Lotta Quotes

“So, are you lost or not?” The dog hesitated, then nodded and gave a pathetic whimper. “You poor thing,” said Lotta with a sigh. “I know what it’s like when you’re lost. There you are, all alone, afraid, cold, hungry. And at night when it gets dark in the woods you start to cry. That’s when the ghosts come out screaming and rustling and rattling and haunting.” “How do you know all that?” asked the dog. “That’s what the carrier pigeon told me last year,” replied Lotta. “She got lost and forgot where she belonged. Getting lost is just like getting lost.” The dog nodded.

“I asked you what you were doing,” said Lotta. The dog sat down in the grass and began to lick his front right paw. He wrinkled up his nose and cleaned especially carefully between his toes, which were crusted with lumps of thick dry earth. He behaved as though he hadn’t heard a thing.

They’re sitting in Grandpa’s shed – a stray dog and the two children, Prince Neumann and Lotta. The dog is telling a story, because he knows he’ll be rewarded with crispy chicken skin and a warm corner of the shed to sleep. The dog is telling the story of G. Odd, the great inventor, in whose garden he used to live.

He behaved as though he hadn’t heard a thing. Lotta shook her head angrily. “Are you deaf?” “No,” said the dog, and went on licking his feet. “You only talk when you feel like it then?” “Yes,” said the dog, “only when I feel like it.” “What a pity,” said Lotta. The dog raised his head and looked at her. The sun was dazzling. He saw that Lotta was taking something out of a big, red, cloth bag. It was a package. A square-shaped package. It was wrapped up in brown paper. Lotta opened it.

Lotta opened it. “What have you got there?” asked the dog. “Almond cake,” said Lotta, biting off a large piece. The dog licked his lips. He could smell the almonds and the sugar and the eggs and the milk. He couldn’t remember the last time he had sat next to such a large piece of almond cake. Lotta chewed, swallowed and took another bite. The dog swallowed too. He wondered if he would be quick enough. He would jump up at the girl, she would drop the cake, and then he would grab the cake and run. Three seconds, thought the dog, maybe four.

“Lotta is quite confident that she knows how to ride a bike, but unlike her older brother and sister, she doesn’t have one.”

“On her fifth birthday, Lotta gets a picture book, a swing, and a shiny red handbag -- but no bicycle. ”

“Lotta decides to act on her own. But that’s when she discovers that not all bicycles, stolen or otherwise, are equally easy to ride!”