Pippi Longstocking

Pippi is red-haired, freckled, unconventional and superhumanly strong – able to lift her horse one-handed. She is playful and unpredictable. She often makes fun of unreasonable adults, especially if they are pompous and condescending. Her anger comes out in extreme cases, such as when a man mistreats his horse. Pippi does not want to grow up. She is the daughter of a buccaneer captain and has adventure stories to tell about that, too. Her best friends are her horse and monkey. Pippi Longstocking is a nine-year-old girl. Pippi's monkey is named Mr. Nilsson and goes everywhere with her. Pippi's horse is named Lilla Gubben, standing for 'Little Old Man' and he is her eternally loyal steed. Pippi has red hair in pigtails that stick out sideways and green eyes. She is pale skinned and heavily covered in freckles. Pippi has a style of her own when it comes to her wardrobe. She wears a patchwork jumper over a turtle neck or bright t-shirt, mismatched knee-high socks in a variety of bright colors and patterns and lace-up leather boots. With her suitcase of gold coins left by her missing father, Pippi maintains an independent lifestyle without her parents: her mother died soon after her birth; her father, Captain Ephraim Longstocking, is missing at sea. Despite periodic attempts by village authorities to make her conform to cultural expectations of what a child's life should be, Pippi happily lives free from social conventions. Pippi loves alone in an old house - Villa Villekulla - with her monkey and her horse. Pippi "loves her freckles and her tattered clothes; she makes not the slightest attempt to suppress her wild imagination, or to adopt good manners." Pippi also has a penchant for storytelling, which often takes the form of tall tales. Although she is the self-proclaimed 'strongest girl in the world', Pippi often uses nonviolence to solve conflicts or protect other children from bullying. Pippi is “the strongest girl in the world,” and she deals with bullies by putting them into trees. When a pair of police officers arrive to take her to a children’s home, she plays tag with them before carrying them out to the street, one in each hand. At a circus, Pippi joins the acts and defeats the circus strongman. When she is confronted with burglars, she requires them to dance with her and then gives them each a gold piece. She often tells outrageous tall tales, and she and Mr. Nilsson rescue boys from a fire when the fire department is unable to reach them. Pippi is warm-hearted, compassionate, kind, clever, generous, playful, and witty to the point of besting adults in conversation. While Pippi's 'naturalness entails selfishness, ignorance, and a marked propensity to lie', she 'is simultaneously generous, quick and wise, and true to herself and others.' Pippi says her full name is Pippilotta Viktualia Rullgardina Krusmynta Efraimsdotter Långstrump.