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Pippi Longstocking · Garden Heights
Part 6
for Pippi Longstocking · Part 6 · Chapter 8
8 Parts40 min
What Happens in Part 6
Late one night, two ragged tramps — Bloom and Thunder-Karlsson — spot a little girl alone in a big house counting a table full of gold coins. They intend to come back at midnight and help themselves. But the sleeping child they tiptoe past is Pippi, and the night goes nowhere near their plan: caught red-handed, the burglars are plopped on top of the wardrobe, then set down again — because what Pippi really wants, it turns out, is somebody to dance with. One robber blows a melody on a comb while she spins the other through the schottische for hours, and the exhausted, weary pair are fed supper and sent into the night with a gold coin each — honestly earned, says Pippi, for the music and the dancing.
What We Will Learn
Section
What you will practice
Vocabulary
Words of the night visit: burglar, intend, midnight, startle, mercy, weary…
Literary Elements
Plot twist, tone, and stock characters
Cross-Curricular
The schottische and Sweden’s folk dances, and how a comb becomes an instrument
Chapter Summary
Ch.
What happens
8a
Two Tramps — Bloom and Thunder-Karlsson see the gold and plan a midnight visit.
8b
Caught — the burglars wake Pippi and land, astonished, on top of the wardrobe.
8c
The Dance — comb music, and hours of schottische with the world’s strongest partner.
8d
Paid in Gold — supper for the weary dancers and a coin each, earned for the evening’s work.
Part 1
Vocabulary
Study 10 key words from Chapter 8, then answer each question.
🧠Knowledge Bank · A Dance Called the Schottische
Content · Sweden & Folk DanceAfter catching the two burglars, Pippi makes them dance the schottische with her until dawn. The schottische is a real folk dance, once beloved across Sweden and northern Europe — a lively partner dance of hops and turns, stamped out at village parties and harvest feasts. Because it is danced in pairs and rarely stops for long, it takes surprising stamina; an evening of it leaves ordinary dancers gasping. That is exactly why Lindgren chooses it. Pippi’s tireless strength lets her whirl grown men to exhaustion while she stays fresh, turning a punishment into a party. A dance built for a whole community’s joy becomes, in her hands, a gentle and very Swedish way to wear out two very tired thieves.
burglarn.Ch.8
Someone who breaks in to steal
“Two burglars crept toward the villa.”
intendv.Ch.8
To plan to do something
“They intended to steal the gold.”
midnightn.Ch.8
Twelve o’clock at night
“They returned at midnight.”
startlev.Ch.8
To surprise someone suddenly
“The voice from the bed startled them.”
mercyn.Ch.8
Kindness shown to someone in your power
“Pippi showed the thieves unexpected mercy.”
wearyadj.Ch.8
Very tired
“The weary dancers could barely stand.”
melodyn.Ch.8
A tune; notes that make a song
“A thin melody buzzed from the comb.”
rhythmn.Ch.8
A repeating pattern of beats
“The schottische has a skipping rhythm.”
wagesn.Ch.8
Money paid for work done
“Each man received a gold coin as wages.”
wardroben.Ch.8
A tall cupboard for clothes
“Pippi set the burglars on top of the wardrobe.”
ⓘ The vocabulary words in this list are selected to help you understand and complete this workbook. Some may not appear verbatim in the original novel.
1Someone who breaks into a house to steal is a ___.Ch.8
2To ‘intend’ to do something means to plan to do it.Ch.8
3A repeating pattern of beats in music is its ___.Ch.8
4Someone ‘weary’ is full of fresh energy.Ch.8
5Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.8
Word choices:midnightstartlewagesmelody- some words will not be used
The burglars came back at for the gold.
A thin buzzed from the paper-wrapped comb.
6Kindness shown to someone in your power is ___.Ch.8
7‘Wages’ are money paid for work that has been done.Ch.8
8A tall cupboard for keeping clothes is a ___.Ch.8
9Fill in the blanks with the correct words.Ch.8
Word choices:wearymercyburglarintend- some words will not be used
The dancers could hardly stand by suppertime.
Pippi treated the thieves with surprising .
10To surprise someone suddenly is to ___ them.Ch.8
Part 2
Comprehension
Show you understood what happens in Chapter 8.
🧠Knowledge Bank · The Robbery That Wasn’t
Comprehension · Chapter 8Track the burglars’ plan against what actually happens, and you practice a sharp reading skill: comparing intention with outcome. The two men intend to slip in, seize the gold, and slip out — a simple, sneaky plan. But every step collides with Pippi’s impossible strength, so the sneaking turns to dancing and the robbery ends with the thieves being paid. When a character’s goal and the result point in opposite directions, an author is usually building comedy or meaning, and here it is both. Ask at each turn: what did they want, and what did the story give them instead? Reading for that gap between plan and result keeps you one step ahead of the page and shows how firmly Lindgren keeps her powerful heroine in control.
1What are the names of the two burglars?Ch.8
2The burglars first notice Pippi because she is counting gold coins.Ch.8
3What do the burglars plan to do?Ch.8
4Where do the burglars suddenly find themselves when Pippi catches them?Ch.8
5Write the numbers 1–5 in the boxes to show the correct order of events in Chapter 8. Number 1 = what happens first.Ch.8
One burglar plays the comb while the other dances the schottische.
Bloom and Thunder-Karlsson spot Pippi counting her coins.
Pippi catches the thieves and sets them on the wardrobe.
The weary pair eat supper and leave with a gold coin each.
The tramps return at midnight to steal the gold.
6Pippi calls the police as soon as she catches the burglars.Ch.8
7What does Pippi make the burglars do instead of robbing her?Ch.8
8What instrument provides the dance music?Ch.8
9At the end, the burglars leave with a gold coin each.Ch.8
10How do the burglars leave Villa Villekulla?Ch.8
Part 3
Literary Elements
Understanding HOW and WHY Astrid Lindgren tells the story across Chapter 8.
🧠Knowledge Bank · The Midnight Reversal
Narrative Craft · The Midnight ReversalChapter 8 turns on one great reversal: the hunters become the entertainment. A plot twist is a sudden change of direction that upends what we expected, and Lindgren has been quietly loading it all book — we already know Pippi’s strength, so when the thieves reach for her gold, we sense the trap they cannot. The twist works because it flips the usual roles of a robbery story: the powerful villains become helpless dancers, and the small girl becomes the host. That upside-down shape is a cousin of the tall tale, where the weakest-looking figure proves mightiest of all. Feeling the moment the story pivots — and seeing how the author prepared it — is one of the deepest pleasures of a sharp reader.
Plot Twist
A sharp turn the reader does not expect — the robbery becomes a dance party.
Tone
The author’s attitude in the telling — midnight thieves, yet the telling stays warm and funny.
Stock Characters
Familiar character types — bumbling robbers — that stories reuse so readers know just what to expect (and can be surprised).
1The robbery turning into a dance party is the chapter’s great ___.Ch.8
2Fill in the blank with the correct literary term.Ch.8
Word choices:tonestocksettingsuspense- some words will not be used
The warm, amused attitude of the telling is the chapter’s .
Familiar reused character types like bumbling robbers are characters.
3Lindgren keeps the midnight scene from feeling scary mainly through ___.Ch.8
4A plot twist is an ending the reader saw coming from the first page.Ch.8
5Making the burglars familiar bumbling-robber types lets Lindgren ___.Ch.8
6The comb music and the schottische give the midnight scene the feeling of ___.Ch.8
7‘Tone’ means the author’s attitude that colors how a story feels.Ch.8
8Fill in the blank with the correct literary term.Ch.8
Word choices:plot twisttoneimageryconflict- some words will not be used
A sharp story turn the reader never saw coming is a .
9Pippi paying the burglars wages at the end works as a final joke because ___.Ch.8
10By chapter’s end, the reader’s feeling toward Bloom and Thunder-Karlsson is closest to ___.Ch.8
Part 4
Think Deeper
Four deeper challenges — no single-word recall. Read, weigh the evidence, and reason it out.
🧠Knowledge Bank · Plans, Power, and Mercy
Child Psychology · Plans, Power, and MercyThe burglars hold every advantage a story usually gives its villains — darkness, surprise, and two grown men against one child. Then Pippi’s strength erases all of it in a moment, and the real question begins. She could frighten them, hurt them, or hand them to the police, yet she chooses to feed them, dance with them, and send them off with honest coins. That is mercy: strength that could crush, choosing instead to be gentle. Lindgren keeps showing that what matters is not how much power you hold but what you decide to do with it. Weighing Pippi’s kindness against everything she could have done is exactly the thinking that grows a reader’s heart, because the hardest choices belong to the ones who are truly strong.
Think back over the night. Two grown men tiptoe into a child’s house at midnight, sure of easy gold. Minutes later they are sitting on the wardrobe wondering what happened. By two in the morning one is blowing a comb and the other is being spun through his hundredth schottische; by dawn they have been fed, paid a coin each for services rendered, and shown politely to the gate. The gold never moves an inch.
Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.
1Claim: “Pippi is never in any real danger from the burglars.” — choose the two details that best prove it.Claim & Evidence
2What the burglars planned, or What they actually got? Tap each detail to send it left or right.Sort into two
◄ What the burglars plannedWhat they actually got ►
3Match each cause to its result. For each cause, pick its result.Cause & Effect
The tramps see gold and a child alone→
Pippi hears them creep inside→
Pippi wants entertainment, not revenge→
Music and dancing count as work→
4Fill both blanks to complete the reasoning.Build the Argument
Pippi lets the burglars go — fed and paid — because , which shows that .
Part 5
Standardized Test
Music from a Comb · SAT & TOEFL-style practice
🎯 You already have the skills from the sections above — this is just a fun way to meet real SAT & TOEFL-style questions. Read the passage (the highlighted words are tested below), then answer the questions below. Tap an answer to select it, then tap it again to confirm — you can change your choice until you confirm.
Every musical instrument, from a grand piano to a pocket comb, works the same way: something vibrates — shakes back and forth very fast — and the shaking air carries the sound to your ear. A violin vibrates its strings. A drum vibrates its skin. The humble comb-and-paper trick, beloved of children everywhere, vibrates a strip of thin paper: hum against a comb wrapped in tissue, and the paper buzzes your hum into a reedy, kazoo-like tune. Folk music has always leaned on such homemade sound. At a Swedish barn dance a century ago, a fiddle was a treasure not every village owned — but a comb cost nothing, and any pair of feet knew the schottische, the cheerful step-step-step-hop partner dance of northern Europe. All a party truly needed was one steady rhythm and somebody willing to dance until the music — or the dancer — gave out.
Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.
1According to the passage, every instrument makes sound when something ___.TOEFL · Factual Information
2In the passage, “vibrates” means ___.SAT · Words in Context
3What vibrates in the comb-and-paper trick?SAT · Detail
4The passage compares the comb-and-paper sound to a ___.TOEFL · Factual Information
5Why did barn dances often rely on homemade instruments?TOEFL · Factual Information
6In the passage, the “schottische” is ___.TOEFL · Vocabulary
7In the passage, a steady “rhythm” is ___.SAT · Words in Context
8What is the passage mainly about?SAT · Central Ideas
9How does the passage connect to Chapter 8?SAT · Text Connections
10Prose Summary (TOEFL).The passage explains how music can be made from almost nothing. This TOEFL task lists six sentences; choose the THREE that best capture the passage’s main ideas. The other three do not belong — they state minor details or ideas the passage does not present.TOEFL · Prose Summary
Part 6 · Optional
Creative Writing
A bonus challenge to practice your English. Take your time and have fun with it.
About This Section
This writing task is optional and is not part of your auto-graded score. The feedback below checks only the basics — length, spelling, and grammar — not whether your ideas are right or wrong. It is meant for classroom discussion and creative practice, so feel free to use your imagination!
Writing Task — Part 6 “A Knock at Midnight”
Someone — or something — taps at your window at midnight. Like Pippi, you are not one bit afraid. Tell the story of that night: who it is, what they wanted, and the unexpected way the visit ends. Write at least 40 words.
You can start with: “At the third tap, I opened the window and said…”
0 / 40 words minimum
🗣 Teach It · Just for Fun (optional)
No right or wrong — close the screen and tell someone nearby what happened in this part. Can’t find anyone? Tell yourself out loud. The moment you teach it, you truly understand it.
Part 6 Complete!
You finished Chapter 8 of Pippi Longstocking.
Here are your auto-graded results:
-
points out of 100
Your Writing
Your writing was checked automatically for length, spelling, grammar, and whether you included the key parts of the scene. Scroll back to Part 5 anytime to read your feedback and improve your work.
Independent study guide by Garden Heights. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Astrid Lindgren. Contains original analysis only; no text from the novel is reproduced. Reference text: This workbook follows Astrid Lindgren’s classic text (the standard Puffin edition sold worldwide). Revised 2023 UK editions change some wording and may not match the vocabulary studied here.
