Enid Blyton (9 page)

"Ask him where Miss Muffet is," said Fanny.
So they went over to where a fat little boy was
just about to make a hole in his pie with his
thumb.

"Please, where is Miss Muffet?" asked
Jo
.

"Over the other side of the hill
," said
Jack
Horner, p
ointing with a juicy thumb. "Loo
k out
for her spider—he
’
s pretty fierce to
day!"

IX

"What did he mean—look out for the spider?"
asked Connie, looking round rather fearfully.

"Well, you know that a spider keeps coming
and sitting down beside Miss Muffet whenever
she eats her curds and whey, don
’
t you?" said
J
o. "We
’
ve just got to look out for it."

"I
’
m afraid of spiders," said Connie, looking
ready to cry.

"You would be!" said
Jo
. "You
’
re just the kind
of person who
’
s afraid of bats and moths and
spiders and everything. Don
’
t be silly. Go back if
you
’
d rather not come with us."

"All the same—it may be rather a
big
spider,"
said Fanny.

Connie looked even more alarmed.

The children, Moon-Face and Watzisname
walked to the hill, went up it, and stood at the
top. Nursery Rhyme Land was nice. Its houses
and cottages were thatched, and the little gardens
were gay and flowery. The children felt that they
knew everyone they met.

"Here
’
s Tommy Tucker!" whispered Fanny, as
a little boy hurried by, singing loudly in a clear,
sweet voice. He heard her whisper and turned.

"Do you know me?" he asked in surprise.
"I don
’
t know you."

"
Are
you Tommy Tuck
er?" asked Bessie. "Were
you going to sing for your supper?"

"Of course not. It
’
s
morning," said Tommy.
"I sing for my supper at night. I was just practising
a bit then. Do you sing for
your
supper?"

"No. We just have it anyhow, without singing,"
said
J
o.

"You
’
re lucky," said Tommy. "Nobody will give
me any if I don
’
t sing. It
’
s a good thing I
’
ve got
a nice voice!"

He went off singing like a blackbird again. The
others watched him, and then saw someone else
coming along crying bitterly. A bigger boy was
slapping him hard. Behind the two came a thin
cat, its fur wet and draggled.

"Hi! Stop hitting that boy!" cried
J
o, who
didn
’
t like to see a smaller boy being hit by a
bigger one. "Hit someone your own size!"

"Mind your own business," said the big boy.
"
J
ohnny Thin deserves all he gets. You don
’
t
know what a bad boy he is!"

"
J
ohnny Thin! Oh, isn
’
t he the boy who put
the cat down the well?" cried Fanny. "Then you
must be
Johnny
Stout, who pulled her out!"

"Yes—and there
’
s the cat, poor thing," said
Johnny
Stout. "
No
w
don
’
t you think that bad boy
deserves to be slapped hard?"

"Oh
yes
,” said Bessie. "He does. Poor cat. I
’
ll
dry it a bit."

She got out her hanky and tried to dry the cat.
But it was too wet.

"Don
’
t troub
l
e," said
J
ohnny Stout, giving
Johnny Thin a last hard slap that sent him off
howling loudly. "I
’
ll take the cat to Polly Flinders.
She
’
s always got a f
ire, and warms her pretty little
toes by it!"

He picked up the cat and went
into a nearby
cottage. The children went and peeped in at the
open door. They saw a little girl in the room
inside, sitting close to a roaring fire, her toes
wriggling in the heat.

Johnny Stout gave the cat to the little girl.
“Here you are, Polly," he said. "Dry her a bit,
will you? She got put down the well again. But
I
’
ve given
J
ohnny Thin a good slapping, so
maybe he
’
l
l not do it
anymore
."

Polly Flinders took the cat on her lap, making
her pretty frock all wet.
J
ohnny Stout was just
going out of the door when somebody else came
in. It was Polly Flinders
’
mother. When she saw
Polly sitting among the cinders, warming her toes
and nursing the wet cat, she gave a cry of rage.

"You naughty little girl! How many times have
I told you not to sit so close to the fire? What
’
s
the good of dressing you up in nice clothes if you
make
them so dirty? I shall whip you
!"

The children, Moon-Face and Watzisname felt
rather scared of the cross mother.
Johnny
Stout ran
away and the others thought it would be better
to go too.

They went down the other side of the hill.

"Ha
l
lo!—who are these two coming up the
hill?" said Moon-Face.

"
J
ack and
Jill
, of course!" said Bessie. And
so they were, carrying a pail between them. They
filled it at the well that stood at the top of the hill,
and then began to go carefully down the hill.

"Oh—I do so hope they don
’
t fall down," said
Fanny, anxiously. "They always do, in the
rhyme!"

Jack
and
Jill
began to quarrel as they went down
the hill. "Don
’
t go so fast,
Jack
!" shouted
Jill
.

"You
’
re always so slow!" grumbled
Jack
. "Do
come on
!"

"The pail
’
s so heavy!" cried
Jill
, and began to
lag behind just as they came to a steep bit.

"They
’
ll fall down—
and
Jack
will break his
crown again—hurt his head badl
y!" said Bessie.
"I
’
m going to stop them
!"

She ran to the two children, who stopped,
sur
prised. "Don
’
t quarrel, J
ack and Jill," begged
Bessie. "You know you
’
ll only fall down and hurt
yourselves.
Jill
, let me take the handle of the
pail. I can go as fast as
Jack
likes. Then for
once in a way you will get to the bottom of the
hill in safety, w
ithout falling down
."

Jill
let go the pail handle. Bessie took it.
Jack
beamed at her. "Thank you," he said. "
J
ill
’
s
always so slow. Come along with me, and I
’
ll
give you one of my humbugs. I
’
ve got a whole bag
full at home."

Bessie liked humbugs, with their brown and
yellow stripes. "Oh, thank you," she said. "I
’
d
like one." She turned to the others. "You go on
to Miss Muffet
’
s," she said. "I
’
ll join you later."

So off went the others, whilst
J
ack,
Jill
and
Bessie went down the hill together.

The others came to a gate on which was painted
a name. "LITTLE MISS MUFFET".

"This is the place," said J
o, pleased. "Now
we
’
ll find old Saucepan. Hi, Saucepan, are you
anywhere about?"

The door was shut. No one came.
Jo
banged on
the knocker.
Rat-a-
tat-tat! Still no one came.

"There
’
s someone peeping out of the window,"
said Moon-Face
, suddenly. "It looks like Miss
Muffet."

A little bit of curtain had been pushed to one
side, and a frightened eye, a little nose, and a
curl could be seen. That was all.

"It
is
Miss Muffet!" said Watzisname. "Miss
Muffet, what
’
s the matter? Why don
’
t you open
the door? Where is Saucepan?"

The curtain fell. There came a scamper of feet,
and then the door opened just a crack. "Come in,
quickly, all of you—quick, quick, quick!"

Her voice was so scared that it made everyone
feel quite frightened. They crowded into the
cottage quickly.

"What
’
s the matter?" asked Moon-Face. "Has
anything happened? W
here
’
s Saucepan? Didn
’
t
he come?"

"Yes, he came. But he was rude to my Spider,"
said Miss Muffet. "He danced all round it, clashing
his kettles and saucepans, and he sang a rude
song, that began
’
Two smacks for a spider . . .
’
"

"
J
ust like Saucepan!" groaned Moon-Face.
"Well, what happened?"

"The spider pounced on him and carried him
off
," wept Miss Muffet. "I ordered him all the
curds and whey in the house, but it didn
’
t make
any difference. He took no notice, and carried
Saucepan away to his home. It
’
s a sort of cave in
the ground, with a door of web. No one can get
through it except the spider."

"
Well
!" said Moon-Face, sitting down hard on
a little chair. "How very annoying! How are we
going to get him out? Why must he go and annoy
the spider like that?"

"Well
, the spider came and suddenly sat down
beside me, and made me jump," said Miss Muffet.
"He
’
s always doing that. It made me run away, and
Saucepan said he would give the spider a fright to
pay him out."

"So he made up one of his silly songs, and did
his crashing, cl
anging dance
!" said
J
o. "What are
we going to do? Do you think the spider will let
Saucepan go?"

"Oh no—not
till the Land of Nursery Rhyme
moves on," said Miss Muffet
. "He means to
punish him well. I don
’
t know if Saucepan will
mind living here. He doesn
’
t really belong, of
course."

"He
’
d hate to live here always and never see
any of us
except when the Land of Nursery
Rhyme happened to
come to the top of the Faraway
Tree," said Moon-Face.
"We must go and talk to
that spider. Come on, all of you!"

"Oh
—
must I come?" asked Connie.

"Yes—the more o
f us that go, the better," said
Watzisname. "The spider may feel afraid when he
sees so many pe
ople marching up! You come too,
Miss Muffet."

So they all went, to face the spider in his webby
cave. Con
nie and Miss Muffet walked hand-
in-hand behind, ready to run! They were neither of
them very brave.

"Bessie will wonder where we are," said
J
o,
remembering that she had gone off with
J
ack and
Jill. "Never mind—
we
’
l
l find her, when we
’
ve
rescued Saucepan."

They came to a kind of cave in the ground. A
door of thick grey web closed it. From inside came
a mournful voice: