(translation by Gerry Bothmer)
Meg lived in a big red house down by a river in Sweden. Her family consisted of her mother, her father, her little sister Elizabeth, a black poodle named Sasso, a kitten called Gosan, and Alva. Meg and Elizabeth had a room of their own, Alva lived in the maid's room, Sasso in his basket in the hall, and Gosan in front of the kitchen stove. Mother lived all over the house, and Father too, except when he was at his newspaper office writing, so that people in town could have something to read.
Meg's real name was Margaret, but when she was a little girl she had called herself Meggie, and although now she had grown into quite a big girl -- almost ten -- she was still called a shortened form of that name: Meg. It was only when she had been naughty and was being scolded that she was called Margaret. She was called Margaret quite often. Elizabeth was called Betsy and seldom needed to be scolded, but Meg was full of rash impulses and didn't use her head, until afterward. Then she was always sorry for what she had done. She really wanted to be good and obedient, and it was a shame that things often didn't work out that way.
"That child gets her wild ideas as fast as a pig can blink," Ida would say, and that was true. Ida came out from town on Fridays to do the washing and cleaning.
One Friday, Meg was sitting on the landing at the water's edge, watching Ida rinse the laundry in the river. She was feeling very contended because she had her pockets stuffed with sweet yellow plums, and as she ate them, one after another, she kicked her bare feed in the water and sang:"
"A B C D
The cat jumped in the sea
The cat jumped in the sea, my friend
How will the sad tale even end?
E F G H my friend
How will the sad tale even end?"
Meg had made up this song by herself. It was partly from her mother's old ABC book and partly from a song that Alva sometimes sang as she washed the dishes. Meg thought it was a good song for rinsing the laundry and munching on plums.