The Enchanted Wood Read online

  "We’ll send the Barn, Owl with a note to tell the children to come quickly," said Silky at last. So she slipped down the Faraway Tree to the hole where the Barn Owl lived. She knocked at his door, and he pecked it open.

  "What is it?" he asked, in a hoarse voice.

  "Oh, Barny dear, will you take this note to the children at that little cottage over by the wood?" asked Silky, in her sweetest voice. "You’re going out hunting tonight, aren’t you?"

  "Yes," said the Barn Owl, and he took the note in one of his great clawed feet. "I’ll take it."

  He slammed his door shut behind him and rose into the air on great creamy wings, as silent as the wind. He flew to the children’s cottage. They were in bed, asleep.

  Barny sat on the tree outside and screeched loudly. The children awoke with a jump.

  “Whatever’s that?" said Bessie. Jo came into their room. "Did you hear that?" he asked. "Whatever could it be?"

  The Barn Owl screeched again. He certainly had a dreadful voice. The children jumped. Jo went bravely to the window and looked out. "Is anyone being hurt?" he called. ·

  "Meeeeeeeeeeee!" screeched the owl again, and Jo nearly fell out of the window with fright! The Barn Owl spread his great soft wings and flew to Jo. He dropped the note on to the window-sill, screeched again, and flew off into the night to look for mice and rats.

  "It was a Barn Owl!" said Jo. "It left a note! Quick, light your candle and let’s see what the letter says!”

  They lighted the candle and crowded round the note. This is what it said:

  “DEAR, JO, BESSIE, AND FANNY,

  "Why don’t you come to see us? Are you cross? Please come soon, because there is a wonderful land at the top of the tree now. It is the Land of Take-What-You-Want. If you want anything, you can usually get it there for nothing. Do come, and we’ll all go together. Love from

  MOON-FACE AND SILKY."

  "Ooooh!" said Fanny, excited. "The Land of Take-What-You-Want! Well, I’d like to get a few hens." .

  "And I’d like a goat!" said Bessie.

  "And I’d like a new spade for Father!" said Jo.

  But then he frowned. "I’d quite made up my mind not to go up to any more of those strange lands'," he said. "You simply never know what might happen there. We’d better not go."

  “Oh, Jo!" cried Bessie. "Do let’s! After all, if there is a nice land we might as well visit it."

  "Sh! You’ll wake Mother!" said Jo. "We’ll see tomorrow what happens. If we can get some time to ourselves we’ll go and ask Moon-Face if the land is really safe to go to. Now we’d better go to bed and sleep."

  But they didn’t sleep much! No-they were all wondering what the Land of Take-What-You-Want was like, and if they were really going to visit it tomorrow!

  XVIII

  THE LAND OF TAKE-WHAT-YOU-WANT

  The next day was very fine. The children helped their mother to clean the whole house down, and Jo proudly brought in some fine peas and lettuces from the garden, which he had grown himself. Mother was pleased.

  "You can go off-after lunch by yourselves if you like," she said. "You have been very good today.”

  The children looked at one another in glee. Just what they hoped! Good!

  "Come on!" said Jo, after lunch. "We won’t waste any time!"

  "What about tea?" said Bessie. "Oughtn’t we to take some with us?"

  "I should think we can get tea all right from the Land of Take-What-You-Want!” said Jo, with a grin.

  So they all ran off, waving goodbye to Mother. They were soon in the Enchanted Wood, hearing the trees whispering secretly to one another, "Wisha-wisha-wisha!"

  They ran through the bushes and trees to the Faraway Tree, and up they went. When they passed the window of the Angry Pixie, Jo peeped in, just for fun. But he was sorry he did, for the Angry Pixie was there, and he threw a basin of soup all over poor Jo!

  "Oh!" said Jo in dismay, as he saw his shirt all splashed with soup. "You wicked pixie!"

  The Angry Pixie went off into peals of delighted laughter, and banged his window shut.

  "Pooh! You do smell of onions now, Jo!" said Bessie, wrinkling up her nose. "I hope the smell soon goes off."

  Jo wiped himself down with his handkerchief. He said to himself that one day he would pay the Angry Pixie out!

  "Come on," said Fanny impatiently. "We’ll never get there!"

  They passed the Barn Owl’s door and saw him sitting inside, fast asleep. They came to Silky’s little yellow door too, but she wasn’t in. There was a note pinned on her door which said, "OUT. BACK SOON."

  "She must be with Moon-Face," said Jo. "Now just look out for Dame Washalot’s water, everyone."

  It was a good thing he reminded them, for not long after that a line waterfall of soapy suds came pouring down. Fanny screamed and dodged, so did Bessie. Jo got some on his shirt and he was cross.

  "Never mind!" said Fanny, with a giggle. "It will wash off some of the onion soup, Jo!"

  They went on up, and came to Mister Watzisname’s. He was, as usual, sitting in a deck—chair, fast asleep, with his mouth open. And beside him, also fast asleep, was the Old Saucepan Man, looking most uncomfortable, draped round as usual with saucepans and kettles.

  "Don’t wake them," whispered Jo. "We’d better not stop and talk." So they crept by them—but just as they had got to the next branch the Saucepan Man woke up.

  He sniffed hard, and poked Mister Watzisname. "What’s the matter, what’ s the matter?" said his friend.

  "Can you smell onions?" asked the Saucepan Man. "I distinctly smell them. Do you suppose the Faraway Tree is growing onions anywhere near us today? I love onion soup."

  Jo and the girls laughed till they cried. "It’s the onion soup on your shirt that the Saucepan Man smelt," said Bessie. "My goodness! They’ll spend all the afternoon looking for onions growing on the Faraway Tree!"

  They left the two funny old men and went climbing up—and they got nicely caught by Dame Washalot’s second lot of water. She was doing a great deal of washing that day, and she emptied a big wash-tub down just as the three children were nearly underneath.

  "Slishy-sloshy-slishy-sloshy!" The water came pouring down and soaked all the children. They gasped and shook themselves like dogs. "Quick.!" said Jo. "We will go as fast as we can to Moon-Face’s house and borrow some towels from him. This is dreadful!"

  They arrived at Moon-Face’s at last. Old Moon-Face and Silky rushed out to hug them- but when they saw how dripping wet the children were, they stopped in surprise.

  "Is it raining?” said Moon-Face.

  "Have you had a bath in your clothes?" asked Silky.

  "No. It’s just Dame Washalot’s water as usual," said Jo crossly. "We dodged the first lot, but we got well caught by the second lot. Can you lend us towels?"

  Moon-Face grinned and pulled some towels out of his curved cupboard. As the children rubbed themselves down, Moon-Face told them all about the Land of Take-What-You-Want.

  "It’s a marvellous land," he said. "You are allowed to wander all over it and take whatever you want for yourselves without paying a penny. Everyone goes there if they can. Do come and visit it with me and Silky." .

  "Is it quite, quite safe" asked Jo, rubbing his hair dry.

  "Oh yes," said Silky. "The only thing is we must be careful not to stay there too long, in case it leaves the Faraway Tree and we can’t get down. But Moon-Face says he will sit by the ladder and give a loud whistle if he sees any sign of the Land moving away." ·

  "Good," said Jo. "Well, there are plenty of things we want. So let’s go now, shall we?"

  They all climbed up the topmost branch to the great white cloud. The ladder led through the hole as usual to the land above. One by one they climbed it and stood in the strange country above the magic cloud.

  It was indeed strange! It was simply crowded with things and people! It was quite difficult to move about. Animals of all kinds wandered here and there; sacks of all sorts of things, from gol
d to potatoes, stood about; stalls of the most wonderful vegetables and fruit were everywhere; and even such things as chairs and tables were to be found waiting for anyone to take them!

  "Good gracious!" said Jo. "Can we really take anything we want?"

  "Anything!" said Moon-Face, settling himself down by the ladder in the cloud. "Look at those gnomes over there! They mean to take all the gold they can find!"

  The children looked where Moon-Face was pointing. Sure enough there were four gnomes, hauling at all the sacks of gold in sight. One by one they staggered off to the ladder with them and disappeared down to the Faraway Tree. Other fairy folk hunted for the different things they wanted—dresses, coats, shoes, singing birds, pictures, all kinds of things! As soon as they had found what they were looking for, they rushed off to the ladder in glee and slipped down it. Moon- Face found it fun to watch them.

  The others wandered off, looking at everything in surprise.

  "Do you want a nice fat lion, Jo?" asked Silky, as a large lion wandered by and licked Silky’s hand.

  "No, thank you," said Jo, at once.

  "Well, what about a giraffe?" said Silky. "I believe they make fine pets."

  “You believe wrong then," said Bessie, as a tall giraffe galloped past like a rocking—horse. "Nobody in their senses would want to keep a giraffe for a pet."

  "Oh, look!" cried Fanny, as she came to a shop in which stood a great many large and beautiful clocks. "Do let’s take a clock back home!"

  "No, thank you," said Jo. "We know what we want, and we’ll take that and nothing else,"

  "I think I should like a clock," said Silky, and she picked up a small clock with a very nice smiley face. It had two feet underneath, which waggled hard as Silky picked up the clock.

  "It wants to walk!" said Bessie, with a scream of laughter. "Oh, do let it, Silky. I’ve never seen a clock walk before!"

  Silky put the clock down and it trotted beside them on its big flat feet. The children thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen. Silky was very pleased with her new clock.

  "Just what I’ve always wanted," she said. "I shall keep it at the back of my room."

  "You don’t suppose it will stay there, do you, Silky?" asked Bessie. "It will wander round and about and poke its nose into everything you’re doing. And if it doesn’t like you it will run away!"

  "Ding-dong-ding-dong!" said the clock suddenly, in a clear voice, making them all jump. It stopped walking when it chimed, but it ran after the children and Silky again at once. It was really a most extraordinary clock!

  "Now we really must look for what we want," said Jo. "Are those hens over there, Bessie?"

  "Yes, they are!" said Bessie. "Good! Come along and we’ll get them. Oh, this is really a lovely land! I am glad we came! What fun it will be getting everything we want. I do wonder what Mother will say when we get home!"

  XIX

  MOON-FACE GETS INTO A FIX

  The children went over to the hens that Jo had seen. They were lovely ones, but a very peculiar colour, for their wings were pale green and the rest of their feathers were buttercup yellow. They had funny high voices, and were very friendly indeed, for they came to press themselves round the children’s legs like cats!

  "Do you suppose Mother would like hens this colour?" said Jo doubtfully.

  "I don’t see why not," said Bessie. "I think they are very pretty. The thing is—do they lay good eggs?"

  One of the hens at once laid an egg. It was large and quite an ordinary colour. Bessie was pleased.

  "There you are!" she said. "If they lay eggs as big as this one, Mother will be very pleased. How many hens are there—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven! I wonder how we could take them all."

  "Oh, they’ll follow you," said Silky. "Just like my clock follows me! Tell them you want them and they’ll come."

  "We want you to come with us, hens," said Jo at once, and the seven green-winged birds came over to him and lined up in a row to follow the children. It was really very funny.

  "Well, that’s our hens found!", said Bessie, pleased. "Now for the goat and the spade."

  They wandered along, looking at everything. It didn’t matter what anyone wanted, they were sure to End it sooner or later! There were boats there, all kinds of dogs, shopping-baskets, rings, toys, work-baskets, and even such small things as thimbles!

  "It’s the strangest land I ever saw!" said Jo.

  "We look pretty strange too!" said Fanny, giggling, as she looked round and saw the seven hens and the big clock padding along behind them.

  "Oh, look—there’s the dearest, prettiest white goat I ever saw! Do let’s take her!"

  Sure enough, not far off was a lovely white nanny-goat, with soft brown eyes and perky ears. She looked quite ordinary except for two blue spots by her tail.

  "Little white goat, come with us!" cried Fanny, and the goat trotted up at once. It took its place behind the hens, but it didn’t seem to like the clock, which bumped into it every now and again, just to tease it.

  "Don’t do that, clock," said Silky.

  "I hope your clock won’t be a nuisance," said Bessie. "It’s not behaving like a grandmother, is it? It’s a bit of a tease, I think."

  "Now for the garden spade," said Jo, as he suddenly saw a fine strong spade hanging up on a fence with some other garden tools. "What about this one, girls? This looks strong enough for Father, doesn’t it?"

  He took it down and dug in the ground with it. It was a splendid spade. Jo put it over his shoulder, and the four of them grinned joyfully at each other.

  "We’ve got everything we want," said Jo. "Come on. We’ll go back to old Moon-Face and then we’ll take some cakes for tea."

  So, followed by the seven hens, the white goat, and the clock, the four of them made their way back to where they had left Moon-Face. But he wasn't sitting where they had left him. He was pulling at a lovely rug, which was hanging from a tree. It was perfectly round, with a hole in the middle.

  "Hallo, hallo!" yelled Moon-Face, as he saw them. "Look what I’ve got! Just what I’ve always wanted for my round tree-room+ a round rug with a hole in the middle where the slippery-slip begins! Fine!"

  "But, Moon-Face, you said you’d watch to see that the Land of Take-What-You-Want kept by the Faraway Tree all right, didn’t you?" said Silky anxiously. "Where is the hole that leads down to the Tree?"

  "Oh, it` s somewhere over there," said Moon-Face, draping the rug round him and staggering off. "Come on. We’re sure to find it."

  But they didn’t! It had gone—for the Land of Take-What-You-Want had moved away from the Faraway Tree.

  "Moon-Face! It’s too bad of you!" said Jo anxiously. "You did promise."

  Moon-Face looked worried and pale. He hunted about for the hole—but there was no hole to be seen. He began to shake with fright.

  "I’ve g-g-g-got you all into a t-t-terrible fix!" he said, in a trembling voice. "Here we are- stuck in a l-l-l-land where there’s everything we w-w-w-want—and the only thing we w-w-w-want is to get away!"

  Everyone looked upset. This was too bad!

  "I feel cross with you, Moon-Face," said Jo, in a stern voice. "You said you’d keep guard and you didn’t. I don’t think you are much of a friend."

  "And I’m ashamed of you too, Moon-Face," said Silky, who had tears in her eyes.

  "We’ll find someone to help us," said Moon-Face gloomily, and they all set off, followed by their hens, their goat, and the clock, which kept striking four o’clock, nobody knew why.

  But now they found a very curious thing. There didn’t seem to be anyone at all in the Land of Take-What-You-Want! All the gnomes, the pixies, the brownies, and the elves had gone.

  "They must have known the land was going to move off," said Moon-Face, with a groan. "And they all slipped down the ladder in time. Oh, why did I leave it?"

  They wandered all over the land, which was not really very large, but was more crowded with things and animals than anywhere th
ey had ever seen.

  "I can’t think what to do!" said Silky. "It’s true that there is everything here we want—we shan’t starve—but it isn’t the sort of place we want to live in forever!"

  They walked here and there—and then suddenly they came to something they hadn’t noticed before. It was a large and shining aeroplane!

  "Ooooh!" said Jo, his eyes gleaming. "Look at that! How I wish I could fly an aeroplane! Can you fly one, Moon-Face?"

  Moon-Face shook his head. Silky shook hers too. "That’s no good then," said Jo, with a sigh. "‘I thought perhaps we might fly away from this land in the aeroplane."

  He climbed into the aeroplane and had a good look at it. There were five handles there. One had a label on that said "UP." Another had a label that said "DOWN." A third had one that said "STRAIGHT ON," and a fourth and fifth said "TO THE RIGHT” and "TO THE LEFT.”

  Jo stared at the handles in excitement. "I believe I could fly this aeroplane!" he said. "I do believe I could! It looks quite easy."

  "No, Jo, don’t," said Bessie, in alarm. But Jo had pressed the handle labelled "UP" and before anyone could say another word the shining aeroplane had risen upwards with Jo, leaving the others staring open-mouthed on the ground below.

  "Now Jo’s gone!" said Fanny, and burst into tears. The aeroplane rose up and up. It circled round when Jo pressed the handle labelled "TO THE RIGHT." It flew straight on when he pressed the third handle. And it flew down when he pressed the "DOWN" handle. It was just as easy as that!

  Jo flew neatly down to the ground and landed I not far away from the others. They rushed to him, shouting and laughing.

  "Jo! Jo! Did you really fly it yourself? ’

  "Well, you saw me," said Jo, beaming at Everyone and feeling most tremendously grand. "It’s quite easy. Get in, Everyone, and we’ll fly off. Maybe we’ll come to somewhere that Moon-Face knows, if we fly long enough!"

  They all got in. Bessie packed the seven squawking hens at the back, and sat the white goat on her knee. The spade went on the floor. The clock made a nuisance of itself because it wouldn’t stay where it was put, but kept climbing over everybody’s feet to look out of the window. Silky began to wish she hadn’t brought it.