blyton enid tales about toys 1950 little book no 1
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I
Sheila's Dolls' House
Sheila had a dolls' house. It really belonged
both to her and to Benny, her brother, because he
had made it for Sheila. But Benny said that a dolls'house was a toy for a girl, and not for a boy, so he
said it was Sheila's.
All the same, he played with it sometimes
because it was really rather exciting arranging the
furniture in the little bedrooms, and pretending to
cook on the stove in the kitchen, and making thedolls receive visitors in the sitting-room.
It was made out of a box, and Benny had
cleverly made a slanting red roof, and had nailed
chimneys on. He had made a big front, with
windows and a door, so that Sheila could open the
front of the house and play with the rooms inside.
Sheila thought it was a lovely house. She had
seen some dolls' houses in a shop, and one had
electric light in each of the bedrooms,
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and even had water running out of the little tap
in the kitchen. But Benny said he couldn't possibly
put electric light in the house, he wouldn't knowhow to. And as for water running out of a tap, to
begin with there wasn't a tap and to end with there
wasn't any water !
Anyway, Sheila thought the house was simply
lovely, and she played with it every day. She made
curtains for the windows and carpets for the floors.All her pocket-money went on buying little pieces
of furniture for the house. It really did look very
nice indeed.
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The front door had a tiny brass knocker that
Sheila polished once a week. It really did knock
a very tiny rat-a-tat-tat.
One day Lula came to tea. She saw the dolls'
house in the corner, and how she loved it! Lula
hadn't a dolls' house, though she had nearly every
other kind of toy, for her parents spoilt her, and
gave her a great many presents.
"Oh ! What a lovely house !" cried Lula, andswung open the front of it. "Ohlook at the rooms
! Two bedroomsa kitchen with a stoveand a
sitting-room with a sofa and chairs and tableand
a tiny bookcase full of books, too ! And look at the
dolls !"
"Be careful, Lula," said Sheila, alarmed at theway Lula took hold of the tiny pieces of furniture
and the little dolls. "Oh, do be careful. Don't move
the kitchen stove. It fits so nicely into that corner."
But Lula paid no attention. She wanted to play
with that dolls' house, and whatever Sheila said she
didn't hear. Soon she dropped one of the tiny dollsand its arm came off.
Sheila was upset. "Oh, Lulalook what you've
done ! That's a doll called Melia, and
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she's such a good doll, she makes the beds
each day, and now she won't be able to because
you've broken her arm !"
"I'll buy you another doll," said Lula, picking
up Melia.
"Yes, but another doll won't be Melia, and
Melia doesn't like having her arm broken," said
Sheila, crossly. "Ohnow you've broken the dear
little clock I had on the mantelpiece."By the time Lula had finished playing with the
dolls' house, not only had Melia's arm been broken,
and the clock, but one of the curtains had been
torn, and the bedroom wardrobe had one of its
doors loose. It was very upsetting. Sheila was glad
when Lula went home."I'll never, never let her play with our dolls'
house again," she told Benny, and he agreed.
Now a week later, Lula didn't come to school,
and Sheila wondered why. Mummy told her, and
she looked rather grave.
"Poor Lula is terribly ill. You must put her intoyour prayers tonight."
So the children did. Lula was no better
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for a day or two, and then Mummy told them she
was not nearly so ill.
"She will soon be sitting up in bed !" said
Mummy. "You can send her some sweets and
some fruit, and perhaps buy her a little toy or a
book."
So Benny and Sheila bought some sweets, and
some oranges and grapes, and a book and a little
doll, all for poor Lula, and sent them to her. Theyfelt very sorry for her. Now she would not be able
to come to school and join in all the jolly lessons
and games for a long time.
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Then Mummy came to Sheila and asked her a
very hard thing. "Sheila, darling, Lula is sitting up
each day now, and she is very bored. She keeps
asking to play with your dolls' house. Shall I take it
round and lend it to her?"
"Oh, no, Mummy !" cried both Sheila and
Benny at once.
"She broke Melia's arm and it isn't mended yet,
and lots of other things," said Benny. "Sheila wassad."
"She'd break everything!" said Sheila. "She
isn't careful with her toys as we are. She doesn't
love them."
"She has too many," said Mummy. "But,
Sheila, dearthis would be such a kind thing todo. Lula's mother says Lula keeps on and on
asking for the dolls' house. She cries about it, and
frets. Her mother has tried to buy her one, but there
isn't one to be had !"
"Mummy, I don't want to be kind over this,"
said Sheila, almost in tears. "I don't really. Bennymade me the house, and I love it, and I don't want
Lula to spoil it."
"Very well," said Mummy. "It is your house,
and I shall certainly not force you to lend it to
Lula."
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Mummy looked a bit sad about it. Sheila knew
she looked sad, not because she couldn't take the
dolls' house round to poor Lula, but because she
thought she had a selfish, unkind little girl, and that
is enough to make any mother very sad indeed.
So Sheila, who was really very kind-hearted,
suddenly changed her mind. "You can take the
dolls' house round to Lula," she said. "But
Mummy, do, do ask her to look after it well,please."
So Mummy, looking pleased and happy, took
the dolls' house round. Lula's daddy opened the
door, and he was delighted to see the house. "Ah
this will make our little Lula feel much better," he
said. "It really will cheer her up. How kind ofSheila and Benny to lend it."
"Wellthey didn't want to at first," said
Mummy, "because they love their dolls' house very
muchBenny made it, you know. Ask Lula to be
very careful with it, won't you?"
Lula was simply delighted with the house. Sheplayed with it very carefully. Her daddy mended
the loose door of the wardrobe in
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the bedroom. He bought a little bath with taps
and put it into a corner of the bedroom. It looked
fine.
"Oh, Daddyif only, only I could light the
rooms at night !" said Lula. "If only I could turn on
the little bath-taps and fill the bath. That would
make me so happy."
Well, the doctor had said that Lula must be
kept cheerful and happy if possible, so her daddyset to work. He was very clever with his hands
and before two days had gone, he had put batteries
at the back of the house, with wires that ran inside
to little lamps in each room. When Lula pressed a
switch, the
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lights came onand there was each room
brightly lighted as if it was real !
Then he put a tin in the roof, filled it with
water, put tiny pipes leading down to the bath,
fixed them to the tapsand, lo and behold, when
Lula turned them on, water came out and filled the
bath !
Oh, how pleased she was ! She played with the
house all day long, and was very sad when the timecame for her to give it back.
Sheila saw Lula's daddy carrying it up her
front path. She spoke to Benny. "I expect it's all
battered and broken ! I shall hate opening the front
and seeing all that Lula has done to it."
But, dear me, what a wonderful surprise thetwo children had when they did open the front !
There were new curtains. There was the bath in the
bedroom. Melia's arm was mended and so was the
clock. And there were little lamps in each room !
"Look," said Benny, in great excitement, and
he pressed a switch. "All the lamps light ! Oh,Sheila, the house looks so real, all lighted up. Let's
shut the front and see the light showing through the
windows."
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After that they discovered that when they
turned on the bath-taps, water came out and filled
the bath. Sheila could hardly believe her eyes ! The
children spent the whole evening filling the bath
over and over again, and switching the lights on
and off !
When Mummy came in, they ran to her in joy.
"Come and see ! Our dolls' house has come back
far better than it went. Just see !"Mummy was so pleased. "You deserve a little
reward," she said. "You didn't want to lend your
housebut you were unselfish enough to be kind.
Well, it isn't always that kindness is rewarded so
well as this !"
The lights still go on and off and the bath-tapsstill run water and fill the bath. I've seen them.
Wouldn't you love to see them, too?
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II Old Black Face
When the black doll came to the nursery to live,the other toys didn't like him.
"What are you?" said the teddy bear. "Are you a
golliwog without proper hair?"
"No. I'm a doll," said the black doll.
"But you've got a black face," said the
clockwork clown. "Dolls don't have faces likeyours."
"Well, I'm just a black doll," said the black doll.
"I'm called Sambo. All black dolls are called
Sambo."
"We don't like you," said the golden-haired doll.
"We shall call you Black-Face. Old Black-Face !"
Sambo didn't like that. He couldn't help his
black face. He tried to scrub it white, but it stayed
black. He did wish the toys wouldn't call him Black-
Face.
They weren't at all kind to him. They wouldn't
let him join in their games. The
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golden-haired doll was really rude. She turned
her back on him, whenever he came near.
The black doll was a friendly fellow. He loved
to chatter and laugh and make jokes. But how
could he chatter if people wouldn't talk to him? He
didn't feel like making jokes or laughing either. He
felt very miserable. Not even the teddy bear was
nice to him.
"Here's old Black-Face," he would say, as soonas Sambo came up. "Trying to push himself in as
usual. Go away, Black-Face."
Sambo soon didn't smile any more. He kept in
a corner, and didn't try to join in the others' games.
He wished he hadn't come to this nursery. But
someone had given him to Peter, the boy whobelonged to that nursery, so Sambo couldn't help
coming.
One day something strange happened. A lot of
black stuff suddenly fell down into the hearth ! It
was soot. The toys didn't know this. They ran over
to the hearth and looked at all the black stuff.Suddenly some more fell down the chimney
andoh dearit fell all over the toys ! In a trice
the teddy bear was black, the golden
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haired doll was black, and so was the clock-
work clown. Only the golliwog looked no
different, and Sambo, of course.
The toys were full of horror and dismay. They
stared at one another and squealed.
"Oh ! We've got black faces ! Oh, how
dreadful we look !"
The golden-haired doll cried. Her tears made a
little passage down the black of her cheeks, andthis made her look queerer than ever. Sambo was
very sorry for her.
He ran over to all the frightened toys. "Come
away from that stuff," he said. "I'll make you right
again. Don't you worry ! Come into the bathroom
with me."So they all went into the bathroom with him,
and little black Sambo put one after another into
the bath, and ran warm water in.
Then he took Peter's flannel, and rubbed soap
on it. He washed the face of the golden-haired doll
first of all. It came pink in no time !"You look quite all right now," the teddy bear
said to her. "Do me next, Black-Face. I can't bear
being black like this."
It took quite a long time to get the bear
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brown again, because the soot had covered him
from head to foot. But the black doll worked hard,
and at last the bear was clean."Go and sit in the sun," said Sambo. "Then you
will soon dry. You mustn't get a cold."
How black Sambo worked to get the toys all
clean again ! He even scrubbed the clockwork
mouse with the nail-brush, right down to the very
tip of his tail. The mouse was very grateful."Thank you," he said. "I look better now, don't
I? I'll go and join the bear in the sunshine."
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After he had cleaned all the toys, and washed
away every bit of soot from them, the black doll
cleaned the bath. It was dreadfully sooty. He didn't
want Peter's mother to find it like that, and to
blame Peter.
He was tired when he had finished. He came
into the nursery, and sat down in his lonely corner.
He fell fast asleep.
The toys looked at him. For the first time theysaw the kindness in that little black face. They saw
the tiredness too, and the loneliness.
"I feel ashamed of myself," said the bear to the
clown. "We've been so unkind to Sambo that you
might think he'd be glad when the soot made us
black too, and would refuse to help us. But heworked hard and got us all clean and nice again."
"We laughed at him for being black, but he
didn't laugh at us. He worked hard and helped us,"
said the mouse. "Now he's gone back to his lonely
corner again. He doesn't expect us to like him,
even after all he has done.""Well, I do like him," said the golden-haired
doll. "I like him very much. I'm going over to sit
beside him."
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"So am I," said the bear, and the mouse and the
other toys said the same. So they all went over to
Sambo's lonely corner and sat by him.
He was most surprised to see them there when
he woke up. The golden-haired doll slipped her
fingers into his.
"We want to be friends with you, Sambo," she
said. "We like you. Will you play with us:
Well ! What a question to ask ! Sambo grinnedall over his black face, and began to chatter and
laugh and make jokes at once. How happy he felt!
Now the toys like Sambo better than any other
toy. Wasn't it a good thing he gave them kindness
instead of unkindness, when they were all as black
as he was? Good old Sambo !
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III The Clown's Little Trick
In John's nursery were all kinds of toys, from
the big rocking-horse down to the tiny clockworkmouse. They lived together happily and were kind
and good to one another, just as John was kind to
them.
But one day the fat little toy elephant wasn't so
good after all. John had some little chocolate
sweets and he seemed to enjoy them very much.The toy elephant watched him and wished he could
taste one.
"Don't eat any more, John," said his mother.
"You must make them last all the weekthree a
day, I should think."
John put them away on the bottom shelf of hislittle book-case. The toy elephant saw exactly
where he put them. And that night, in the dark, he
left the toy cupboard, walked across the strip of
linoleum, over the carpet, to the little book-case.
He felt about with his trunk and found the paper
bag.
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He put his trunk inside and felt the little
chocolates there. He got hold of one with his trunk
and popped it into his mouth.
"Myit's good !" he whispered to himself.
"Very, very good. I like it. Tomorrow night I'll
fetch another."
He went back to the toy cupboard, stood
himself in a corner and finished eating the sweet.
All night long he felt the taste of it, and was happy.He didn't think how bad of him it was to take it.
The next night he did the same, putting his
little trunk into the bag and pulling out a sweet. He
ate it, and then he took another. Nobody saw him.
He just stood there in the dark and enjoyed
himself.But John soon found that someone was taking
his sweets. He looked sternly at his toys.
"Toys," he said, "it's very sad, but one of you
is taking my sweets at night. Don't do it. It's very,
very wrong."
The toys were dreadfully upset. They looked atone another when John had gone out for a walk.
"Can one of us be so horrid?" they said. "Who
is it? Let him own up at once !"
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But the fat little elephant said nothing. He
didn't even go red. He wasn't a bit ashamed of
himself. And that night he crept off to the paper
bag and took two more sweets ! He really did.
John was very sad the next day. He looked at
the teddy bear, the golliwog, the clockwork clown,
the mouse, the monkey, the elephant, the pink cat,
the black dog, and all the rest of them.
"If it happens again I am afraid I shall have tolock the toy cupboard door, so that none of you can
get out at night," he said.
This was a horrid threat. The toys did so love
to get out of the cupboard and play around
sometimes when John was in bed. When the moon
shone in at the window they often had a dance. Itwould be dreadful if John really did lock the
cupboard.
When John had gone out of the room the
clockwork clown stood up. "We simply must find
out who is the thief," he said. "I am not going to let
us allbe punished for something that only one ofus does ! Let that one own up now before it is too
late. For I warn him, I shall find him out."
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The toy elephant didn't say a word. The clown
frowned. "Very well," he said. "It will be very,
very bad for the thief when I find him out."Now, that night the clown did a funny thing.
He crept into the nursery larder and found the pot
of honey there. He dipped in a paint-brush and
hurried down to the floor again. He carefully
painted the bit of shiny linoleum outside the toy
cupboard with the honey on the brush. It made itvery sticky indeed.
Then the clown went to the breadboard in 27
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the nursery cupboard and collected all the
crumbs he found there. He took them to the little
book-case and scattered them just in front of the
place where the paper sweet-bag was kept.
Then he hurried back to the toy cupboard, and
sat down beside the golliwog. He didn't tell anyone
at all what he had done.
The toys were tired that night. John had played
with them a lot that day. They fell asleep and sleptsoundly, all but the fat little elephant, who was
waiting to go and get another sweet. When he was
sure everyone was asleep, he crept out of the
cupboard as usual. His four feet stepped on the
honey. Then, with sticky feet, he padded over to
the book-case and put out his trunk to the sweet-bag.
He trod on the scattered crumbs. They stuck to
his feet, but he didn't know it. He took a sweet and
padded back to the toy cupboard. He spent a long
time enjoying the little chocolate.
Now, just at dawn, when a silvery light wascoming in through the window, the clockwork
clown woke all the toys up. "Wake
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up," he said, and his voice sounded so stern
that the toys were alarmed.
" W hat's the matter?'' they said.
"I am going to show you who the thief is," said
the clown. "I myself don't know who it is yet, but I
soon shallknow ! Everyone sit down, please, and
show me the underneath of their feet !"
In great surprise all the toys did as they were
told, and the clown looked at their feet quickly.And, of course, when he came to the elephant's
feet, he saw the little crumbs sticking there, and
smelt the honey on them, too !
"Here is the thief!" he cried. "Bad little
elephant ! Look, toys, he has crumbs stuck to his
feet! You see, I spread honey just outside thecupboard, and scattered crumbs in front of the
book-case ! And the elephant walked over the
honey and the crumbs stuck to his feet! So now we
know who the thief is ! Bad little elephant!"
The toys were angry with the elephant. They
turned him out of the toy cupboard. They madehim go and stand in front of the sweet-bag, so that
John would know who the thief was, when he
came in.
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And he did, of course. "So you were the bad
little thief!" he said. "I'm ashamed of you. You
must be spanked !"
And he spanked the fat little elephant so hard
that he cried tears into the brick-box at the back of
the toy cupboard, and made quite a puddle there.
"Serves you right," said the clown. "We shan't
play with you for a night or two. Perhaps you will
think twice the next time you want to take things
that don't belong to you !"
It was a clever trick of the clown's, wasn't it?
I'm sure I should never have thought of it !
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IV
Good Gracious Me!
It all happened in such a hurry ! Leslie was
going along the path in the wood on his scooter,
thinking of what he would spend his Saturdaypenny on. He was wishing he could save up
enough money to buy a hooter to put on the handle
of his scooter.
"Sometimes I go almost as fast as a motorcar,
and I really oughtto have a hooter to warn people
to get out of the way !" thought Leslie.Just then somebody rushed by him, almost
knocking him over. Leslie was cross. "Hi ! Don't
go rushing about like that !" he shouted. Then he
stared in surprise.
The person who had nearly knocked him over
was the longest-legged man he had ever seen !Leslie stared after him. He had long, spidery legs,
long arms, and a long neck on which sat a big head
with pointed ears !
"He must be a gnome or a pixie or something!"
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said Leslie. And just as he was thinking that,
he heard shouts behind him. "Stop him! Stop thief!
Hi, can't you stop him?"
Then all round Leslie rushed two or three very
small men. He thought they must be goblins. They
looked very cross and impatient.
"Why didn't you stop him? Didn't you see
Long-Legs rushing by? He's taken a bag of magic
spells from us !""Oh," said Leslie, in surprise. " Well, I didn't
know that. Anyway, he's gone. You'll never catch
him, he's got such long legs !"
"Lend us your scooter !" said one of the
goblins, and caught hold of it. "Come on! Lend it
to us ! We can go fast on this.""No," said Leslie, who felt sure he would never
see his nice new scooter again if he let the little
men have it.
"Yes!" said the little men, and they all jumped
on the scooter at once, with Leslie in the middle of
them, and then they pushed off with all their littleleft legs ! The scooter simply shot through the
trees!
"Hi, stop ! We'll have an accident!" said
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Leslie. But he might as well have spoken to the
moon. The little men used their left feet all in timewith one another, and the scooter went faster and
faster. They held on to Leslie and to each other. It
must have been a funny sight to see them tearing
along at top speed through the wood !
"There he is ! Go on, faster, faster !" yelled the
little man who was right in front.And faster they went, till Leslie could hardly
breathe! Then CRASH! They bumped into a tree
and all of them fell off. The front wheel of the
scooter looked a little
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bent. But the little men took no notice of that!
No, up they all jumped again, nearly leaving
poor Leslie behind this time, and off they went
again, with Leslie clinging to the handle for all he
was worth.
"I can see him! I can see Long-Legs !" yelled
the front goblin. "He's going to the goblin market.
That's where he's going ! He means to sell our
spells there ! Hurry !"They left the path in the wood and came out on
a main road. Leslie knew he had never been there
before ! It was crowded with all kinds of fairy folk!
How he stared !
" We shall knock people over. Look out !" he
shouted. "We're going too fast.""Sound your hooter, then; blow it, blow it!"
yelled the little men.
"I haven't got one !" said Leslie. "Oh, do be
careful. You nearly knocked over that pixie."
"We'd better stop and buy a hooter," said the
little man at the front. "We don't want an accident."So they stopped at a fine shop and bought a
most wonderful hooter. It looked like silver to
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Leslie, and the rubber part was painted blue.
They fixed it on to the handle.
Then on they tore again, this time hooting for
all they were worth. "Hoot-toot-toot! Hoot-toot-
toot!"
People hopped out of the way at once. The
scooter raced on as fast as an express train. Leslie
couldn't help enjoying it, especially as he was the
one to sound the hooter !"There's Long-Legs again !" yelled the little
men. "Faster, faster !"
"Hoot-toot-toot! Hoot-toot-toot!" On they
went, and, just as they reached the crowded
market, they caught up Long-Legs. In fact, they
ran right into him, and knocked him over !Everyone fell off the scooter, and then goblins
swarmed over the groaning Long-Legs like ants.
They took away his bag of spells, and tied his
hands behind him, and began to march him away.
"Hi!" called Leslie." Tell me the way home!"
The goblins stopped. They seemed to haveforgotten about Leslie. "Oh, don't you know it?"
they called. "Well, never mind, your scooter does.
Just hop on and it will take you back to the path in
the wood."
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Leslie was rather doubtful about this. He hadn't
noticed that his scooter was very clever before.
"Well, what about your hooter?" he called. "Don't
you want it?""Oh no. You can have it in return for letting us
borrow your scooter !" called back the goblins.
"Goodbye."
"Goodbye," said Leslie, and looked at his new
hooter in delight. Goodness, what would Mother
say?He got on his scooter, and pushed off. To his
surprise and delight it raced along by itself, and he
didn't even need to put his foot
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down again until he reached the path that he
knew, in the middle of the wood.
There was no one about, of course, but Leslie
couldn't help sounding his hooter. "Hoot-toot-toot!
Hoot-toot-toot!" And all the rabbits scuttled out of
the way at once.
He got home at last, feeling quite tired. When
he told Mother how he got his new hooter, she
didn't believe him."All rightI'll take you to the marketplace,
and you'll see all I saw !"
But isn't it a pity?he can't find the way again
now. Still, perhaps he will some day.
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V
Grandma's Doll
Grandma had a very old doll. She had had it
when she was a little girl, and she had never given itaway.
When Winnie went to see Grandma she always
asked to see the old doll. Her name was Tabitha
Jane.
She was a queer-looking doll, dressed in funny
old-fashioned clothes. Her hair was very fuzzy, andat the back it had come off a little and she was bald
there.
She had bright blue eyes that didn't shut, and a
round fat face made of china. She smiled and
showed a set of white teeth. Her
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arms and legs wouldn't move very much, so
she was rather a stiff sort of doll, and not very
cuddlesome.
But there was one nice thing about her, and
that wasshe could say "Mamma, Mamma,
Mamma !"
Winnie thought that was wonderful. It is true
that Tabitha Jane wouldn't say "Mamma" unless
you pulled a string in her back, but still she alwaysspoke when you did that.
"You see, when I was small, little girls called
their mothers 'Mamma' instead of 'Mummy',
Winnie," said Grandma. "So that is why Tabitha
Jane says 'Mamma' to me instead of 'Mummy'."
"Grandma, why didn't you ever give TabithaJane away?" asked Winnie. "You gave all your
other toys away. I've got a rocking-horse you used
to have. And Derek has all your bricks. But you
have never given Tabitha Jane away. I wish you
would give her to me. You don't want her now, do
you?""Well, I feel I can't give Tabitha away because
she once did a very fine thing for me," said
Grandma, and she looked rather mysterious. "She
is a very special doll."
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"What was the fine thing she did for you?" said
Winnie, surprised.
"I can't tell you," said Grandma. "Nobody hasever believed it, so I never tell anyone now. I told
lots of people when I was a little girl, but nobody
believed me."
"I would believe you," said Winnie. "I would,
really, Grandma. Please do tell me."
"Well, I willtell you," said Grandma. "Listen !It's a very queer tale really, but it will help you to
know why I have never given Tabitha Jane away.
"Once," went on Grandma, "when I was
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quite small, smaller than you, Winnie, I put
Tabitha Jane to bed for the night. She had a bed in
the day nursery, and I always used to undress her
and put her to bed before I got undressed myself.
"I slept in the night nursery, with my little
sister Mary. That night I popped Tabitha Jane
down in her little bed, kissed her goodnight and
left her. Very soon I was in my cot, and Mary, my
little sister, was in hers. My mother, who was yourgreat-grandmother, blew out our candle, and left
us.
"Mary and I went to sleep. We slept until about
midnight. When I woke up, I could hear
something."
"What could you hear?" said Winnie, lookingat Grandma with wide-open eyes.
"I could hear a voice saying 'Mamma !
Mamma ! Mamma !' " said Grandma. "Yes, you
may well look surprised, Winnie ! I was surprised,
too. I knew the voice of Tabitha Jane very well,
and I felt sure it was my doll calling out 'Mamma !Mamma !' to me."
"What did you do?" said Winnie. "Oh,
Grandma, this is lovely. I love hearing this."
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"Well, I sat up in bed, and I listened. And
again I heard Tabitha Jane calling out. 'Mamma !'
she called. 'Mamma ! Mamma !'
"So I jumped out of bed and ran into the day
nursery. It should have been dark there, but it
wasn'tbecause part of the nursery was on fire !"
"Oh, Grandma-how dreadful !" cried
Winnie.
"A hot coal had shot out of the fire and landedon the rug. It had set light to it, and the flames
from the rug were burning the wooden chair
standing there !" said Grandma. "The smell was
horrid.
"I stood at the door, full of horror, and all the
time could hear that anxious little voice, 'Mamma !Mamma ! Mamma !' "
"Oh," said Winnie, "how wonderful of Tabitha
Jane, Grandma ! She warned you of the fire. Dear
Tabitha Jane, I shall love her twice as much after
this."
"Well, I was very frightened," said Grandma."And I ran at once to my own mother's room, and I
heard my voice too crying 'Mamma! Mamma!
Mamma!' I woke my mother and father and they
ran to the
nursery, threw water on the flames and put out
the fire."
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"Oh, Grandmawhat a lovely story !" said
Winnie. "Didn't your mother and father think
Tabitha Jane was a marvellous doll?"
"They didn't believe me when I told them that
Tabitha Jane had wakened me by calling
'Mamma !' " said Grandma. "That made me very
sad. They wouldn't even let me take her to bed at
night, to reward her for being so good. I still had to
leave her in her little bed in the day nursery.""Poor Tabitha Jane," said Winnie. "If
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you'll just lendher to me one night, Grandma,
I'll cuddle her into bed with me. I'd love to. My
Mummy lets me have just one toy in bed."
Grandma pulled the string. Tabitha Jane at
once said "Mamma !" Winnie hugged the old doll.
"Grandma,Ibelieve every word of your story.
You can tell Tabitha Jane is a doll like that, just by
looking at her darling face. Every time I come to
see you, you must tell me the story of why youhave never given Tabitha Jane away. You couldn't
possibly give away a doll like that."
"Well," said Grandma, looking pleased, "if
ever I do give her away, you shall have her,
Winnie. I think you would love her as much as I
did.""And she might call me one night !" said
Winnie. "Oh, Ishouldlike that!"
"Mamma !" said Tabitha Jane, as Winnie
pulled her string. "Mamma !"
Wouldn't you love to hear her She has such a
dear little voice !
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Enid Blyton
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