Mary Poppins Opens the Door by P. L. Travers Read Free Book Online

wandered to the mantelpiece.
    There lay the Compass and the Doulton Bowl, the jam-jar full of daisies, the stick of his old Kite and Mary Poppins' Tape Measure. And there, too, was the present Aunt Flossie had given him yesterday—the little Cat of white china patterned with blue-and-green flowers. It sat there with its paws together and its tail neatly curled about them. The sunlight shone on its china back; its green eyes gazed gravely across the room. Michael gave it a friendly smile. He was fond of Aunt Flossie and he liked the present she had brought him.
    Then his tooth gave another dreadful stab.
    "Ow!" he shrieked, "It's digging a hole right into my gum!" He glanced pathetically at Mary Poppins. "And nobody cares!" he added bitterly.
    Mary Poppins tossed him a mocking smile.
    "Don't look at me like that!" he complained.
    "Why not? A Cat can look at a King, I suppose!"
    "But I'm not a king——" he grumbled crossly, "and you're not a cat, Mary Poppins!" He hoped she would argue with him about it and take his mind off his tooth.
    "Do you mean
any
cat can look at the King? Could Michael's cat?" demanded Jane.
    Mary Poppins glanced up. Her blue eyes gazed at the Cat's green eyes and the Cat returned her look.
    There was a pause.
    "Any cat," said Mary Poppins at last. "But that cat more than most."
    Smiling to herself, she took up the ball of wool again and something stirred on the mantelpiece. The china cat twitched its china whisker and lifted its head and yawned. The children could see its glistening teeth and a long pink cat's tongue. The Cat then arched its flowery back and stretched itself lazily. And after that, with a wave of its tail, it leapt from the mantelpiece.
    Plop! went the four paws on the carpet. Purr! said the Cat as it crossed the hearth-rug. It paused for a moment by Mary Poppins and gave her a little nod. Then it sprang upon the window-sill, dived out into the shining sunlight and disappeared.

    Michael forgot his toothache and gaped.
    Jane dropped her skein and stared.
    "But—" they both stammered. "How? Why?
    Where?"
    "To see the Queen," Mary Poppins answered. "She's At Home every Second Friday. Don't stare like that, Jane—the wind might change! Close your mouth, Michael! Your tooth will get cold."
    "But I want to know what happened!" he cried. "He's made of china. He isn't real. And yet—he jumped! I saw him."
    "Why did he want to see the Queen?" asked Jane.
    "Mice," replied Mary Poppins calmly. "And partly for Old Sake's Sake."
    A faraway look came into her eyes and the hands on the ball of wool fell idle. Jane flung a warning glance at Michael. He wriggled cautiously out of bed and crept across the room. Mary Poppins took no notice. She was gazing thoughtfully out of the window with distant dreamy eyes.
    "Once upon a time," she began slowly, as though she were reading from the sheet of sunlight....

    Once upon a time, there lived a King who thought he knew practically everything. I couldn't even begin to tell you the things he thought he knew. His head was as full of facts and figures as a pomegranate of pips. And this had the effect of making the King extremely absent-minded. You will hardly believe me when I say that he even forgot his own name, which was Cole. The Prime Minister, however, had an excellent memory, and reminded him of it from time to time.
    Now, this King's favourite pursuit was thinking. He thought all night and he thought in the morning. He thought at mealtimes, he thought in his bath. He never noticed what was happening in front of his nose because, of course, he was always thinking about something else.
    And the things he thought about were not, as you might imagine, the welfare of his people and how to make them happy. Not at all. His mind was busy with other questions. The number of baboons in India, for instance; and whether the North Pole was as long as the South; and if pigs could be taught to sing.
    He not only worried about these things himself. He forced