A gift for Pippi Longstocking fans

Fans of feisty, freckle-faced heroine Pippi Longstocking have received an unexpected Christmas present with the discovery of a forgotten story by the late Astrid Lindgren, the author’s publisher said Tuesday.

The story, called “Pippi Longstocking Celebrates Christmas,” was discovered by a staff member at Sweden’s Royal Library who was going through old pictures and correspondence of the author, who died in January at 94.

A spokesman for Lindgren’s publisher, Raben & Sjogren, said the story, which appeared in a children’s magazine in 1949, would be published next Christmas.