The Magic Faraway Tree Read online

  Jo, Silky and Moon-Face were so very pleased that Jo was the right way up again.

  "It feels funny," said Jo. "I feel quite giddy the right way up after standing upside-down for so long. Thank you, witch. How much is the spell?"

  "One piece of gold," said the witch. Moon-Face put his hand into his large purse. He brought out a piece of gold. The witch threw it into the fire, and at once bright golden smoke came out. She took up her knitting-needles and began to knit the yellow smoke into the stockings she was making.

  "I wanted a yellow pattern," she said, pleased. "Your piece of gold came just at the right moment."

  "Golly, this is a very magic land, isn't it?" said Jo, as the three of them walked out of the queer shop. "Fancy knitting stockings out of smoke! Don't let's go home yet, Moon-Face. I want to see a few more things."

  "All right," said Moon-Face, who wanted to explore a bit, too. "Come on. I say, look at the gnome who is selling a spell to make cats sing! Somebody has brought his cat to him-I wonder if the spell will really work!"

  The servant of a witch had brought along a big black cat. He handed the gnome two silver pieces of money. The gnome took the cat on his knee. He opened its mouth and looked down it. Then he took a silver whistle and blew a tune softly down the cat's pink throat. The cat swallowed once or twice and then jumped off the gnome's knee.

  "Will it sing now?" asked the witch's servant. "I daren't go back to my mistress unless it does."

  "It will sing whenever you pull its tail," said the gnome, turning to another customer.

  The witch's servant went off with the cat following behind. Jo took hold of Moon-Face's arm and whispered to him: "I'm going to pull the cat's tail. I do SO want to hear if it really will sing!" Moon-Face and Silky wanted to as well. They giggled to see Jo running softly after the big black cat. He took hold of its tail. He gave it a gentle pull.

  And then, oh, what a peculiar thing! The cat stopped, lifted up its head, and sang in a very deep man's voice: "Oh, once my whiskers grew so long I had to have a shave! The barber said: 'It's not the way for whiskers to behave, If you're not careful, my dear cat, They'll grow into a beard, And then a billy-goat you'll be, Or something very weird!'

  "Oh, once my tail became so short It hadn't got a wag, The grocer said . . ." But what the grocer said about the cat's short tail nobody ever knew. The servant of the witch turned round in surprise when he heard the cat singing, for he knew that he hadn't pulled the cat's tail. He saw Jo and the others grinning away near by, and he was very angry.

  "How dare you use up the cat's singing!" he cried. "You wait till I tell the witch. She'll be after you. And you won't sing if she catches you!"

  "Quick! Run!" said Moon-Face. "If he does fetch the witch we'll get into trouble." So they ran away fast, and were soon out of sight of the cat and the servant. They sank down under a tree, laughing.

  "Oh, dear! That cat did sing a funny song!" said Jo, wiping his eyes. "And what a lovely deep voice it had. Do you suppose its whiskers really did grow very long?"

  Just then the three heard a loud noise coming along: "Clankily-clank, rattle, bang, crash!"

  "The Saucepan Man!" they all cried. "He's come up here, too!" And sure enough, it was old Saucepan, grinning all over his funny face. He had so many kettles and saucepans on that day that nothing could be seen of him except his face and his feet.

  "Hallo, hallo!" he said. "I guessed you were up here. Been having fun?"

  "Yes," said Jo. "I'm all right again-look! It's so nice to walk the proper way up again. And oh, Saucepan, we've just heard a cat sing!"

  Saucepan actually heard what Joe said but he couldn't believe that he had heard right, so he put his hand behind his ear and said, "What did you say? I thought you said you'd heard a cat sing -but I heard wrong, I know."

  "No, you heard right," said Moon-Face. "We did hear a cat sing!"

  "Let's go and explore a bit more," said Jo. So up they got and off they went.

  A witch was selling a spell to make ordinary broomsticks fly through the air. The four watched in amazement as they saw her rubbing a pink ointment on to a broomhandle belonging to an elf. "Now get on it, say 'Whizz away!' and you can fly home," said the witch. The elf got astride the broomstick, a smile on her pretty face.

  "Whizz away!" she said. And off whizzed the broomstick up into the air, with the elf clinging tightly to it!

  "I'd like to buy that spell," said Jo. "I wonder how much it is."

  The witch heard him. "Three silver pieces," she said. Jo hadn't even got one. But Moon-Face had. He took them out of his large purse and gave them to the witch.

  "Where's your broomstick?" she said.

  "We haven't got one with us," said Jo. "But can't you give us the ointment instead, please?"

  "Well, I'll give you just a little," said the witch. She took a tiny pink jar and put a dab of the pink ointment into it. Jo took it and put it into his pocket. Now maybe his mother's broomstick would learn to fly! At the next stall a goblin was selling a spell to make things big. The spell was in big tins, and looked like paint.

  "Just think what a useful spell this is!" yelled the goblin to the passers-by. "Have you visitors coming to tea and only a small cake to offer them? A dab of this spell and the cake swells to twice its size! Have you a suit you have grown out of A dab of this spell and it will grow to the right size! Marvellous, wonderful, amazing and astonishing! Buy, buy, buy, whilst you've got the chance!" Saucepan heard all that the goblin said, for he was shouting at the top of his voice. He began to look in all his kettles and saucepans.

  "What do you want?" asked Jo.

  "My money," said the Saucepan Man. "I always keep it in one of my kettles or saucepans-but I never remember which. I simply must buy that spell. Think how useful it would be to me. Sometimes when I go round selling my goods a customer will say to me, 'Oh, you haven't a big enough kettle!' But now I shall be able to make my kettles just as big as I like! And we can dab the Pop Biscuits with the spell, too, and make them twice as big." He found his money at last and paid it to the goblin, who handed him a tin of the spell. Saucepan was very pleased. He longed to try' it on something. He took the brush and dabbed a daisy nearby with the spell. The daisy at once grew to twice its size. Then Saucepan dabbed a bumblebee and that grew enormous. It buzzed around Moon-Face and he waved it away.

  "Saucepan, don't do any more bees," he begged. "I expect their stings are twice as big, too. Look-let's go to that sweet-shop over there and buy some sweets. It would be fun to make them twice as big!" They hurried to the shop -but on the way a dreadful thing happened! Saucepan fell over one of his kettles and upset the tin in which he carried the spell. It splashed up -and drops of it fell on to Moon-Face, Silky, Jo and the old Saucepan Man, too! And in a trice they all shot up to twice their size! Silky grew to three times her size because more drops fell on her.

  They stared at one another. How small the Land of Spells suddenly seemed! How little the witches and goblins looked, how tiny the shops were! "Saucepan! You really are careless!" cried Moon-Face, vexed. "Look what you've done to us. Now what are we to do?"

  Silky clutched hold of Moon-Face's arm. "Moon-Face!" she said. "Oh, Moon-Face do you. suppose we are too big to go down the hole through the cloud?"

  Moon-Face turned pale. "We'd better go and see," he said. "Come on, everybody." Frightened and silent, all four of them hurried to where the hole led down to the Faraway Tree.

  How little it seemed to the four big people now! Moon-Face tried to get down. He stuck. He couldn't slip down at all.

  "It's no use," he said. "We're too big to go down. Whatever in the world shall we do?"

  6

  What Can They Do Now?

  Jo, Moon-Face, Silky and Saucepan sat down by the hole and thought hard. Silky began to cry.

  The Saucepan Man looked most uncomfortable. He was very fond of Silky. "Silky, please do forgive me for being so careless," he said in a small voice. "I didn't mean to do this. Don't cry. You make me
feel dreadful."

  "It's all right," sobbed Silky, borrowing Moon-Face's hanky. "I know you didn't mean to. But I can't help feeling dreadfully sad when I think I won't ever be able to see my dear little room in the Faraway Tree any more."

  The Saucepan Man began to cry, too. Tears dripped with a splash into his saucepans and kettles. He put his arm round Silky, and two or three kettle-spouts stuck into her.

  "Don't!" she said. "You're sticking into me. Moon-Face-Jo-can't you think of something to do? Can we possibly squeeze down if we hold our breaths and make ourselves as small as we can?"

  "Quite impossible," said Moon-Face gloomily. "Listen-there's somebody coming up the ladder." They heard voices-and soon a head popped up out of the hole in the cloud. It was Dick's! He stared in the very greatest surprise at the four enormous people sitting by the hole.

  He climbed up and stood beside them, looking very, very small. Then up came Bessie and Fanny. Their eyes nearly fell out of their heads when they saw how big Jo and his friends were.

  "What's happened?" cried Dick. "We began to be worried because you didn't come home, Jo-so we climbed up to see where you were. But why are you so ENORMOUS?"

  Jo told them. Silky sobbed into-Moon-Face's hanky. Bessie put her arm round her. It was funny to feel Silky so very big. Bessie's arm only went half round Silky's waist! "And now, you see, we can't get back down the hole," said Jo.

  "I know what you can do!" said Dick suddenly, "What?" cried everyone hopefully.

  "Why, rub the hole with the spell, and it will get bigger, of course!" said Dick. "Then you'll be able to get down it."

  "Why ever didn't we think of that before!" cried Jo, jumping up. "Saucepan, where's that tin with the spell in?" He picked up the tin-but, alas! it was quite, quite empty. Every single drop had been spilt when Saucepan had fallen over.

  "Well, never mind!" said Moon-Face, cheering up. "We can go and buy some more from that goblin. Come on!" They all set off, Dick, Bessie and Fanny looking very small indeed by the others. They went up to the goblin who had sold them the spell.

  "May we have another tin of that spell you sold us just now?" asked Moon-Face, holding out the empty tin.

  "I've not the tiniest drop left," said the goblin. "And I can't make any more till the full moon comes. It can only be made in the moonlight." Everyone looked so miserable that the goblin felt sorry for them. "Why do you look so unhappy?" he said. "What has happened?"

  Jo told him everything. The goblin listened with great interest. Then he smiled. "Well, my dear boy," he said, "if you can't get a spell to make the hole big, why don't you buy a spell to make yourselves small? My brother, the green goblin over there, sells that kind of spell. Only be careful not to put too much on yourselves, or you may go smaller than you mean to!" They went over to the green goblin. He was yelling at the top of his voice.

  "Buy my wonderful and most amazing spell! It will make anything as small as you like! Have you an enemy? Dab him with this and see him shrink to the size of a mouse! Have you too big a nose? Dab it with this and make it the right size! Oh, wonderful, astonishing, amazing. . . ."

  Everyone hurried up. Moon-Face took some money out of his purse. "I'll have the spell, please," he said. The green goblin gave him a tin. The spell in it looked rather like paint, just as the other had done.

  "Now go slow," said the goblin. "You don't want to get too small. Try a little at a time."

  Moon-Face dabbed a little on Silky. She went a bit smaller at once. He dabbed again. She went smaller still.

  "Is she the right size yet?" asked Moon-Face. Everyone stared at Silky.

  "Not quite," said Bessie. "But she is almost, Moon-Face. So be careful with your next dab." Moon-Face was very careful. At the next dab of the spell Silky went to exactly her right size. She was so pleased.

  "Now you, Jo," said Moon-Face. So he dabbed Jo and got Jo back to his right size again, too. Then he tried dabbing the Saucepan Man, and soon got him right. His kettles and saucepans went right, too. It was funny to watch them.

  "Now I'll do you, Moon-Face," said Jo.

  "No, thanks, I'll do myself," said Moon-Face. He dabbed the spell on to himself and shrank smaller. He dabbed again and went smaller still. Then he stopped dabbing and put the brush down.

  "You're not quite your ordinary size yet," said Jo.

  "I know," said Moon-Face. "But I always thought I was a bit on the short side. Now I'm just about right. I always wanted to be a bit taller. I shan't dab myself any more."

  Everyone laughed. It was funny to see Moon-Face a bit taller than usual. As they stood there and laughed, a curious cold wind began to blow. Moon-Face looked all round and then began to shout.

  "Quick, quick! The Land of Spells is on the move! Hurry before we get left behind!" Everyone got a shock. Good gracious! It would never do to be left behind, just as everyone had got small enough to go down the hole in the clouds.

  They set off to the hole. The wind blew more and more strongly, and suddenly the sun went out. It was almost as if somebody had blown it out, Jo thought. At once darkness fell on the Land of Spells.

  "Take hold of hands, take hold of hands!" cried Jo. "We shall lose one another if we don't!" They all took hold of one another's hands and called out their names to make sure everyone was there. They stumbled on through the darkness.

  "Here's the hole!" cried Jo, at last, and down he went. He felt the ladder and climbed down that, too. The others followed one by one, pushing close behind in the dark, longing to get down to the Faraway Tree they knew so well. How lovely it would be to sit in Moon-Face's room and feel safe! But down at the bottom of the ladder there was no Faraway Tree. Instead, to Jo's astonishment, there was a narrow passage, lit by a swinging green lantern.

  "I say," he said to the others, "What's this? Where's the Faraway Tree?"

  "We've come down the wrong hole," groaned Moon-Face. "Oh, goodness, what bad luck!"

  "Well, where are we?" asked Dick in wonder.

  "I don't know," said Moon-Face. "We'd better follow this passage and see where it leads to. It's no Use climbing back and trying to find the right hole. We'd never find it in the dark-and anyway, I'm pretty sure the Land of Spells has moved on by now." Everyone felt very gloomy. Jo led the way down the passage. It twisted and turned, went up and down steps, and was lighted here and there by the green lanterns swinging from the roof.

  At last they came to a big yellow door. On it was a blue knocker, a blue bell, a blue letter-box and a blue notice that said: "Mister Change-About. Knock once, ring twice, and rattle the letter-box." Jo knocked once, very loudly. Then he rang twice, and everyone heard the bell going "R-r-r-r-r-r-ring! R-r-r-r-r-r-ring!" Then he rattled the letter-box.

  The door didn't open. It completely disappeared. It was most peculiar. One minute it was there- and the next it had gone, and there was nothing in front of them. They could see right into a big underground room.

  At the end of it, by a roaring fire, a round fat person was sitting. "That must be Mister Change-About!" whispered Dick. "Dare we go in?"

  7

  Mr. Change-About and the Enchanter.

  Everyone stared at Mr. Change-About. At least, as he was the only person in the room, they thought that was who it must be. He got up and came towards them.

  He was a fat, comfortable-looking person with a broad smile on his face. "Dear me, what a lot of visitors!" he said. "Do sit down." There was nowhere to sit except the floor. This was made of stone and looked rather cold. So nobody sat down.

  Something happened to Mr. Change-About when nobody obeyed him. He grew tall and thin. His broad smile disappeared and a frown came all over his face. He looked a most unpleasant person.

  "SIT DOWN!" he roared. And everybody sat down in a hurry! Mr. Change-About looked at the Saucepan Man, who had sat down with a tremendous clatter.

  "Have you a nice little kettle that would boil enough water for two cups of tea?" he asked.

  The Saucepan Man didn't hear. So Jo shouted in hi
s ear, and he beamed, got up, and undid a little kettle from the many that hung about him.

  "Just the thing!" he said, handing it to Mr. Change-About. "Try it and see!"

  Mr. Change-About changed again, and became a happy-looking little creature with dancing eyes and a sweet smile. He took the kettle.

  "Thank you," he said. "So kind of you. Just what I wanted. How much is it?"

  "Nothing at all," said the Saucepan Man. "Just a present to you!"

  "Well, allow me to hand round some chocolate to you all in return for such a nice present," said Mr. Change-About, and fetched an enormous box of chocolates from a cupboard. Everybody was pleased.

  Dick looked carefully into the box when his turn came. His hand stretched out for the very biggest chocolate of all. Mr. Change-About at once changed again and flew into a rage.

  He became thin and mean-looking, his nose shot out long, and his eyes grew small.

  "Bad boy, greedy boy!" he shouted. "You shan't any of you have my chocolates now! Horrid, greedy children!" And at once all the chocolates changed to little hard stones. Bessie had hers in her mouth, and she spat it out at once. The others looked most disgusted. The old Saucepan Man gave a yell of dismay.

  "I've swallowed mine-and now I suppose I've got a stone inside me. Oh, you nasty Mr. Change-About! I'll show you what I think of your chocolates!" And to everyone's surprise Saucepan rushed at Mr. Change-About, knocked his box of chocolates all over the room, and began to pummel him hard.

  Biff, smack, biff, smack! Goodness, how the old Saucepan Man fought Mr. Change-About. And Mr. Change-About fought back-but what was the good of that? Saucepan was so hung about with pans of all kinds that nobody could possibly hit him anywhere without grazing their knuckles and hurting themselves very much indeed! Clang, clatter, clang, clatter, clash! The kettles and saucepans made an enormous noise, and everyone began to laugh, for really Saucepan looked too funny for words, dancing about on the floor, hitting and slapping at Mr. Change-About.