugh by telling them funny stories.

  Every time Teddy Robinson laughed, he fell sideways against Philip, and his crown went over one eye, and this made everyone laugh more than ever.

  “Don’t make him so excited,” said Deborah. “You’re making him behave badly.” But Teddy Robinson just got jollier and jollier. He was having a wonderful time. He began singing:

  “Ding, dong,

  this is the song

  I’ll sing at my birthday tea.

  I’m glad you came,

  but all the same,

  the party’s really for me . . .”

  “Teddy Robinson!” said Deborah. “What a rude thing to sing to your visitors!”

  “Oh, sorry!” said he. “I didn’t really mean that. All right, I won’t sing. I’ll ask you a riddle instead. When is a bear bare?”

  “What does it mean?” asked the dolls. “It doesn’t make sense.”

  “When he’s got no fur on!” said Teddy Robinson, and laughed until he fell sideways again. As nobody else understood the riddle they didn’t think it was funny, but they laughed like anything when Teddy Robinson fell sideways, because his crown fell over his eyes again, and the umbrella came down on top of his head.

  When it was time for the birthday cake everyone sang Happy Birthday to You, and just for a minute Teddy Robinson forgot to feel jolly, and felt rather shy instead. But as soon as they had finished he got jollier than ever.

  “I feel just like standing on my head,” he said.

  “Go on, then,” said Philip. “I’ll help you.”

  “No, don’t,” said Deborah. But Teddy Robinson was already standing on his head in the middle of the table with Philip holding on to him.

  “Well done!” shouted Philip, as Teddy Robinson’s fat, furry legs wobbled in the air. All the dolls laughed except Jacqueline, who couldn’t see, because her eyes were shut, but she went on smiling all the time.

  “Now I’ll go head over heels!” said Teddy Robinson, and over he went.

  “Mind the biscuits!” cried Mary-Anne, and took them away just in time as Teddy Robinson came down with a bump that clattered all the cups and saucers. Everybody laughed and clapped except Deborah, who didn’t like to see Teddy Robinson getting so rough.

  “Do be careful!” she said. �
�Philip, put him back on his stool. Teddy Robinson, you really mustn’t behave like that.”

  “All right, I won’t do it again,” said Teddy Robinson. “I’ll sing about it instead.” And then he began singing in a silly, squeaky little voice:

  “The Birthday Bear,

  the Birthday Bear

  stood on his head

  with his legs in the air,

  and everyone laughed

  as the Bear with the crown

  went head-over-heels

  like a circus clown,

  and they laughed and laughed

  till he tumbled down.

  Hooray for the Birthday Bear!”

  He was so pleased with himself when he had sung this little song that he fell over backwards and disappeared out of sight under the table. Deborah pulled him out and brushed the cake-crumbs and dry leaves and little bits of jelly off his fur, then she sat him up at the table again.

  “Don’t be so silly,” she said. “What ever will your visitors think?”

  “They’ll think I’m jolly funny,” said Teddy Robinson, “though as a matter of fact, I didn’t mean to fall over at all that time. I just leaned back, and there was nothing behind me, so I fell through it.” Then he began singing again in the silly squeaky voice:

  “Nothing was there,

  so the Birthday Bear

  leaned back, and fell right through it.

  Down with a smack

  he fell on his back!

  Wasn’t he clever to do it?”

  Everybody started laughing again at this, so Teddy Robinson thought he would be funnier than ever. He leaned sideways against Jacqueline, so hard that she fell sideways against the doll next to her; and then they all went down like a lot of ninepins, and fell squeaking and giggling under the table.

  “I’m so sorry,” said Deborah to Mary-Anne. “I’m afraid he’s a little ex-and-shoff.”

  “What is that?” asked Mary-Anne.

  “Excited and showing off,” whispered Deborah, “but I don’t want him to hear.”

  “I did hear!” shouted Teddy Robinson from under the table. “Ex-and-shoff yourself !”

  Mary-Anne and Deborah took no notice of this, but Philip laughed. Deborah said, “I think it’s your fault, Philip, that he’s behaving so badly. You always laugh when he says something rude.”

  They picked up all the dolls from under the table, and when at last they were all sitting in their places again Deborah began handing round the chocolate biscuits. She put one on each plate, and each doll said “Thank you,” but when she came to Teddy Robinson’s place and looked up to speak to him she found she was looking at the back of his head.

  “Teddy Robinson!” she said. “How dare you sit with your back to the table!”

  “I’m not,” said Teddy Robinson in a funny laughing voice.

  “You are. Now, don’t be so rude and silly. Turn round the other way, and put your feet under the table.”

  “My feet are under the table,” said Teddy Robinson, laughing more than ever.

  Deborah lifted the cloth, and was very surprised to see that Teddy Robinson was quite right. His feet were under the table, but his face was still looking the other way, because his head was twisted right round from back to front.

  “You silly boy!” she said, as she twisted it round again. “You deserve to get it stuck that way. Now, do behave yourself. You’re not being funny at all.”

  “We think he is very funny,” said one of the dolls politely.

  “Thank you,” said Teddy Robinson, and he bowed so low that this time he fell with his nose in the jam, and his crown fell off into the jellies.

  “Now,” said Deborah, when they had all finished laughing, “I think we’d better eat up the rest of the food before any more of it gets spilt or sat on.”

  So they finished up all the chocolate biscuits, and all the little jellies, and went on eating until there was nothing left but one tiny sandwich which nobody had any room for. Then, as it was time for the party to end, Philip said:

  “Let’s have three cheers for Teddy Robinson!”

  Everyone shouted “Hip-Hip-Hooray” three times over; and Teddy Robinson bowed again (but this time he didn’t fall over) and said, “Thank you for having me,” because by now he was getting a bit muddled and had forgotten that it was his own party that he was enjoying so much.

  And then everybody said “Goodbye,” and “Thank you for having me,” and “Thank you for coming,” and “Wasn’t it a lovely party,” and Philip and Mary-Anne and Jacqueline went home, and the dolls went back to the toy-cupboard, and the party was really over.

  Teddy Robinson, tired and happy, lay on the grass beside his birthday crown and umbrella. Deborah picked him up and carried him into the house.

  “Well, Teddy Robinson,” she said, “I hope you enjoyed your birthday party?”

  “Oh, yes! It was the best one I ever had.”

  “It’s a pity you didn’t behave a little bit better,” said Deborah. “You’re getting a big boy now.”

  “Yes, but, after all, I was only one today, wasn’t I?”

  “Of course you were; I quite forgot!” said Deborah, and kissed him on the end of his nose.

  And that is the end of the story about Teddy Robinson’s birthday party.

  5

  Teddy Robinson Goes to the Dancing-Class

  One Saturday morning Teddy Robinson saw that Deborah was putting on her best dress.

  “Where are we going?” he said.

  “To a dancing-class,” said Deborah, “to learn to dance. Won’t it be fun?”

  “What, me?”

  “Yes, you can come too. Will you like that?”

  “I don’t think I’d better dance,” said Teddy Robinson, “but I shall like to come and watch.”

  So he waited while Deborah put on her best socks and shoes, and had a red ribbon tied in her hair; then Deborah brushed his fur with the dolls’ hair brush, and they were all ready to go.

  “Oh, my shoes!” said Deborah. “Where are they?”

  “On your feet,” said Teddy Robinson, surprised.

  “No, not these shoes,” said Deborah. “I meant my dancing-shoes. I’ve got some new ones. They’re very special – pink, with ribbons to keep them on.”

  “Well I never!” said Teddy Robinson. “You have gone grand and grown-up. Fancy having special shoes to dance in!”

  Mummy had the new shoes all ready in a bag.

  “You can see them when we get there,” she said.

  So they all set off, Mummy carrying the new shoes, Deborah hopping and skipping all the way, and Teddy Robinson singing to himself as he bounced up and down in her arms:

  “Hoppity-skippity,

  rin-tin-tin –

  special shoes for dancing in,

  pink, with ribbons –

  well, fancy that!

  I’d dance myself if I wasn’t so fat.”

  When they got there Teddy Robinson stopped singing, and Deborah stopped hopping and skipping, and they followed Mummy into the cloakroom. Deborah changed into the new shoes, and had her hair brushed all over again; then they all went into the big hall.

  Mary Jane was there, in a pale yellow dress with a frilly petticoat; and Caroline, with pink ribbons to match her party frock; and there was Andrew, in blue corduroy velvet trousers and shoes with silver buckles on them.

  “Hallo, Teddy Robinson,” said Andrew. “Have you come to dance?”

  “Not today,” said Teddy Robinson. “I didn’t bring my shoes.”

  “He is going to watch,” said Deborah, and she put him down on an empty chair in the front row. Then she ran off to talk to Mary Jane and Caroline.

  All the mothers and aunties and nurses who had come to watch the class were chatting together in the rows of chairs behind Teddy Robinson, and on the chair next to him sat a large walkie-talkie doll, wearing a pink frilled dress with a ribbon sash. She was sitting up very straight, smiling and staring in front of her.

 
Teddy Robinson wondered whether to speak to her, but just then a lady came in and sat down at the piano, and a moment later the teacher, whose name was Miss Silver, came into the hall.

  Teddy Robinson decided he had better not start talking now, as the class was about to begin. Instead he listened to all the mothers and aunties and nurses, who had all begun talking to the children at once, in busy, whispering voices.

  “Stand up nicely, point your toes.”

  “Here’s your hankie, blow your nose.”

  “Don’t be shy now, do your best. Make it up and follow the rest.”

  “Where’s your hankie? Did you blow?”

  “There’s the music. Off you go!”

  Then the children all ran into the middle of the floor, and the dancing-class began.

  Teddy Robinson, sitting tidily on his chair in the front row, thought how jolly it was to be one of the grown-ups who had come to watch, and how lucky he was to belong to the nicest little girl in the class.

  “How pretty she looks in her new pink shoes and her red ribbon,” he said to himself. “And how well she can dance already! She is doing it quite differently from all the others. When they are doing hop, one-two-three she is doing one-two-three, hop, hop, hop, and it looks so much jollier that way. She is the only one able to do it right. None of the others can keep up with her.”

  He smiled proudly as Deborah went dancing past, her eyes shining, her red ribbon flying.

  A lady in the row behind whispered to someone else, “Who is that little girl with the red ribbon, the one who hops three times instead of once?”

  The other lady whispered back, “I don’t know. She is new, you can see that – but isn’t she enjoying herself? That’s her teddy bear on the chair in front.”

  Teddy Robinson pretended he wasn’t listening and hummed softly to himself in time to the music. He was pleased that other people had noticed Deborah too. He looked sideways at the walkie-talkie doll. She was still smiling, and watching the dancing carefully. Teddy Robinson was glad to think that she too was admiring Deborah.