I'm not familiar with the cat's tail tale, but I've read similar stories. I think one involved a kettle, and the other walking stick or umbrella. I know they were both thrown down a well and ended up in the culprit's bed, making them wet and cold.
Thanks for posting that story Pete, I don't have Enid Blyton's Treasure Box so haven't seen it before but I have read other stories on a similar theme.
"I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines." Oliver Goldsmith
I haven't seen that story before either, so I've enjoyed reading it and looking at the pictures.
Katharine wrote: ↑28 Dec 2021, 14:53
I'm not familiar with the cat's tail tale, but I've read similar stories. I think one involved a kettle, and the other walking stick or umbrella.
I'm pretty sure there's one about a walking stick and one about an umbrella. I also remember one about a poker. Those sorts of tales were among my favourites when I was a child. They were extremely entertaining but also a little scary, in an enjoyable way!
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.
"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.
Great little story Pete, thanks for posting it here. You're right that there are several such stories, of ordinary objects coming to life under some wizard or witch's spell, usually to punish naughty children or elves or goblins or whatever. I recall an umbrella that tippy tapped everywhere after being "borrowed" by a couple of gnomes and several others of the same ilk. Like Anita I always loved those stories. Naughty people being punished in a very funny and appropriate way.
"What a lot of trouble one avoids if one refuses to have anything to do with the common herd. To have no job, to devote ones life to literature, is the most wonderful thing in the world. - Cicero
I feel that's one of Enid's strengths, in that she could use the same story, but make it slightly different each time, so that it is still interesting.