The Book of Brownies (The Enchanted World) (2 page)

‘Rimminy, romminy ray

My magic will send you away;

Rimminy, romminy ro

Ever so far you will go!’

Skip and Jump looked at the basket. It didn’t move or creak!

‘Take off the lid and look inside,’ said the witch.

Skip took off the lid and almost fell into the basket in surprise. ‘Oh!’ he shouted. ‘Oh! Hop’s gone, and the basket’s empty.’

So it was. There was nothing in it at all.

‘Now watch,’ said the witch, and putting the lid on again, she began singing:

‘Rimminy, romminy ray

Hear the spell and obey;

Rimminy, romminy relf

Jump out of the basket yourself
 
!’

Immediately, the lid flew off and out jumped Hop, looking as pleased as could be.

‘Good gracious!’ gasped Jump, sitting down suddenly on a chair. ‘Where have you been, Hop?’

‘In the basket all the time,’ said Hop.

‘But you
weren’t
, we looked!’ said Skip.

‘You couldn’t have,’ said Hop, ‘or you’d have seen me!’

‘We
did
look, I tell you,’ said Skip crossly.

‘Be quiet,’ said the witch. ‘It’s the magic in the basket that does the trick. Now listen – I’ll lend you that basket if you’ll promise to do the trick
at the party in front of the King and Queen.’

‘Of course we will, of course we will!’ cried the brownies. ‘But why do you lend it to us for nothing?’

‘Oh, just because I’m kind-hearted,’ said the witch, grinning very wide indeed. ‘But mind – when you’ve got into the basket and have vanished, and been
brought back, you’ve got to offer to do the same thing with anyone else. Perhaps the King will offer to get into the basket, or the Queen, or the Princess!’

‘My!’ said Hop, ‘do you think they will?’

‘They’re almost sure to,’ said the witch. ‘So mind you let them try. But you must remember this. If any of the Royal Family get in, tap seven times, not three times, on
the lid when you sing the magic verse. Three times for ordinary folk, but seven times for royalty – see?’

‘Yes, we’ll remember,’ promised Skip, ‘and thank you very much for lending us such a lovely trick.’

When the witch had gone, leaving behind her the green basket with its yellow lid, the three brownies were tremendously excited. They began to plan their clothes for the next day, and spent all
the afternoon and evening making them.

Hop looked very grand in a black velvet suit with a long red cloak and peaked hat. Skip and Jump were dressed like pages and were just alike in bright green suits.

When the party day came they all went out very early with the magic basket and hid in a nearby wood, for they didn’t want any of the brownies to see them and guess what they were going to
do.

‘I hope they have lots of lovely things for tea,’ said Hop. ‘I’m getting very hungry.’

‘It will soon be time to go,’ said Skip. ‘Listen! There are the drums to say that the first guests have arrived!’

‘Come along then,’ said Jump. ‘We’ll arrive too!’

‘Now remember, I’m Twirly-wirly the Great Conjurer from the Land of Tiddlywinks,’ said Hop, ‘and you are my two assistants. Don’t forget you’ve got to be
polite to me and bow each time you speak to me!’

Off they went, all feeling a little nervous. But Hop, who was bigger than the others and rather fat, looked so grand in his red cloak, that Skip and Jump soon began to feel nobody could possibly
guess their secret.

At last they reached the Palace Gates.

‘Your cards,’ said the sentry to Hop, Skip, and Jump.

‘I am Twirly-wirly, the Great Conjurer from the Land of Tiddlywinks,’ said Hop, in such a grand voice that Skip and Jump wanted to laugh. ‘I am here to take the place of the
conjurer who could not come.’

The sentry let them pass.

‘Go straight up the drive,’ he said, ‘and at the top of the first flight of steps you will find the Lord High Chamberlain.’

The three brownies went on. Hop was enjoying himself. He told the others to walk behind him and bow to him, whenever they saw him turn their way.

‘You’re getting a great deal too grand,’ grumbled Jump, who began to wish he was the conjurer instead of Hop, for he was carrying the basket and finding it rather heavy.

The Lord High Chamberlain was very surprised to see them. He was even more surprised when he heard Hop telling him who he was.

‘Twirly-wirly, the Great Conjurer,’ he said, pretending to know all about him. ‘Dear me, what an honour to be sure! Very kind of you to have come,
very
kind. Pray come
this way!’

He led them to a tea table and gave Hop a chair. Skip and Jump stood behind him, and looked longingly at the cakes and jellies, tarts and custards spread out on the table in front of Hop.

Little pages ran up and offered all the nicest things to the conjurer. He took some of each, and Skip and Jump looked on enviously.

‘Aren’t
we
going to have any?’ whispered Skip in Hop’s ear. ‘You’re not going to leave us out, are you?’

‘Hush!’ said Hop. ‘You are only my servants today. If you don’t keep quiet I shall keep turning round to you and you’ll have to bow till your backs ache!’

Hop had an enormous tea. Then he announced to the Lord High Chamberlain that he would now come and do his famous trick with his magic basket, if Their Majesties the King and Queen would like to
see it.

Their Majesties at once sent a message to say they would be very pleased to see it.

‘Come this way,’ said the Chamberlain, and led the three brownies to where the King and Queen sat on their thrones. In front of them was a square piece of grass, and round it sat
scores of fairies and gnomes, brownies and elves, all waiting to see Twirly-wirly the Great Conjurer.

Hop stepped grandly up to the King and Queen, and bowed three times. So did Skip and Jump.

‘I will now do my wonderful basket trick’ said Hop in a very loud and haughty voice. Then he turned to Skip.

‘Bring me the basket,’ he ordered. Skip rushed forward with it in such a hurry that he tumbled over, and everyone began laughing. Jump helped him up, and together they picked up the
magic basket.

‘Get into it,’ commanded Hop, pointing at Skip. Skip jumped in.

‘Put the lid on!’ Hop commanded Jump. Jump did so. Then Hop tapped three times on the lid and sang:

‘Rimminy, romminy ray

My magic will send you away;

Rimminy, romminy ro

Ever so far you will go!’

Everybody listened and watched, and wondered what was going to happen. The King and Queen bent forward to get a better view, and the little Princess Peronel stood up in her
excitement.

‘Take the lid off
 
!’ ordered Hop.

Jump took the lid off. The basket was empty!

‘Ooh!’ said everyone in the greatest surprise. ‘Ooh! He’s gone!’

‘Roll the basket round for everyone to see that it’s empty,’ commanded Hop, who was now thoroughly enjoying himself.

Jump rolled the basket round so that everyone could have a good look. Then he brought it back to Hop.

‘Put the lid on!’ said Hop. Jump put it on. Everybody stopped breathing, to see whatever was going to happen next.

Hop tapped three times on the lid and sang the magic song:

‘Rimminy, romminy ray

Hear the spell and obey;

Rimminy, romminy relf,

Jump out of the basket yourself
 
!’

Just as he finished, the lid flew off and out jumped Skip in his little green suit, looking as perky as anything! He capered about and bowed to everyone.

‘Oh look! Oh look! He’s come back again!’ shouted the fairies and brownies. ‘Oh, what a wonderful trick! Do it again, do it again!’

Hop bowed very low. ‘Would anyone care to come and get into the basket?’ he asked. ‘I will do the trick with anyone.’

‘Oh let
me
, let
me
 
!’ cried a little silvery voice, and who should come running on the grass but the Princess Peronel!

‘Come back, Peronel!’ cried the King. ‘You’re not to get into that basket!’

‘Oh please, oh, please,’ she begged. ‘It’s my birthday and you
said
I could have anything I wanted.’

‘No, no!’ said the Queen. ‘You mustn’t get into that basket! Come back!’

‘I shall cry then!’ said Peronel, screwing up her pretty little face.

‘Oh dear, oh dear!’ said the King, who couldn’t bear to see Peronel cry.

‘You’d better have your own way then, but make haste about it!’

Peronel jumped into the green basket, and Skip clapped on the lid. Hop remembered what the witch had told him – he must tap the lid seven times for royalty. So, very solemnly, he did so.
Then he and Skip and Jump all chanted the magic rhyme together.

‘Rimminy, romminy ray

My magic will send you away;

Rimminy, romminy ro

Ever so far you will go!’

But, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! Whatever
do
you think happened?

Why, just as the magic rhyme was finished, the basket rose into the air, and sailed right away! Higher and higher it went, over the trees and over the palace, towards the setting sun.

‘Oh! Oh!’ cried the Queen, jumping up in terrible distress. ‘Where’s my Peronel gone to? Bring her back, quickly!’

But Hop, Skip and Jump were just as surprised as anyone! What an extraordinary thing for the basket to do!

‘Arrest those conjurers!’ suddenly said the King, in an awful voice.

Six soldiers at once ran up and clapped their hands on the brownies’ shoulders.

‘Now, unless you bring Peronel back
at once
,’ said the King, ‘you go straight to prison, and I’ll have your heads cut off in the morning!’

‘Oh, no, no!’ cried the brownies, very frightened indeed. ‘Please, please, we aren’t conjurers! Only just brownies!’

‘Nonsense!’ stormed the King. ‘Ordinary brownies can’t do tricks like that! Now then, are you going to bring Peronel back again?’

‘I can’t, I can’t,’ wailed Hop, big tears beginning to pour down his cheeks. ‘I’m only a naughty brownie dressed up like a conjurer, because you didn’t
ask me to your party!’

Suddenly a watching brownie gave a shout of surprise. It was Gobo. He ran up to Hop and pulled off his peaked hat and red cloak.

‘Why, it’s Hop!’ he cried, in astonishment. ‘Your Majesty, these brownies are Hop, Skip and Jump, the three naughty brownies of our town.’

‘Goodness gracious!’ said the King, in a terribly upset voice. ‘This is more serious than I thought. If they are really brownies, then they cannot bring back Peronel. But where
did you get the basket from?’ he asked Hop sternly.

Hop dried his eyes and told the King all about the witch’s visit, and how she had left the basket with them.

‘Oh, it’s Witch Green-eyes!’ groaned the King. ‘She’s often vowed to steal Peronel away and now she’s done it through you, you naughty, stupid little
brownies.’

‘My goodness!’ said Hop. ‘Do you think the witch has
really
stolen her for always?’

‘Yes!’ sobbed the Queen, who was terribly distressed. ‘We shall never get her back again, the darling!’

‘Oh my goodness!’ said Skip, in a frightened voice.

‘Oh my goodness!’ wailed Jump, in a miserable voice.

‘Oh your goodness!’ roared the King suddenly, in a temper. ‘What do you mean, oh your
goodness
 
! You ought to say, “Oh your badness,” you mischievous little
brownies! You haven’t a bit of goodness among the three of you. And now see what you’ve done! I’ve a good mind to cut off your heads!’

‘Oh my goodness!’ wept Hop again. He didn’t mean to say it, but he couldn’t think of anything else.

The King grew angrier than ever.

‘Where
is
your goodness?’ he demanded.

‘Yes, where
is
it?’ shouted everybody.

‘We d-d-don’t know,’ stammered the brownies in dismay.

‘Well, go and find it!’ stormed the King. ‘Go along! Go right out of Fairyland, and don’t come back till you’ve found your goodness that you keep talking about!
Make haste before I cut off your heads!’

‘Oh, oh, oh!’ cried the three brownies in a great fright, and they all took to their heels and fled. Down the steps they went and down the drive, and out through the palace gates
past the astonished sentries.

Even then they didn’t stop. They rushed down the road and into the Cuckoo Wood, as if a thousand soldiers were after them!

At last, out of breath, tired and unhappy, they sat down under a big oak tree.

‘Oh my goodness!’ began Hop.

‘Don’t be silly!’ said Skip. ‘
Don’t
keep saying that. We’re in a terrible, terrible fix.’

‘To be turned out of Fairyland!’ wept Jump. ‘Oh, what a terrible punishment! And how can we find our goodness? Of course we never shall! People don’t have goodness they
can find!’

‘It’s just the King’s way of banishing us from Fairyland altogether,’ wept Hop. ‘He knows we’ll never be able to go back. And, oh dear, whatever’s
happened to poor little Peronel?’

What indeed? None of the brownies knew, and they were very unhappy.

‘The only thing to do now is to go and see if we can find Peronel and rescue her,’ said Jump. ‘We’ll sleep here for the night, and start off in the morning, on our way to
Witchland.’

So all night long they slept beneath the big oak tree, 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.