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Amelia Jane Gets Into Trouble!Amelia Jane is Naughty Again!

Good Idea, Amelia Jane!The Magic Faraway Tree

The Folk of the Faraway TreeThe Adventures of the Wishing Chair

The Wishing Chair AgainMore Wishing Chair Stories

Five O’Clock TalesSix O’Clock Tales

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The Queen Elizabeth FamilyThe Saucy Jane Family

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The Mystery of the Disappearing CatThe Mystery of the Secret Room

The Mystery of the Spiteful LettersThe Mystery of the Missing Necklace

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The Mystery of the Pantomime CatThe Mystery of the Invisible Thief

The Mystery of the Vanished PrinceThe Mystery of the Strange Bundle

The Mystery of Holly LaneThe Mystery of Tally-Ho CottageThe Mystery of the Missing Man

The Mystery of the Strange MessagesThe Mystery of Banshee Towers

First Term at Malory TowersSecond Form at Malory Towers

Third Year at Malory TowersUpper Fourth at Malory Towers

In the Fifth at Malory TowersLast Term at Malory Towers

The Twins at St Clare’sThe O’Sullivan Twins

Summer Term at St Clare’sThe Second Form at St Clare’s

Claudine at St Clare’sFifth Formers at St Clare’s

Written by Pam CoxThird Form at St Clare’sSixth Form at St Clare’s

Also by Enid Blyton in Egmont

EGMONT

First published in Great Britain 1939 by NewnesThis edition published 2002 by

Egmont Books Limited,239 Kensington High Street, London W8 6SA

Text copyright © 1939 Enid Blyton LimitedIllustration copyright © 2001 Jill Newton

Enid Blyton’s signature mark is a registered trademark of Enid Blyton Limited.

A Chorion group company.

ISBN 0 7497 48001

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

Typeset by Dorchester Typesetting Group Ltd, Dorset

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cox & Wyman Ltd,Reading, Berkshire

This paperback is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. HOW THEY FOUND THE MAGIC WOOD . . . . . . . . . . . 1

II. FIRST VISIT TO THE WOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

III. UP THE FARAWAY TREE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

IV. THE FOLK IN THE FARAWAY TREE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

V. THE ROUNDABOUT LAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

VI. MOON-FACE AND THE SLIPPERY-SLIP . . . . . . . . . . . 31

VII. BETH MAKES SOME TOFFEE FOR MOON-FACE . . . 37

VIII. JOE AND THE MAGIC SNOWMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

IX. THE HOUSE OF THE THREE BEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

X. THE BATTLE OF THE BEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

XI. MORE AND MORE SURPRISES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

XII. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SNOWMAN . . . . . . . . . . . 67

XIII. MOON-FACE GETS INTO TROUBLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

XIV. THE FUNNY OLD SAUCEPAN MAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

XV. THE SAUCEPAN MAN GOES TO THE

WRONG LAND! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

XVI. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE ROCKING LAND . . . . . . 91

XVII. AN INVITATION FROM MOON-FACE AND SILKY . . 98

XVIII. THE LAND OF TAKE-WHAT-YOU-WANT . . . . . . . . . 104

XIX. MOON-FACE GETS INTO A FIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

XX. OFF TO DAME SNAP’S SCHOOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

XXI. SILKY’S CLOCK IS VERY CLEVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

XXII. UP TO THE LAND OF TOYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

XXIII. THEY GET INTO TROUBLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

XXIV. MR OOM-BOOM-BOOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

XXV. IN SANTA CLAUS’ CASTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

XXVI. THE ARMY OF RED GOBLINS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

XXVII. A MOST EXCITING NIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

XXVIII. THE RED GOBLINS GET A SHOCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

CONTENTS continued

CHAPTER

XXIX. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE RED GOBLINS . . . . . . 183

XXX. A PLAN FOR BETH’S BIRTHDAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

XXXI. THE LAND OF BIRTHDAYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

XXXII. THE LITTLE LOST ISLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

XXXIII. SAFE BACK HOME AGAIN – AND GOOD-BYE! . . . . 208

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I. HOW THEY FOUND THE MAGIC WOOD

There were once three children, called Joe, Beth andFrannie. All their lives they had lived in a town, butnow their father had a job in the country, so they wereall to move as soon as they possibly could.

‘What fun to be in the country!’ said Joe. ‘I shalllearn all about animals and birds!’

‘And I shall pick as many flowers as I want to,’ saidBeth.

‘And I shall have a garden of my own,’ said Frannie.When the day came for the move all the children

were excited. A small van came to their door and twomen helped their father and mother to pile everythinginto it. When it was full the van drove away, and thechildren put on their coats and hats to go with theirmother to catch a train to the station.

‘Now we’re off!’ cried Joe.‘The country, the country!’ sang Beth.‘We might see fairies there!’ said Frannie.The train whistled, and chuffed out of the station.

The children pressed their noses to the window andwatched the dirty houses and the chimneys race by.How they hated the town! How lovely it would be tobe in the clean country, with flowers growingeverywhere, and birds singing in the hedges!

‘We might have adventures in the country,’ said Joe.‘There will be streams and hillsides, big fields and

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dark woods. Oooh, it will be lovely!’‘You won’t have any more adventures in the country

than you will have in the town,’ said their father. ‘Idare say you will find it all very dull.’

But that’s where he was quite wrong. My goodness,the things that happened to those three children!

They arrived at last at the tiny station where they wereto get out. A sleepy-looking porter put their two bagson a trolley, and said he would bring them along later.Off they all went down the winding country lane,chattering loudly.

‘I wonder if we’ve got a garden?’ said Frannie.But before they reached their new home they were

tired out and could not bother to say a word more toeach other. Their cottage was five miles from thestation, and as the children’s father could not afford todo anything but walk there, it seemed a very long wayindeed. There was no bus to take them, so the tiredchildren dragged their feet along, wishing for a glass ofwarm milk and a cosy bed.

At last they got there – and dear me, it was worthall the walk, for the cottage was sweet. Roses hung fromthe walls – red and white and pink – and honeysucklewas all round the front door. It was lovely!

The van was at the door, and the two men weremoving all the furniture into the little house. Fatherhelped, whilst Mother went to light the kitchen stoveto make them all a hot drink.

They were so tired that they could do nothing butdrink hot milk, eat some toast and tumble into theirroughly-made beds. Joe looked out of the window but

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he was too sleepy to see properly. In one minute thetwo girls in their small room were asleep, and Joe too,in his even tinier room.

What fun it was to wake up in the morning and seethe sun shining in at strange windows! It didn’t takeJoe, Beth and Frannie very long to dress. Then theywere out in the little garden, running through thegrass that had grown so long, and smelling the rosesthat grew all around.

Mother had cooked eggs for them, and they atetheir breakfast hungrily.

‘It’s lovely to be in the country!’ said Joe, lookingout of the window to the far-away hills.

‘We can grow vegetables in the garden,’ said Beth.‘There will be glorious walks all round,’ said

Frannie.That day everyone helped to get the little house

straight and tidy. Father was going to work the next

day. Mother hoped there would be someone to giveher washing to do, then she would make enoughmoney to buy a few hens. That would be lovely!

‘I shall collect the eggs each morning and evening,’said Frannie happily.

‘Let’s go out and see what the country round aboutis like,’ said Joe. ‘Can you spare us for an hour,Mother?’

‘Yes, run along,’ said Mother. So off the threechildren went, out of the tiny white front gate and intothe lane.

They explored all round about. They ran across afield where pink clover was full of bees. They paddledin a small brown stream that chattered away to itselfunder the willow trees in the sunshine.

And then they suddenly came to the wood. It wasnot far from their cottage, at the back. It looked quitean ordinary wood, except that the trees were a darkergreen than usual. A narrow ditch separated the woodfrom the overgrown lane.

‘A wood!’ said Beth, in delight. ‘We shall be able tohave picnics here!’

‘It’s rather a mysterious sort of wood,’ said Joethoughtfully. ‘Don’t you think so, Beth?’

‘Well, the trees are rather thick, but they seemabout the same as any others,’ said Beth.

‘They don’t quite,’ said Frannie. ‘The noise theleaves make is different. Listen!’

They listened – and Frannie was right. The leavesof the trees in the wood did not rustle in quite thesame way as other trees nearby did.

‘It’s almost as if they were really talking to one

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another,’ said Beth. ‘Whispering secrets – real secrets,that we just can’t understand.’

‘It’s a magic wood!’ said Frannie suddenly.Nobody said anything. They stood and listened.

‘Wisha-wisha-wisha-wisha-wisha!’ said the trees in thewood, and bent towards one another in a friendly way.

‘There might be fairy-folk in there,’ said Beth.‘Shall we jump over the ditch and go in?’

‘No,’ said Joe. ‘We might get lost. Let’s find our wayaround before we go into big woods like this.’

‘Joe! Beth! Frannie!’ suddenly came their mother’svoice from the cottage not far off. ‘It’s time for lunch,time for lunch!’

The children felt hungry all at once. They forgotthe strange wood and ran back to their new home.Mother had new bread with strawberry jam for them,and they ate a whole loaf between them.

Father came in as they were finishing. He had beenshopping for Mother in the village three miles awayand he was hungry and tired.

‘We’ve been exploring everywhere, Father!’ saidBeth, pouring him out a big cup of tea.

‘We’ve found a lovely wood,’ said Joe. ‘The treesreally seem to be talking to one another, Father.’

‘That must be the wood I’ve heard about thisafternoon,’ said Father. ‘It has a strange name,children.’

‘What is it called?’ asked Joe.‘It’s called the Enchanted Wood,’ said their father.

‘People don’t go there if they can help it. It’s funny tohear things like this nowadays, and I don’t expectthere is really anything strange about the wood. But just

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be careful not to go too far into it, in case you get lost.’The children looked in excitement at one another.

The Enchanted Wood! What a lovely name!And each child secretly thought the same thought –

‘I shall go and explore the Enchanted Wood as soon asever I can!’

Their father set them to work in the overgrowngarden once they had finished their meal. Joe had topull up the tough thistles and the two girls had toweed the untidy vegetable bed. They spoke to oneanother in joyful voices.

‘The Enchanted Wood! We knew there wassomething magical about it!’

‘I guessed there were fairies there!’ said Frannie.‘We’ll do some more exploring as soon as we can!’

cried Beth. ‘We’ll find out what those whispering treesare saying! We’ll know all the secrets of the woodbefore many weeks are past!’

And that night, at bedtime, all three stood at thewindow, looking out on the dark, whispering woodbehind the cottage. What would they find in theEnchanted Wood?