Read Online Moominvalley in November by Tove Jansson - Free Book Online

'There's going to be a thunderstorm anyway,' he said.
    There really was a big storm coming in from the sea. The lightning was white and violet, he had never seen so many or such beautiful flashes of lightning at one time. A sudden pall had descended on the valley. Fillyjonk lifted up her skirts and rushed back through the garden with leaps and bounds and shut the kitchen door behind her.
    Snufkin sniffed the air, it felt as cold as steel. It smelt of electricity. The lightning was pouring down in great quivering streaks, parallel pillars of light, and the whole valley was lit up by their blinding flashes! Snufkin jumped up and

    down with joy and admiration. He waited for the wind and the rain, but they didn't come. Only the thunder rumbled to and fro between the mountain peaks, enormous heavy spheres of sound, and there was a smell of burning everywhere. Then there was a last, triumphant earsplitting crash, and all was completely silent, without a single further flash.
    That was a strange thunderstorm, Snufkin thought. I wonder where it struck.
    At that moment he heard a terrible cry down by the bend in the river, and a cold shiver went up his spine. The lightning had struck Grandpa-Grumble!
    When he got there, Grandpa-Grumble was jumping up and down. 'A fish! A fish!' he was shouting. 'I've caught a fish!' He was holding a perch between his paws and was beside himself with glee. 'Do you think it ought to be boiled or fried?' Grandpa-Grumble asked. 'Is there an oven to smoke it in? Is there anyone who can cook this fish without spoiling it?'
    'Fillyjonk!' said Snufkin, and laughed. 'Fillyjonk's exactly the right person to do it!'
    *
    Fillyjonk stuck a quivering nose with all its whiskers standing on end round the door. She let Snufkin into the kitchen and closed the latch behind him. 'I think I've got over it,' she whispered.
    Snufkin nodded his head. He knew she wasn't referring to the thunderstorm. 'Grandpa-Grumble has caught his first fish,' he said. 'And now the Hemulen says that only hemulens know how to cook fish. Is it true?'
    'Of course it isn't true!' Fillyjonk exclaimed: 'Only fillyjonks know how to cook fish, and the Hemulen knows it!'
    'But you'll never be able to make it enough for everybody,' Snufkin objected sadly.
    'Indeed! You don't think I can,' said Fillyjonk, snatching the perch. 'I'd just like to see the fish I can't make do for six people!' She opened the kitchen door and said seriously: 'Now you must be off, I have to be alone when I'm cooking.'
    'Aha!' shouted Grandpa-Grumble, who had been standing with his ear to the door. 'She likes cooking after all!'
    Fillyjonk dropped the fish on the floor.
    'But isn't it Fathers' Day?' Snufkin muttered.
    'Are you sure?' Fillyjonk said disbelievingly. She looked sternly at Grandpa-Grumble and asked: 'Have you any children?'
    'Certainly not,' answered Grandpa-Grumble. 'I don't like relatives! There are some great-great-grand-children somewhere, but I've forgotten them.'
    Fillyjonk sighed. 'Why can't any of you behave normally,' she said. 'This house will drive me mad. Now off with both of you, I'm going to get dinner ready.'
    She closed the latch of the door and picked up the perch. She looked round Moominmamma's kitchen and forgot everything except the right way to cook a fish.
    *
    During the short and violent thunderstorm Mymble had become completely and utterly electric. Sparks flew from her hair and every little bit of down on her arms and legs stood on end and quivered. Now I'm full of ferocity, she thought. I could do anything, but instead I'll do nothing. Isn't it marvellous to do just what one feels like? She curled

    up on the eiderdown, feeling like a tiny flash of ball lightning, a ball of fire.
    *
    Toft was standing in the box-room looking through the skylight. He could see the flashes of lightning coming down into Moominvalley and he felt proud and carried away, and perhaps a little scared. It's my thunderstorm, Toft thought. I did it. At last I can