The Enchanted Wood Page 3

  "Well, we came up from the tree just where the grass was rather darker than the rest," said Bessie. "I noticed that. Do you suppose that as the Roundabout Land swings round, it will come back to the same place again, and we could slip down the topmost branch?"

  "Of course!" said the rabbits. "We can easily burrow down that green patch of grass, and wait for the Land to turn round just over the tree again. Come on, quickly, there’s no time to lose!"

  All of them jumped up and sped off. Bessie knew the way and so did the rabbits. Soon they were back in the field where the ring of dark grass stood. There was no opening now, leading through a cloud down to the tree. It had gone.

  The rabbits began to dig quickly. Soon they found the ladder that led upwards. Then they made such a big hole that the children could see down it to the large white cloud that swirled below the Roundabout Land.

  "Nothing there yet," said the first rabbit, getting out a handkerchief and wiping his dirty front paws. "We must wait a bit. I only hope the Land hasn’t swung on and passed the Faraway Tree altogether!"

  The roundabout music went on and on, and then suddenly it began to slow down. One of the rabbits peeped out of the hole below and gave a shout.

  "The Land has stopped going round—and the Faraway Tree is just nearby—but we can't reach it!"

  The children peered through the cloud below the ladder and saw quite clearly that the Faraway Tree was very near—but not near enough to jump on. Whatever were they to do?

  "Now don’t try to jump," warned the rabbits, "or you’ll fall right through the cloud."

  "But what shall we do?" asked Bessie, in despair. "We must get on the tree before we swing away again!"

  "I’ve got a rope," said one of the rabbits suddenly, and he put his hand into a big pocket and pulled out a yellow rope. He made a loop in one end and then threw it carefully at the topmost branch of the nearby tree. It caught and held! Good!

  "Fanny, slip down the rope first," said Jo. "I'll hold this end.”

  So Fanny, rather afraid, slid down the yellow rope to the tree—and then, just as she got there, the Roundabout music began to play very loudly and quickly, and the Roundabout Land began to move!

  "Quick! Quick!" shouted Fanny, as the land swung nearer to the Faraway Tree. "Jump! Jump!"

  They jumped—and the rabbits jumped after them. The Roundabout Land swung off. The big white cloud covered everything. The children and the rabbits clung to the topmost branch and looked at one another.

  "We look like monkeys on a stick," said Jo, and they all began to giggle. "My goodness, what an adventure! I vote we don’t come up here again."

  But, as you may guess, they did!

  VI

  MOON-FACE AND THE SLIPPERY-SLIP

  The children clung to the top branches of the Faraway Tree, whilst the rabbits slid down a bit lower. They could still hear the gay music of the Roundabout Land as it swung round overhead.

  "We’d better get home," said Jo, in rather a quiet voice. "It’s been just a bit too exciting."

  "Come on then," said Bessie, beginning to climb down. "It will be easier to get down than it was to climb up!"

  But Fanny was very tired. She began to cry as she clung to her branch. She was the youngest, and not so strong as Jo and Bessie.

  "I shall fall," she wept. "I know I shall fall."

  Jo and Bessie looked at one another in alarm. This would never do. There was such a long way to fall!

  "Fanny dear, you simply must try!" said Jo gently. "We’ve got to get home safely."

  But Fanny clung to her branch and wept great tears. The two rabbits looked at her, most upset. One put his paw into her hand. "I’ll help you," he said.

  But Fanny wouldn’t be helped. She was tired out and afraid of everything now. She wept so loudly that two birds nearly flew off in fright.

  Just as the others were really in despair, a small door flew open in the trunk of the tree not far below, and a round moon-like face looked out.

  "Hey there! What’s the matter?" shouted the moon-faced person. "A fellow can’t get any sleep at all with that awful noise going on!"

  Fanny stopped crying and looked at Moon-Face in surprise. "I’m crying because I’m frightened of climbing down the tree," she said. "I’m sorry I woke you up."

  Moon-Face beamed at her. "Have you got any toffee?" he asked.

  "Toffee!" said everyone in surprise. "What do you want toffee for?"

  "To eat, of course," said Moon-Face. "I just thought if you had any toffee to give me I’d let you slide down my slippery-slip—you get down to the bottom very quickly that way, you know."

  "A slide all the way down the Faraway Tree!" cried Jo, hardly believing his ears. "Good gracious! Who ever would have thought of that!"

  "I thought of it!" said Moon-Face, beaming again just like a full moon. "I let people use it if they pay me toffee."

  "Oh!" said the three children, and looked at one another in dismay, for none of them had any toffee. Then Jo shook his head.

  "We’ve no toffee," he said. "But I’ve a bar of chocolate, a bit squashy, but quite nice."

  "Won’t do," said Moon-Face. "I don’t like chocolate. What about the rabbits? Haven’t they got any toffee either?"

  The rabbits turned out their pockets. They had a very curious collection of things, but no toffee.

  "Sorry," said Moon-Face, and slammed his door shut. Fanny began to cry again.

  Jo climbed down to the door and banged on it. "Hie, old Moon-Face!" he shouted. "I’ll bring you some lovely home-made toffee next time I’m up the tree if you’ll let us use your slippery-slip."

  The door flew open again, and Moon-Face beamed out. "Why didn’t you say so before?" he asked. "Come in."

  One by one the rabbits and the children climbed down to the door and went in. Moon-Face’s house in the tree was very peculiar. It was one round room, and in the middle of it was the beginning of the slippery-slip that ran down the whole trunk of the tree, winding round and round like a spiral staircase.

  Round the top of the slide was a curved bed, a curved table, and two curved chairs, made to fit the roundness of the tree-trunk. The children were astonished, and wished they had time to stay for a while. But Moon-Face pushed them towards the slide.

  "You want a cushion each," he said. "Hie you, rabbit, take the top one and go first."

  One of the rabbits took an orange cushion and set it at the top of the slide. He sat down on it, looking a little nervous. "Go on, hurry up!" said Moon-Face. "You don’t want to stay all night, do you?" He gave the rabbit a hard push, and the rabbit slid down the slippery-slip at a tremendous pace, his whiskers and ears blown backwards. Jo thought it looked a lovely thing to do. He went next.

  He took a blue cushion, sat on it at the top of the slide and pushed off. Down he went on his cushion, his hair streaming backwards. Round and round and round went the slippery-slip inside the enormous trunk of the old tree. It was quite dark and silent, and lasted a very long time, for the Faraway Tree was tremendously tall. Jo enjoyed every second.

  When he came to the bottom his feet touched a sort of trap-door in the trunk at the foot, and the trap flew open. Jo shot out and landed on a big tuft of green moss which was grown there to make a soft landing-place. He sat there, out of breath—then he got up quickly, for he didn’t want Bessie or Fanny landing on top of him.

  Bessie went next. She flew down on a fat pink cushion, gasping for breath, for she went so fast. Then Fanny went on a green cushion, and then the other rabbit. One by one they shot out of the strange little trap-door, which closed itself tightly as soon as the slider had gone through.

  They all sat on the ground, getting their breath and laughing, for it really was funny to shoot down inside a tree on a cushion.

  The rabbits stood up first. "We’d better be going," they said. "So pleased to have met you!"

  They disappeared down the nearest burrow, and the children waved goodbye. Then Jo stood up.

  "Come on," he sai
d, "we really must get home. Goodness knows what the time is!"

  "Oh, what a lovely way of getting down the Faraway Tree that was!" said Bessie, jumping to her feet. "It was so quick!"

  "I loved it," said Fanny. "I’d like to climb the tree every single day just so that I could slide down that glorious slippery-slip. I say—what do we do with the cushions?"

  At that moment a red squirrel, dressed in an old jersey, came out of a hole in the trunk.

  "Cushions, please!" he said. The children gathered them up and handed them to the squirrel one by one. They were getting quite used to hearing animals talk to them now.

  "Are you going to carry all these cushions up the tree to Moon-Face?" asked Fanny, in wonder.

  The squirrel laughed. "Of course not!" he said.

  "Moon-Face lets down a rope for them. Look—here it comes!"

  A rope came slipping down between the branches. The squirrel caught the end of it and tied the bundle of cushions firmly on to the rope. He gave three tugs, and the rope swung upwards again, taking the cushions with it.

  "Good idea!" said Jo, and then they all turned to go home, thinking, as they walked, of the strange and exciting things that had happened that day.

  They came to the ditch and jumped across. They went down the lane and through their little back-gate. By the time they reached the cottage they were ready to drop with tiredness. Their mother and father were not yet home.

  Bessie sleepily made some bread-and-milk. They undressed whilst the milk was heating, and then ate their supper sitting in their beds.

  "I’m not going up the Faraway Tree again," said Fanny, lying down.

  "Well, I am!" said Jo. "Don’t forget we promised old Moon-Face some home-made toffee! We can climb up to his house, give him the toffee, and slide down that slippery-slip again. We don’t need to go into any land at the top of the tree."

  But Bessie and Fanny were fast asleep. And very soon Jo was too—dreaming of the strange Faraway Tree, and the curious folk who lived in its enormous trunk!

  VII

  BESSIE MAKES SOME TOFFEE FOR MOON-FACE

  The children talked about nothing else but the Faraway Tree and its queer folk for days after their adventure. Bessie said they must certainly keep their promise to take toffee to Moon-Face.

  "Promises must never be broken," she said. "I will make some toffee if mother will let me have some treacle. Then when it’s done you can take it to Moon-Face, Jo."

  Mother said they could make toffee on Wednesday, when the grocer came and brought their goods. So on Wednesday Bessie set to work making the best toffee she could.

  She set it in a pan on the stove. It cooked beautifully. When it had cooled and was set nice and hard, Bessie broke it up into small pieces. She put them into a paper bag, gave one piece each to the others, and popped one into her own mouth.

  "I'll have to go at night, I think,” said Jo. "I shan’t get any time off this week, I know. We’re so busy with the garden now."

  So that night, when the moon was shining brightly in the sky overhead, Jo slipped out of bed. Bessie and Fanny woke up and heard him. They hadn’t meant to go with him, but when they saw the moonlight shining everywhere and thought of that exciting Faraway Tree, they felt that they simply couldn’t stay behind! Wouldn't you have felt that too?

  They dressed quickly and whispered through Jo’s door. "We’re coming too, Jo. Wait for us!"

  Jo waited. Then they all three slipped down the creaky stairs and out into the moonlit garden. The shadows were very black indeed, just like ink. There was no colour anywhere, only just the pale, cold moonlight.

  They were soon in the Enchanted Wood. But, dear me, it was quite, quite different now! It was simply alive with people and animals! In the very dark parts of the wood little lanterns were hung in rows. In the moonlit parts there were no lanterns, and a great deal of chattering was going on.

  Nobody took any notice of the children at all. Nobody seemed surprised to see them. But the children were most astonished at everything!

  "There’s a market over there!" whispered Jo to Bessie. "Look! There are necklaces made of painted acorns and brooches made of wild roses!"

  But Bessie was looking at something else—a dance going on in the moonlit dell, with fairies and pixies chattering and laughing together. Sometimes, when they were tired of dancing on their feet, partners would fly in the air and dance there in the moonlight.

  Fanny was watching some elves growing toadstools. As fast as the toadstool grew, an elf laid a cloth on it and put glasses of lemonade and tiny biscuits there. It was all like a strange dream.

  "Oh, I am glad we came!" said Bessie, in delight. "Who would have thought that the Enchanted Wood would be like this at night?"

  They wasted a great deal of time looking at everything, but at last they got to the Faraway Tree. And even here there was a great difference! The whole tree was hung with fairy lights and glittered softly from branch to branch, rather like a very enormous Christmas Tree.

  Jo saw something else. It was a stout rope going from branch to branch, for people to hold on to when they wished to go up the tree.

  "Look at that!" he said. "It will be much easier to go up tonight. All we’ll have to do is just to hold on to the rope and pull ourselves up by it! Come on!"

  Other folk, and some animals too, were going up the tree. Not to the land at the top, but to visit their friends who lived in the trunk of the enormous old tree. All the doors and windows were open now, and there was a great deal of laughing and talking going on.

  The children climbed up and up. When they came to the window of the pixie who had been so angry with them last week because they had peeped in, they found that he was in a very good temper now, sitting smiling at his open window, talking to three owls. But Jo didn’t think they had better stop, in case the pixie remembered them and threw water over them again.

  So on they went holding on to the thick rope, climbing very easily. They came to Silky’s house, and called her. She was baking over her stove.

  "Hallo!" she said, looking up and smiling.

  "So here you are again—just in time, too, because I’m baking Pop Biscuits, and they are most delicious hot!"

  Her silky golden hair stood out round her tiny face, which was red with baking. Jo took out his bag of toffees.

  "We’re really taking them to Moon-Face," he said, "but do have one!"

  Silky took one and then gave them three hot Pop Biscuits each. My goodness, how lovely they were, especially when they went pop in the children’s mouths!

  "We mustn’t stop, Silky dear," said Bessie."We've still a long way to go up the tree."

  "Well, look out for Mother Washalot’s washing-water again, then,” said Silky. "She’s dreadful at night. She knows there are a lot of people up and down the tree, and she just loves to soak them with her dirty water!"

  The children went on up. They passed Mister Watzisname, still fast asleep and snoring in his chair, and dodged quickly behind a branch when they heard Dame Washalot’s water sloshing down. Nobody got even splashed this time! Fanny laughed.

  "This really is the funniest tree I ever knew," she said. "You simply never know what’s going to happen!"

  They pulled themselves up and up by the rope and came at last to the top. They knocked on Moon-Face’s yellow door. "Come in!" yelled a voice, and in they went.

  Moon-Face was sitting on his curved bed, mending one of his cushions. "Hallo!" he said. "Did you bring me that toffee you owe me?"

  "Yes," said Jo, handing him the bag. "There’s a lot there, Moon-Face—half to pay you for last week’s slippery-slide, and half to pay you if you’ll let us go down again tonight."

  "Oh my!" said Moon-Face, looking with great delight into the bag. "What lovely toffee!"

  He crammed four large pieces into his mouth and sucked with joy.

  "Is it nice?" said Bessie.

  "Ooble-ooble-ooble-ooble!" answered Moon-Face, quite unable to speak properly, for his teeth were
all stuck together with the toffee! The children laughed.

  "Is the Roundabout Land at the top of the Faraway Tree?" asked Jo.

  Moon-Face shook his head. "Oooble!" he said.

  "What land is there now?" asked Fanny.

  Moon-Face made a face, and screwed up his nose. "Oooble-ooble-ooble-ooble-ooble!" he said very earnestly.

  "Oh dear, we shan’t be able to get anything out of him at all whilst he’s eating toffee," said Bessie. "He’ll just ooble away. What a pity! I would have liked to know what strange land was there tonight."

  "I’ll just go and peep!" said Jo, jumping up. Moon-Face looked alarmed. He shook his head, and caught hold of Jo. "Oooble-ooble-ooble!" he cried.

  "It’s all right, Moon-Face, I’m only going to peep," said Jo. "I shan’t go into the land."

  "OOBLE-OOBLE-OOBLE!" cried Moon-Face in a fright, trying his best to swallow all the toffee so that he could speak properly. "Ooble!"

  Jo didn’t listen. He went out of the door with the girls, and climbed up the last branch of the Faraway Tree. What strange land was above it this time? Jo peered up through the dark hole in the cloud, through which a beam of moonlight shone down.

  He came to the little ladder that ran up the hole in the cloud. He climbed up it. His head poked out into the land at the top. He gave a shout.

  "Bessie! Fanny! It`s a land of ice and snow! There are big white bears everywhere! Oh, do come and look!"

  But then a dreadful thing happened! Something lifted Jo right off the ladder—and he disappeared into the land of ice and snow above the cloud.

  "Come back! Jo, come back!" yelled Moon- Face, swallowing all his toffee in his fright. "You mustn’t even look, or the Snowman will get you!"

  But Jo was gone. Bessie looked at Moon-Face in dismay. "What shall we do?" she said.

  VIII

  JO AND THE MAGIC SNOWMAN

  Moon-Face was most upset to see Jo disappear. "I told him not to—I told him!" he groaned.

  "You didn’t," sobbed Fanny. "Your mouth was full of toffee and all you could say was ‘Ooble-ooble-ooble!’ And how could we know what that meant?"