Astrid Lindgren

When this story begins, Emil has just carved his ninety-seventh little wooden figure and when it ends he’s already made one hundred and twenty-five of them. So you can work out how many pranks he’s got up to in the meantime. How he’s poured dumpling mixture over his father, for example, and celebrated his hundredth carving jubilee in the wood store and how he shocked them all in Katthult when he put on a Christmas party for everybody at the poorhouse.

The people in Lönneberga felt sorry for the Svenssons in Katthult who had such a rascal for a son, one who got up to so much mischief. Like that time when Emil got his head got stuck in the soup tureen and that unfortunate Sunday when he hoisted little Ida up the flagpole.

Emil spent most of his time in the wood shed, and he actually didn’t really mind. But Emil’s little sister never got to sit in there. “And Ida also liked being in the woodshed. She thought it would be fun to be shut up in the woodshed sometime. But, of course, then she would have to be bad, and poor little Ida could never manage that! ‘I’ll try to think up something’, she said to Emil.”

Emil i Lönneberga is a world-famous rascal. He doesn’t really want to be mischievous – on the contrary. But Emil’s mum gets exasperated when Emil tries to deal with all the flies that are buzzing around the kitchen. He tries to keep them at bay in his own little way – and oops …. It turns into prank no. 325!

“Mischief isn’t something you think up – it just happens”, as Emil so wisely said once to his little sister Ida. That’s exactly how it was when he got his head stuck in the soup tureen! He was only going to lap up the last few drops of the delicious beef soup. And before he knew it they were on their way to the doctor in Mariannelund.