The Enid Blyton Society
The Blue Story Book
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Book Details...

First edition: 1945
Publisher: Methuen
Illustrator: Eileen A. Soper
Category: Methuen Colour Books
Genre: Mixed
Type: Short Story Series Books

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Reprint Covers
List of Contents
Review by Terry Gustafson
Whole Book

Reprints
  1. The Sniggle-Snoggle Snook
    Story: Sunny Stories No.22 Jun 11, 1937
  2. The Tricky Golliwog
    Story: Sunny Stories No.1 Jan 15, 1937
  3. The Tea-Party
    Story: Sunny Stories No.5 Feb 12, 1937
  4. The Very Strange Secret
    Story: Sunny Stories No.4 Feb 5, 1937
  5. I Don't Believe You!
    Story: Sunny Stories No.8 Mar 5, 1937
  6. The Poor Stray Dog
    Story: Sunny Stories for Little Folks No.233 Mar 1936
  7. The Gobbly Bird
    Story: Sunny Stories No.11 Mar 26, 1937
  8. The Little Old Toy-Maker
    Story: Sunny Stories No.12 Apr 2, 1937
  9. The Jackdaw and the Puppy
    Story: Sunny Stories No.13 Apr 9, 1937
  10. Oh, Mr. Winkle!
    Story: Sunny Stories for Little Folks No.245 Sep 1936
  11. Harry' s Toy Motor-Car
    Story: Sunny Stories No.14 Apr 16, 1937
  12. The Whistling Pig
    Story: Sunny Stories No.15 Apr 23, 1937
  13. Down the Rabbit-Hole
    Story: Sunny Stories No.15 Apr 23, 1937
  14. The Brownie in a Hurry
    Story: Sunny Stories No.15 Apr 23, 1937
  15. Dame Twiddle's Magic Book
    Story: Sunny Stories No.16 Apr 30, 1937
  16. The Pinned-on Tail
    Story: Sunny Stories No.16 Apr 30, 1937
  17. Poor Mister Dawdle
    Story: Sunny Stories No.17 May 7, 1937
  18. The Mouse and the Thimble
    Story: Sunny Stories for Little Folks No.231 Feb 1936
  19. The Little Soldier
    Story: Sunny Stories No.17 May 7, 1937
  20. Tinker-Dog and Prince
    Story: Sunny Stories No.19 May 21, 1937
  21. The Galloping Horses
    Story: Sunny Stories No.19 May 21, 1937
  22. Twiddley-Bit's Punishment
    Story: Sunny Stories No.20 May 28, 1937
  23. Matilda and the Golliwog
    Story: Sunny Stories No.20 May 28, 1937
  24. Peter's Fire-Engine
    Story: Sunny Stories No.17 May 7, 1937
  25. Tiddley-Pom's Pencil
    Story: Sunny Stories No.18 May 14, 1937
  26. The Very Clever Kite
    Story: Sunny Stories No.9 Mar 12, 1937
  27. The Golliwog and the Canary
    Story: Sunny Stories No.21 Jun 4, 1937
  28. The Cat Without a Mew
    Story: Sunny Stories for Little Folks No.232 Feb 1936
  29. The Jumping Jack
    Story: Sunny Stories for Little Folks No.237 May 1936
The Sniggle-Snoggle-Snook

Enid Blyton didn't shy from using some quite outlandish names and if this one's not classed as one of the most outrageous, it still must be reasonably high on the scale.

A Grumpy Goblin has come to live in the pear tree outside Bobby's nursery and this is something the toys aren't too happy about because he's a nuisance. One night he popped his ugly head in the window to complain because the toy train was making a noise running about the nursery and another time he moaned because the humming top was practising its new hum. He also visits every now and again to sit by the fire and has even got into the habit of making the big doll read to him for hours.

It goes further.

He's a borrower, which means the bunny now has no safety-pin for the scarf round his neck because it's been 'borrowed' and not returned by the annoying visitor! The clockwork mouse is plain scared of the Grumpy Goblin because he's been threatened more than once with having his key taken away and the other toys are very angry about this. They can't do much about the problem though because if the Grumpy Goblin is angered he's liable to chase any offenders and assault them.

A meeting is held and as it happens, the golliwog comes up with a marvellous idea and begins working on it that very night whilst the Grumpy Goblin is out visiting his Aunt Gazookaloo. Plasticine is involved and the golliwog does a little fashioning before his plan is put into action the very next night.

A picture of the Sniggle-Snoggle-Snook is included for our edification, and young Bobby is mystified next morning - for good reason. Nothing more to say except ...

There's a happy ending to this tale.

The Tricky Golliwog

Two dolls, a teddy bear, a rabbit, a sailor, a pink pig, and a golliwog run away from the nursery to build a house for themselves, but things don't quite go as planned because the golliwog doesn't get on with the other toys. This brings up the question: why then did he join them?

Who knows?

When the runaways decide to build a house for themselves it's noticed the golliwog seems more inclined to wander round with a notebook and pencil rather than take part in any actual labour. When the teddy bear asks him what he's doing the golliwog scribbles some figures down and explains there's a lot of measuring to be done when building a house and he (the golliwog) is the only one clever enough to handle that side of things.

The dwelling is completed at last. There's a fine parlour downstairs and upstairs there are two bedrooms - the smaller of which is to be occupied by the teddy bear and the golly. The golliwog is unhappy about this because he wants a room all to himself - so after a little thought, he develops a plan to get rid of all the other occupants. One morning when everyone's gone for a walk, he brings three things into the house - a packet of balloons, a bag of soot, and an empty washtub, which he fills after placing it on the floor of his room. The balloons are blown up and placed in a row and the soot is placed on a chair so that everything's ready.

That evening everyone's sitting in the parlour with the irascible golliwog wishing everyone would shut up because he wants to read the paper in peace. Unfortunately for him, Teddy turns on the wireless causing groans of exasperation from You-Know-Who. When the sailor asks him what's wrong, the golliwog complains he has a headache and it's being made worse with all the noise from the radio. In fact he states,

'I wish I hadn't said I'd live with you!"

The obvious solution is to live somewhere else and that's exactly what the bear suggests, only to be reminded by the golliwog that he 'helped to build the house.' Why don't the rest of them move out instead?

That suggestion goes down like a lead balloon so now it's 'plan' time. The golly goes up to his room and then shouts down to the others that he's going to make himself a cup of hot lemon because he's getting a bad cold. He grins and then strikes a match pretending he's about to light the gas ring but instead, he takes a pin and pricks one of the enormous balloons.

BANG!

He pricks another and a second bang is heard; then he pricks all the rest causing the toys downstairs to jump almost out of their skins. They think the golly's trying to light the gas and that it's exploding. The bear shouts up telling the golliwog to stop whatever he's doing in case the place blows up, so when the golly asks him how he can heat the kettle he's told the fire's laid so he can just boil it on that. However, the golly's not finished yet. He calls down to inform them the chimney's smoking and therefore the kettle won't boil. The toys are fed up with this and they yell out,

'Sweep the chimney then!"

It's now 'soot time.' The golliwog grabs the bag of soot and makes a noise as if he's sweeping the chimney but instead empties the black stuff down into the parlour causing nothing short of consternation. There's a picture of this happening and what follows is a plot which goes slightly against the Enid Blyton code of prevailing justice.

I guess there always has to be one or two exceptions.

The Tea Party

Susan dons a frilly dress of white silk and John puts on his best knickerbockers, blouse, and blue tie. They're off to Bobby's party and looking very much forward to it; however, they're due for disappointment because a sudden telephone call informs Mummy that it's off.

Bobby has chicken-pox!

The children are naturally sad but they try not to react all that much because Mummy has told them,

"Be brave, and I'll be proud of you."

Susan has an idea. Why don't they have a pretend party of their own with all the dolls and toys? Admittedly their tea-sets in a rather sorry state with most of the utensils broken but they set to with a will and Mummy's pleased when she pops her head in and sees them hard at work preparing their party. Susan chooses Angelina the big doll and Booby the blue monkey for guests, and John includes two others - Soldier-boy and Brown Bear.

The party proceeds and a couple of things occur that put Susan and John in a very happy state of mind.

The Very Strange Secret

As the saying goes: 'neither a borrower or a lender be,' and it makes sense to an extent. Perhaps it's all right if a trustworthy person is lent something but in the case of Green-eyes it would be wise to refrain from offering him anything because he won't return it. Basically he's a nuisance with all his pushing and pinching and knocking the small fairies about, and he never does a kind deed for anyone.

The village folk can't stand him and they wish he'd simply disappear, but that's hardly likely; however, a sharp-eyed pixie named Nidnod thinks of an idea which he shares with the rest.

"We'll pretend we've got a very strange secret. I'll hold a meeting about it and make sure Green-eyes overhears how we have a spell that will get us as much gold as we want. We'll leave the window open so that he overhears us talking about it, but in reality, the spell will be one that causes a person to fly to the moon.

This sounds promising indeed and Dame Flinders who lives next door to the goblin makes sure he learns that all the villagers are having a meeting next day - one that he's not invited to. Green-eyes tells her he'll be there whether they like or not and then, after picking six of Dame Flinders' lettuces for himself, he goes away to plot and plan.

The following day when Dame Flinders sets off to attend the meeting, Green-eyes follows her through the wood to the pixie Hoho's house. Others are spotted entering as well so Green-eyes waits until everyone's safely inside before creeping up to listen at the open window, and the villagers know he's outside because they can see one of his ears. Nidnod begins the proceedings by announcing the strange secret of getting as much gold as one requires and he also mentions that Green-eyes has not been invited because they don't want him to share in their luck.

The eavesdropper is angry when he hears that and everyone inside wants to laugh when they observe his ears twitching. Nidnod pulls out a paper and begins reading instructions that consist of collecting various items including a red-spotted toadstool, that must all be mixed together and put on the fire. Then something will start pouring down the chimney ... and Green-eyes visualises the 'something' as being nothing other that shining gold.

With the secret in his possession, he rushes away to collect the ingredients required, and whilst about it he also picks every red-spotted toadstool he can find so that no one else can get hold of that particular ingredient. The final thing he has to do is to blow a soap bubble in the sunshine, which he does and then a bout of uneasiness creeps over him. Doesn't seem much like a gold spell ... in fact, it reminds Green-eyes of some other spell but he can't be bothered to look it up. Surely Nidnod wouldn't have read out the wrong kind of incantation to his friends.

All the pixies who attended the meeting gather round Green-eyes' house to see what will happen - and they're not disappointed.

I Don't Believe You

A little mouse often runs into the backyard of a cottage where it finds scraps of food to feast upon. Inside the dwelling lives a sharp young kitten who's spotted the mouse and wants to catch it. She boasts that she'll soon have the mouse in her grasp despite Mother's revelation that mice are very cagey creatures so a lot of patience will be required.

The kitten has a plan. She'll squeeze into an old pipe that lies near where their mistress throws out crumbs, and then at the right moment she'll put out a paw to grab the mouse. Her mother thinks it's a reasonable idea and so when darkness falls the kitten runs outside and crawls into the pipe.

Before venturing out the mouse as usual sniffs the air and despite detecting a faint whiff of 'cat' the verdict is that a clear coast exists because there's no sign of anything moving about. The rodent emerges and runs silently over to examine the latest batch of crumbs and bacon-rind it's spotted in the yard whilst the waiting kitten watches in excitement; then, at the appropriate moment she flashes a paw and manages to grasp hold of her prey.

The frightened mouse screams in terror as its captor crawls out of the pipe and says in a very pleased voice

"You're the first mouse I've ever caught!"

"Let me go, please let me go," begs the mouse.

It looks as if there's going to be one slain mouse, one proud kitten, and one admiring mother cat in this equation - but when another character is introduced, this tale takes a turn.

The Poor Stray Dog

The stray dog has a rough life. His home is in the woods and he obtains food by examining various dustbins that occasionally yield a discarded bone or some other morsel, and there's always the odd rat to supplement his diet. He's thin and his ribs are exposed, so all told he lives an unhappy life. People are not kind to him and they often hit the poor dog making him want to bite someone.

One day when making his way through the woods he comes across a small boy who's sailing a toy boat on the pond. Boys are never kind to the stray dog so he edges nearer to the lad wondering if there's the chance of a good bite at his plump leg; that would pay back many a blow he's had from children. He creeps nearer and then something happens. The boy reaches out for his boat and falls into the water! The pool is deep, the boy can't swim, and there stands the dog wondering why the lad doesn't swim back. Surely all creatures can swim. A sudden feeling makes him want to do something quite alien to his current attitude where boys are concerned ... he wants to pull the kid out.

The dog suddenly plunges in, grabs hold of the boy, swims with him to the bank, and manages to drag him out. He then shakes himself whilst the little boy, instead of doing likewise just lies there panting for breath before managing to sit up and reach out his hand to the dog.

"You good, kind dog!"

He tries to pat him but having experienced only violence from small boys in the past the dog backs away and takes off through the woods where he meets up with his friends, the wild poaching cat and the old-striped badger. When he tells them of his deed they're quite amazed to think he'd shown kindness to one of their enemies. The cat says the boy will only throw stones at him next time they meet and the badger tells the dog he's a foolish creature. Puzzled about his recent behaviour, the dog mentions that he was going to bite the boy but couldn't help jumping in to save him. They think he's acted very rashly indeed.

The dog thinks they're right but he can't undo what's already been done so now he's off to hunt for some food. Returning late at night a disaster occurs - he runs straight into a trap set up in the woods to catch animals. The cruel steel teeth close round his paw and the dog howls in pain and fright. Who set this trap? Perhaps it was the little boy he saved. The badger was right - it did not pay to be kind.

A bright moon shines down upon the scene, and then an unexpected action occurs that ultimately alters the stray dog's environment.

The Gobbly Bird

Witch Doodlums has a black cat called Long-Tail who often receives sixpences from his mistress for helping her with spells. Long-Tail buys tins of sardines with his earnings because he's vey fond of them and enjoys licking out the tin with his rough tongue.

One year Doodlums is not very successful with her spells so few sixpences come Long-Tail's way and this means his favourite food becomes scarce. One day Witch Doodlums tells her cat there's a Gobbly Bird nesting in the oak tree and if she manages to get hold of its eggs they can be sold for sixpence each; she tells Long-Tail to watch the nest and let her know when the bird cackles because that'll signal the laying of an egg. Long-Tail begins watching the Gobbly bird all day long and at five o'clock the bird cackles. Off runs the cat to fetch his mistress who immediately purloins the egg.

"Wizard Shanky will give me sixpence for that," says Witch Doodlums and this of course plants an idea into Long-Tail's mind. Why shouldn't he grab an egg and sell it for sixpence so that he can buy himself a lovely tin of sardines?

Why not? It's a productive thought but how can he get one of the eggs? The nest's located too deep in the tree for him to reach down and grab one, but after some thought an idea manifests itself. He'll dip his tail into the glue-pot, frighten the Gobbly-Bird away, and then let his tail down the hole to bring up an egg when it sticks to his gluey tail.

The plan is successful and very soon Long-Tail is the proud possessor of sixpence having rushed off and sold the egg to Wizard Shanky. A can of sardines is purchased and Long-Tail is once again living in the style to which he is accustomed. That week yields four eggs for the cat but in the scheme of things, Witch Doodlums becomes rather puzzled about the lack of produce. She takes steps, and that of course means an unfortunate time is in store for Long-Tail. A swag of feathers is involved and these cause not only some embarrassment, but they also herald an attack on the unsuspecting cat.

A lesson is learnt.

The Little Old Toy-Maker

Stubby lives with his wife in a tiny cottage. He's a toymaker supreme and particularly good at fashioning little items such as tables or beds for dolls' houses and he's also very skilful at mending broken dolls. As the years roll by however, the supply of toys to be mended dries up. Children nowadays own unbreakable dolls that don't often need repairing and Stubby's also been told that his shop is old-fashioned; people now go to the big store in town if they want to buy new toys which means no money is coming in for the toy-maker and his wife.

They discuss the situation and Stubby eventually thinks up an idea that seems as if it might work. Their shop window is old and the glass is not very good so in order that passers-by can view their collection properly, Stubby and his wife place all their tiny chairs, tables and beds on the stone wall outside where they can be clearly seen. Stubby feels sure the collection will attract attention because they look so nice all laid out in the sun.

Unfortunately, no one seems to notice the toys at all which is most disappointing, so after supper Stubby goes out to fetch them back in but finds to his surprise they've all disappeared! This is a from bad to worse situation and Stubby decides to place more toys on the wall but this time he'll keep an eye on them.

Next day he places a table, chairs and a small bed outside and then sits at the window to keep a look out. No one seems to notice them, but then something occurs causing the toy-maker stare - the furniture appears to be walking away under its own steam. Various items slide down the wall and make their way out of the gate ... and now followed by the astonished toymaker who makes a grab at one of the chairs only to get hold of a small wriggling figure that he can't see.

"Show yourself," demands the toy-maker and suddenly a small pixie comes into view who tells Stubby he hadn't realised the furniture belonged to anyone. He shouts out and several more laden pixies come into view. They put the chairs and table down and the first pixie says they're very sorry but had assumed the collection on the wall didn't belong to anybody.

There's very good news in store for the toy-maker, and it includes a change of location.

The Jackdaw And The Puppy

Pat belongs to Tom and is loved very much.

One fateful day Pat treads on a thorn, so he has to limp home and look for some help from Tom. When his master arrives home from school there's Pat in a corner looking very miserable indeed, but after Tom has extracted the thorn and bathed Pat's paw in warm water the puppy's ecstatic and wishes to express his gratitude. Tom seems to understand, and says,

"Remember this, Pat - one good turn deserves another so perhaps you can pass on the bit of kindness."

A few days later in the field, Pat spots something small and black hopping into the hedge. Could it be a rabbit? What fun it would be to catch it. However, instead of a rabbit the creature turns out to be a jackdaw with a hurt wing. It fell out of a nest in the church tower when attempting to fly and now it's scared a cat will come along. It looks as if Pat's taking Tom's advice to heart because he decides to take the bird home to his master - although they'll have to keep a watch out for their own cat. He picks the jackdaw up in his mouth and races off to surprise Pat when he places the bird at his feet.

Well, it looks like Pat's managed to pass on the good deed because Tom keeps the bird in a cage and feeds it with caterpillars and bread until the badly bruised wing has all healed up. This takes a couple of weeks, at the end of which the bird flies home - although it would really have liked to stay because it's quite enjoyable being someone's pet. It visits every now and again however and the jackdaw tells Pat that one day he'll repay the good deed, although his statement of intent is not taken too seriously. After all, what could a mere bird do in that line?

As it turns out - Pat's due to have his good deed returned in a massive way.

Oh, Mr. Winkle

Mr Winkle would be similar to another Enid Blyton character named Mr. Twiddle, only less well-known.

Like Mr Twiddle, he's always getting into trouble with his wife and that's understandable because he's described as a silly, forgetful, careless man. To relate just a typical incident ... one night he put the dog into his own bed and then curled up in the dog's basket by the fire!

However, a recurring incident is the continual loss of his fountain-pen. He confused it with the poker one evening and stood it by the fireplace so, as you can imagine, his pen turns up in all kinds of places but when it actually appears in a rice-pudding Mrs. Winkle cooked up, she threatened,

"The next time you lose your pen I'm going out to find a nurse for you!"

Mr Winkle is alarmed when he hears this. What a disgrace it would be to have a minder. No, that would never do; so he goes away for a big think and comes up with what he thinks would be a solution. A small chain will do the trick; he'll attach one end to his pen and the other end to his waistcoat button-hole.

Problem solved!

Off he goes to purchase the chain and when he returns home, Mrs. Winkle is told about his excellent idea. She's pleased, but when she asks to see the chain Mr. Winkle can't find it. This is typical of course but fortunately he remembers what's happened - the shop man had put the chain through his button-hole so that he wouldn't lose it - and there it is. Well, so far everything seems fine and now Mrs. Winkle tells her husband to put his fountain-pen onto the chain and then all will be to their satisfaction. A new age will have been ushered in ... one of bliss where Mr. Winkle's pen will be available at the drop of a hat.

Mr. Winkle feels in his pocket... but the pen isn't there!

"Now, where did I put that pen?"

That's it! Mrs. Winkle is, to put it mildly, perturbed - and her husband is duly informed that a nurse is now on the agenda. Mr. Winkle looks as if he's about to start bawling. Where is that confounded pen? He hunts in the kitchen and in the bedroom and tries to think of all the places he's been to that day. His pockets are searched again but all he can find is a key that belongs to the clock. Mr Winkle runs to where the timepiece stands and, opening up the back, he finds his pen lying inside.

"Whew!"

Mr. Winkle's pen is now attached tightly to the chain and looks as if it will never be in a lost state again.

On Thursday his wife exits the house to visit Dame Hoho. She's left a cold lunch ready for Mr. Winkle and reminds him about writing to his brother William informing him he's invited to tea on Sunday. She disappears and Mr. Winkle writes himself a little a note about contacting William. He then picks up the newspaper for a read but it's so hot that he falls asleep until noon arrives. Waking up suddenly he starts getting his lunch ready - an exercise that is not completed without a degree of absent-mindedness, and afterwards he decides it's time to write the invitation for his brother.

Mr. Winkle feels in his pocket but no pen can he find! He remembers putting it into a safe place but which one? Soup tureen, flower pot, coal scuttle ... where oh where can it be? Thinking long and hard brings no result so he decides to get an ordinary pen and a bottle of ink for the task. It has to be done otherwise Mrs. Winkle is bound to get a nurse for him and no way does he want some woman insisting he wears a feeder and changing his bedtime to six o'clock. Naturally he can't locate the pen and ink so Dame Spink next door is consulted. She tells Mr. Winkle to continue shelling peas for her whilst she hunts for a pen. She finds one with a faulty nib so Mr. Winkle has to visit Mister Middle up the hill. Mr. Middle gets his visitor to continue washing the dog while he disappears to find a nib.

What a performance.

After Mr. Middle has brought him nib, a very wet Mr. Winkle then calls on Mother Hoppy to see if she has some ink, whereupon that woman asks him to watch her cakes whilst she fetches some. Winkle burns himself when opening the oven door to check the cakes and Mother Hoppy is so frightened to see Mr. Winkle dancing about and yelling in pain when she re-enters the kitchen that she drops the bottle causing ink to spill all over the floor.

This is rapidly turning into a farce and one can perhaps visualise how it's all going to end.

Harry's Toy Motor-Car

Harry owns a bright red motor-car with blue wheels and he's very fond of driving it up and down the garden. He's a good driver so if there's an impediment in his route he rings the bell loudly to warn anyone that he's around, but as Harry points out to his mother - real cars don't have bicycle bells on them - they have hooters. Unfortunately, Mother has to tell him she can't afford to stump up for a hooter right now because it would cost round the shilling mark. That's twelve pennies and Harry has to agree with her that a hooter would be a little expensive to obtain.

He gets into his car and pedals off down the garden and into the road where he makes his way to the toy-shop. Looking in the window he sees a fine hooter that would be just right for his car and it's priced at exactly one shilling. Unfortunately, all the money Harry had saved up was spent on a birthday present for his dad, and as he receives only one penny a week pocket money he really can't wait three months or so to save up for a hooter. He wants one now! An idea suddenly springs up when he spots the butcher's boy carrying a basket on his shoulder; why couldn't he use his car to deliver goods for a fee? He could become an errand boy and fetch peoples' shopping for them.

Well, no sooner has Harry thought of the idea than he's off to his Auntie Lou's to see if she wants any shopping done and when he informs her he charges a penny per trip because he's saving for a hooter, his aunt says she could do with a few things. She hands Harry a list and he pedals off to the shops again where he parks outside the grocery and purchases tea, sugar, butter and some flour for his auntie before pedalling back to claim his fee. Auntie Lou's very pleased with the service and she tells Harry that old Mrs. Brown down the road might need someone to fetch her shopping seeing she's got a bad leg. So off goes Harry again to be of service. Second time lucky - Mrs Brown would like some butter and milk bought for her, which means another penny for Harry's purse.

It looks as if things are going really well because the enterprising lad assists Mr. Donovan who wants the papers delivered in Harry's own street today and again tomorrow because his boy's ill. That's another twopence, and the following morning Aunt Lou's next door neighbour is desirous of some new-laid eggs so guess who fetches them for her.

The pennies are mounting up but after Harry has made two more deliveries - one for Mrs. Brown and one for his mother, the money supply dries up. Mr. Donovan's boy has come back and Auntie Lou is away, so it's quite frustrating because Harry has managed to earn exactly eleven pennies - just one short of his goal. No one needs his services anymore it seems, so what now? Might the hooter be sold before Harry can attain his goal?

There's only one thing Harry feels he can do ... and he does it.

The Whistling Pig

Jimmy has a balloon in the form of a pig and when he lets the air out it makes a whistling noise. Jimmy blows the pig up and then places it on the nursery window-sill where it's seen by the toys when they come out of their cupboard in the evening.

There's one snag in the toys' lives and that's the existence of a horrid gnome who lives in the garden below and who often invades the nursery to make their lives unbearable. They all seem to have suffered at one time or another - the big doll had her sash ripped, the rabbit had his whiskers torn away, and the engine had one of his wheels pulled off by the gnome so it's not surprising the uninvited visitor is an unwelcomed nuisance.

The nasty ugly creature slips through the window once again and the balloon-pig suddenly feels its curly tale being pulled. The gnome then jumps down to pull the clockwork mouse's tail and rip out some of the golliwog's hair before commencing to terrify the baby doll. The pig's not at all happy about this so he leaps down to the floor and confronts the bully.

"Hallo funny face," yells the gnome, and he suddenly yanks out the pig's cork causing it to deflate with a loud whining whistling noise, scaring the toys back into their cupboard. Jimmy is awakened from his sleep by the sound and he comes in to see what's causing it.

Gnome versus Jimmy!

Down The Rabbit Hole

The smallest pixie you ever saw would surely be 'Jiffy' and he's servant to six of the ugliest goblins you could imagine. He has to light fires, make the goblins' beds, scrub the floor, cook dinner, clean the windows and wash all the clothes so he's worked very hard indeed and we can only trust they're paying him for all this; but you never know with goblins.

One day Jiffy contracts a dreadful cold so he asks the least ugly goblin if he could possibly stay in bed that day, but it's a false hope.

"What! Stay in bed on marketing day. Certainly not!"

So poor sick Jiffy has to take a basket and begin trudging over Bumble-bee Common to the market. Passing a rabbit-hole he suddenly sneezes loudly, which makes his hat fall off and his ears go all crooked. He drops the basket, sits down, and then starts crying out of plain misery and desperation. In her little home Mrs. Sandy Rabbit has heard the sneeze so she pops her nose out and tells Jiffy he should be in bed, but speaking through his tears Jiffy tells her the goblins he works for won't let him.

Mrs. Sandy Rabbit espouses her very low opinion of the "ugly, double-jointed, snaggle-toothed creatures" (meaning the goblins of course) and she tells Jiffy he can go to bed in her Fluffy's cot seeing he's grown out of it. Should he? Dare he? What about those fearsome goblins ... but Mrs. Sandy Rabbit shoos him down the warm hole and into a bedroom where she undresses Jiffy and pops him into bed.

What luxury. Jiffy's warm as toast and the cocoa Mrs. Sandy Rabbit has handed him is also warm, and the hot-water bottle that's tucked at Jiffy's feet is even warmer. No one's ever done anything like this for him in his whole life, but suddenly he sits up in alarm.

"What about the goblins?"

Mrs. Sandy Rabbit tells him not to worry at all about them, which seems to suggest she can handle most things that give cause for disruption, and we have to hope that she can do just that because the goblins are nothing short of FURIOUS when they find no dinner ready for them that day. No tea either, the floor is dirty and their suits aren't ironed. What on earth's going on? Out they surge to find their recalcitrant worker and the hunt ends when Jiffy's market basket is found by Mrs. Sandy Rabbit's front door.

Blim-blam, Blim-blam!

That's the goblins knocking furiously on Mrs. Sandy Rabbit's door and what follows from here on can be described only as 'Just Deserts' or 'Comeuppance' - a term that would surely be applauded by anyone who's aware of the pixie's miserable existence. It involves some foxes, a period of degradation for the gnomes, and eventually new lodgings for Mrs. Sandy Rabbit and her family.

The story ends on a lunar note.

The Brownie In A Hurry

Dame Toddle's about to visit her sister in Long-way-off. As there are no buses, and the nearest train station is five miles away, she'll have to walk there although, being an active lady that's no real problem, but she'll have to keep asking the way so that she doesn't get lost. After making up a packet of sandwiches Dame Toddle fetches an umbrella and a bunch of flowers for her sister then exits the cottage.

There she goes - up the hill, over the stile and through Dimity Wood where there's a halt in the proceedings until someone happens to pass by who can impart a few directions. She sits herself down on a convenient fence and placing her sandwiches right beside her, she waits until a little boy comes into view. In answer to her question, he tells the dame she must go down the hill, past the duck-pond and head for the church where she can ask any pixie for further directions.

Unfortunately when Dame Toddle reaches the church she discovers her sandwiches have been left on the fence back in the woods. Should she return to collect them? No, otherwise she'll be late for tea at her sister's place; so she asks a pixie for further directions and he tells her to cross the bridge and go up the hill where she'll find someone called Robin who knows the location of Long-way-off very well indeed. If she asks him nicely, he'll even take her there. Admittedly, Robin's a little deaf so Dame Toddle will need to shout when she ask his name.

This is all becoming quite interesting.

Dame Toddle sets off again and now another player makes his appearance. He's a naughty brownie called Slick and his morning's work has yielded him a freshly made chocolate cake - obtained by the simple method of removing it from a cottage window-sill where it had been left to cool. A little misinterpreting of identities now takes place because Dame Toddle, seeing the errant brownie, decides he must be the person called 'Robin' whom she's been told knows the direction to Long-way-off.

"Is your name Robin?" she yells and Slick, thinking she said 'robbing,' and therefore must be the cake-owner, takes off with Dame Toddle racing after him, waving her umbrella. The brownie's terrified someone will hear her and that he'll end up in prison, so he keeps on running with the dame following and thinking how deaf the brownie must be.

There's a descriptive illustration of this happening and one can only hope that things take a turn for the better.

Dame Twiddle's Magic Book

Moving from Dame Toddle to Dame Twiddle, we learn that she keeps her cottage spotless and makes spells for the fairies. Next door to her live So-So and Pip - two very untidy goblins whose cottage is a disgrace to the village. One day So-So and Pip realise their dwelling has become too untidy even for them so a quarrel develops - who's going to clean it up? They argue about it for a while and then an idea comes to So-So. Why not borrow Dame Twiddle's book of magic because they know it contains a spell for tidying up rooms?

Well, what good idea that is and the book happens to be available right now because the owner has just gone out. In less time than it takes to do whatever, the two naughty goblins have climbed through their neighbour's window, grabbed the book, and are now back in their own hovel.

Leafing through the tome, So-So and Pip are delighted to find what appears as a far more exciting spell than one for merely tidying up rooms. It's labelled:

'To Make Wishes Come True.'

Such an incantation would surely place the universe at their feet; so the goblins read through all the details of how the spell is performed and find it's very straightforward. Simply recite a magic word three times and the spell will last for five whole minutes. Well of course both goblins say the magic word three times and now, as they're in a position of making any of their wishes come true, the world would appear to be their oyster. So-So and Pip glare at each other,

"You be careful how you treat me now," declares So-So, " ... or I'll wish something nasty for you!"

However, Pip gets in first and in no time at all a pair of donkey ears replace So-So's normal ones. He squeals in horror.

"I wish you had hair like a golliwog!"

Sure enough, Pip's hair changes to that of a golliwog's black untidy mop.

We can see how this is going, but remember - the goblins have their powers so any changes can be reversed ... ostensibly. Unfortunately for them both, Enid Blyton's stories have their little tweaks so, when the goblins look for the magic words again to rectify their changed appearances, it's not possible because the book seems to have disappeared.

The resultant outcome is actually beneficial to both parties.

The Pinned-On Tail

The pink monkey is a very grand one indeed. He's brightly coloured with a brown nose and green eyes, but one aspect of his makeup causes some gloom - and that's his tail. It's pinned on. This annoys him to the extent that he once tried to glue it securely to his body but the experiment ended up a mess with glue everywhere, both ends of his tail stuck together, and a piece of newspaper stuck to his fur - although after a while the golliwog managed to remove it. The monkey now has his tail pinned on but he also ties it round his waist just in case the pin comes loose.

Monkey's problem has reached the stage of desperation so one moonlit night he he creeps out to visit the old woman who lives under a hedge. He's been told she's very clever so perhaps the lady can do something about his tail once and for all. Unfortunately, he can't seem to locate her abode and then suddenly a shout draws his attention.

"Quick! Help me! Help me!"

Monkey rushes over to find a small elf getting up off the ground and then he notices a frog leaping away with something in his front paws. This has all the makings of a robbery and sure enough that's exactly what it is. The frog has stolen the elf's shawl, and she tells the monkey she was on her way to a party but needs her shawl otherwise she's bound to get a chill. The monkey feels very sorry for the pretty little elf and then notices her looking at his tail. She asks him if would be possible to borrow ...

" ... that lovely woolly thing you've got tied round your waist!"

We can't really blame the monkey for being a little offended at such a request, and he hurriedly informs the elf as to exactly what the 'lovely woolly thing' is, although he adds that it's only pinned on. She then shrieks,

"Only pinned on? Well, could you unpin it and lend it to me, please. PLEASE darling, beautiful monkey, oh do, do do!"

She even flings her arms round him and because she's so little and so sweet and so loving the monkey can't possibly refuse her request.

Feminine wiles at their best!

The tail is unpinned and then with it wrapped round her neck, the elf drags Monkey through the hedge into a field where the party is in full swing. Fairies, brownies, gnomes, elves and pixies ... hundreds of them all chatting and laughing and dancing. Eileen Soper has produced a descriptive illustration that depicts them all rollicking under a crescent moon.

There's a very happy ending to this tale.

Poor Mister Dawdle

Mister Dawdle is exactly as his name would suggest and Mrs. Dawdle is becoming terribly cross with his habit. He rises late and dawdles over his breakfast, then dawdles to and from work.

"Wake up Dawdle. You're dreaming again. Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Mrs. Dawdle is at the end of her tether so finally she contacts her cousin Mister Hurry-Up, and asks if he'd invite Mister Dawdle to stay with him for a while. He does so and Dawdle is pleased to receive the invitation because he thinks it'll be a nice rest for him. After his good wife has packed a bag he's away on a bus next day to the spick-and-span village of Quickmarch where he finds his way to cousin Hurry-Up's place. Like the village, Hurry-Ups house is very neat and Dawdle is shown up to a beautifully tidy bedroom

"Breakfast at eight o'clock sharp!" Hurry-Up reminds his guest, " ... and please don't take too long undressing because candles are expensive!"

Now that's a welcome and a half for someone of Dawdle's disposition so it looks as if there's going to be friction somewhere along the line. That evening the chap sits on his bed and proceeds to take about ten minutes to remove one sock! Just as he's about to start on the other one, Hurry-Up rushes in, blows out the candle, and bids Dawdle goodnight.

In the darkness, Dawdle takes five minutes to locate his other foot. He can't see to undo his buttons but after fiddling round for a while he manages to don his pyjamas the wrong way round! He finds his bed but only after walking into the wall three times, knocking over a wash-stand and nearly heading out of the window. Drawing the blankets up to his chin, Dawdle displays a lack of dawdling that Mrs. Dawdle would welcome - he falls asleep almost instantly.

At seven o'clock next morning Hurry-Up knocks on the door and yells that it's time to get up; but does Dawdle spring out of bed and start doing his exercises? Not him. He wakes momentarily and then falls asleep again. At eight o'clock the most glorious smell drifts into the room because Hurry-Up has cooked a breakfast of fried bacon, eggs and mushrooms, toast and coffee. Dawdle wakes up just as a gong sounds throughout the house.

"Hurry! Breakfast is ready," comes the cry

In his effort to attend his meal, Dawdle whom we know is unused to hurrying, makes an utter mess of himself - two socks on one foot, vest over his pyjamas, braces lost ... he does look a sight. Mrs. Hurry-Up is in the kitchen looking very fierce. She berates him for being late and then when she catches sight of his appearance, she points out a mirror and suggests he look at himself.

Embarrassment ensues and Dawdle races upstairs to remedy his attire. Twenty minutes later he comes downstairs again only to find all the food has been cleared away; he's scared to ask for something seeing it's so late. Hurry-Up breezes in and tells him they have to catch a bus in ten minutes to visit the market ... Mr. Spick-span has invited them to lunch at his place in the next town, so they'll get their dinner there. Old Dawdle has very little time to get ready. Where's his pipe? Off he goes to hunt for it and eventually the pipe is located in his pocket whereby he starts filling it with tobacco as he dawdles back downstairs.

It looks as if Dawdle's stay is not going to be all that conducive because Mrs. Hurry-Up informs him that her husband has already set off to catch the bus. Dawdle will have to hurry or he won't make it. Panting and puffing, Dawdle makes his way to the bus-stop but he's out of luck. It's gone! A passer-by tells him there won't be another for a few hours so he'll have to walk. Well, Dawdle daren't return to face Mrs. Hurry-Up again so he decides to amble along and ask the whereabouts of Mr. Spick-span's house when he gets to the next town; then he can join Hurry-Up for lunch.

What follows may well be visualised by those familiar with Mr. Dawdle's dawdling habit, and the ultimate outcome is a surprise for Mrs. Dawdle.

The Mouse And The Thimble

The toys in Eileen's nursery hold a sewing meet each night. Each toy borrows a needle from their mistress's sewing basket, threads it with cotton and then commence sewing tiny flannel coats for a family of pixies who live in the daffodil beds. The reason is that someone stole the pixies' clothes whilst they were bathing in a pool of dew. The dastardly act resulted in them all going down with dreadful colds and as the toys are very fond of the little creatures, they've made up their minds to work very hard at their project.

Despite the apparent unanimity of purpose, there is actually one toy who's grumbling about the extra work and that's Benny the blue teddy bear. He reckons his paws aren't suited to needlework and he might just have a case, but the duck speaks up and tells him she has no hands or paws at all, so her feet are employed when it comes to sewing. She calls the teddy bear lazy.

Rather than do anything for anybody else, the teddy prefers fiddling around with his collection. He has a hidey-hole in which he keeps his treasures - silver paper, a bright piece of tin, a pearl button and the rest which he takes out every night so that he can play with them. However, as the toys practically order him to help with the sewing, Benny the reluctant bear trots very sulkily off to Eileen's work basket for a needle ... and what does he see there?

Eileen's new silver thimble!

Wonderful. An item like that would enhance his collection immensely so the naughty bear slips the thimble into his pocket before extracting a needle. However it's not long before he downs tools to make for the corner where his treasures are kept and then he begins playing with his new addition by rolling it to and fro on the floor. Unfortunately the thimble tumbles to a little hole in the floor and drops down it. The bear is shocked. He must get it back and return the thimble to Eileen's work-basket - after all he only meant to play with it for a while. The other toys see his miserable face and ask what's happened, and when they learn of the thimble's loss Benny is severely reprimanded.

What can they do? The thimble must be returned, but how can it be retrieved? The duck tries thrusting her beak down the hole but to no avail; the clown and a couple of dolls also attempt to get hold of the thimble as well but with no luck either. Outside help is needed so the golliwog says they'll have to call on the brown mouse who lives under the floor to retrieve the thimble for them. The mouse is summoned but there's a hitch - she hasn't the time. The children's dinner is being cooked and then she has to make new scarves for them all because they have sore throats.

New scarves needed!

The golliwog's fertile brain sets to work and if he can think up a timely and appropriate scheme, then so can we.

The Little Soldier

At the very bottom of Ronnie's Christmas stocking there once rested a toy soldier dressed in red with a bearskin hat and carrying a gun. Ronnie named it 'Redman' and he's so fond of the soldier that he carries it around in his pocket because he's sure it's lucky. The gun broke off some time ago but that's often the case with small toys. Redman lives a varied life - talking to the marbles in Ronnie's pocket and sometimes there's even a bit of toffee to lick. Occasionally he's placed in the clockwork train for a ride, but today Ronnie takes his soldier into the kitchen where mother is stirring a mixture of currants, sultanas and all the other ingredients necessary to make a fine cake.

After reserving the right the to consume what's left of the concoction after Mother has piled it into a cake-tin, Ronnie brings out his toy soldier so that it can see what's going on. He stands Redman by the bowl and then realising his soldier can't see inside it properly, he stands the little man on a nearby tin to afford him a better view. Just then Mother's called to the door where the family butcher needs payment for a bill. Ronnie accompanies her leaving Redman in the kitchen perched on the tin - and one can only imagine what might happen.

When Ronnie and his mother return, Mother takes up her ladle once again and whilst she's stirring the cake-mix round and round Ronnie suddenly discovers his toy soldier is missing. It was there a few moments ago and now it's nowhere to be seen. The boy's really upset because he loves Redman, in fact he's almost crying now, but Mother tells him not to be a baby - his soldier will turn up somewhere eventually.

The question is ... where?

Tinker-Dog And Prince

Tinker-Dog is a mongrel who lives with his master in a tumbledown cottage and Prince is an Alsatian or German shepherd - a fine specimen of the breed who could easily be mistaken for a grand wolf. He growls at Tinker-Dog whenever they pass each other in the village but Tinker-Dog just growls back and even ventures to remark that he could beat him in a race any day.

"I win prizes at shows," barks Prince. "You couldn't win any prize - except for being the ugliest, commonest dog, so just keep out of my way!"

Tinker-Dog runs off home. He's aware of his common background and knows he could never clinch a prize, although it'd be nice to win one for his master whom he loves very much.

One day Tinker Dog and Prince meet by the river and again Prince insults the lesser dog so much that Tinker actually bites the end of his tail. Before Prince can retaliate a scream is heard and some nearby children start shouting; a little boy who was playing by the river has fallen in. Both dogs stare at the struggling child and Tinker-dog barks to Prince,

"You're a big strong dog. Jump in and pull the little boy out."

Would you believe? Instead of plunging into the river, Prince takes off and leaves Tinker and the children to sort things out - if they can. There's little left to say because our imaginations are very much aligned with Enid Blyton's, but one thing can be stated -

A newspaper report and another dog-show precede a period of wide recognition for one of the dogs, plus ... both are now firm friends.

The Galloping Horses

John and Alice love playing horses and they each take turns with the reins so that sometimes John's the horse and other times it's Alice's turn. They have no real reins but John's manufactured a reasonable set out of a few bits of string given to him by his mother. The horses gallop to school and are never late because they run so fast. John often throws back his head and neighs which makes Alice laugh, and then when she's the horse a streak of naughtiness makes her gallop so fast that John ends up holding a broken rein.

"Mother, we need some proper reins!"

That's John stating the obvious, but Mother tells him that proper reins would cost a lot of money so unless something happens, it looks as if John and Alice are doomed to spend more time fixing their bits of string.

In the window of their local toyshop the children see a lovely pair or red reins with bells on them. If only wishes came true - because these are just what they need - twelve bells in all and places to put your arms. Their game would be greatly enhanced if they had reins like those, but what's the point? Finance is unavailable so it looks as if they're doomed to go on with what they've currently got.

Off they go again with Alice holding the 'reins' this time and at a fast pace they gallop off to the field, but eventually it's time for a rest so they sit on a gate to catch their breath. Suddenly they hear a lot of mooing. Alice jumps down from the gate and peering towards a hedge she notices a cow has slipped into the ditch and is mooing from pain and fear. The children know what must be done so, with Alice as the horse, they gallop off towards a farmhouse to raise the alarm. Across four fields and up a hill they go and it's an exhausted duo who finally encounter Mrs. Straws. Amidst their gasps the children manage to inform her that one of their cows has fallen into a ditch and they think she's hurt. Just then Mr. Straws enters and hearing the bad news he sets off with Alice and John to view the situation. Upon seeing the cow, he decides the vet will have to be notified immediately.

Unfortunately his car's broken down and the vet lives quite a distance away.

A horse! My kingdom for a horse.

Twiddley-Bit's Punishment

The star of this tale is Twiddley-Bit - a greedy, deceitful, untruthful mouse who's not often asked to parties for fairly obvious reasons. One night Mrs. Whiskers decides to give a cheese-party seeing a fine example of that particular delicacy has been discovered in the dairy; six guests are invited - Tailer, Sniffy, Woffly, Patter, Four-Paws and Squeak. The other mice ask Twiddley-Bit if he's been invited to Mrs. Whiskers' party and when he tells them 'No!' the natural question is,

"Why not?"

Well ... he knows why not but no way is he going to tell them. Instead, full of spite, he rushes off to his hole and decides he'll spoil the party somehow and get that cheese all for himself. With this in mind he secretly follows the guests to the dairy when they depart for Mrs. Whiskers' party. The cheese reposes on a shelf and Twiddley-Bit commences a plan he has in mind by suddenly jumping out from behind the cheese and yelling,

"Cat! Beware the cat! She's in the dairy! Cat, cat, cat!"

As figured, there's a mad scramble - the mice jump down from where the cheese is and run off to their holes in a trice. But, what's this? I think we might imagine what happens next; yes, the cat happens to be lurking round watching for some mice to catch for his supper. He's now lost all those tasty ones because of a single mouse sitting up there nibbling at the cheese. He's furious, but at least he'll have that one - so he pounces on Twiddley-Bit, which means this disliked rodent's life looks as if it's about to end quite gruesomely.

Would Enid Blyton allow it?

Matilda And The Golliwog

The Tiny family live in a beautiful dolls' house. Brass knocker, letter-box, lace curtains, two red chimneys, little seat in the porch and even a weeny motor-car in its garage. There are four rooms, a big table, sideboard, sofa, clock on the mantelpiece, and pictures on the wall. The description goes on ... kitchen, bedrooms, and the stairway with its blue carpeting. Truly a home to be proud of.

Mr. & Mrs. Tiny and their four children occupy the beautiful residence that in actuality belongs to Mollie who plays with it every night. Mrs. Tiny bathes the children each evening and puts them into their cots, then after a meal, she and Mr. Tiny often sit on a wooden seat in the porch and converse before retiring to their " ... big bed with its blue quilt."

One night the golliwog decides to see just what the dolls' house is really like so he knocks at the door. Mrs. Tiny is putting the children to bed and her husband is doing the dishes whilst singing so neither of them hear the knocks; the golliwog decides to open the door and he's delighted when he sees such a lovely cosy place. It would definitely be more desirable to live here than in the uncomfortable toy-cupboard, so when Mr. Tiny comes in from the kitchen - what does he see?

The golliwog sitting in an armchair reading by the fire. Mr. Tiny shrieks and asks who he is and the golliwog says,

"I'm Mr. Golly and I'm going to live here because it's so cosy!"

Mr. Tiny remonstrates rather apprehensively.

"You can't live here because this is our house."

"Who says so? Please don't talk to me - I want to read!"

Well! Now what? The golly is big so it would be no use trying to push him out, and in the end the Tiny family have to put up with the intruder; and what an intruder! He sleeps in the master bed thus forcing Mr. & Mrs. to share the children's room, and he's always wanting something to eat yet doesn't help with the dishes. He smokes a pipe spreading fumes everywhere and when he takes a bath the bedroom floor is left soaking. He also wakes the children up with his singing so the Tinys have a problem. Mrs Tiny becomes ill and thin from cleaning up after the golly and finally Mr. Tiny says they'll have to look for a maid to help out.

They do so and are very lucky to find a little wooden doll lying in the toy cupboard. She's been there for two or three years - lost and forgotten. The doll whose name is Matilda is delighted to be taken on as maid to the Tinys' and how she works with all the scrubbing and cleaning and washing and keeping the rooms tidy. She grows to love the whole family very much indeed and does her very best for them.

But she HATES the golliwog.

"Nasty, lazy, black creature," she says to Mrs. Tiny. "Always dirtying everything and eating four times as much as you do and frightening the children."

Mrs. Tiny tells Matilda they can't get rid of him, and then a glimmer of hope enters when Matilda says,

"Oho, so that's it. Don't worry, I'll deal with him!"

Matilda can be a very demanding little doll!

Peter's Fire Engine

Peter and his mother watch a shining fire engine race down the road past their home. What a splendid sight it is with the fire-men wearing their glittering helmets and a bell clanging loudly as it tears along.

"When I was a little girl the fire-engine was pulled by galloping horses," says Mother and Peter's so impressed that he resolves there and then to make a fire-engine of his own. His cart will do and Tony (family dog) will be the horse. Off he goes to find his cart and Tony is duly summoned to perform his role. Peter puts the cart behind him and hitches it up with reins to the dog's collar. Now he's all set except for a bell.

'Ding-a-dong-a-ding-a-dong!" That's the kitchen bell which Peter has borrowed with his mother's permission' and he also needs a helmet. Firemen need helmets, so Peter fetches Daddy's old bowler hat from where it's hanging in the hall, and then realises he'll want something to hack down doors so that he can rush in to save people. He grabs hold of his Red Indian axe and when it's fastened to his side Peter feels that he's now ready for anything.

There's a full-page picture of Peter with his fire-engine being pulled by Tony and, looking closer, it seems they're racing off to a fire - at least that's what it looks like.

Now ... in his role-playing mode, where would the boy and his dog locate a fire?

Tiddley-Pom's Pencil

For making him a splendid party suit the King rewards Tiddley-Pom the tailor with a beautiful gold pencil of which he's very proud indeed. He shows it off to everyone and his wife dispenses a little advice to her husband.

"Make sure you choose a safe place for it," she tells him, "... because you know how careless you are with things."

His pocket?

No, because Tiddley-Pom's pockets always have holes in them. Although his wife mends them continuously, Tiddley-Pom keeps putting his scissors into them, thus causing more holes.

The mantelpiece?

No, because it might roll off, but eventually Tiddley-Pom chooses to place it behind his ear, and his wife approves of the choice before leaving to do her shopping, whilst Tiddley-Pom gets stuck into a bit more tailoring. Various friends chat to him as they pass his open window and one of those persons is old Dame Tubby who asks if she could see the gold pencil presented to him by the King.

This is the start of a rather vexing time for the tailor because it appears his pencil, his beautiful gold pencil, has disappeared. He feels all round his pocket but nothing can he find! That's funny because he usually keeps his pencil there; he rushes over to the mantelpiece but it's bereft of any pencil. A suggestion by Dame Tubby alarms him considerably because she puts it to him that a witch or gnome might have filched the pen - and only that very morning, Snippy the gnome, Witch Toddles, the Yellow Witch, and Higgle the gnome had dropped in. They're friends however so it's unlikely one of them would've run off with anything. Dame Tubby offers to help - she'll nip home and get a spell especially designed for those who are the victim of a robbery.

On her way she reports to all and sundry about Tiddley-Pom's unfortunate loss and this results in a crowd of fairies, goblins, witches, gnomes and pixies descending on Tiddley-Pom's workshop to hear the latest news about his lost pencil. When Dame Tubby returns with a small box of yellow powder, things begin to happen and Tiddley-Pom's wife gets quite a shock on her way home from the market.

"Quark, quark, quark!"

The Very Clever Kite

Timothy can't sit still for long and that's not surprising because he's going to visit a conjurer at the Town Hall. Timothy's heard that he can turn water into cocoa and then simply by waving his handkerchief over the cup, he can turn it magically into a bowl with goldfish swimming around inside.

Now that's something indeed and Timothy can't wait for the day to arrive. Meanwhile it's windy outside and his mummy has gone to take a basket of clean linen from the laundry man who's called by. She takes out a pound note to pay the man but an unexpected gust of wind snatches the paper-money and blows it over the hedge.

"Quick, Timothy, help me look for it," Mummy cries but although they search high and low, the money's nowhere to be found; for all they know it could be in the next village by now. This is a very unfortunate occurrence because it means that Mummy can an longer afford Timothy's visit to the conjuror, and as you can imagine the boy's terribly disappointed. However, when he sees his mother looking so upset, Timothy resolves to pretend he doesn't care. He gives his mother a hug.

"Never mind Mummy, I don't care about the conjuror."

Now that's a very nice thing for the lad to do in the circumstances and one can only hope there's a little balance served up somewhere. Timothy puts on his coat and sets off to visit his friend Jimmy in order to let him know he can't go to the conjuror. He finds Jimmy in a field flying his kite with such a boisterous wind blowing around that it's difficult to hear themselves speaking to each other. The kite is flying as high as it can go and then, just as Timothy says he hopes the string won't break, that's exactly what happens. Away goes the kite with its tail and string dragging behind it.

Unhappy accident after unhappy accident. Could this tale possibly have a happy accident?

The Golliwog And The Canary

In the nursery is a little yellow canary called Goldie and it belongs to Emma. One day she inadvertently forgets to feed and water him so poor Goldie is very hungry and very thirsty. As usual, he watches the toys creep out of their cupboard when night falls and what an excited lot they are because a dance has been planned and they've invited two fairies who live outside the window. The golliwog suddenly notices how unhappy Goldie looks and he calls out,

"What's the matter? You look quite miserable."

Goldie explains her predicament and the golly asks him where the seed-tin is. Goldie tells him he thinks it's in the little cupboard, so the golliwog opens it up and manages to locate the seeds whereby he climbs up the curtain and in no time at all some of them have been emptied into the canary's tin. What a blessing. Goldie has an excellent meal and then feels thirsty. No problem. Golly simply grabs the tiny watering can from Emma's toy garden, fills it from the goldfish bowl, and then empties the water into Goldie's container. The happy canary thanks him warmly, and now it's time to plan the dance.

The fairies will don their best frocks and bring along honey-cakes for all the toys so it looks as if everyone's going to enjoy themselves. The following night there's excitement galore. The golly combs his hair, polishes up his buttons and ties on his bow at least elven times to get it just right, and the pink rabbit pulls his fine whiskers straight. The two dolls wash their faces and curl their hair beautifully - and now it looks as if everyone's ready to go.

As often occurs in an EB tale, a 'Horrid Shock' is experienced although it's actually down as 'A Dreadful Thing' and it is indeed truly dreadful because the key to their music box is missing. We're privy to the fact that Emma had been playing with it only this morning and the key has been left somewhere outside. Anyway, this is a calamity for the toys - especially after all the excitement of getting ready for what they thought would be a super wonderful get-together with the fairies.

Is there any other means of music available ... any at all?

The Cat Without A Mew

In the cupboard with many other toys lives a toy cat that can mew if its middle is pressed ... and a beautiful sound it was when the cat was brand new. It went 'EEEeeee' and the toys loved it but one day a dreadful thing happened - Bobby accidentally trod on the cat and broke her squeak! The lad was very sorry it happened and when he asked Mother if she could fix it, the answer was a decisive "No!" She could insert a new eye into the cat or sew on a new ear but, squeaks are not within her realm of expertise it appears.

So, how is this wrong to be righted?

The toys, being very unhappy about the situation, begin thinking really hard and finally come up with a potential solution. There's an old gate in the nearby field that goes 'EEEEEEEEeeeeeeee,' and the golliwog thinks it would provide an excellent substitute for the cat's mew. This is deemed an idea worthy of perusal so that night the dolls, pink teddy bear, black dog and toy cat visit the old gate where it's squeaking away in the wind and sounding very much like a great cat mewing. The golliwog asks if they could possibly have it to replace the squeak that disappeared when their cat was trodden upon.

The toys are told they can have the squeak provided they fetch some oil for the gate's hinges.

Yes, it looks like one of 'those' stories because when the toys troop off to the potting shed for a little oil, the oil-can agrees to let them have some but first of all could the toys get a duster and clean the can up a bit as the gardener always leaves it so dirty. The little doll knows of a pixie living nearby who possesses a duster and very shortly the toys are knocking at her door to ask for a borrow. Further requests are made that involve mushrooms and turnips and a horse and a scarecrow but the tale has a rather satisfactory ending. As an aside - one of Enid Blyton's books is entitled 'The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat.'

In this particular tale, Bobby and his mother confront 'The Mystery of the Disappearing Hat!'

The Jumping Jack

In the best fairy-tale tradition: 'Once upon a time' ... there was an old toyshop containing many toys of all kinds - dolls, boxes of soldiers, trains, motor-cars, humming tops and soft cuddly animals.

This review was too long to fit in this sectio
The old dame who owns the outlet is often ill so the place is not open all that often and the adjoining house has holes in the walls out of which pop little mice at night.

The toys aren't too worried about mice because if they wanted to get rid of them, a few growls from the teddy bears or a loud hum from one of the tops would easily scare them away - but one evening, out of a big hole there emerges a fierce-looking rat with great big whiskers and a long bare tail. The baby doll is very scared, so the bear walks bravely up to the intruder and growls loudly. When the rat takes no notice of him he growls again, and then flees for his life when the ugly rodent snaps two of his whiskers off!

"You can't frighten me because I'm a RAT, fierce, clever and cruel. I've come here to eat all the sweets out of the toy sweetshop and I shall bite anyone who tries to stop me! Furthermore, when my wife makes a nest for her young ones I'll take anything I like ..... dresses from the dolls, fur off the animals, pages out of the books. Grrrrrrr!"

The toys are left trembling and wondering what on earth they can do. Shortly the golliwog supplies an answer - the soldiers shall march against this threat to our peace and happiness, and that's exactly what takes place. When the rat next appears he finds a hundred soldiers arranged in ten lines with swords drawn ready to attack. This sounds like a formidable defence but the rat's not fazed. He leaps at the soldiers and knocks them to the floor before biting the heads off two unfortunates.

The golliwog is forced to reappraise his plans and eventually decides that if the rat appears again, it will face all the dogs lined up in a row but, when this takes place, the rat simply jumps at them and causes considerable damage to the canines. The rat warns - he's going to eat all the sweets and then bite off the dolls' hair to make a soft nest for his young ones. This statement causes nothing short of pandemonium ....... with all the dolls tearing off to find suitable hiding places whilst the golliwog tries in vain to think of another idea.

The next night a further visit by the rat takes place and as there are no more sweets because he's already eaten whatever there were, he asks the toys where some food might be .... or else! He's told there's no food left anywhere, but the rat thinking they've hidden everything away, starts hunting. He comes across a closed box and the toys are asked what's inside it? The golliwog tells him Jack lives in there, but the rat says,

"Whoever heard of any one living in a box all shut up?"

This is where the story-title is well-illustrated.


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#1:

Bobby is the boy to whom the toys belong.

#3:

'Knickerbockers' would be a term familiar to most readers; quaint name for an article of clothing.

An item of good news for Susan and John is that Bobby's mother tells them the party's going to be held in three weeks time when her boy recovers from the chicken-pox.

#6:

The stray dog's name is now 'Brownie.'

#7:

Can't see Long-Tail's idea working with any glue that exists in our world.

#9:

I wonder if a dog could pull an embedded thorn from a paw with its teeth.

When Pat picked the jackdaw up in his mouth, the bird thought it was going to be eaten.

#10:

One day Mrs. Winkle sent her husband to post some letters and to buy some new-laid eggs. Unfortunately when he passed the pillar-box it was the eggs that he posted!

Fountain pens don't seem to be around any more these days. They're pens with a small rubber container of ink inside.

#11:

Kids' pedal cars seem to have gone out of fashion.

It's hard to say whether or not one penny per week pocket money would be miserly seeing Harry's placed in the 1930's.

I would imagine 'Auntie Lou' is Louise in real life.

Enid Blyton's really into hooters. Another boy who wanted a hooter for his pedal-car was 'Harry' - and 'No,' he can't be the same 'Harry' because this 'Harry' drives a red car with yellow wheels ('What a Surprise'_Little Book#15). The much acclaimed Frederick Trotteville and his fellow detectives solved one mystery where a hooter played its part (Mystery of the Pantomime Cat). Leslie wanted a hooter for his scooter and ended up receiving one from a few goblins who practically hijacked his means of transport in 'Good Gracious Me' (Tales About Toys).

Harry's been well-used in the Enid Blyton novels - 'Red Button Land' (Yellow Story Book), 'Harry's Pigeon' (We Want A Story), 'What A Good Thing' (Good Morning Book), 'Betsy-May And The Giant Boy' (My EB Bedside Book), 'What Would You Have Done?' (EB's Ninth Bedside Book), 'Little Harry's Milk' & 'The Cat Did It' (EB's Eleventh Bedside Book), 'Whistling Kettle' (EB Holiday Book), 'Christmas Tree Aeroplane' (Second Holiday Book), 'Little Lost Hen' (Third Holiday Book), 'Great Big Story' (Fourth Holiday Book). The name is mainly used in the short stories but did you know - Henrietta would answer only if she was addressed as Henry or 'Harry' (Five Go To Mystery Moor). Harry Lawdler got a mention in 'Five On A Secret Trail.' Harry Armstrong was nothing less than a millionaire (Five Run Away Together). Harry Jones was spied upon in 'Good Old Secret Seven.' Harry Wills and Harry Dunn grace 'Naughtiest Girl In The School.' Mirabel's brother is named Harry (Second Form At St. Clare's). There's Harry's Folly of course (Mystery Of The Hidden House), and the name is so popular that Enid Blyton even called a girl 'Harry' (kind of) in 'Five On Finniston Farm.' Peter and Jimmy are also popular names.

#14:

Dame Toddle's sister is called Jemima.

In the book used for reference Chapter X1V is actually numbered as Chapter X11 (same as Chapter X11 - 'The Whistling Pig.') The question is of course - whether or not all copies of that particular title have the same error. It's the 1956 edition.

#15:

I wonder if a person could keep on reciting the spell every five minutes so that it would never run out. Of course I'd imagine one could simply make a single wish and then wish that every wish he ever wished will come true ....... as George did in 'The Boy Who Was too Clever' (Second Book of Naughty Children).

#16:

There are one or two instances where Enid Blyton's strict laws of justice fall a little short; in this story the thieving frog appears to get away scot free.

#17:

Mr. Dawdle only just caught the bus in case you're wondering.

Who'd like to be woken for breakfast with the sound of a gong?

#18:

We don't generally think of bears as having pockets, but the one in this tale has a coat and pants.

#21:

Farmer Straw's name is 'George.'

Telephones would have existed in 1945 but possibly some of the more remote farmhouses hadn't yet been hooked up; hence the need for John and Alice to bodily summon a GP.

#22:

Mrs Whiskers went out with the six invited mice to her own party, so it can be presumed the cheese was in a nearby farm dairy.

#26:

On page #133 there's a pleasant picture of Timothy up a tree.

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The frontispiece picture is well worthy of inclusion in any display of the artist's work. It depicts Pat, the jackdaw, and Tom.