The Book of Brownies (The Enchanted World) Read Free Page A

and dreamed of horrid magic baskets, and packets of goodness that would keep running away from them.

Their Adventure in the Cottage Without a Door
    Next morning the brownies set out on their journey. They soon passed the borders of Fairyland and found themselves in the Lands Outside. For a long, long time they walked, and
met nobody at all.
    ‘I
am
getting hungry!’ sighed Hop.
    ‘So am I!’ said Skip.
    ‘Well, look! There’s a cottage,’ said Jump. ‘We’ll go and ask if we can have something to eat. Have you got any money, Hop?’
    Hop felt in his pockets.
    ‘Not a penny,’ he answered.
    ‘Oh dear, nor have I,’ said Skip.
    ‘What
are
we to do then?’ asked Jump. ‘Perhaps there’s someone kind living in the cottage, who will give us some breakfast for nothing.’
    The three brownies went up to the little cottage. It was surrounded by trees and its front door was painted a very beautiful bright blue.
    Hop knocked loudly.
    ‘Who is knocking at my door?’ asked a deep voice.
    ‘Three hungry brownies,’ answered Hop boldly.
    ‘Come in!’ said the voice.
    Hop opened the door and the brownies went in.
    Clap! The door swung to behind them, and made them jump. Hop looked round to see who had shut the door.
    But to his enormous surprise, he could see no door at all – and yet they had just come in by one.
    ‘Good gracious!’ he cried. ‘Wherever has the door gone!’
    ‘He, he!’ chuckled a deep voice. ‘It’s gone where
you
won’t find it! I’ve got you prisoners now. Three nice little servants to work for me all
day!’
    Hop, Skip and Jump looked most astonished. This was a fine sort of welcome!
    Then they saw an old wizard, huddled up by the cottage fire, laughing at them.
    ‘We’re not your prisoners, so please let us go,’ said Hop.
    ‘All right, go!’ laughed the wizard.
    But search as they would, the brownies couldn’t find any door at all. There were blank walls all round them. Then they knew that they were prisoners indeed.
    ‘Now, listen,’ said the wizard. ‘I will give you your meals, and in return you must work for me. I have a great many spells I want copied out. Sit down at that table and begin
work at once.’
    The three brownies obeyed. They knew that it was best not to anger such a powerful wizard.
    He brought them each a great book of magic, and set it down beside them.
    ‘Begin at page one,’ he said, ‘and if you make me a fair copy of all the books, without one single mistake, perhaps I will let you go.’
    ‘Oh dear!’ groaned Jump. ‘Why, the books have got about a thousand pages each.’
    The three brownies set to work, and very difficult it was too, for the wizard wrote so badly that they could hardly read his writing in the big magic books.
    All day they wrote, and all the wizard gave them to eat was a large turnip, which tasted just like India-rubber. The brownies kept looking round to see if the door came back again, but alas, it
didn’t.
    That night, when the wizard was snoring on his bed, the three brownies began whispering together.
    ‘We
must
escape somehow!’ said Hop.
    ‘But how?’ whispered Skip and Jump.
    None of them could think of a plan at all.
    ‘It’s no good thinking of escaping until we find out about that disappearing door!’ groaned Hop. ‘The wizard’s barred the window right across. We’d better go
to sleep.’
    So off to sleep they went, and were wakened up very early the next morning by the wizard, who wanted his breakfast.
    After that they had to sit down and copy out the magic books again. It was dreadfully dull work.
    But suddenly Hop found he was copying out something that made his heart beat with excitement. It was about Disappearing Doors.
    ‘A Disappearing Door will come back if a wizard’s green stick is swung three times in the air and dropped,’ said the book. Hop’s hand shook as he copied it out.
    ‘If only the wizard’s stick is green, and I could get hold of it whilst he’s asleep!’ he