Betsy-Tacy and Tib Read Online Free PDF

Then they looked and saw her running up the street. As soon as they saw her, they saw that something waswrong. And sure enough, as she sat down, she said:
    “I know something terrible.”
    “What is it?” Betsy asked.
    “That Flying Lady,” said Tib, “she doesn’t really fly.”
    “I don’t believe it,” said Tacy.
    “My papa said so,” said Tib. “He was explaining it at breakfast.”
    And Tib explained it to them.
    The lady was sitting on one end of an iron bar, she said. The bar was like a see-saw. The lady sat on one end and something heavy sat on the other and moved her up and down, over and across.
    “That’s why they kept the tent so dark,” Tib said. “So we couldn’t see the see-saw.”
    There was a moment’s stricken silence.
    But then Betsy jumped up and began to jump up and down.
    “That gives me an idea!” she cried.
    “A show!” cried Tacy, reading her mind.
    “In our buggy shed!” cried Betsy. “We’ll ask my papa to wheel the surrey out, and we’ll cover the window with a gunny sack, to make the buggy shed as dark as that tent was. And we’ll put a see-saw inside …”
    “I know where there’s a lovely plank,” Tacy interrupted.
    “We’ll have a curtain across the middle,” Betsy hurried on. “And we’ll put out chunks of wood for seats. And we’ll ask admission, five pins admission and a penny for the grown-ups. Julia could play
Narcissus
, but the piano’s too far away.”
    “We could hum it,” Tacy said.
    But Tib had a better plan than that.
    “Tom can play it on his violin,” she said.
    They knew a little boy named Tom who could play the violin. He could play
Narcissus.
    “Yes, Tom can play his violin,” said Betsy. “And I’ll stand out in front and shout for people to come. ‘Right this way to the one and only Flying Lady! She’s beautiful! She’s marvelous! She flies!’”
    “What will I do?” asked Tib.
    “You’ll sell tickets,” said Betsy. “We’ll paste a strip of gold paper over your front teeth.”
    “Who’ll be the Flying Lady?” Tacy asked nervously.
    “You,” said Betsy. “Because you look just like her. Do you s’pose you can wear one of your sister Mary’s night gowns? After I get through calling out about the show, and Tib gets through selling tickets, we’ll go inside behind the curtain. We’ll sit on the back end of the see-saw, to make you go up and down.”
    Tacy didn’t like the idea any too well.
    But that was what they did, that very day. They gave a Flying Lady show in Betsy’s father’s buggy shed. All the children of Hill Street came, and a few grown-ups. Mrs. Benson, who didn’t have any children of her own, came and paid a nickel.
    And Betsy shouted out in front, “Right this way to the one and only Flying Lady. She’s beautiful! She’s marvelous! She flies.” And Tib took tickets, showing her gold teeth all she could. And the little boy named Tom played
Narcissus
on his violin. He played it beautifully.

    They gave a wonderful show but there was one unfortunate incident. Betsy and Tib made Tacy’send of the see-saw go so high that Tacy got scared. She clutched the plank and cried, “Stop! Stop! I’m falling!” And of course a few rude children laughed, but most of them applauded.
    After that show Betsy and Tacy and Tib stopped trying to fly. They never tried to fly again.

4
The House in Tib’s Basement
    B ETSY, TACY and Tib didn’t always play on Hill Street. Sometimes they played at Tib’s house, over on Pleasant Street.
    They loved to play at Tib’s house for they thought it very beautiful with its chocolate color and its tower and the panes of colored glass in the front door.
    They loved especially to play in Tib’s basement.
    At Betsy’s house there wasn’t any basement. There was only a cellar. Her father opened a trap door in the kitchen and took a stub of candle and went down and came back with apples which were kept there in a barrel, or perhaps a jug of cider. At Tacy’s house it