Today is Saturday.
Annika asked Pippi if she didn't want to dry the floor. Pippi answered that she wouldn't do that because the floor would dry in the sun and she didn't think it would catch cold so long as it kept moving. Tommy and Annika climbed down from the kitchen table and stepped across the floor very carefully so they wouldn't get wet. Out of doors the sun shone in a clear blue sky. It was one of those radiant September days that made you feel like walking in the woods. Pippi had an idea. She said why not to take Mr. Nilsson and go on a little picnic. Tommy and Annika cried hurrah. Pippi asked them to run home and ask their mother and she would be getting the picnic basket ready. Tommy and Annika thought that was a good suggestion. They rushed home and were back again almost immediately, but Pippi was already waiting by the gate with Mr. Nilsson on her shoulder, a walking stick in one hand and a big basket in the other. The children walked along the road a little way and then turned into a pasture where a pleasant path wound in and out among the thickets of birch and hazel. Presently they came to a gate on the other side of which was an even more beautiful pasture, but right in front of the gate stood a cow who looked as if nothing would persuade her to move.
