Читать книгу The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid blyton - Страница 4

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The children ate their breakfast quickly. Mother told Bessie and Fanny to cut sandwiches for themselves and to take a small chocolate cake from the larder.

“You can take a packet of biscuits, too,” she said, “and there are apples in that dish over there. If you are hungry when you come home to-night I will bake you some potatoes in the oven, and you can eat them in their skins with salt and butter.”

“Oooh, Mother—we shall be hungry!” said Jo at once. “Hurry up with those sandwiches, Bessie and Fanny. We want to start off as soon as possible.”

“Now don’t be too late home, or I shall worry,” said Mother. “Look after your cousin, Jo.”

“Yes, I will,” promised Jo.

At last everything was ready. Jo packed the food into a leather bag and slung it over his shoulder. Then the four of them set off to the Enchanted Wood.

It didn’t take them long to get there. A narrow ditch was between the lane and the wood.

“You’ve got to jump over the ditch, Dick,” said Jo. They all jumped over. Dick stood still when he was in the wood.

“What a strange noise the leaves of the trees make,” he said. “It’s as if they were talking to one another—telling secrets.”

“Wisha, wisha, wisha, wisha,” whispered the trees.

“They are talking secrets,” said Bessie. “And do you know, Dick—if the trees have any message for us, we can hear it by pressing our left ears to the trunks of the trees! Then we really hear what they say.”

“why, it’s simply ENORMOUS!” said dick.

“Wisha-wisha-wisha-wisha,” said the trees.

“Come on,” said Jo impatiently. “Let’s go to the Faraway Tree.”

They all went on—and soon came to the queer magic tree. Dick stared at it in the greatest astonishment.

“Why, it’s simply ENORMOUS!” he said. “I’ve never seen such a big tree in my life. And you can’t possibly see the top. Goodness gracious! What kind of tree is it? It’s got oak leaves, and yet it doesn’t really seem like an oak.”

“It’s a funny tree,” said Bessie. “It may grow acorns and oak leaves for a little way—and then suddenly you notice that it’s growing plums. Then another day it may grow apples or pears. You just never know. But it’s all very exciting.”

“How do you climb it?” asked Dick. “In the ordinary way?”

“Well, we will to-day,” said Jo, “because we want to show you our friends who live inside the tree. But sometimes there’s a rope that is let down the tree, and we can go up quickly with the help of that. Or sometimes Moon-Face lets down a cushion on the end of a rope and then pulls us up one by one.”

He swung himself up into the tree, and the others followed. After a bit Dick gave a shout. “I say! It’s most extraordinary! This tree is growing nuts now! Look!”

Sure enough it was. Dick picked some and cracked them. They were hazel nuts, ripe and sweet. Everyone had some and enjoyed them.

Now when they had all got very high up indeed, Dick was most surprised to see a little window in the trunk of the Faraway Tree.

“Goodness—does somebody live just here?” he called to the others. “Look—there’s a window here. I’m going to peep in.”

“You’d better not!” shouted Jo. “The Angry Pixie lives there, and he hates people peeping in.”

But Dick felt so curious that he just had to peep in. The Angry Pixie was at home. He was filling his kettle with water, when he looked up and saw Dick’s surprised face at his window. Nothing made the pixie so angry as to see people looking at him. He rushed to the window at once and flung it open.

“Peeping again!” he shouted. “It’s too bad! All day and night people come peeping. Take that!”

He emptied the kettle of water all over poor Dick. Then he slammed his window and drew the curtains across. Jo, Bessie and Fanny couldn’t help laughing.

“I told you not to peep in at the Angry Pixie,” said Jo, wiping Dick with his hanky. “He’s nearly always in a bad temper. Oh, and by the way, Dick, I must warn you about something else. There’s an old woman who lives high up in the tree who is always washing. She empties the water down the tree, and it comes slish-sloshing down. You’ll have to look out for that or you’ll get wet.”

Dick looked up the tree as if he half expected the water to come tumbling down at once.

“Come on,” said Bessie. “We’ll come to where the Owl lives soon. He’s a friend of Silky’s, and sometimes brings us notes from her.”

The owl was fast asleep. He usually only woke up at night-time. Dick peered in at his window and saw the big owl asleep on a bed. He couldn’t help laughing.

“I am enjoying all this,” he said to Fanny. “It’s quite an adventure. How all the boys and girls at my school would long to be climbing up this tree with me if they could!”

The children climbed higher, and came to a broad branch. “There’s a dear little yellow door, with a knocker and a bell!” cried Dick in surprise, staring at the door set neatly in the trunk of the tree. “Who lives there?”

“Our friend Silky,” said Jo. “Ring the bell and she’ll open the door.”

Dick rang the little bell and heard it go ting-a-ling inside. Footsteps pattered to the door. It opened, and a pretty little elf looked out. Her hair hung round her face like a golden mist.

“Hallo, Silky!” cried Jo. “We’ve come to see you—and we’ve brought our Cousin Dick, who has come to live with us. He’s having a lovely time exploring the Faraway Tree.”

“How do you do, Dick?” said Silky, holding out her small hand. Dick shook hands shyly. He thought Silky was the loveliest creature he had ever seen.

“I’ll come with you if you are going to visit Moon-Face,” said Silky. “I want to borrow some jam from him. I’ll take some Pop Biscuits with me, and we’ll have them in Moon-Face’s house.”

“Whatever are Pop Biscuits?” asked Dick, in surprise.

“Wait and see!” said Jo with a grin.

They all went up the tree again. Soon they heard a funny noise. “That’s old Mister Watzisname snoring,” said Jo. “Look—there he is!”

Sure enough, there he was, sitting in a comfortable chair, his hands folded over his big tummy, and his mouth wide open.

“How I’d love to pop something into his open mouth!” said Dick at once.

“Yes, that’s what everybody feels,” said Jo. “Moon-Face and Silky once popped some acorns in—didn’t you, Silky? And Watzisname was very angry. He threw Moon-Face up through the hole in the cloud, and landed him into the strange country there.”

“Where’s the old Saucepan Man!” asked Bessie. “He is usually with his friend, Mister Watzisname.”

“I expect he has gone to see Moon-Face,” said Silky. “Come on. We’ll soon be there.”

As they went up the tree, Silky suddenly stopped. “Listen,” she said. They all listened. They heard a curious noise—“slishy-sloshy-slishy-sloshy”—coming nearer and nearer.

“It’s Dame Washalot’s dirty water coming!” yelled Jo. “Get under a branch, everyone.”

Dick wasn’t as quick as the others. They all hid under big boughs—but poor old Dick wasn’t quite under his when the water came pouring down the tree. It tumbled on to his head and went down his neck. Dick was very angry. The others were sorry, but they thought it was very funny, too.

“Next time I climb this tree I’ll wear a bathing-dress,” said Dick, trying to wipe himself dry. “Really, I think somebody ought to stop Dame Washalot pouring her water away like that. How disgusting!”

“Oh, you’ll soon get used to it, and dodge the water easily,” said Jo. On they all went up the tree again, and at last came almost to the top. There they saw a door in the trunk of the tree, and from behind the door came the sound of voices.

“That’s Moon-Face and the old Saucepan Man,” said Jo, and he banged on the door. It flew open and Moon-Face looked out. His big round face beamed with smiles when he saw who his visitors were.

“Hallo, hallo, hallo,” he said. “Come along in. The Saucepan Man is here.”

Everyone went into Moon-Face’s curious round room. There was a large hole in the middle of it, which was the beginning of the slippery-slip, the wonderful slide that went round and round down the inside of the tree, right to the bottom. Moon-Face’s furniture was arranged round the inside of the tree trunk, and it was all curved to fit the curve of the tree. His bed was curved, the chairs were curved, the sofa and the stove. It was very queer.

Dick stared at it all in the greatest surprise. He really felt as if he must be in a dream. He saw somebody very queer sitting on the sofa.

It was the old Saucepan Man. He really was a very curious sight. He was hung all round with saucepans and kettles, and he wore a saucepan for a hat. You could hardly see anything of him except his face, hands and feet, because he was so hung about with saucepans and things. He made a tremendous clatter whenever he moved.

“Who’s that?” he said, looking at Dick.

“This is Dick,” said Jo, and Dick went forward to shake hands.

The Saucepan Man was very deaf, though he did sometimes hear quite well. But he nearly always heard everything wrong, and sometimes he was very funny.

“Chick?” he said. “Well, that’s a funny name for a boy.”

“Not Chick, but DICK!” shouted Moon-Face.

“Stick?” said the Saucepan Man, shaking hands. “Good morning, Stick. I hope you are well.”

Dick giggled. Moon-Face got ready to shout again, but Silky quickly handed him her bag of Pop Biscuits. “Don’t get cross with him,” she said. “Look—let’s all have some Pop Biscuits. They are fresh made to-day. And, oh, Moon-Face, do tell us—what land is at the top of the Faraway Tree to-day?”

“The Land of Topsy-Turvy,” said Moon-Face. “But I don’t advise you to go there. It’s most uncomfortable.”

“Oh, do let’s,” cried Dick. “Can’t we just peep at it?”

“We’ll see,” said Jo, giving him a Pop Biscuit. “Eat this, Dick.”

Pop Biscuits were lovely. Dick put one in his mouth and bit it. It went pop! at once—and he found his mouth full of sweet honey from the middle of the biscuit.

“Delicious!” he said. “I’ll have another. I say, Jo—DO let’s take our lunch up into the land of Topsy-Turvy. Oh, do, do!”