The Magic Faraway Tree Page 9

  He shot out of the trap-door just in time to see Silky and Saucepan saying good-bye to the children. They were most amazed when Moon-Face shot out beside them.

  "I've been spanked!" wept Moon-Face. "They all spanked me because I was sticky, so they thought I'd thrown all the goodies at them. And now I'm afraid to go back because they will be waiting for me."

  "Poor Moon-Face," said Jo. "And it was all Dick's fault. Listen. Silky can climb back to her house; but you and Saucepan had better come back with us and stay the night. Dick and I will sleep downstairs on the sofa, and you can have our beds. Mother won't mind."

  "All right," said Moon-Face, wiping his eyes. "That will be fun. Oh, what a pity we wasted all those lovely goodies! I really do think Dick is a clumsy boy!"

  They all went home together, and poor Dick didn't say a word. But how he did wish he could make up for all he had done!

  18

  A Surprising Visitor

  The children's mother was rather astonished to see Moon-Face and Saucepan arriving at the cottage with the children.

  "Mother, may they stay the night?" asked Jo. "They've been so good to us in lots of ways -and they don't want to go back to the tree to-night because somebody is waiting there to spank them."

  "Dear me!" said Mother, even more surprised. "Well, yes, they can stay. You and Dick must sleep downstairs on the sofa. If they like to help in the garden for a day or two, they can stay longer."

  "Oooh!" said Moon-Face, pleased. "That would be fine! I'm sure Watzisname will have forgotten about spanking us if we can stay away a few days. Thank you very much. We will help all we can."

  "Would you like one of my very special kettles?" asked Saucepan gratefully. "Or a fine big saucepan for cooking soup bones?"

  "Thank you," said Mother, smiling, for the old Saucepan Man was really a funny sight, hung about as usual with all his pans. "I could do with a strong little kettle. But let me pay you."

  "Certainly not, madam," said Saucepan, hearing quite well for a change. "I shall be only too pleased to present you with anything you like in the way of kettles or saucepans."

  He gave Mother a fine little kettle and a good strong saucepan. She was very pleased. Moon-Face looked on, wondering what he could give her, too. He put his hand in his pocket and felt around a bit. Then he brought out a bag and offered it to the children's mother.

  "Have a bit of toffee?" he asked. Mother took a piece. The children stared at her, knowing that it was a piece of Shock Toffee! Poor Mother! The toffee grew bigger and bigger and bigger in her mouth as she sucked it, and she looked more and more surprised. At last, when she felt that it was just as big as her whole mouth, it exploded into nothing at all-and the children squealed with laughter.

  "Mother, that was a Toffee Shock!" said Jo, giggling. "Would you like to try a Pop Biscuit- or a Google Bun?"

  "No, thank you," said Mother at once. "The Toffee Shock tasted delicious-but it did give me a shock!"

  It was fun having Moon-Face and Saucepan staying with them in their cottage for a few days. The children simply loved it. Moon-Face was very, very good in the garden, for he dug and cleared away rubbish twice as fast as anyone else. The old Saucepan Man wasn't so good because he suddenly went deaf again and didn't understand what was said to him. So he did rather queer things.

  When Mother said: "Saucepan, fetch me some carrots, will you?" he thought she had asked for sparrows, and he spent the whole morning trying to catch them by throwing salt on their tails.

  Then he went into the kitchen looking very solemn. "I can't bring you any sparrows," he said.

  Mother stared at him. "I don't want sparrows," she said.

  "But you asked me for some," said Saucepan, in surprise.

  "Indeed I didn't," said Mother. "What do you suppose I want sparrows for? To make porridge with?"

  When Saucepan and Moon-Face had been at the children's cottage for two or three days, Silky came in a great state of excitement.

  She knocked at the door and Jo opened it. "Oh, Jo! Have you still got Moon-Face and Saucepan here?" she asked. "Well, tell them they must come back to the tree at once."

  "Gracious! What's happened?" said Jo. Everyone crowded to the door to hear what Silky had to say.

  "Well, you know the Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe, don't you?" said Silky. "Her land has just come to the top of the tree, and the Old Woman came down the ladder through the cloud to see Dame Washalot, who is an old friend of hers. And when she saw that Moon-Face's house was empty, she said she was going to live there! She said she was tired of looking after a pack of naughty children."

  "Oh, my!" said Moon-Face, looking very blue. "I don't like that Old Woman. She gives her children broth without any bread, and she whips them and sends them to bed when they are just the very littlest bit bad. Couldn't you tell her that that house in the tree is mine, and I'm coming back to it?"

  "I did tell her that, silly," said Silky. "But do you suppose she took any notice of me at all? Not a bit! She just said in a horrid kind of voice: 'Little girls should be seen and not heard.' And she went into your house, Moon-Face, and began to shake all the rugs."

  "Well!" said Moon-Face, beginning to be in a temper. "Well! To think of somebody shaking my rugs! I hope she falls down the slippery-slip."

  "She won't," said Silky. "She peered down it and said: 'Ho! A coal-hole, I suppose! How stupid! I shall have a board made and nail that up.'"

  "Well, I never!" cried Moon-Face, his big round face getting redder and redder. "Nailing up my lovely slippery-slip! Just wait till I tell her a few things! I'm going this very minute!"

  "I'll come with you," said Saucepan. "Are you coming, too, children?"

  "Mother, Saucepan and Moon-Face have got to go back home," called Jo. "May we go with them for a little while? We shan't be long."

  "Very well," said Mother.

  Moon-Face and Saucepan went to say good-bye to her and thank her for having them. Then they and the four children and Silky sped off to the Enchanted Wood.

  "I'll tell that Old Woman a few things!" cried Moon-Face. "I'll teach her to shake my rugs! Does she suppose she is going to live in my dear little round house? Where does she think I'm going to live? In her Shoe, I suppose!"

  The children couldn't help feeling rather excited as they ran to the Tree. They climbed up it quickly and at last came to Moon-Face's door. It was shut. Moon-Face banged on it so loudly that the door shook.

  The door flew open and a cross-faced old woman glared out.

  "Do you want to break my door down?" she cried.

  "'Tisn't your door!" shouted Moon-Face. "It's mine."

  "Well, I've taken this house now," said the Old Woman. "I'm tired of all those naughty children, and I don't want to live in a shoe any more. I'm going to live by myself and have a good time. Dame Washalot is an old friend of mine and she and I will have lots of chats about old times." She slammed the door in the faces of everyone.

  Moon-Face peered in at the window. He groaned. "She's nailed up the Slippery-Slip," he said. "She's put my bed across the board she's nailed there. Whatever am I to do?"

  "I'll see if I can do something," said the old Saucepan Man unexpectedly. "You're a good friend of mine, Moon-Face, and I'd like to do something for you." Saucepan began to clash his pans together and make a fearful noise. He shouted at the top of his voice: "Come out, you naughty Old Woman! Come out and let Moon-Face have his house! Your children are hungry!" Now he was making such a tremendous noise that he didn't notice old Dame Washalot corning up the tree looking as black as thunder. She glared at the little company outside Moon-Face's house.

  She was short-sighted and she didn't see who they were. She thought that they were seven of the Old Woman's children who had come down from the Land above and were making themselves a nuisance.

  "I'll teach you to shout and scream like that!" said Dame Washalot in a fierce voice-and before anyone quite knew what was happening they were all taken up one by one in Dame Washalot's strong arms and
flung right up through the hole in the cloud into the Land of the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe! And there they were, in a new and strange land again, out of breath and most astonished. How they stared round in surprise!

  19

  The Land of the Old Woman

  The children and the others were most surprised at being thrown up the ladder, through the hole in the cloud and into such a funny land.

  It was quite small, not much larger than a big garden. It had a high wall all round to prevent the children from falling off the edge of the Land. In the very middle was a most peculiar thing.

  "It's the Shoe!" said Jo. "Golly! I never imagined such a big one, did you?"

  Everyone stared at the Shoe. It was as big as an ordinary house, and had been made very cleverly indeed into a cottage. Windows were let into the side, and a door had been cut out. A roof had been put on, and chimneys smoked from it. A rose tree climbed about it, and honeysuckle covered one side.

  "So that's the Shoe where those naughty children live?" said Bessie, quite excited. "I never thought it would be quite like that. However did the Old Woman get such a big one?"

  "Well, it once belonged to a giant, you know," said Silky. "The Old Woman did him a good turn, and asked him for an old boot. She had so many children that she couldn't get an ordinary house. So the giant gave her one of his biggest boots, and she got her brother to make it into a house."

  "Look at all those children!" said Moon-Face. "They're not very well behaved!"

  About twenty boys and girls were playing round the house. They shouted and screamed, and they fought and punched one another.

  "I don't wonder the Old Woman wouldn't allow them bread with their soup, and whipped them and sent them to bed," said Silky. "They deserved it!"

  The children suddenly saw Jo and the others and ran up to them. They pulled Bessie's hair. They tugged at Saucepan's kettles. They made fun of Moon-Face's round face. They dug Jo in the middle and pulled Dick's ears. They were very naughty and unkind.

  "Now just you stop all this," said Moon-Face, looking fierce. "If you don't, I'll fetch the Old Woman."

  "She isn't here, she isn't here!" shouted the naughty children, dancing round in delight. "She says she's going to go right away and leave us, and we're glad, glad, GLAD! Now we shall have bread with our soup -and we'll go to the larder and open tins of pineapple and bottles of cherries'. We'll sleep out of doors if we like, and we'll go to the wardrobe and take out the Old Woman's best clothes to dress up in!"

  "Whatever would she say to that?" said Bessie in horror, thinking what her own mother would say if she went to her cupboard and dressed up in her Sundav frocks!

  "Oh, she would be SIMPLY FURIOUS!" cried the children. "But she's gone, so she won't know. Oh, we'll have a grand time now!"

  One of the children in the Shoe called to the others. "Hie! I've opened a tin of pineapple! Come and taste it! It's lovely!" With screams of joy the children rushed to the Shoe.

  Jo looked at the others. "I've just got an idea," he said. "What about telling the Old Woman about the children dressing up in her best clothes? She might rush back here then to get her precious clothes, and we could slip down the ladder, go to Moon-Face's house and bolt the door on the inside."

  "That's a really good idea," said Silky. "Jo, you go down and tell her."

  Jo was rather nervous about it. Nobody really wanted to go and see the fierce old lady again. At last Dick said he would. He badly wanted to make up for all the silly things he had done a few days before.

  "I'll go," he said. And down the ladder he went. He banged hard at Moon-Face's door. The Old Woman opened it.

  "Old Woman, do you want your best clothes?" began Dick. "Because if . . ."

  "My best clothes! I'd forgotten all about them!" cried the Old Woman. "Those children will be messing about with them. Boy, go to my wardrobe, get out all my clothes and bring them down here. You shall have a sweet if you do."

  "Well, I think . . ." began Dick. But the Old Woman wouldn't listen to him. She pushed him away and cried, "Go now! Don't stop to argue with me. Go at once!"

  Dick ran up the ladder. He waited there a minute or two, his head sticking out into the Land above. He saw the naughty children coming out of the Shoe dressed up in the Old Woman's clothes, squealing with laughter, and how funny they looked dressed up in long skirts and shawls and bonnets! Dick grinned to himself and slipped down the ladder again. He banged at the door.

  "Well, have you brought my clothes?" asked the Old Woman, opening the door. "You naughty boy, you haven't."

  "Please, Old Woman, I couldn't bring them," said Dick in his most polite voice. "You see, your children have got them all out of your wardrobe and they're dancing about, wearing them-and they've opened your tins of pineapple-and they're going to pull their beds out of doors and sleep there-and . . ."

  "Oh! Oh! The bad, naughty creatures!" cried the Old Woman.

  She gathered up her black skirts and climbed the ladder at top speed. She appeared in the Land above and saw at once her naughty children dancing about in her best Sunday clothes. She broke a stick from a nearby tree and ran after the surprised children.

  "So you thought you could do what you liked, did you?" she cried. "You thought I would never come back? Well, here I am, and I'll soon show you how to be sorry!" She was so angry that she rushed round like a whirlwind. The children dragged off the clothes in fright, and ran away like hares. The Old Woman ran after them, so angry that she didn't notice that Jo and the others were not her own children. They got whirled in to the Shoe with the others. There they all were, about twenty-five or six of them.

  There was a big saucepan simmering on the kitchen fire. It smelt of broth. "Get the soup-plates," ordered the Old Woman. "No bread for any of you to-night! Mary! Joan! Bill! serve out the plates and then come to me one by one for your supper!" Jo and the others had plates given to them too.

  They didn't dare to say anything. They went up for broth in their turn. The Old Woman ladled it out of the big saucepan. She stared at the Old Saucepan Man when he came up.

  "You bad boy!" she said. "You've played a game with my kettles and saucepans, I see! Wait till you've finished your broth and I'll give you a good whipping."

  Poor old Saucepan trembled so much that his pans clashed together as loudly as a thunderstorm! He rushed back to his place at once, spilling his soup as he went.

  "I want some bread," wailed a little boy. But he didn't get any. Everyone ate their broth, which was really very good.

  "And now you will all go to bed -but first you know what happens to naughty children," said the Old Woman, and she took up her stick.

  All the children began to howl and cry: "We're sorry we were naughty, Old Woman! We didn't mean to dress up in your clothes!"

  "Oh, yes, you did," said the Old Woman. She beckoned to Dick. "Come here, you bad boy!"

  Dick got up. He whispered to the others. "Look, I'll let her spank me, and whilst she's doing it you creep out and run to the ladder. Hurry! I'll join you as soon as I can." Dick went boldly up to the Old Woman.

  "Hold out your hands!" she said.

  Spank, spank! Poor Dick, he didn't like it at all. He began to howl as loudly as he could so that the others could creep away without being heard. One by one they slipped out of the door and rushed to the hole, looking for the ladder that led down to the Faraway Tree.

  "I say! I believe this Land is just about to move!" said Moon-Face, looking round. A peculiar wind had just got up and was blowing round them. Very often when the strange Lands at the top of the tree began to move away, this queer wind blew.

  "Well, quick, let's get down the ladder!" cried Silky. "We don't want to live in the Land of the Old Woman! I should just hate that!" They all scrambled down the ladder, glad to be on the broad branch at the bottom. When they were safely there Bessie began to cry.

  "Poor Dick will be left behind," she sobbed.

  Everyone looked very sad. The Land above the cloud began to make a st
range noise.

  "It's moving on," said Moon-Face. "We'll never see Dick again." But just at that moment someone came slipping and sliding down the ladder -bump! bump! BUMP! And, hey presto, there was good old Dick, in such a hurry to get down before the Land moved right away that he had missed his footing and slid down the ladder from top to bottom!

  "Dick! Dick! We're so glad to see you!" cried everyone. "What happened?"

  "Well, the Old Woman spanked me, as you saw," grinned Dick. "And then when I went to take my place she saw you were all gone and sent me after you. I tore out-and she came, too. But I got to the ladder first, and now the Land has moved on, so we're safe!" Moon-Face went into his house, and they heard him banging about loudly. They went to see what he was doing.

  "He's taking up the board that nailed up the slippery-slip," giggled Jo. "Good old Moon-Face! I'm glad he's got his house back again for himself. Come on -we'd better go home. We promised Mother we wouldn't be long. It's a good thing we can use the slippery-slip!"

  And down it they went, their" hair streaming out as they flew down on their cushions. What exciting times they do have, to be sure!

  20

  The Land of Magic Medicines

  For a few days the children had no time even to think of going to their friends in the Faraway Tree. Their mother was in bed ill, and the doctor came each day.

  "Just let her lie in bed and keep her warm,' he said to the two girls. "Give her what she likes to eat, and don't let her worry about anything." The children were upset. They loved their mother, and it was strange to see her lying in bed.

  "There's all that washing that I had to do for Mrs. Jones," she said. "No, you girls are not to try and do it. It's too much for you."

  Moon-Face and Silky came to visit the children one morning, and were very sorry to hear that the children's mother was ill.

  "She worries so about the washing," said Bessie. "She won't let us two girls do it. I don't know what to do about it!"