Tott-chan - The little girl at the window

TOTT-CHAN THE LITTLE GIRL AT THE WINDOW
Tetsuko Kuroyanagi
Translated by Dorothy Britton
(To the memory of Sosaku Kobayashi)
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CONTENT
The Railroad Station
The little Girl at the Window
The New School
"I like this school"
The Headmaster
Luchtime
Totto-chan Starts School
The Classroom in the Train
Lessons at Tomoe
Sea Food and Land Food
"Chew It Well"
School Walks
The School Song
"Pull It All Back"
Totto-chan''s Name
Radio Comedians
A Railroad Car Arrives
The Swimming Pool
The Report Card
Summer Vacation Begins
The Great Adventure
The Bravery Test
The Rehearsal Hall
A Trip to a Hot Spring
Eurythmics
"The Only Thing I Want"
Their Worst Clothes
Takahashi
"Look before You Leap"
"And Then... Uh..."
"We Were Only Playing"
Sport Day
The Poet Issa
Very Mysterious
Talking with Your Hands
The Forty-seven Ronin
"MaSOW-chaan!"
Pigtails
"Thank you"
The Library Car
Tails
Her Second Year at Tomoe
Swan Lake
The Farming Teacher
Field Kitchen
"You''re really a Good Girl"
His Bride
"Shabby Old School"
The Hair Ribbon
VIsiting the Wounded
Health Bark
The English-speaking Child
Amateur Drama
Chalk
"Yasuaki-chan''s Dead"
A Spy
Daddy''s Violin
The Promise
Rocky Disappears
The Tea Party
Sayonara, Sayonara!
Postscript
Epilogue
Notes

1- The Railroad Station
They got off the Oimachi train at Jiyugaoka Station and Mother took Totto-chan by the hand to lead her through the ticket gate. She had hardly ever been on a train before and was reluctant to give up the precious tickets she was clutching.
?oMay I keep it?? Totto-chan asked the ticket collector.
?oNo, you can?Tt,? he replied, taking it from her. She pointed to his box filled with tickets. ?oAre those all yours??
?oNo, they belong to the railroad station.? He replied, as he snatched away tickets from people going out.
?oOh.? Totto-chan gazed longingly into box and went on, ?oWhen I grow up I?Tam going to sell railroad tickets!?
The ticket collector glanced at her for the first time. ?oMy little boy wants a job in the station, too, so you can work together.?
Totto-chan stepped to one side and took a good look at the ticket collector. He was plump and wore glasses and seemed rather kind.
?oHmm.? She put her hands on her hips and carefully considered the idea. ?oI wouldn?Tt mind at all working with your son,? She said. ?oI will think it over. But I?Tm rather busy just now as I?Tm on my way to a new school.?
She ran to where Mother waited, shouting, ?oI?Tm going to be a ticket seller!?
Mother wasn?Tt surprised, but she said, ?o I thought you were going to be a spy.?
As Totto-chan began walking along holding Mother?Ts hand, she remembered that until the day before she had been quite sure she wanted to be a spy. But what fun it would be to be in charge of a box full of tickets!
?oThat?Ts it!? A splendid idea occurred to her. She looked up at Mother and informed her of it at the top of her voice, ?oCouldn?Tt I be a ticket seller whô?Ts really a spy??
Mother didn?Tt reply. Under her felt hat with its little flowers, her lovely face was serious. The fact was Mother was very worried. What if they wouldn?Tt have Totto-chan at the new school? She looked at Totto-chan skipping along the road chattering to herself. Totto-chan didn?Tt know Mother was worried, so when their eyes met, she said gaily, ?oI?Tve changed my mind. I think I?Tll join one of those little bands of street musician who go about advertising new stores!?
There was a touch of despair in Mother?Ts voice as she said, ?oCome on, wê?Tll be late. We mustn?Tt keep the headmaster waiting. No more chatter. Look where you?Tre going and walk properly.?
Ahead of them, in the distance, the gate of a small school was gradually coming into view.
ĐỈợc matrioshka sửa chữa / chuyfn vào 22:08 ngày 20/06/2008
ĐỈợc matrioshka sửa chữa / chuyfn vào 22:10 ngày 20/06/2008
Được matrioshka sửa chữa / chuyển vào 22:18 ngày 20/06/2008

The little girl at the Window
The reason Mother was worried was because although Totto-chan had only just started shcool, she had already been expelled. Fancy being expelled from the first grade!
It had happened only a week ago. Mother had been sent for by Totto-chan''s homeroom teacher, who came straight to the point. "Your daughter disrupt my whole class. I must ask you to take her to another school.". The pretty young teacher sighed "I''am really at the end of my tether."
Mother was completely taken aback. What on earth did Totto-chan do to disrupt the whole class, wondered?
Blinking nervously and touching her hair, cut iin a short pageboy styl, the teacher started to explain. "well, to begin with, she opens and shuts her desk hundreds of times. I''ve said that no one is to open or shut their desk unless they have to take something out or put something away. So your daughter is constantly taking soething out and putting something away - taking out or putting away her notebook, her pencil box, her textbooks, and everything else in her desk. For instance, say we are going to write the alphabet, your daugheter opens her desk, takes out her notebook, and bangs the top down. Then she opens her desk again, puts her head inside, gets out a pencil, quickly shuts the desk, and write an ''A''. If she''s written it badly or made a mistake she opens the desk again, gets out an eraser, shuts the desk to put away the eraser - all at top speed. When she''s written the ''A'' over again, she puts every single item pencil, shuts the desk, then open it to put away the notebook. Then, when she gets to the next letter, she goes through it all again, - first the notebook, then the pencil, then the eraser - opening and shtting her desk every single time. It makes my head spin. And I can''t scold her because she opens and shuts it each time for a reason.

Được matrioshka sửa chữa / chuyển vào 22:20 ngày 20/06/2008

The teacher?Ts long eyelashes fluttered even more as if she were reliving the scene in her mind.
It suddenly dawned on Mother why Totto-chan opened and shut her desk so often. She remembered how excited Totto-chan had been when she came home from her first day at school. She had said, ?oSchool?Ts wonderful! My desk at home has drawers you pull out, but the one at school has a top you lift up. It?Ts like a box, and you can keep all sorts of things inside. It?Ts supper!?
Mother pictured her delightedly opening and shutting the lid of this new desk. And Mother didn?Tt think it was that naughty either. Anyway, Totto-chan would probably stop doing it as soon as the novelty wore off. But she said to the teacher was, ?oI?Tll speak to her about it?
The teacher?Ts voice rose in pitch as she continued, ?oI wouldn?Tt mind if that was all.?
Mother flinched as the teacher learned forward. ?oWhen shê?Ts making a clatter with her desk, shê?Ts standing up. All through class!?
?oStanding up? Where?? asked Mother, surprised.
?oAt the window,? the teacher replied crossly.
?oWhy does she stand at the window?? Mother asked, puzzled.
?oSo she can invite the street musicians over!? she almost shrieked.
The gist of the teacher?Ts story was that after an hour of almost constantly banging her desk top, Totto-chan would leave her desk and stand by the window, looking out. Then, just as the teacher was beginning to think that as long as she was quiet she might just as well as stay there, Totto-chan would suddenly call out to passing band of garishly dressed street musicians, To Tottochan?Ts delight and the teacher?Ts tribulation, the classroom was on the ground floor looking out on the street. There was only a low hedge in between, so anyone in the classroom could easily talk to people going by. When Tottochan called to them, the street musicians would come right over to the window. Whereupon, said to the teacher, Tottochan would announce the fact to the whole room, ?oHere they are!? and all the children would crowd by the window and call out the musicians.
?oPlay something,? Tottochan would say, and the little band, which usually passed the school quietly, would put on a rousing performance for the pupils with their clarinet, gongs, drums, and samisen, while the poor teacher could do little but wait patiently for the din to stop.
Finally, when the music finished, the musicians would leave and the students would go back to their seats. All except Tottochan. When the teacher asked, ?oWhy are you still at the window?? Tottochan replied, quiet seriously, ?oAnother band might come by. And, anyway, it would be a shame if the others came back and we missed them.?

Truyện hay thế này mà ko ai ủng hộ, chán mọi người thế

hồi bé vẫn mơ được học ở 1 ngôi trường như thế, với thầy hiệu trưởng như thế, và sẽ lập 1 trường như thế

Toàn tiếng Anh, đọc không hiểu, có tiếng Việt ko bạn?

Oh...truyện này hay quá ^^...trẻ con thật đáng yêu vì sự vô tư của chúng ^^...
bạn Matrioska thật tốt bụng khi bỏ công sức type và post lên...domo arigatou ne ^^...nhu*ng xem cái list thì thấy truyện còn dài quá !!!...bạn có thể cho tớ biết truyện này (bản tiếng Anh này ) bán ở hiệu sách nào ko ?, tớ muốn mua đọc tiếp ^^

Sorry vì tớ bận quá, đã dự định mà ko type hết đc. Bạn nào có thể thì type tiếp nhé!
Quyển này t mua ở chỗ tớ học, ko biết ở nhà có bán ko.
To crazyshop: Truyện này bản tiếng Việt nhiều lắm mà bạn, bạn thử tìm ở Đinh Lễ xem, ko thì ra nhà sách Tiền phong vậy.
To oleleolala87: Ở gần Tràng tiền có 1 cừa hàng sách bán sách nguyên bản đấy, t ko nhớ chính xác địa chỉ nữa, bạn thử ra đó tìm xem có có ko nhé!

^^...tớ cũng ra mấy hiệu sách ở Đinh Lễ hỏi nhưng đều ko có quyển tiếng Anh, đành phải mua quyển tiếng Việt đọc...truyện này đọc ngộ nghĩnh thật ^^...vui, nhẹ nhàng , ý nghĩa ^^...