The Mymbles

The Mymble is a description given to two different characters in the Moomin books and comic strips by Finnish author Tove Jansson.

In The Exploits of Moominpappa there is a matriarchal character known as "The Mymble". She is the mother of a very large and unspecified number of children, including Little My, Snufkin, and a girl referred to simply as "the Mymble's Daughter", who appears to be the eldest of the Mymble's children, and helps her mother with child care for her younger brothers and sisters. In later books and in the comic strips the Mymble's Daughter comes to be known as just "The Mymble". She appears again as a relatively minor character in Moominsummer Madness, Moominland Midwinter and the comic strips, and is a significant character in Moominvalley in November. She has long legs, red rubber boots, and glossy reddish-yellow hair that she wears in a little topknot on her head. "It's nice being a Mymble [Mymble thought]. I feel absolutely splendid from tip to toe." (--Moominvalley in November, chapter 6.) The elder 'mother' Mymble has a very round figure, pointed ears, and a very cheerful disposition. Apart from her appearance in The Exploits of Moominpappa she appears fairly briefly in the Moomin comic strips as rather more self-occupied and snooty, as well as a questionable mother, preferring to pour lemonade over her many tearaway children instead of actually scolding them for their bad behavior. She also often foists the care of her children onto her eldest daughter and the Moomin family, even telling them over the phone to keep Little My when she gets left behind at their house, as she has too many children already.

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