The Wishing-Chair Again (20 page)

“What a strange home you have, set high in the clouds,” said Peter.

“Oh, people often build these,” said the witch. “Have you never heard of people building castles in the air? Well, this is one of them. They don't last very long, but they are very comfortable. I've had this one about two months now.”

She led the way to her curious castle. “We've come to bring you your wand,” said Peter. “I must tell you all that happened.”

So he did, and the witch listened in silence. “That tiresome Winks!” she said. “He should never have left Mister Grim's school.”

“What can we do about Chinky and Winks,” said Mollie, “now that they are a puff of smoke and a horrid smell? Where have they gone?”

“To the Land of Spells,” said the witch. “We'll have to get your Wishing-Chair to go there—come along!”

THE witch led the way to where the Wishing-Chair stood waiting patiently on the edge of the cloud, its wings flapping gently.

“That's a really wonderful chair of yours,” she said. “I only wish I had one like it!”

They all sat in it. “To the Land of Spells!” commanded the witch, and the chair at once rose into the air. It left the cloud and the curious castle built in the air, and flew steadily to the north.

“I'm very glad to have back my wand,” said Witch Wendle. “Luckily it is only my third best one. If it had been my best one, the magic would have been so powerful that it would have shrivelled Winks up as soon as he touched it.”

Mollie and Peter at once made up their minds that they would never, never touch any wand belonging to a witch or wizard. Goodness—what a blessing that it had been the witch's third best wand and not her best one!

The chair flew on for a long while and the witch pointed out the interesting places they passed—the Village of Stupids, the Country of No-Goods, the Land of Try-Again, and all kinds of places the children had never heard of before. They stared down at them in interest.

“What's the Land of Spells like?” asked Mollie.

“It's a strange land, really,” said the witch. “All kinds of spells wander about, and bump into you —Invisible Spells to make you invisible, Tall Spells to make you tall, Laughter Spells to make you laugh— they've only got to touch you to affect you at once.”

“Oh dear,” said Mollie in alarm. “I don't like the sound of that at all.”

“You needn't worry,” said Witch Wendle. “They only affect you whilst they bump into you—as soon as they drift away you're all right again. We shall have to look for a puff of smoke and a horrid smell—then we shall know we've got Winks and Chinky and I must do my best to put them right for you.”

The chair flew rapidly downwards, and landed in a very peculiar place. It was full of a blue-green mist and queer sounds went on all the time—sounds of rumbling, sounds of music, of bells, and of the wind blowing strongly.

They got off the chair. “Now take hands,” said the witch. “And keep together, please. You're all right so long as you're with me, because I am a mistress of all spells—but don't slip away for goodness sake, or you may get changed into a white butterfly or a blue beetle, and I would find it difficult to know you again.”

Mollie and Peter held hands very hard indeed, and Mollie took the witch's hand, too. And then all kinds of extraordinary things began to happen.

A little trail of yellow bubbles bumped into Mollie —and, to Peter's great alarm, Mollie's neck grew alarmingly long, and shot up almost as tall as a tree! She was very alarmed, too.

“It's all right,” said Witch Wendle. “It will pass as soon as the trail of bubbles goes.”

She was right. When the bubbles flew off in another direction Mollie's neck came down to its right size!” You did look queer, Mollie,” said Peter. “Don't do
that
again!”

As he was speaking the wind blew a dead leaf on to his head, and immediately his head disappeared. Mollie gave a yell.

“Where's Peter's head? I can't see it!”

The witch brushed away the leaf at once and Peter's head came back.

“Don't worry,” said the witch. “I told you that you never know what's going to happen in a place like this. It's a good place for a witch to come to, of course—there are plenty of good spells to pick up, as you can see!”

It was queer to think of spells wandering about like this. Mollie began to look out for them and try to dodge them. She dodged a silvery mist, but it wound itself round Witch Wendle—and she at once disappeared completely.

“Where's she gone?” cried Peter in fright.

“I've still got hold of her hand,” said Mollie. “I think she's only invisible—but she's here all right.”

“Yes, I'm here,” said the witch's voice. As soon as the silvery mist cleared away she became visible again and smiled down at the children. “I didn't see that spell coming or I would have dodged it,” she said. “Oh dear—here's an annoying one coming!”

Something that looked like a little shower of white snowflakes came dropping down on them. The witch changed into a big white bear, Peter changed into a white goat and Mollie into a white cat! That lasted about two minutes, and they were all very glad when they were back to their right shapes again.

“I kept trying to talk, but I could only mew,” said Mollie. “Oh dear—I don't much like this land. I wish we could find Winks and Chinky and go home. It must be horrid for them to be nothing but spells, drifting about.”

They went wandering through the queer misty land, listening to the queer noises around, trying to dodge the spells that came near them. The witch put out her hand and captured a tiny little spell floating through the air. It looked like a small white daisy.

“I've always wanted that spell,” she said to the children. “It's a good spell—if you put it under a baby's pillow it makes a child grow up as pretty as a flower.”

Suddenly Peter stopped and sniffed. “Pooh! What a smell of bad fish!” he said. “I'm sure that must be Winks. Can you smell a horrid smell, Witch Wendle?”

“I should think I
can,”
said the witch. She took a small bottle out of her pocket and uncorked it.

“Come here to me, you bad little smell,
Into this bottle you'll fit very well!”

she sang. And the children saw a very faint purplish streak streaming into the bottle. The witch corked it up.

“Well, we've got Winks all right,” she said. “Now for Chinky. Look—here comes a puff of green smoke. Would that be him?”

“Yes!” said Peter. “I'm sure it is. He and Winks would be certain to keep together. How can you catch the smoke, Witch Wendle?”

The witch took a small pair of bellows from under her long, flowing cloak and held them out to the puff of green smoke, which was hovering near. She opened the bellows and drew in the puff of smoke! She hung the bellows at her belt again.

“And now we've got Chinky,” she said. “Good! We'd better get back home now, and see what we can do with them. It's so easy to change people into bad smells and green smoke—any beginner can do that— but it takes a powerful witch or wizard to change them back to their own shapes again.”

They walked back to find the Wishing-Chair, still bumping into curious spells every now and again. Mollie walked into a Too-Big spell and immediately towered over the witch and Peter. But she went back to her own size almost at once.

“That giant called Too-Small ought to come here,” she said to the witch. “He wanted a spell to make him much bigger, but he could never get one.”

The witch bumped into a train of bright bubbles that burst as they touched her. When they looked at her they saw that she had changed into a beautiful young girl, and they were amazed. But she was soon her old self again.

“That was a nice spell,” she said with a sigh. “I should like to have caught that spell and kept it.”

“Well, why didn't you?” asked Peter.

“Oh, didn't you see? The bubbles of the spell all burst when they touched me,” said the witch. “There was nothing to catch. You can never capture youth and loveliness once you're as old as I am. Ah, is that the Wishing-Chair?”

“Yes—but there's only half of it! “ said Mollie, in surprise. “Oh, I see—it's just been touched by an invisible spell—it's coming all right again now.”

Soon they were sitting in the chair. “To the children's playroom,” commanded the witch. “And hurry! The puff of smoke in the bellows is trying to get out. We'll lose Chinky for ever if he puffs himself out, and gets lost on the wind.”

“Oh dear! “said Mollie. “Do hurry, Wishing-Chair!”

The Wishing-Chair hurried so much that the witch lost her hat in the wind and the chair had to go back for it. But at last they were flying down to the playroom, and in at the door. Thank goodness!

The witch got carefully out of the chair. She took the bellows from her waist. “Is there a suit of Chinky's anywhere?” she asked. Mollie got Chinky's second-best one from the cupboard. “Hold it up,” said the witch. “That's right. Now watch!”

Mollie held up the little suit. The witch took the bellows and blew with them. Green smoke came from them and filled the little suit, billowing it out, and—would you believe it?—it was Chinky himself filling it out, growing arms and legs and head— and there he was standing before them in his second-best suit, looking rather scared after his curious stay in the Land of Spells!

Then it was Winks' turn. The witch asked for the teapot and took off the lid. She uncorked the bottle in which she had put the bad smell, and emptied it into the teapot. She put on the lid.

Then she lifted up the teapot and poured something out of the spout, singing as she did so.

“Teapot, teapot, pour for me
A brownie naughty as can be,
He's not as clever as he thinks,
That wicked, willful little Winks!”

And before the children's astonished eyes the teapot poured out Winks! He came out in a kind of stream, which somehow built itself up into Winks himself! Mollie could hardly believe her eyes!

When Winks saw Witch Wendle he went very red and tried to hide behind the sofa. She pulled him out.

“Who stole my wand? Who changed Chinky into a puff of smoke?”

“Well, he changed me into a bad smell,” said Winks, beginning to sniff.

“He at least used his own wand to do it with,” said the witch. “Winks, I'm sending you back to Mister Grim's school. You've a lot to learn.”

Winks howled so loudly that Mollie felt very sorry for him.

“Please,” she said, “could he just stay with us till we go back to boarding school? We might have another adventure, a
nice
one
.”

“Very well,” said Witch Wendle. “One week more. Don't sniff like that, Winks. You bring all your trouble on yourself. I said, 'DON'T SNIFF.' You're just putting that on. Perhaps you would like a little spanking with my wand to make you sniff properly?”

“I'm sorry, Witch Wendle,” wailed Winks. “I'll be good now. I'm very, very sorry.”

“You'll be sorry till next time—then you will do something tiresome once more and be sorry all over again,” said the witch. “I know you, Winks! Well, goodbye, children. I'm very pleased to have met you —and, by the way, may I sometimes borrow that Wishing-Chair of yours when you are at school? It would be such a treat for me to do my shopping in it sometimes.”