about noon
As she was going out of the kitchen-garden , she was again followed by a very faint , almost imperceptible , sound of delicate laughter ; and if she had paid a little attention to what was going on , she would have been sure to hear a little delicate voice saying , `` Pull me , pull me ! I am ripe -- ripe -- ripe ! '' However , as we have said , she paid no attention , and did not hear this . Herr Dapsul Von Zabelthau generally came down from his astronomical tower about noon , to partake of a frugal repast with his daughter , which usually lasted a very short time , and during which there was generally a great predominance of silence , for Dapsul did not like to talk . And Aennchen did not trouble him by speaking much , and this all the more for the reason that if her papa did actually begin to talk , he would come out with all sorts of curious unintelligible nonsense , which made a body 's head giddy . This day , however , her head was so full , and her mind so excited and taken up with the flourishing state of the kitchen-garden , and the letter from her beloved Amandus , that she talked of both subjects incessantly , mixed up , without leaving off . At last Herr Dapsul von Zabelthau laid down his knife and fork , stopped his ears with his hands , and cried out , `` Oh , the dreary higgledy-piggledy of chatter and gabble ! ''