Enid Blyton (15 page)

XV

The Land of Tea-Parties was peculiar. It seemed
to be made up of nothing but white-clothed
tables laden with all kinds of good things to eat!

"Gracious!" said
J
o, looking round. "What a
lot of tables—big and small, round and square
—
and all f
illed with the most gorgeous things to
eat!"

"They
’
ve got
chairs set round them too," said
Fanny. "Al
l
ready for people to sit on."

"And look at the little waiters!" said Connie,
in delight. "They are rabbits!"

So they were—rabbits dressed neatly in aprons,
and little black coats, hurrying here and there,
carrying pots of tea, jugs of lemonade, and all
kinds of other drinks.

It was lovely to watch them; they were so very
busy and so very serious.

"There a
re some people choosing tables
already!" said
Jo
, pointing. "Look—that must be
a pixie
’
s tea-party, sitting over there. Aren
’
t they
sweet?"

"And oh, do look!—there
’
s a squirrel party,"
said Fanny. "Mother and Father Squirrel, and all
the baby squirrels. I expect it
’
s
one of the baby
squirrels
’
birthdays
!
"

I
t was fun to see the little tea-
parties. But soon
the children began to feel very hungry. There were
such nice things on the tables! There were
sandwiches of all kinds, stuck with little labels
to show what they were. Fanny read some of them
out loud.

"Dewdrop and honey sandwiches-ooh! And
here are some sardine and strawberry sandwiches—what a funny mixture! But I dare say it would
be nice. And here are orange and lemon sandwiches—I
’
ve never heard of those. And pineapple and
cucumber! Really, what an exciting lot of things
!
"

"Look at the cakes!" said Connie: "I
’
ve never
seen such beauties."

Nor had anyone else. There were pink cakes,
yellow cakes, chocolate cakes, ginger cakes,
cakes with fruit and silver balls all over them,
cakes with icing, cakes with flowers on made of
sugar, cakes big as could be, and tiny ones only
enough for two persons.

There were jellies and fruit salads and ice-creams too. Which table should they choose?
There were
different
things at every table!

"Here
’
s one with chocolate ice-cream," said
Connie. "Let
’
s
have this one."

"No—I
’
d like this one—it
’
s got blue jellies,
and I
’
ve never seen those before," said Silky.

"Well, oughtn
’
t we to find Saucepan
’
s mother
before we do anything?" said Moon-Face.

"Gracious, of course we ought!" said Bessie.
"Seeing all these gorgeous things made me forget
we had come to have tea with Saucepan
’
s mother.
SAUCEPAN, WHERE IS YOUR MOTHER?"

"Over there," said Saucepan, and he pointed to
where the dearest little old woman stood waiting,
her apple-cheeks rosy red, and her bright eyes
twinkling as brightly as Saucepan
’
s. "She
’
s
waiting. She
’
s got the pink rose in her bonnet,
look!—and the hat-pin—and she
’
s sewn the red
poppy buttons on her dress, and she
’
s pinned the
M for Mother brooch in front. The only thing she
can
’
t wear are the shoe-horn and the vase, and I
think she
’
s got them in her pocket. She was
awfully pleased with everything."

"Let
’
s go and wish her many happy returns of
the day," said Bessie, so they all went over to
the dear little old lady, and wished her a very happy
birthday. She was delighted to see them all, and
she kissed them, each one, even Moon-Face.

"Well, I
am
glad you
’
ve come," she said. "I
began to think something had happened to you."

"It had," said
J
o, and he began to tell her
about Dame Slap. But old Mrs. Saucepan was just
as deaf as Saucepan himself was.

"Here you are at last," said Mrs. Saucepan
to Saucepan.

"Yes, we did come fast," agreed Saucepan.
"We locked Dame Slap in the larder."

"Harder?" said Mrs. Saucepan. "Harder than
wha
t?"

The children giggled.
J
o went up to Mrs.
Saucepan and spoke very clearly.

"Let
’
s
ha
ve tea! The tables are getting f
illed up!"

Mrs. Saucepan heard. "Yes, we will," she
said.

"I
’
d like a table with blue jellies," said Silky.

"I
’
d like one with pineapple and cucumber
sandwiches," said Connie.

"Well—as it
’
s
Saucepan
’
s mother
’
s birthday,
don
’
t you think we ought to let
her
choose the
table?" said Bessie. "She ought to have the
things
she
likes best
today
."

"Yes, of course," said the others, rather ashamed
not to have thought of that. "MRS. SAUCEPAN,
PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR OWN TABLE."

Well, Mrs. Saucepan went straight to a big
round table, set with eight chairs, and sat down
at the head of it—and wasn
’
t it strange, there
were blue jellies there for Silky, pineapple and
cucumber sandwiches for Connie, a big fat
chocolate cake for Moon-Face, and all the things
the others wanted too!

"This is glorious," said Connie, beginning on
the sandwiches. "Oh—I never in my life tasted
such beautiful sandwiches, never!"

The little rabbit waiters ran up, and bowed to
old Mrs. Saucepan. "W
hat will you have to
drink?" they asked.

"Tea
for me," said Mrs. Saucepan. "
What for
you others?"

"Lemonade! Ginger-beer! Orange-
ade! Lime-juice! Cherry-ade!" called the children and the
others. The rabbits ran off, and came back with
trays on which stood opened bottles of everything
asked for, and a fat brown teapot of tea for Mrs.
Saucepan.
"

What fun they all had! There were squeals of
laughter from everyone, and from every table
there came happy chattering. The Land of Tea-Parties was certainly a great success.

The children finished up with ice-cream. Then
the rabbits brought round big gay boxes of crackers,
and the air
was soon full of pops and bangs. Mrs.
Saucepan pulled crackers with each of them, and
there were lovely things inside—brooches, and
rings and little toys, and comical hats that everyone
put on at once.

"We
l
l, we
’
ve had a glorious time," said
J
o, at
last; "but I think we ought to go now, Mrs.
Saucepan. Thank you very much for asking us
here. I hope you get another job as
cook some
where soon."

"Oh, I think I shall go and live in the Faraway
Tree with Dame Washalot," said Mrs. Saucepan.
She
’
s always so busy with her washing, she
hasn
’
t much time to cook. I could do the cooking
for her. I could make cakes to sell too, and have
a little shop there."

"Oh—that would be absolutely lovely!" cried
Bessie. "I
’
ll come and buy from you often."

"We
’
d better go back through the Land of Dame
Slap very cautiously indeed," said Moon-Face.
"We can
’
t get back to the Tree from this Land
because it
’
s not over the Tree. We shall have to
creep back through Dame Slap
’
s Land and rush
to the ladder quickly."

So they said good
bye to the busy little rabbit
waiters, and jumped over the boundary line again,
back into Dame Slap
’
s Land. They had to pass
near the school, of course, and they listened hard
to see what was going on.

There was a most terrific noise of shouting,
laughing and squealing. The grounds of the school
were full of the school-
children, and what a time
they were having!

"Old Dame Slap must be in the larder still,"
said Moon-
Face. "Yes, listen—I believe I can still
hear her hammering away!"

Sure enough, over all the noise made by the
school-
children, there came the sound of
hammering!

"Hadn
’
t we better go and set her free?" said
Fanny, rather alarmed. "She might stay there
for ages and starve to death!"

"Don
’
t be silly! How can she starve when she
is surrounded by food of all kinds?” said
Moon-Face. "It will be the children who will go
hungry! I guess when they are hungry enough they
will open the larder door and let Dame Slap out
all right! Goodness, what a temper she will be in."

They all hurried through the Land at top speed,
half afraid that Dame Slap might be let out before
they were safe, and come after them. Still, they
had Mrs. Saucepan with them, and if anyone had
to stand up to Dame Slap, she certainly would.

They came at last to the ladder sticking up into
the Land from the cloud below. "You go first,
Moon-Face, and help Mrs. Saucepan down," said
J
o. So down went Moon-Face, and politely and
carefully helped the old lady down the little
yellow ladder, through the cloud and on to the
topmost branch of the tree.

Everyone followed, breathing sighs of relief to
be safely away from Dame Slap once more.
Nobody ever wanted to visit
her
Land again!

"We really must say
goodbye
now," said
J
o
to the Tree-Folk. "Shall we just take Mrs.
Saucepan down to Dame Washalot for you,
Saucepan?”

"I
’
ll come too," said Saucepan, hearing what
was said. S
o down they went, and when Dame
Washalot saw
old Mrs. Saucepan, she was most
excited. She thr
ew her soapy arms round the old
lady
’
s neck and hugged her.

"I hope you
’
ve
come to stay!" she said. "I
’
ve
always wanted you to live in the Faraway Tree."

"
Goodbye
,
Mrs. Saucepan," said Bessie. "
I
shall come and buy your cakes the very first day
you sell the
m. I do hope you
’
ve had a happy
birthday."

"The nicest one I
’
ve ever had!" said the old
lady, beaming.
"
Goodbye
, my dears, and hurry
home!"