William in Trouble (short story collection) facts for kids

William in Trouble is an exciting book from the popular Just William series. It was written by the famous author Richmal Crompton. This book, first published in 1927, is a collection of 10 funny short stories. Each story follows the adventures and mischief of William Brown and his friends, known as the Outlaws.

Adventures of William Brown: The Stories Inside

William's Roman Adventure

The village is buzzing with excitement! An Archaeological Society has found parts of a real Roman Villa. It's in the valley near William's village. William and the Outlaws visit the dig site. But soon, they get a bit bored.

William decides to shoot one of the old Roman coins with his slingshot. Oops! He misses the coin and hits the leader of the dig instead. The man yells, and the Outlaws quickly run away. The next day is a half-holiday. William decides to start his "own" excavation. He hopes to find his own Roman villa nearby.

They dig on the other side of the real dig site. They pretend to find Roman remains. Really, they are just finding coins William has thrown into the soil. Soon, a crowd gathers to watch William. The real excavation loses its audience!

However, Farmer Jenks chases William away. William goes home and finds the old man he shot earlier is staying with his father! Luckily, the man is very short-sighted. He does not recognize William. The story ends with a funny mix-up. The old man describes William's everyday items, like a soap dish, as "rare items of great value" to a hall full of people.

William and the Fairy Play

Ginger tells the Outlaws about a book called "The Jungle Explorers." It's about natives who do whatever they want. The Outlaws decide to find some "natives" in the local forest. They give up their search and play hide-and-seek. William runs off and finds a main road.

He jumps into a parked car. Suddenly, people get in the car! William has to hide under some sheets. He is driven to a far-off place he doesn't know. A woman calls him into her school. She thinks he is the gardener's boy. She asks him to sit down. The class of girls needs to draw him. Their model didn't show up.

Most of the girls are rude to William. But one small girl is nice. William talks to her. He tells her about his adventures. He even mentions "having a tooth out without gas." She starts crying. She is homesick and wants to go home. But there's a play today, and she'll be caught if she tries to leave.

William decides to help her. He acts as her part in the play: a fairy. William plays the part very badly. He trips over everything in front of a hall full of people. His family is in the crowd! As he trips, his headgear falls off. His mother, father, and half the village instantly recognize him. He is chased by half the school! But it all turns out okay. The girl he helped is the daughter of one of his father's business friends.

William and the Chinese Figure

William takes a small "Chinese god" figure from his headteacher's house. It was a dare. He has to hide the figure from his mother. He hides it on the drawing-room mantelpiece. But his headteacher, Mr. Marks, comes for tea. He notices the figure and becomes very interested in it. Mrs. Brown gives it to him, much to William's horror.

William gets the figure back and hides it again. This time, it's in his neighbor's house. Mr. Marks finds it again! But he thinks it's just a similar one. William gets very confused as he keeps hiding it. He ends up giving it to Mr. Marks twice. In the end, Mr. Marks realizes there was only one figure all along. He turns to ask William about it, but William is already gone!

All the News That's Fit to Print

It's raining, and the Outlaws are bored. They decide to make a newspaper. Violet Elizabeth, Mrs. Bott's daughter, comes in. She tries to "help" them. The Outlaws want her to leave, as usual. But she doesn't.

Eventually, she goes out, much to their relief. The Outlaws continue working on their newspaper. Violet Elizabeth comes back with a man's wallet. She says you need crime in a newspaper! The man returns to get his wallet. Then Ethel, William's sister, enters. She is the girl the man likes. Some photos of Ethel fall out of the man's wallet. The Outlaws and Violet Elizabeth are off the hook. The rain has stopped, so they go outside to play.

William's Mammoth Circus

Joan, William's only girl friend, is coming back after a long time. The Outlaws like Joan very much. They decide to celebrate her return by putting on a circus. They plan to do the circus at Rose Mount School. The school is empty because it's the holidays.

Their rehearsal isn't great, but they decide to go on anyway. The night before the show, they bring all the "animals" for the circus. These include an annoyed cat named Rameses, a clockwork monkey, and Douglas's aunt's parrot. They tiptoe past the caretaker. But then all the animals start making noise! They have to hurry. They hide the animals in different rooms. This way, "even if she (the caretaker) does find one she won't find them all."

On the day of the show, the school is unexpectedly full of people. Their animals are still inside! What can they do? They try to get inside the school but fail. They find out the school is being used by a "Study of Psychical Philosophy" group.

The leader of the group goes to the cellar. She hears the parrot and thinks it's a ghost. The parrot says "Stop." She stops. Then the parrot says, "Oh, Beware," and she runs upstairs. The parrot laughs! She asks if anyone else heard something strange. They all have! They heard the animals the Outlaws hid. They believe the house is full of unfriendly ghosts. So, they leave. This allows the Outlaws to do their "circus" for Joan without trouble. She loves it, and it's a big success!

The Magic Monkey

The Outlaws watch some girls playing hockey. So, they invent their own kind of hockey. They use upside-down walking sticks. They love the game and play it whenever they can. Other children see them playing and start to play too. In less than a week, all the boys in the village are playing it!

The only ones who refuse to play are Hubert Lane and his gang. They are the Outlaws' enemies. Hubert Lane and the Outlaws organize a match. The Outlaws arrive before the match. They spot Hubert and his best friend hiding all the good food meant for the match. They leave only the bad food out for the Outlaws.

Later, after the match, both groups go to eat. The Outlaws pretend to have a "magic monkey." It's actually just Henry's sister's toy monkey. They use it to "find" all the food Hubert Lane's gang hid. The Laneites are so surprised they actually believe it's a magic monkey! Then William says that if you dunk Bertie Franks and Hubert Lane in the rain tub three times, you will get a penknife and a magnifying glass. But they mustn't look first. So, they all do it and find the items! The Outlaws are happy because they are now equal with Hubert Lane.

William Among the Poets

Robert, William's brother, has just gotten over the flu. He has "discovered" poetry. He reads it aloud to himself all the time. He thinks it's the best thing ever. The Outlaws watch him from the bushes, laughing. The next day, Robert stops reading aloud. So, the Outlaws go off to play their games.

However, the games aren't as fun. They keep wondering if Robert is doing anything funny. So, they go to find him. They find him trying to start a Poetry Society. He makes a rule that everyone in the society must write a poem every week. The Outlaws keep a close watch on all the members. The next week, the society meets again. Each member reads their poem. Two poems aren't very good. Robert's is okay. But Oswald's poem is fantastic! Because of this, William's enemies laugh at him and tease him about his brother Robert.

The next time the poetry group meets, it becomes clear that Oswald is cheating. He is using poems that have already been written by famous poets. But the other members have never heard of these poems, so they don't know. One member knows about a poetry competition. He suggests they all enter. They all do. In the end, Oswald is shown to be a cheater. Robert wins the prize!

William at the Garden Party

William feels thankful to Robert. Robert gave him some money when he was in a good mood. This money helped William pay to fix his air rifle. So, William decides he must help Robert in return. He decides to get Robert's cup back. Through a misunderstanding, the cup is now with the Vicar.

William gets into the Vicar's house. He is mistaken for a boy who plays the piano very well. So, he plays for them, but not well at all! He is given snacks before he leaves. He secretly takes the cup and puts it in Robert's room. When he goes home, the Vicar is there! The Vicar recognizes him as the boy who played the piano. He decides to stay and listen to William. (He didn't really hear him the first time.) Suddenly, the Vicar notices a cup. It has his son's name engraved on it! William didn't know that the two cups had been moved around in the house. He had brought back the wrong one.

William Joins the Carol Singers

Mr. Solomon plans to take some boys carol singing. The Outlaws are forced to go with him. They don't want to. But then they find out some of the houses they will sing at belong to people who gave them bad presents. They decide to take over the show! They start singing bad songs to these people. For example, Uncle George gave Ginger a boring book. To get back at him, Ginger and 16 other boys went to his house and sang loudly and badly.

When William goes to Aunt Jane's house to sing badly, she mistakes the singing for a pack of hungry wolves! She is very old and has trouble hearing. She leans out the window with a gun, ready to shoot. William is very surprised! He convinces her to put the gun away and use it only as a last resort. She agrees. William has an idea. He pretends that the color green scares away wolves. So, he finds his green tie (which Aunt Jane gave him as a present). He throws it outside, pretending it scares the "wolves" away.

William to the Rescue

The Outlaws have been given a tin of sardines. They invent a new game called "Cannibals." They tie a sardine to a tree and pretend it's Ginger. Ginger hides behind a bush and makes his own voice. Then they eat the sardine, still pretending it's Ginger. They move on to the next sardine.

As William goes in for lunch, he hears Ethel rehearsing a play. She says, "I don't want to marry him! I'm being forced to marry him!" William believes this is real. He tries to help her.

He finds the man he thinks Ethel is being forced to marry. He takes the man to a hill and says, "Ethel's dead." The man believes it's true and gets very upset. It turns into a big mess. In the end, William runs away after he realizes it was all a mistake.