Mr Majeika (3 page)

Thomas and Pete thought for a moment. Then Thomas said: ‘Don't worry about it yet, Mr Magic. Hamish Bigmore's parents are away, and he's staying with us. You've got two days to find the right spell before they come back and expect to find him.'

‘Two days,' repeated Mr Majeika. ‘In that case there is a chance. We shall simply have to see what happens at midnight.'

‘Midnight?' asked Jody.

‘My friend,' said Mr Majeika, ‘surely you know that in fairy stories everything returns
to its proper shape when the clock strikes twelve?'

‘Cinderella's coach,' said Jody.

‘Exactly,' answered Mr Majeika. ‘But one can't be certain of it. There's only a chance. I'll stay here tonight, and see what happens.'

And with that, Class Three went home.

Thomas and Pete felt that really they should have taken Hamish Bigmore home with them, even if he
was
a frog. After all, he was supposed to be staying with them.

‘But,' said Pete, ‘it's not easy carrying frogs. He might escape, and jump into a river or something, and we'd never see him again.'

‘And a very good thing too,' said Thomas.

‘You can't say that,' remarked Pete. ‘He may be only Hamish Bigmore to you and me, but to his mum and dad he's darling little Hamie, or something like that. And just think what it would be like to be mother and father to a frog. Going to the shops, and the library, and that sort of thing, and people saying: “Oh, Mrs Bigmore, what a
sweet
little frog you're carrying in that jar.” And Hamish's mum having to say: “Oh, Mrs Smith, that's not just a frog, that's our son Hamish.”'

When Thomas and Pete's mum saw them at the school gates the first thing she said was ‘Where's Hamish?', and they had quite a time persuading her that Hamish wouldn't
be coming home with them that afternoon, or staying the night, but was visiting friends, and was being perfectly well taken care of.

‘Who are these friends?' she asked suspiciously. ‘What's their name?'

‘Tadpoles,' said Pete, without thinking.

‘Idiot,' whispered Thomas, kicking him. ‘We don't know their name,' he told his mum. ‘But Mr Majeika, our new teacher, arranged it, so it must be all right.'

‘Oh, did he?' said their mum. ‘Well, he might have told me. But I suppose I shouldn't fuss.' And she took them home.

When they got back to school the next morning, Hamish Bigmore was still a frog.

‘Nothing happened at all,' said Mr Majeika gloomily.

He tried to make Class Three get on with their ordinary work, but it wasn't much use. Nobody had their minds on anything but Hamish Bigmore, swimming up and down in his tank.

Everyone kept making suggestions to Mr Majeika.

‘Mr Magic, couldn't you just get a magic wand and wave it over him?'

‘Couldn't you say “Abracadabra” and see if that works?'

‘Couldn't you find another wizard and ask him what to do?'

‘My friends,' said Mr Majeika, ‘it's no use. There's nothing else to try. Last night, while I was here alone, I made use of every possible means I know, and I can do nothing. And as to finding another wizard,
that would be very hard indeed. There are so very few still working, and we don't know each other's names. It might take me years to find another one, and even then he might not have the answer.'

Class Three went home rather gloomily that day. They had all begun to feel sorry for Hamish Bigmore. ‘He's staying with his friends again,' Thomas and Pete told their mother.

The next day was Friday. Hamish Bigmore's parents were due to come home that evening.

Half-way through morning school, Jody suddenly put up her hand and said: ‘Mr Magic?'

‘Yes, Jody?'

‘Mr Magic, I've got an idea. You said that things
sometimes
happen like they do in fairy stories. I mean, like Cinderella's coach turning back into a pumpkin.'

‘Yes, sometimes,' said Mr Majeika, ‘but as you've seen with Hamish, not always.'

‘Well,' said Jody, ‘there is something that I wondered about. You see, in fairy stories people are often turned into frogs. And they always get turned back again in the end, don't they? And I've been trying to remember
how
.'

Jody paused. ‘Go on,' said Mr Majeika.

‘Well,' said Jody, ‘I
did
remember. Frogs turn back into princes when they get kissed by a princess.'

Mr Majeika's eyes lit up. ‘Goodness!' he said. ‘You're absolutely right! Why didn't I think of that? We must try it at once!'

‘Try what, Mr Magic?' asked Pandora Green.

‘Why, have Hamish Bigmore kissed by a princess. And then I do believe there's a very good chance he will change back.'

‘But please, Mr Magic,' said Thomas, ‘how are you going to manage it? I mean, there's not so very many princesses around these days. Not as many as in fairy stories.'

‘There's some at Buckingham Palace,' said Pandora.

‘But they don't go around kissing frogs,' said Thomas.

‘You bet they don't,' said Pete. ‘You see pictures of them in the newspapers doing all sorts of things, opening new hospitals, and naming ships, and that sort of thing. But not kissing frogs.'

‘Are you sure, my young friend?' said Mr Majeika gloomily.

‘Quite sure,' said Thomas. ‘Unless they do it when nobody's looking. I mean, it's not the sort of thing they'd get much fun out of, is it? Frog-kissing, I mean.'

‘I bet,' said Pete, ‘that a real live princess wouldn't do it if you paid her a thousand pounds.'

‘Just imagine,' said Thomas, ‘going to Buckingham Palace, and ringing the doorbell, and saying: “Please, have you got any princesses in today, and would they mind kissing a frog for us?” They'd probably fetch the police.'

‘Oh dear,' said Mr Majeika. ‘I'm afraid you're right.'

Nobody spoke for a long time. Then Mr Majeika said gloomily: ‘It seems that Hamish Bigmore will have to remain a frog. I wonder what his parents will say.'

‘Please,' said Jody, ‘I've got an idea again. It may be silly, but it
might
work. What I think is this. If we can't get a real princess, we might
pretend
to have one. Make a kind of play, I mean. Dress up somebody like a
princess. Do you think that's silly?' She looked hopefully at Mr Majeika.

‘Not at all,' said Mr Majeika. ‘We've nothing to lose by trying it!'

Which was how Class Three came to spend a good deal of the morning trying to make the room look like a royal palace in a fairy story. They found the school caretaker and persuaded him to lend them some old blue curtains that were used for the play at the end of term. And Mrs Honey who taught the nursery class agreed to give them a box of dressing-up clothes that the little children used. In this were several crowns and robes and other things that could be made to look royal.

Then there was a dreadful argument about who was to play the princess.

Jody said she ought to, because it had all been her idea. Pandora Green said
she
should, because she looked pretty, and princesses always look pretty. Mr Majeika tried to settle it by saying that Melanie should do it, as she was the only girl in the class who hadn't asked to. But Melanie, who hated the idea of kissing a frog, started to cry. So in the end Mr Majeika said that Jody should do it after all, and the other girls could be sort-of-princesses too, only Jody would play the chief one.

Then they got ready. A kind of throne had been made out of Mr Majeika's chair, with one of the blue curtains draped over it.

Jody wore another of the curtains as a cloak, and one of the crowns, and a lot of coloured beads from the dressing-up box. And all the other girls stood round her.

Mr Majeika turned out the classroom lights and drew the curtains. Then he said he thought they ought to have some music, just to make things seem more like a fairy story. So Thomas got out his recorder, and played ‘God Save the Queen' and ‘Good King Wenceslas', which were the only tunes he knew. They didn't seem quite right for the occasion, but Mr Majeika said they would have to do. Then he told Jody to start being the princess, and say the sort of things that princesses might say in fairy stories.

Jody thought for a moment. Then she said in a high voice: ‘O my courtiers, I have heard that in this kingdom there is a poor prince who has been enchanted into a frog
by some wicked magician.' She turned to Mr Majeika and whispered: ‘You're not wicked, really, Mr Magic, but that's what happens in fairy stories, isn't it?'

‘Of course,' said Mr Majeika. ‘Please continue. You are doing splendidly.'

‘O my courtiers,' went on Jody, ‘I do request that one of you shall speedily bring me this frog. For I have seen it written that should a princess of the blood royal kiss this poor frog with her own lips, he will regain his proper shape.' She paused. ‘Well, go on, somebody,' she hissed. ‘Fetch me the frog!'

It was Mr Majeika himself who stepped up to the tank, put in his hands, and drew out Hamish Bigmore. So he did not see the door opening and Mr Potter coming into the room.

‘Ah, Mr Majeika,' said Mr Potter, ‘I just wanted to ask you if you could look after
school dinner again today, because –' He stopped, staring at the extraordinary scene.

Mr Majeika was kneeling on one knee in front of Jody, holding out the frog. ‘Go on,' he whispered, ‘I feel the magic working.'