Adventures of the Wishing-Chair by Enid Blyton Read Free Book Online Page A

dancing pixies stopped their singing and fell to the floor, panting and crying, “Now look and tell what you see, Chinky!”
    Chinky stared into the mirror and then gave a shout.
    “I see her! It’s the witch Kirri-Kirri! She has got Whiskers. Here he is, cooking her dinner for her!”
    The two children sprang up from the couch and hurried to look into the mirror that Chinky held. To their great amazement, instead of seeing their own faces, they saw a picture of Whiskers, their cat, stirring a soup-pot on a big stove—and behind her was an old witch, clad in a long, black cloak embroidered with silver stars and moons!
    “See her!” said Chinky, pointing. “That’s the witch Kirri-Kirri. I know where she lives. We’ll go and rescue Whiskers this very night—even if we have to go on foot!”
    The four little pixies twittered goodbye and ran out. The picture in the mirror faded away. The children and the pixie looked at one another.
    “What a marvellous spell!” said Mollie. “Oh, I did enjoy that, Chinky! Shall we really go and fetch Whiskers tonight?”
    “Yes,” said Chinky. “Come here at midnight, ready dressed. If the chair has grown its wings, we’ll go in it—if not, we’ll take the underground train to the witch’s house.”
    “Ooh!” said Mollie. “What an adventure!”

The Witch Kirri-Kirri
    THE children dressed themselves again after they had been to bed and slept. Mollie had a little alarm-clock and she set it for a quarter to twelve, so they awoke in good time for their adventure. Chinky was waiting for them.
    “We can’t go in the wishing-chair,” he said. “It hasn’t grown its wings again. I think it’s asleep, because it gave a tiny snore just now!”
    “How funny!” said Mollie. “Oh, Chinky—I do feel excited!”
    “Come on,” said the pixie. “There’s no time to lose if we want to catch the underground train.”
    He led the children to a big tree at the bottom of the garden. He twisted a piece of the bark and a door slid open. There was a narrow stairway in the tree going downwards. Mollie and Peter were so surprised to see it.
    “Go down the stairs,” Chinky said to them. “I’ll just shut the door behind us.”
    They climbed down and came to a small passage. Chinky joined them and they went along it until they came to a big turnstile, where a solemn grey rabbit sat holding a bundle of tickets.
    “We want tickets for Witch Kirri-Kirri’s,” said Chinky. The rabbit gave them three yellow tickets and let them through the turnstile. There was a little platform beyond with a railway line running by it. Almost at once a train appeared out of the darkness. Its lamps gleamed like two eyes. There were no carriages—just open trucks with cushions in. The train was very crowded, and the children and Chinky found it difficult to get seats.

    Gnomes, brownies, rabbits, moles, elves, and hedgehogs sat in the trucks, chattering and laughing. The two hedgehogs had a truck to themselves for they were so prickly that no one wanted to sit by them.
    The train set off with much clattering. It stopped at station after station, and at last came to one labelled “Kirri-Kirri Station.”
    Chinky and the children got out.
    “Kirri-Kirri is such a rich and powerful witch that she has a station of her own,” explained Chinky. “Now listen—this is my plan, children. It’s no use us asking the witch for Whiskers, our cat—she just won’t let us have her. And it’s no use trying to get her by magic, because the witch’s magic is much stronger than mine. We must get her by a trick.”
    “What trick?” asked the children.
    “We’ll creep into her little garden,” said Chinky, “and we’ll make scrapey noises on the wall, like mice. We’ll squeak like mice too—and the witch will hear us and send Whiskers out to catch the mice. Then we’ll get her, run back to the station, and catch the next train home!”
    “What a fine plan!” said Peter. “It’s so simple too! It