ach day at Tomoe Gakuen was filled with surprises for Totto-chan. So eager was she to go to school that mornings never dawned soon enough. And when she got home she couldn't stop talking—telling Rocky and Mother and Daddy all about what she had done at school that day and what fun it had been, and all the surprises. Mother would finally have to say, "That's enough, dear. Stop talking and have your afternoon snack."

Even when Totto-chan was quite accustomed to the new school, she still had mountains of things to talk about every day. And Mother rejoiced to think that this was so.

One day, on her way to school in the train, Totto-chan suddenly began wondering whether Tomoe had a school song. Wanting to find out as soon as possible, she could hardly wait to get there. Although there were still two more stations to go, she went and stood by the door, ready to jump out as soon as the train pulled into Jiyugaoka. A lady getting on at the station before saw the little girl at the door and naturally thought she was getting off. When the child remained motionless--poised like a runner, all set and "on your marks"- the lady muttered, “I wonder what's the matter with her.”

When the train arrived at the station, Totto-chan was off it in a flash. By the time the young conductor was calling out, "Jiyugaoka! Jiyugaoka!"--one foot smartly on the platform before the train had come to a proper halt-Totto-chan had already disappeared through the exit.

The moment she was inside the railroad-car classroom, Totto-chan asked Taiji Yamanouchi, who was already there, "Tai-chan, does this school have a song?"

Tai-chan, who liked physics, replied after some thought, "I don't think it has."

"Oh," said Totto-chan, pensively. "Well, I think it ought to. We had a lovely one at my other school."

She began singing it at the top of her voice:

Totto-chan had only gone to the school a short time, and the words were difficult, but she had no trouble remembering the song. That part, at any rate.

Tai-chan seemed impressed. By this time other pupils had arrived, and they, too, seemed impressed by the big words she used.

"Let's get the headmaster to make up a school song!" said Totto-chan.

"Yes, let's!" agreed the others, and they all trooped over to the headmaster's office.

After listening to Totto-chan sing the song from the other school and after considering the children's request, the headmaster said, “All right, I'll have a school song for you by tomorrow morning.”

"Promise you will!" chorused the children, and they filed out to return to their classroom.

Next morning, there was a notice in each classroom requiring everyone to assemble in the school grounds. Totto-chan joined the others, all agog. Bringing a blackboard out into the center of the grounds, the headmaster said, "Now then, here's a song for Tomoe, your school." He drew five parallel lines on the blackboard and wrote out the following notes:

Then he raised both his arms like a conductor, saying, "Now let's try and sing it, all together!"

While the headmaster beat time and led the singing, the whole school, all fifty students, joined in:

"Is that all there is?" asked Totto-chan, after a brief pause.

"Yes, that's all," said the headmaster, proudly.

"Something with fancy words would have been nicer," said Totto-chan in a terribly disappointed voice. "Something like 'Tho' shallow the waters of Senzoku Pond.'"

"Don't you like it?" asked the headmaster, flushed but smiling. "I thought it was rather good."

Nobody liked it. It was far too simple. They'd rather have no song at all, it appeared, than anything as simple as that.

The headmaster seemed rather sorry, but he wasn't angry, and proceeded to wipe it off the blackboard. Totto-chan felt that they had been rather rude, but after all she had something a bit more impressive in mind.

The truth was that nothing could have expressed the headmaster's love for the children and the school more, but the children weren't old enough to realize that. They soon forgot about wanting a school song, and the headmaster probably never considered one necessary in the first place. So when the tune had been rubbed off the blackboard, that was the end of the matter, and Tomoe Gakuen never did have a school song.