Carlson who lives on the roof
On
a
perfectly
ordinary
street
in
Stockholm
,
in
a
perfectly
ordinary
house
,
lives
a
perfectly
ordinary
family
called
Ericson
.
There
is
a
perfectly
ordinary
Daddy
and
a
perfectly
ordinary
Mommy
and
three
perfectly
ordinary
children
--
Bobby
,
Betty
,
and
Eric
.
"
I
'm
not
at
all
an
ordinary
Eric
,
"
says
Eric
.
But
he
is
wrong
there
.
Of
course
he
is
ordinary
.
The
world
is
full
of
boys
of
seven
with
blue
eyes
and
pug
noses
--
boys
who
have
not
washed
behind
their
ears
and
who
are
forever
wearing
holes
in
their
trousers
.
So
,
of
course
,
Eric
is
perfectly
ordinary
--
there
can
be
no
doubt
about
that
.
Bobby
is
fifteen
and
is
fond
of
football
and
does
not
do
extra
well
at
school
,
so
he
is
perfectly
ordinary
too
.
Betty
is
fourteen
and
wears
her
hair
in
a
long
bob
,
exactly
like
other
perfectly
ordinary
girls
.
There
is
only
one
person
in
the
entire
house
who
is
not
ordinary
--
and
that
is
Karlsson-on-the-Roof
.
He
lives
on
the
roof
,
Karlsson
does
.
This
alone
is
out
of
the
ordinary
.
Things
may
be
different
in
other
parts
of
the
world
,
but
in
Stockholm
people
hardly
ever
live
in
a
little
house
of
their
own
on
top
of
a
roof
.
But
Karlsson
does
.
He
is
a
very
small
,
very
round
,
and
very
self-possessed
gentleman
--
and
he
can
fly
!
Anybody
can
fly
by
airplane
or
helicopter
,
but
only
Karlsson
can
fly
all
by
himself
.
He
simply
turns
a
button
in
the
middle
of
his
tummy
and
,
presto
,
the
cunning
little
engine
on
his
back
starts
up
.
Karlsson
waits
for
a
moment
or
two
to
let
the
engine
warm
up
;
then
he
accelerates
,
takes
off
,
and
glides
on
his
way
with
all
the
dignity
and
poise
of
a
statesman
;
that
is
,
if
you
can
picture
a
statesman
with
a
motor
on
his
back
.
Karlsson
is
very
contented
in
his
little
house
on
top
of
the
roof
.
In
the
evenings
he
sits
on
his
front
doorstep
,
smoking
a
pipe
and
watching
the
stars
.
Naturally
,
you
can
see
the
stars
much
better
from
the
roof
than
from
anywhere
else
in
the
house
,
so
it
is
really
surprising
that
more
people
do
not
live
on
roofs
.
But
the
occupants
of
the
house
do
n't
know
that
you
can
live
on
a
roof
;
they
do
n't
even
know
that
Karlsson
has
a
cottage
up
there
,
it
is
so
well
hidden
behind
the
big
chimney
.
Besides
,
most
people
do
n't
notice
little
houses
like
Karlsson
's
,
not
even
if
they
trip
over
them
.
A
chimney
sweep
once
caught
sight
of
Karlsson
's
house
when
he
was
about
to
sweep
the
chimney
.
He
was
astonished
.
"
It
's
odd
,
"
he
said
to
himself
.
"
There
's
a
house
here
.
It
's
hard
to
believe
,
but
there
's
actually
a
house
on
the
roof
!
How
could
it
have
got
here
?
"
But
then
he
began
to
sweep
the
chimney
and
forgot
all
about
the
house
and
never
gave
it
another
thought
.
It
was
nice
for
Eric
to
become
acquainted
with
Karlsson
,
because
,
whenever
Karlsson
flew
past
,
life
became
adventurous
and
exciting
.
Maybe
Karlsson
was
pleased
to
make
the
acquaintance
of
Eric
,
too
,
for
it
must
be
a
little
dull
sometimes
to
live
all
alone
in
a
house
which
nobody
knows
is
there
.
It
must
be
pleasant
to
hear
somebody
calling
out
,
"
Hi-ho
,
Karlsson
!
"
when
you
fly
past
.
This
is
what
happened
when
Karlsson
and
Eric
first
met
.
