The Teddy Robinson Storybook

by Joan G. Robinson

  And the very next day they all went away to the seaside.

  Teddy Robinson enjoyed the ride in the train very much, because he was allowed to sit in the rack and look after the luggage. And Deborah enjoyed it very much, because they had a picnic dinner in the train, and it was so lovely to be able to look out of the window and watch the cows in the fields and eat a hard-boiled egg in her fingers at the same time.

  It wasn’t until they were quite half-way there that things began to go wrong.

  Daddy lifted Teddy Robinson down from the rack. He was just going to give him to Deborah when he looked at him closely and said, “Hallo, old man, what’s happened to your other eye?”

  “Oh dear,” said Mummy. “Is it loose? I shall have to sew it on again before it gets lost.”

  “No, it isn’t here,” said Daddy.

  “Oh dear! Oh dear!” said Deborah. “Let me see. Oh, you poor boy! What are we to do? Wherever can it be?”

  They all began looking round the railway carriage and in the corners of the seats, but the other eye was nowhere to be seen.

  Deborah lifted Teddy Robinson on to her lap to comfort him and looked sadly into his one eye. Suddenly she said, “Teddy Robinson! Do you remember the pretty little round glass thing we found yesterday?”

  “The thing that wasn’t a bead, and wasn’t a marble, and wasn’t a sweet?” said Teddy Robinson.

  “Yes,” said Deborah. “Well, that was your eye! This one is just the same. Fancy my not knowing it when I saw it!”

  “And it’s in the money-box,” said Teddy Robinson sadly.

  “Oh dear, so it is!” said Deborah. “What ever shall we do?”

  “Stop the train!” said Teddy Robinson. “We must go home and fetch it at once.”

  But they couldn’t stop the train. Daddy and Mummy both said they couldn’t. So Teddy Robinson sat in the corner seat and grumbled to himself quietly while Deborah tried to comfort him by telling him about the nice time he was going to have at the seaside.

  “We’ll go down to the beach every day,” she said, “and you shall come with me. Don’t mind about your eye too much. You shall have it as soon as we get home.”

  “But I can’t go down to the beach with only one eye,” said Teddy Robinson.

  “Yes, you can,” said Deborah. “No one will notice.”

  “No, I can’t,” said Teddy Robinson. “There will be other children on the beach. If I can’t go with two eyes I won’t go at all.”

  “Oh, Teddy Robinson,” said Deborah. “What am I to do with you?”

  “I know!” said Daddy. “Make him into a pirate. Pirates always wear a patch over one eye. Then no one will know.”

  “Yes,” said Mummy. “What a good idea! And he can wear my red-and-white spotted handkerchief round his head.”

  “And he can wear curtain rings for ear-rings,” said Deborah. “Yes, that is a good idea.”

  Teddy Robinson began to feel much happier, and by the time the train came into the station his one eye was twinkling as usual, and he felt as pleased as Deborah to think they were really at the seaside at last.

  As soon as breakfast was over the next morning Teddy Robinson and Deborah got ready to go down to the beach.

  Deborah wore shorts and a T-shirt, and Teddy Robinson wore his trousers and no shirt. Mummy fixed the patch over his eye, and hung two gold curtain rings over his ears with pieces of cotton. Then she tied her red-and-white spotted handkerchief round his head.

  “There, now,” she said; “doesn’t he look exactly like a pirate?” And she called Daddy to come and see.

  “My word!” said Daddy. “I hope he won’t frighten everybody away!”

  On the way down to the beach Teddy Robinson said to Deborah, “Do I really look like a pirate?”

  “Yes,” said Deborah, “you really do.”

  “What is a pirate?” asked Teddy Robinson.

  “He’s a fierce robber man who lives in a ship,” said Deborah.

  “Oh, goody! I love being fierce,” said Teddy Robinson. “And who do I rob?”

  “Other people who live in other ships,” said Deborah.

  “That will be very nice,” said Teddy Robinson. “I hope there will be plenty of other people in other ships there.”

  But when they got down to the beach they found that the other people were mostly sitting about in deckchairs or walking about on the sands.

  “I can’t very well rob people who’re sitting in deckchairs, can I?” said Teddy Robinson. “And I don’t think I should look quite right sitting in one myself.”

  So Daddy and Deborah made a big sandcastle down by the edge of the sea, and when it was finished they sat Teddy Robinson on top of it.

  “There,” said Deborah. “Your ship has been wrecked and sunk to the bottom of the sea, but you are safe on a desert island all of your own. Now you don’t mind if I go and play with the other children, do you?”

  Teddy Robinson didn’t mind a bit. When Deborah had gone he sat on top of his sandcastle island and looked out to sea, feeling very fierce and brave.

  He watched the seagulls flying and diving over the waves. After a while one of them came flying round and swooped down quite close to his head, screaming at him. It sounded very fierce, but Teddy Robinson didn’t mind because he was feeling fierce too.

  “Who are you-ou-ou?” screamed the seagull. “And what are you doing here?”

  “I’m a pirate,” shouted Teddy Robinson, “and I’m not afraid of you, even if you do scream at me. This is my very own island, and you can’t come on it.”

  The seagull screamed at him again and flew away.

  Then a crab came waddling round the sandcastle island. It walked sideways and looked up at Teddy Robinson with cross black eyes.

  “Who are you?” said the crab. “And what are you doing on my beach?”

  “I’m a pirate,” roared Teddy Robinson in a big, brave bear’s voice, “and I’m not afraid of you, even if you do walk sideways and stare at me with a cross face. And this is my island, so you can’t come on it unless I invite you.”

  “Are you going to invite me?” said the crab.

  “Not unless you stop looking so cross,” said Teddy Robinson.

  “Then I shan’t come,” said the crab. “If I want to be cross I shall be cross, and even a pirate can’t stop me.”

  And he scuttled away into the sand.

  Teddy Robinson felt very happy indeed. There was nothing he liked better than spending a beautiful, fierce morning all by himself at the seaside.

  He began singing about it as loudly as he could.

  “Look at me

  beside the sea,

  the one-eyed pirate bear!

  You’ll never be

  as fierce as me,

  so fight me if you dare!”

  Just then a big black dog came running down the beach and began barking loudly at Teddy Robinson.

  “Woof! Woof! What are you doing?” he barked.

  “I’m a pirate on a desert island,” shouted Teddy Robinson, “and you can’t frighten me, even if you do bark at me so rudely.”

  “Woof! Woof!” barked the dog. “You certainly are on an island. Look, there’s water all round you.”

  “Good gracious, so there is!” said Teddy Robinson. “However did that happen?”

  “I expect the tide came up when you weren’t looking,” said the big black dog. “Woof! Woof! Shall I save you?”

  “No, thank you,” said Teddy Robinson. “Pirates don’t need to be saved. But thank you for telling me.”

  He was just beginning to wonder how he was going to get back to the beach all by himself when Deborah came running up and paddled out to the castle to fetch him.

  “Oh, Teddy Robinson!” she said. “I heard the dog barking, and I got quite a fright when I saw you sitting with the water all round you. Were you frightened when you saw the tide was coming up?”

  “Of course I weren’t,” said Teddy Robinson. “Pirates aren’t frightened. I was
just looking out to sea with my one brave eye and I never even noticed it. You know, I’m very fond of my other eye, but I’m rather glad we left it at home after all. I do so like being a pirate at the seaside. Can I have a castle to myself every day?”

  “Yes, every day till we go home,” said Deborah. “But next time we won’t put it so near the edge of the water.”

  When at last the holiday was over and they all went home again Teddy Robinson was quite excited to find his other eye still inside Deborah’s moneybox, and to have it sewn on again. He and Deborah both felt as if they had been away for years and years, because everyone at home seemed so pleased to see them again.

  “How big you’ve grown!” they all said to Deborah, and “How brown you are!” they all said to Teddy Robinson. “What a lovely holiday you must have had.”

  “Oh! My holiday!” said Teddy Robinson. “I’d forgotten all about it!”

  “What do you mean?” said Deborah.

  “Well, I never had it, did I?” said Teddy Robinson. “Did it come while we were at the seaside?”

  “Of course it did,” said Deborah. “That was your holiday – going to the seaside.”

  “Well, I never!” said Teddy Robinson. “Was it really? Oh, I am glad if that was my holiday. I never thought it would be anything as nice as that!”

  And that is the end of the story about how Teddy Robinson had a holiday.

  9

  Teddy Robinson Goes to Hospital

  Once upon a time Teddy Robinson and Deborah went to hospital. They didn’t know a bit what it was going to be like because neither of them had ever been before, so they were glad to have each other for company.

  A kind nurse in a white cap and apron tucked them up in a little white bed in a big room called the ward, and while Mummy was in another room talking to the doctor they lay side by side and whispered to each other, and looked around to see what hospital was like.

  There were a lot of other children in the ward as well. Some of them were in little white beds like Deborah and Teddy Robinson, and some of them were dressed and running around in soft bedroom slippers.

  There were coloured pictures of nursery rhyme people all round the walls, and quite close to Deborah’s bed there was a big glass tank full of water with a lot of tiny fish swimming around inside. It was called an aquarium.

  Teddy Robinson liked this, and so did Deborah. After a while they sat up so that they could see better, and they watched the fish swimming round and round until Mummy came in to say goodbye.

  They were rather sad to say goodbye, but Mummy promised she would come and see them again next day, and when she had gone Deborah comforted Teddy Robinson, and Teddy Robinson comforted Deborah, and a nice kind nurse came and comforted them both, so they didn’t need to be sad after all.

  A little boy in the next bed said, “What’s your name? I’m called Tommy. Would your bear like to talk to my horse?” And he pulled out a little brown felt horse from under the blanket and threw it over to Deborah’s bed.

  “His name’s Cloppety,” he said.

  “Thank you,” said Deborah. “My name is Deborah, and this is Teddy Robinson,” and she sat them side by side with their noses close together so they could make friends with each other.

  Teddy Robinson and Cloppety stared hard at each other for quite a long while, then they began to talk quietly.

  “Been here long?” asked Teddy Robinson.

  “About a week,” said Cloppety. “We’re going home soon because Tommy’s nearly better; he’s getting up tomorrow. Why are you only wearing a vest?”

  “I don’t know,” said Teddy Robinson. “Deborah forgot my trousers.”

  “What a pity,” said Cloppety. “I had to leave my cart at home, so I know what it feels like. Are you happy here?”

  “Yes,” said Teddy Robinson, “I like watching the fish.”

  “So do I,” said Cloppety.

  When evening came and all the children were tucked up for the night it was very cosy in the ward. Little lights were left burning so that it was never quite dark, and Teddy Robinson and Deborah lay and watched the nurses going round to all the beds and cots and tucking up each of the children in turn. Cloppety had gone back to Tommy’s bed, so they snuggled down together just as they did at home.

  “Dear old boy,” said Deborah. “I’m glad you’re with me. Isn’t Tommy a nice boy?”

  “Yes,” said Teddy Robinson, “and Cloppety’s a nice horse.”

  And quite soon they were both fast asleep.

  The next day Tommy was up, and running around in bedroom slippers like the other children who were nearly better, so for quite a lot of the day Cloppety stayed with Teddy Robinson, and Tommy came to see Deborah every now and then, and brought her toys and books from the hospital toy-cupboard.

  Mummy came to see them, and she brought a red shoulder-bag with a zip-fastener for Deborah, and a real little nightshirt (made out of Deborah’s old pyjamas) for Teddy Robinson. She also brought his old trousers that had got left behind by mistake.

  They were very pleased. Deborah wore the shoulder-bag sitting up in bed, and Teddy Robinson put on his new nightie straight away.

  “That’s nice,” said Cloppety, peeping over the bedclothes when Mummy had gone.

  “Yes,” said Teddy Robinson. “It’s just what I was needing. Do you wish you had one?”

  “Horses don’t bother with nighties,” said Cloppety. “I wish you could have seen my cart, though. It’s green with yellow wheels, and the wheels really go round.”

  But Teddy Robinson wasn’t listening. He was beginning to make up a little song in his head, all about his new nightie. And this is how it went:

  “Highty tiddly ighty,

  a teddy bear wearing a nightie

  can feel he’s dressed

  and looking his best

  (he couldn’t do that in only a vest),

  highty tiddly ighty.”

  In a few days the doctor said Deborah was better, and she was allowed to get up and run about the ward with the other children who were dressed; but Teddy Robinson still liked his nightie so much better than his vest and trousers that he decided he wasn’t well enough to get up yet.

  “Shall I dress you, too, Teddy Robinson?” asked Deborah.

  “No, thank you,” he said. “I think I’ll stay in my nightie and sit on the pillow. I can watch you from there, and it will rest my legs.”

  The next day Tommy went home because he was quite well again, and Teddy Robinson and Deborah were quite sorry when he and Cloppety came to say goodbye. All the rest of that day his bed looked so empty that they didn’t like looking at it.

  “Never mind, Teddy Robinson,” said Deborah. “We’ll be going home ourselves soon.” And they went off together to play with the other children.

  Those who were up and nearly better had their meals at a little table at the other end of the ward, so it wasn’t until after tea that Teddy Robinson and Deborah came back to their own bed. When they did they were surprised to see a new little girl lying in Tommy’s bed.

  “Hallo,” said Deborah. “You weren’t here before tea.”

  “No,” said the little girl. “I’ve only just come, and I want to go home,” and she looked as if she might be going to cry.

  So Deborah said, “I expect you will go home soon. But it’s nice here.” And then she told her all about the hospital, and showed her the aquarium, and the little girl told her that her name was Betty, and soon they were quite like best friends.

  “I wish I’d brought my doll,” said Betty, looking at Teddy Robinson. “I came in a hurry and forgot her. Mummy’s going to bring her tomorrow, but I want her now,” and she looked as if she might cry again.

  “You’d better have my teddy for a little while,” said Deborah. “He’s nice to cuddle if you’re feeling sad. But don’t cry all over his fur. He doesn’t like it.”

  So Teddy Robinson got into bed beside Betty. He didn’t talk to her because he was shy and didn’t know her
, but Betty seemed to like him and soon her eyes closed and she fell asleep hugging him.

  When it was Deborah’s bedtime she didn’t like to take Teddy Robinson back in case she woke Betty, so she asked the nurse who came to tuck her up. The nurse went over to Betty’s bed and looked at her and then she came back to Deborah.

  “Would you mind very much if she kept him just for tonight?” she said. “She is fast asleep, and it seems such a pity to wake her. It would be awfully kind if you could lend him.”

  So Deborah said she would, and Teddy Robinson stayed where he was.

  Deborah soon dropped off to sleep, but Teddy Robinson didn’t. He lay in Betty’s bed and watched the night-nurse who was writing at a little table, and looked at the fish swimming round and round in the aquarium, and then he began to sing to himself very softly, and after a while when he was sure that all the children were asleep he rolled over, tumbled gently out of bed, and rolled a little way across the floor.

  At that moment a baby in a cot woke up and began to cry. The night-nurse stopped writing and came quickly down the ward to see who it was. As she passed Teddy Robinson her foot bumped against him and she nearly fell over him. She bent down and picked him up and then hurried on to comfort the crying baby.

  As soon as the baby saw Teddy Robinson he stopped crying and said, “Teddy, teddy,” so the nurse put Teddy Robinson inside the cot and let the baby hold him. But when she tried to take him back the baby started crying again, so after a while the nurse left him there, hoping he would help the baby go to sleep, and she went back to her writing.

  But the baby didn’t go to sleep. Instead he began pulling Teddy Robinson’s arms and legs and ears, and poking his fingers in his eyes. Teddy Robinson didn’t mind much because it didn’t hurt him, but after a while the baby pulled his right ear so that it nearly came off, and instead of sticking up on top of his head like the other ear it hung down with only a thread of cotton holding it on.

  “I bet I look silly,” he said to himself. “I wonder what Deborah will say.” And he felt rather sorry about it.