A Gallery of Children/Chapter 8

by Alan Alexander Milne

BARBARA'S BIRTHDAY

They are being photographed. Names, reading from left to right:

Susan, Henry Dog, Barbara, Mrs. Perkins, Helen.

Of course, they are not really being photographed, but Helen said, "Let's pretend that we are, and that it's going to be in the papers to-morrow." So she put one hand on Mrs. Perkins, to show how fond she was of the cat, and took the other one off the table, to show how well-brought-up she was, and said "Go!"

Well, you see what happened. Susan and Barbara weren't ready for it. They were both eating, and both had their elbows on the table. It would be a terrible thing if the photograph came out in the paper like that. Couldn't the man take another one?

Helen said, No, it was the last one he had. He had been taking photographs all the day of "Scenes in the Village on the Occasion of Miss Barbara's Sixth Birthday" and he only had two left when he came to the house. One was "A Corner of the Stables Taken from the North Side of the Lake," and the other was "Miss Barbara Entertains a Few Friends to Tea, reading from left to right."

Barbara said, "Oh!"

Susan said, "Well, I don't mind, because it's not my birthday."

Helen said, "It was the man's fault for taking all those ones in the village."

Susan said, "My birthday's on April the Fifteenth and I'm five and Henry's three and his birthday's the same day as mine, isn't that funny?"

And Barbara said, "Well, I know I'm six."

Then they all began to eat again.

But if Barbara was six, where was the big birthday-cake with six candles on it? Ah!

You see, Barbara lived in a big town, and the Doctor looked at her one day and said "H'm!" Then he asked her to put out her tongue, and when he saw it, he said, "Tut-tut-tut!" Then he put his fingers on her wrist and looked at his watch, and the watch was even worse than the tongue, for he said, "Come, come, this won't do." And just when Barbara was going to say, "Would you like to try my watch?" the Doctor turned to Barbara's Father and Mother and said, "She wants a change." So it was decided that on Monday Barbara should take her Nurse into the country for a Change.

"But what about my birthday?" said Barbara. "Will I be at home for my birthday?"

Barbara's Father brought out his Pocket Diary, and it was found that she couldn't get home again until two days after her birthday.

"Never mind," said her Mother; "you can have your birthday three days later this year."

"And a very extra special one to make up," said her Father.

So that was that, and Barbara didn't really mind a bit, because she loved being in the country, and she had her birthday to look forward to when she got home again.

Now there was a family living in the village called—I forget the name, and the family was Mr. and Mrs. Somebody, Helen Somebody, Susan Somebody, Henry Dog and Mrs. Perkins. Barbara got very friendly with them, and one day Helen and Susan were coming to tea with her, because it was her last day but one.

"I wish you could stay to April the Fifteenth," said Susan, "because it's my birthday and I'm five, and Henry's three, isn't it funny"

"I'm six as soon as I get back," said Barbara. "I would have been six to-day, if I had been well."

"Do you mean it's your birthday?" said Helen excitedly.

Barbara explained how, because of having a Change, she wasn't being six till three days later this year.

"But you are six, you are six," said Helen, jumping up and down. "Isn't she, Susan?"

Susan said: "I'm five on April the—"

"Of course you're six, so we must make it a birthday party. And please will you invite Mr. Henry Dog and Mrs. Perkins as well as us, so as to make it a big party?"

Barbara promised; and when her guests arrived, Helen had brought some flowers to make the party look more exciting. She had also made up a rhyme to say; at least, she and her Father had made it up between them, and Helen said it.

Barbara is six today,
Hooray, hooray, hooray, hooray!

Then they all had tea.

And Helen and Susan and Henry Dog and Mrs. Perkins thought it was a lovely tea. But all the time Barbara was saying to herself, "Only three more days, and then I shall have my real birthday."