Baby Popover was in pain and Mrs. Popover didn’t know how to treat him.
She had rubbed his stomach and had given him a drink of mustard tea. She had pinned a piece of red flannel to his chest. She would hold a warm iron to his feet, but he would not lie down long enough to allow her to do so. She rocked him and patted him and sang the sweetest lullabies to him.
But nothing seemed to help lo-lo’s pain. He cried and cried and threw up his little fists until Mrs. Popover felt she could not stand another minute.
Mrs. Popover knew very well what caused Lo-Lo’s pain. That very evening, Loo-Loo was about to drown. He lay at the bottom of the bathtub for two minutes, filled to the brim with water, for, as you know, his head had sadly come out just as it had fallen.
All this happened because Uncle Henry bought Ellen a schooner. It was a beautiful boat, with snow-white sails and painted bright red. The Popovers were delighted when they learned from Eileen that they would be the first to set sail. They listened with pleasure to the water flowing into the bathtub and Velvetina
Cheeks were red with excitement when Ellen put her on board for the first time.
But Mrs. Popover and Velvetina both prove too heavy for the little sloop. She would turn over, lunge, and dip in the water no matter how light she sat. So they were made to watch as they sailed from the edge of the trough over the trough, and while they were sorry not to come to the party, they entertained Mr. Popover and Lu-Lu in the merry-go-round.
Back and forth in the bathtub sailed the little boat. Elaine knelt at her side, helping her to turn safely and go quickly, now slowly.
Loo-Loo and Mr. Popover roll happily on deck. Of course they weren’t able to stand up, they weren’t sea enough for that, though Mr. Popover remembered hearing someone talk about “sea legs” and meant to get them as fast as he could. Back and forth, Loo-Loo and Mr. Popover rolled back and forth. They weren’t seasick in the least. Loo-Loo can’t seem to miss his mom. He smiled happily as the little ship sailed slowly or darted quickly through the water, whichever Ellen chose.
“Now we’ll have a storm, and then I’ll have to get dressed,” Elaine said.
So Elaine stormed it. She stroked the water with one hand while guiding the small boat through the rough waves with the other. It roared and cracked like thunder, too.
“It’s as good as a real storm at sea,” Eileen called out to Aunt Amelia at the entrance.
Aunt Amelia had come to the doorway because of the thunder. I thought Elaine must be in some kind of trouble.
While Ellen was talking to Aunt Amelia, Lo-Lo fell into the sea.
There was no railing around the little ship, and as it rocked in the stormy waves over the side, Loo-Loo went without a sound, without a cry. You see he can’t cry because he lost his head. The exact moment he fell, the cork that had been loosened by a lot of rolling and going down, popped out, Loo-Loo went to the bottom of the tub while his head floated on top of the waves.
Why, it was something that might not have happened to anyone in a hundred years, his body at the bottom of the sea, as it were, his head floating on top of it. I’m not sure it could happen to you or me.
But, anyway, this happened to Loo-Loo, and for two minutes Elaine didn’t notice he was gone.
The first things she saw were Mrs. Popover and Velvetina lying on the tub where they had sat a few moments before, smiling and straightening themselves. Perhaps they fainted when they saw Lu-Lu fall. But of course Ellen didn’t know this.
I thought she was “tired”. I’ll put them all to bed now.
Mr. Popover was lying half upright on the deck. Somehow, his head fell into the hole and that’s probably what saved Mr. Popover from following Loo-Loo onto the side of the boat. But there was nothing to see in Loo-Loo until after Elaine’s first stare of astonishment, I spied his head bobbing in the water.
It only took an instant to find his body, and it didn’t take him long to empty the water out of it, put his head back on, and dry it off. She drains Mr. Popover and Little Red Boat too. Then the Popovers sat around the dining room table in their tiny house.
“You must be hungry,” said Eileen. ‘I know I am.’
She runs to change her wet clothes and asks Caroline for something to eat.
But the Popovers were not hungry. They were upset about Loo-Loo. No sooner had Elaine gone than Lu-Lu began to cry, crying non-stop until twilight, despite all his mother had done for him.
So Mrs. Popover finally decided she couldn’t take it another minute.
‘Mr. “You should go out and get the doctor,” she said, vocalizing to drown out the cries of Loo-Loo, Popover.
“Well, my dear,” exclaimed Mr. Popover. ‘Where should I go?’
“You should go out the window and down to the honeysuckle vine,” replied Mrs. Popover, who had planned it all while patting Lo-Lo on the back. Perhaps the fairy will meet the king and queen under the apple tree. They have a child and they can tell us what to do. But anyway, there are a lot of cockroaches around and there must be a doctor among them. They can’t always be okay.
“Don’t you think peanuts might help us?” Mr. Popover called. He didn’t like the idea of climbing down a honeysuckle vine at all.
‘Peanuts!’ Mrs. Popover cried, nearly stepping on her foot. You see, Lu-Lu had been crying for hours and was tired. Peanut knows nothing about the disease. He has never had pain in his life.
Mr. Popover did not dare say another word. He climbed out the window and began to lower the honeysuckle vine.
At the foot of the vine, near the bed of iris, were half a dozen delightful little crickets who were flicking their wings as hard as they could.
‘We’re rehearsing for the next Fairy Ball.’ They called happily for Mr. Popover.
But when they heard that Mr. Popover was looking for a doctor for his sick child, they were as sorry as they could be.
‘Yes, we have a doctor, a cricket doctor,’ they said, ‘but no matter what he is ailing, he always makes us a pepper herb tea.’
“Perhaps Loo-Loo pepper herbal tea will help,” Mr. Popover said hopefully.
One of the cockroaches replied: “Maybe it will be so.” ‘But let’s ask my mother first.’ She’s as good as a female doctor, any day.
Little Cricket’s mother, who looked as wise as an owl, listened to the story of Lu-Lu’s accident and his pain. And at the mention of the cricket doctor and pepper tea, she shook her head.
“Your child does not need tea,” said the little mother. He has pain because he filled up with water. Why should you give him more water to drink? Go down to the pond and ask for Doctor Frog. The tadpoles often have to swallow a lot of water and he will know how to treat such pain.
This advice seemed reasonable to Mr. Popover, and with two friendly crickets to show him the way he went straight to the pond.
“Doctor Frog! Doctor Frog! Doctor Frog! The crickets chirped!”
And he rose out of the water with a leap and splash came the stocky old Dr. Frog.
He was dressed in an elegant green suit and a white jacket and looked at Mr. Popover through his fine spectacles as if he had never seen a clothespin before. And come to think of it, he might not have had it before. But he knew all about the aches and pains of the little frog, and when he heard that Loo-Loo had swallowed up all the water he could hold, he said he would cure him in an instant.
He said, “I have cases almost every day of baby frogs that have swallowed a lot of water.”
They don’t need medicine to drink it. They need something solid and solid like a pill. I will send your child a pill that will cure him within an hour.
Dr. Frog was good at his word. He put into Mr. Popover’s hand half a dozen grains wrapped in a water-lily leaf, grains which were certainly hard and hard, and which seemed to Mr. Popover like the little white pebbles which can be found at the edge of a pond.
But he gladly took the tablets and thanked Dr. Frog, who said kindly, with his hand, that there would be no bill. Then Mr. Popover hurried home as fast as his long legs would carry him, and the two faithful little crickets jumped at his side.
“Let us know if the pill helps the baby,” chirped the crickets as Mr. Popover began planting his honeysuckle vine.
But, if they listened, they might have made themselves known. No sooner had Lu-Lu taken a single pebble than he stopped crying and fell asleep.
Dr. Frog has been cured of his pain!
“Someday,” said the happy Mrs. Popover, as she lay in bed that night with her hand on Lo-Lo-Lo’s cradle in case he awakes, “Someday I’ll make my best pudding and I’ll carry it to Dr. Frog.” myself. I have to thank him in some way for curing my lo-lo pain. What do you think, Mr. Popover, is my favorite candy?
“Floating Island Pudding,” replied Mr. Popover at once, “it’s my favourite, and I think Dr. Frog would like it too, because it lives in a pond.”
“I’ll get him to-morrow,” said Mrs. Popover, “and I’ll carry him to the pond after dark.”
As far as I know, there is no reason to believe that Mrs. Popover did not keep her word nor that Dr. Frog did not enjoy his floating island pudding quite as Mr. Popover thought he would.
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| Mr. Popover asks Dr. Frog for advice. |
The previous chapter and the follow-up…