Re-reading old books

[Eldberg]

Having found my childhood collection of books, I am now re-reading some of them. Beginning with the Famous Five and on to the Adventure series.

Two memories lurk in my mind. On concerns a parrot belonging to one of the main characters. I think the one in the Adventure books is named Kiki (if that is not a Swedish translation, original may be different?). But the parrot I am thinking of annoys people by saying "Pardon!" all the time. Kiki does not. Is there another parrot somewhere i Blyton's books or have I confused the stories?

The other memory has to do with a boy who meets with the main characters and whom they are somehow forced to take care of. He is a foreign noble and must be addressed as "Durchlaucht". Can't find this either in my Blyton books.

Am I mixing things up?

Åke

[Barnard]

I think that, in one of the Adventure books, Kiki does indeed say ‘pardon’.

[GloomyGraham]

The other memory has to do with a boy who meets with the main characters and whom they are somehow forced to take care of. He is a foreign noble and must be addressed as "Durchlaucht".

That sounds like Gustavus from 'The Circus of Adventure' unless you are confusing him with 'Prince Paul' from the 'Secret series" (Secret of Spiggy Holes onward).

And Kiki is the star parrot in Enid's books!

[Lucky Star]

Kiki is the only parrot in Blyton's books that I can think of. She appears in the Adventure series. And in one of the books the children have been ill and Kiki develops the annoying habit of copying them by sniffing and then saying "pardon".

The foreign noble is almost certainly "Gussy" from The Circus of Adventure whom the family must look after in England but they are all then whisked off to his country Tauri-Hessia as part of a dastardly plot.

[Hannah]

I'm not sure that it is Gussy. The other children don't even know he's a prince when he comes and he's never addressed as "Durchlaucht" or with another title.

[Wolfgang]

It depends on how much you misremeber things, Åke. When the children learn that Gustavus actually is a prince and Lucy-Ann states that she can't call him Prince Aloysius etc., Bill asks them to keep calling him Gustavus.
In "River of adventure" Kiki actually says quite a lot of times "Pardon".

[Nair Snehalatha]

Bill does not tell the children first that Gussy is a prince-- its Gussy himself who says it out-- when he keeps throwing tantrums-- and the others get really.fed up with him. After this Bills lets out the secret of Gussy being a prince

[Eldberg]

Thanks all for your answers.

Gustavus -- yes, that was the noble I was thinking of. Unfortunately I seem to have misplaced the Circus book.

The parrot that says "pardon" must be in some other book, not Enids. I just read the River adventure and Kiki does not say "pardon" in the Swedish translation. The word actually exists in Swedish but is very unusual and has a somewhat different meaning. We would e.g. not say "pardon?" to indicate that we did not hear what someone said. Which is probably why it has been translated using another word.

Åke

[Katharine]

I thought Kiki says pardon a lot in one of the books because she pretends to hiccup I think she does actually get the hiccups for real at one point.

I can't remember which book it is though.

Are the books you are reading in English or Swedish?

[Moonraker]

The word actually exists in Swedish but is very unusual and has a somewhat different meaning

the word has several meanings in English:

the action of forgiving or being forgiven for an error or offence.
"he obtained pardon for his sins"

forgive or excuse (a person, error, or offence).
"I know Katharine will pardon me"
or
(after breaking wind) "Pardon me!"

a request to a speaker to repeat something because one did not hear or understand it.
"‘Pardon?’ I said, cupping a hand to my ear" - similar to the previous example, fully , it would be, "Pardon me, but I didn't catch what you said," for example.

[Katharine]

forgive or excuse (a person, error, or offence).
"I know Katharine will pardon me"

Of course, I'd forgive you anything.

Regarding Kiki, I presume that a hiccup was deemed as offensive as burping in the Mannering household, which is presumably why Kiki said "Pardon" afterwards.

I've just seen that others have commented that the 'Pardon' relates to sniffing and in River of Adventure - I've obviously got myself as muddled up as Kiki sometimes does.

[GloomyGraham]

Kiki is the only parrot in Blyton's books that I can think of.

Madame Prunella has quite a few in one of the Galliano books, doesn't she?

"Britomart thinks he's smart, but he has a stoney heart"

[Nair Snehalatha]

Madame Prunella's parrots were unique-- especially Gringle who yelled out names of food more than anything else--- Baked beans and potatoes, bacon and eggs, plum pudding and custard -- to name just a few

[Courtenay]

Madame Prunella has quite a few in one of the Galliano books, doesn't she?

"Britomart thinks he's smart, but he has a stoney heart"

Yes, that's Circus Days Again, the third and final Galliano book. Gringle, the most talkative of her parrots, is a bit like Kiki!

I also have a memory of Kiki saying "Pardon" in at least one of the Adventure books, but I don't own the whole series and most of the books I do have are in storage at the moment, so I can't check which one it is!