Читать книгу The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid blyton - Страница 5

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“What is Topsy-Turvy Land like?” asked Jo, taking another Pop Biscuit.

“Never been there,” said Moon-Face. “But I should think it’s quite safe, really. It’s only just come there, so it should stay for a while. We could go up and see what it’s like and come down again if we don’t like it. Silky and I and Saucepan will come with you, if you like.”

Moon-Face turned to the Saucepan Man, who was enjoying his fifth Pop Biscuit.

“Saucepan, we’re going up the ladder,” he said. “Are you coming?”

“Humming?” said Saucepan, looking all round as if he thought there might be bees about. “No, I didn’t hear any humming.”

“I said, are you COMING?” said Moon-Face.

“Oh, coming!” said Saucepan. “Of course I’m coming. Are we going to take our lunch?”

“Yes,” said Moon-Face, going to a curved door that opened on to a tiny larder. “I’ll see what I’ve got. Tomatoes. Plums. Ginger snaps. Ginger beer. I’ll bring them all.”

He put them into a basket. Then they all went out of the funny, curved room on to the big branch outside. Moon-Face shut his door.

Jo led the way up to the very top of the Faraway Tree. Then suddenly Dick gave a shout of astonishment.

“Look!” he cried. “There’s an enormous white cloud above and around us. Isn’t it queer!”

Sure enough, a vast white cloud swam above them—but just near by was a hole right through the cloud!

“That’s where we go, up that hole,” said Jo. “See that branch that goes up the hole? Come on!”

They all went up the last and topmost branch of the Faraway Tree. It went up and up through the purple hole in the cloud. At the very end of the branch was a little ladder.

Jo climbed the ladder—and suddenly his head poked out into the Land of Topsy-Turvy!

Then one by one all the others followed—and soon all seven of them stood in the curious land.

Dick was not as used to strange lands as were the others. He stood and stared, with his eyes so wide open that it really seemed as if they were going to drop out of his head!

And, indeed, it was a strange sight he saw. Every house was upside down, and stood on its chimneys. The trees were upside down, their heads buried in the ground and their roots in the air. And, dear me, the people walked upside-down, too!

“They are walking on their hands, with their legs in the air!” said Jo. “Goodness, what a queer thing to do!”

Everyone stared at the folk of Topsy-Turvy Land. They got along very quickly on their hands, and often stopped to talk to one another, chattering busily. Some of them had been shopping, and carried their baskets on one foot.

A dog went by, walking on its front legs, its back legs and tail in the air. The children squealed with laughter.

“Let’s go and peep inside a house and see what it’s like, all topsy-turvy,” said Jo. So they set off to the nearest house. It looked most peculiar standing on its chimneys. No smoke came out of them—but smoke came out of a window near the top.

“How do we get in?” said Bessie. They watched a Topsy-Turvy man walk on his hands to another house. He jumped in at the nearest window, going up a ladder first.

The children looked for the ladder that entered the house they were near. They soon found it. They went up it to a window and peeped inside.

“Gracious!” said Jo. “Everything really is upside down in it—the chairs and tables, and everything. How uncomfortable it must be!”

An old lady was inside the house. She was sitting upside down in an upside-down chair and looked very peculiar. She was angry when she saw the children peeping in.

She clapped her hands, and a tall man, walking on his hands, came running in from the next room.

“Send those rude children away,” shouted the old woman. The tall man hurried to the window on his hands, and the children quickly slid down the ladder, for the man looked rather fierce.

“It’s a silly land, I think,” said Jo. “I vote we just have our lunch and then leave this place. I wonder why everything is topsy-turvy.”

“Oh, a spell was put on everything and everybody,” said Moon-Face, “and in a trice everything was topsy-turvy. Look—wouldn’t that be a good place to sit and eat our lunch in?”

It was under a big oak tree whose roots stood high in the air. The children sat down and Jo and Moon-Face set out the lunch. It looked very good.

“There’s plenty for everybody,” said Jo. “Have a sandwich, Silky?”

“Saucepan, have a plum?”

“Crumb?” said Saucepan, in surprise. “Is that all you can spare for me—a crumb?”

“why aren’t you topsy-turvy?” asked the policeman.

“PLUM, PLUM, PLUM!” said Moon-Face, pushing a ripe one into the Saucepan Man’s hands.

“Oh, plum,” said Saucepan. “Well, why didn’t you say so?”

Everybody giggled. They all set to work to eat a good lunch. In the middle of it, Jo happened to look round, and he saw something surprising.

It was a policeman coming along, walking on his hands, of course. He had his helmet on his feet instead of on his head, so he looked very peculiar.

“Look what’s coming,” said Jo with a laugh. Every one looked. Moon-Face went pale.

“I don’t like the look of him,” he said. “Suppose he’s come to lock us up for something? We couldn’t get away down the Faraway Tree before this land swung away from the top!”

The policeman came right up to the little crowd under the tree.

“Why aren’t you Topsy-Turvy?” he asked in a stern voice. “Don’t you know that the rule in this land is that everything and everyone has to be upside-down?”

“Yes, but we don’t belong to this silly land,” said Jo. “And if you were sensible, you’d make another rule, saying that everybody must be the right way up. You’ve just no idea how silly you look, policeman, walking on your hands with your helmet on your feet!”

The policeman went red with anger. He took a sort of stick from his belt and tapped Jo on the head with it.

“Topsy-Turvy!” he said. “Topsy-Turvy!”

And to Jo’s horror he had to turn himself upside-down at once! The others stared at poor Jo, standing on his hands, his legs in the air.

“Oh, golly!” cried Jo. “I can’t eat anything properly now because I need my hands to walk with. Policeman, put me right again.”

“You are right now,” said the policeman, and walked solemnly away on his hands.

“Put Jo the right way up,” said Dick. So everyone tried to get him over so that he was the right way up again. But as soon as they got his legs down and his head up, he turned topsy-turvy again. He just couldn’t help it, for he was under a spell.

A group of Topsy-Turvy people came to watch. They laughed loudly. “Now he belongs to Topsy-Turvy Land!” they cried. “He’ll have to stay here with us. Never mind, boy—you’ll soon get used to it!”

“Take me back to the Faraway Tree,” begged Jo, afraid that he really and truly might be made to stay in this queer land. “Hurry!”

Everyone jumped to their feet. They helped Jo along to where the hole ran down through the cloud. He wasn’t used to walking on his hands and he kept falling over. They tried their best to make him stand upright, but he couldn’t. The spell wouldn’t let him.

“It will be difficult to get him down through the hole,” said Dick. “Look—there it is. I’d better go down first and see if I can help him. You others push him through as carefully as you can. He’ll have to go upside down, I’m afraid.”

It was very difficult to get Jo through the hole, because his hands and head had to go first. Moon-Face held his legs to guide him. Dick held his shoulders as he came down the ladder, so that he wouldn’t fall.

At last they were all seven through the hole in the clouds, and were on the broad branch outside Moon-Face’s house. Jo held on to the branch with his hands, his legs were in the air.

“Moon-Face! Silky! Can’t you possible take this spell away?” groaned he. “It’s simply dreadful.”

“Silky, what land is coming to the top of the Faraway Tree next?” asked Moon-Face. “Have you heard?”

“I think it’s the Land of Spells,” said Silky. “It should come to-morrow. But I’m not really sure.”

silky went down and fetched some more pop biscuits

“Oh, well, if it’s the Land of Spells, we could easily get a spell from there to put Jo right,” said Moon-Face, beaming. “Jo, you must stay the night with me and wait for the Land of Spells to-morrow. The others can go home and tell what has happened.”

“All right,” said Jo. “I can’t possibly climb up the tree again if I’m upside down—so I’ll just have to wait here. Mother will never believe it, though, when the others tell her why I don’t go home. Still, it can’t be helped.”

They all went into Moon-Face’s house. Jo stood on a chair, upside down. The others sat about and talked. Dick was sorry for Jo, but he couldn’t help feeling a bit excited. Goodness—if this was the sort of adventure that Jo, Bessie and Fanny had, what fun things were going to be!

The others began telling him all the adventures they had had. Silky made some tea, and went down the tree to fetch some more Pop Biscuits. When it was half-past five Bessie said they must go.

“Good-bye, Jo,” she said. “Don’t be too unhappy. Pretend you are a bat—they always sleep upside down, you know, and don’t mind a bit! Come on, Dick—we’re going down the slippery-slip!”

Dick was excited. He took the red cushion that Moon-Face gave him and sat himself at the top of the slide. Bessie gave him a push.

And off he went, round and round the inside of the enormous Faraway Tree, sitting safely on his cushion. What a way to get down a tree!