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PUCK'S BROOM
[Illustration:
I am sent, with
Broom before,
To sweep the Dust
behind the Door
]
[Illustration: "LOOK, THERE'S THE CASTLE!" SAID THE KNIGHT
_Fr._
]
Puck's Broom
The wonderful adventures
of George Henry & his dog Alexander
who went to seek their fortunes in
the ONCE UPON A TIME Land....
By
E. Gordon Browne
Illustrated by
Kathleen I. Nixon
New York
Moffat Yard & Company
1923
[Illustration]
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED
EDINBURGH
[Illustration]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
=GEORGE ARRIVES= 17
_How George Henry came into the world, and what Puck and the
fairies thought about it. Some wise words about nurses and
parents. Alexander the Greatest appears for the first time.
Why George did not believe in the fairies._
CHAPTER II
=GEORGE GROWS UP= 29
_All about the birthday party. A particularly jolly tea with
special games and fireworks. All about the other fireworks,
which were quite a surprise. How the fairies meant to invite
George to their party, and what the old frog said._
CHAPTER III
=MIDSUMMER EVE= 41
_The fairy invitation arrives. George's first pair of trousers.
Midsummer Eve and the preparations for the fairy party.
Puck's anger, and the nasty things that the old frog said.
What happened at the party in the wood._
CHAPTER IV
=DREAM-MUSIC= 53
_George is ill and very cross. His wonderful dream. What_
was _it all about? What the doctor said to him about the
fairies. "Perhaps there is and perhaps there isn't." The
fairies listen to a story. "To-night!" George hears the
dream-music._
CHAPTER V
=THE LAND OF DREAMS= 65
_George and Alexander set out in search of adventure. The
dream-music calls to him again. Can dogs talk? "Wish as
hard as ever you can!" Just like a bit of a story-book!
The little green gate. The delightful little house in the wood,
and the tea waiting there for George and Alexander. The
Land of Dreams._
CHAPTER VI
=FATHER TIME= 77
_George's house. The twisty-curly paths which led to the sea.
The old man sitting on the seashore. The hour-glass. "Are you
Father Time, please?" "A stitch in time saves nine." "Follow
your fortune, little George!" And it was Puck after all!_
CHAPTER VII
=MORE ADVENTURES= 89
_Alexander could_ really _talk, for barking_ is _talking. George
learns more about the little house. The golden weathercock
guides them on their way. Everything and everybody can talk.
This way to Once-upon-a-Time!_
CHAPTER VIII
=A NICE DRAGON= 99
_All about the wonders in this strange country. "She lives not
far from here." Oh, it was_ ever _so much bigger than one
expected! A game at 'catch-my-tail.' The dragon who went
to look for his fortune. George is told that he is not real. A
ride on the dragon's back._
CHAPTER IX
=THE WITCH= 113
_The witch's kitchen. What a witch really looks like. Her
curious smile. Wonders will never cease! What happened
when the kettle boiled. "Will you ride on your catoplane?"
George guesses again. It is all_ very _puzzling_.
CHAPTER X
=THE HIGH MOUNTAINS= 121
_The tower which came to life. "Who's 'Him,' please?" How
witches can read your thoughts. Why the giant was so sad.
They fly toward the glowing mountains, and George sings a song._
CHAPTER XI
=TOM TIDDLER'S GROUND= 129
_The funny little man who told George all about it. "Ask for
what you want." The wonderful meal. Picking up gold and
silver. Tom Tiddler's sack. Alexander is George's best
friend after all. George's fortune grows heavier and heavier,
then lighter and lighter. The story of the golden sausage._
CHAPTER XII
=OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY= 143
_The path which was like the letter S. At the top of the
mountain. "Where does that music come from?" The
little weathercock again. Home once more. What George
found in his sack. Never throw your fortune away!_
CHAPTER XIII
=SIR TRISTRAM= 153
_Topsy-turvy thoughts. Fancy a giant with an umbrella!
George finds a new suit, and Alexander disappears. To the
Castle of the Thousand Towers. The knight who was bound
on a quest. They arrive at the castle._
CHAPTER XIV
=AT COURT= 163
_About the wonders they saw in the castle. "The King bids you
welcome." George becomes a squire. They see the King.
Why he was so lonely and sad. What happened to the beautiful
Princess Fortunata._
CHAPTER XV
=THE QUEST BEGINS= 173
_The quest to free the enchanted princess. "The weathercock
knows the way." They lose their way in the great forest. The
mysterious voices in the air, and how George heard about
the magician's castle. The greatest adventure of all._
CHAPTER XVI
=THE GIANT AGAIN= 181
_On the shores of the black lake. The giant appears again.
How they came safely across the lake. The giant begins
another story. The prince and his bicycle._
CHAPTER XVII
=THE ARRIVAL AT THE CASTLE= 189
_The castle on the glass hill._ 'Whizz' _once more! "Don't
forget to ask for what you want!" The terrible guardians of
the gate and how they were utterly vanquished. "Don't forget
the password!"_
CHAPTER XVIII
=WHAT THE WEATHERCOCK SAID= 195
_How George learned the password which was a magic charm.
"Nobody but you may hear it." How Sir Tristram and the
dragon fought, but it was not anything to bother about. George
fares on his quest alone._
CHAPTER XIX
=PRINCESS FORTUNATA= 203
_What happened to George in the magician's castle. A story
which is like a patchwork counterpane. How difficult it was to
remember the charm! Alexander barks just in time. The
Chinese box-trick. The Princess Fortunata! "The magician
is coming!"_
CHAPTER XX
=ANOTHER PARTY= 211
_What had become of everybody? The dream-music again.
The little house changes. "George is home at last!" The
party and supper which George had never heard about before.
How each of the guests gave him a present, and the beautiful
Queen gave him the best of all. "Of course, you've guessed
it, too!"_
CHAPTER XXI
=BACK TO THE WORLD= 223
_Alexander's bark again. How George and the doctor talked
about Fairyland. What they all said about George's adventures.
How Mother has a little house in the wood, too, and why
she goes there. How George began to understand why his
fortune lay right under his very nose._
CHAPTER XXII
=WHAT THE FAIRIES THOUGHT= 235
_How the old frog actually laughed! Why George Henry_ was
_a wonder-child after all, and why Puck was delighted_.
[Illustration]
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
"LOOK, THERE'S THE CASTLE!" SAID THE KNIGHT,
POINTING STRAIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM _Frontispiece_
THERE STOOD A DELIGHTFUL LITTLE HOUSE WITH
SMOKE CURLING UP FROM ITS CHIMNEYS 70
THE LIGHT GREW BRIGHTER AND BRIGHTER 122
AROUND HIM WERE HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF TINY FIGURES 220
[Illustration]
THIS is a true story.
It all happened through George Henry not believing in the fairies, just as
some boys but _very_ few girls would do.
Boys believe in Red Indians and pirates, and think fairies are all stuff
and nonsense; but they are quite wrong, for Puck can turn himself into
anybody or anything he chooses. So if one day when you are ploughing the
foaming main you sight a pirate ship flying the skull and crossbones at
the masthead, it may not be a pirate at all, but only Puck himself.
Beware! If he catches you he will make you walk the fairy plank, and you
will fall off it _splash!_ right into Fairyland, and find yourself turned
into a cross old frog or something quite as disagreeable.
This story should be read aloud. You should seat yourselves in a
ring--that will please the fairies--and look happy, even if you aren't as
happy as you might be. Sour looks curdle cream and stories as well.
"What!" you say. "Dragons and witches and giants! Do you expect us to
believe in _them_?"
Well, why not? Do you only believe in what you have seen? All the best
books are full of wonders like these, and everything wonderful _must_ be
true.
So, once again, this is a true story.
Now turn to the next page and begin!
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I
_George Arrives_
GEORGE HENRY was born under a lucky star, which means that a star laughed
when he came into the world. This happens to very, _very_ few of us;
perhaps it is because we are born naughty and ready to be stood in the
corner at once.
The fairies knew all about George Henry, however, and were delighted, for
he was a darling boy. Puck brought them the news wrapped up in a leaf and
packed inside a nutshell in order to keep it dry.
Of course you have heard of Puck. He is the little fairy who often plays
mischievous tricks upon people; but if children behave nicely he is always
ready to be their friend.
Santa Claus often pays him a visit about Christmas-time in order to find
out if any children have not been as good as gold during the past year.
Then the naughty children find their stockings empty on Christmas morning,
and wish and wish--too late--that they had thought in time of what Father
and Mother had told them.
Well, the fairies danced that night in the greenwood to the music of the
cricket, the grasshopper, and the frog. Puck told them all about George
Henry and what a very fine boy he was going to be.
George's father and mother thought so too, and Nurse said that he was the
finest child she had ever seen. Nurses _always_ know.
The birds and animals soon heard the news too, and there was such a
chattering, jabbering, twittering, squeaking, and I really don't know how
to tell you what other curious noises in the wood that night.
This 'wonder-child,' as the fairies called him, was named George
Henry--'George' after his grandfather, who gave him a large silver
drinking-mug as a christening present, and 'Henry' after his father. His
mother would have liked to add 'Alexander' as a third name, but it was
given, after all, to a new black, woolly puppy which came into the house
about this time; so that was all right. It is a great pity to waste fine
names like Alexander.
George Henry and Alexander grew up together and were great friends.
Alexander learned to walk long before his little playmate, who used to
toddle along holding on to the dog's tail, and very often falling over on
top of him when his legs grew tired.
As soon as he got past his toddle-days he loved to walk about everywhere
and see everything.
The world was full of the most wonderful things; there was a pigsty in
which lived a family of little pigs with curly tails. They used to squeak
"Good-morning" to him every time he passed by.
He loved their curly tails, and often tried to make Alexander's tail like
theirs, but it was of no use. It either stood straight up on end or else
disappeared between his legs.
It was fine, too, to see the geese marching along like soldiers with
the old gander at their head; to watch the old hen fussing and clucking
after her little fluffy chicks, who would never come home when they were
told--"Like naughty little boys, you know," said Nurse.
It would take hours to tell you all the things Alexander and he saw
together--the animals, the birds, the trees, the flowers; and they all
loved him. But he never saw the fairies--though they often waved their
little hands to him; and Puck sometimes rode on Alexander's back through
the woods and led them to all the prettiest spots--but George never knew.
By and by, when they had grown up a little more, and George was in sailor
trousers, while Alexander had a great big bark which quite made you jump
the first time you heard it, Father and Mother began to wonder what George
would be when he became a man.
He loved playing at soldiers, and had boxes and boxes full of them which
Grandfather and Grandmother, uncles and aunts, and other kind people gave
him from time to time. He played with them on the nursery floor, up and
down stairs until the housemaid, Anne, fell over them, on his bed when
he ought to have been asleep, until Father said: "Ah, the boy will be a
general and win great battles when he grows up!"
"No!" answered Mother. "George is born for something better than _that_."
He knew all about everything in the shop windows, better than even the
people to whom the shops belonged.
"He will be a great merchant!" said his grandfather.
"Pooh!" answered Mother. "Buying and selling? My little George was not
born for _that_."
He began to use paper and pencil, and then a paint-box.
"Ah!" said the aunt who had given him all these things. "George will be a
great artist who will draw and paint most wonderful pictures."
"Rubbish!" replied Mother. "George was born to do something _great_. He
can always draw pictures to amuse himself."
Then he learned to write, and wrote the most wonderful stories which no
one except himself could understand.
"He will be a great writer and write stories which everybody will read,"
said his grandmother.
"I never heard such nonsense!" cried his mother, quite vexed. "Don't
I tell you that he is going to do _great_ things? Anybody can write
stories; besides, he might sit up late at night and catch colds and I
don't know what else if he began writing stories!"
Puck was delighted to hear them all guessing in this way, and laughed
until he fell off the top of a big sunflower on which he was sitting.
"Oh, dear!" he cried. "How funny these big people are!" And he flew away
into the wood to tell the fairies all about it.
They laughed and laughed for days and days, and were never tired of
hearing Puck talk like Grandfather, Father, Mother, and Aunt.
Even the old bull-frog in the large pond, right in the middle of the
darkest part of the wood, croaked "_Ker-ek!_" which was _his_ way of
laughing. He always had a cold, poor fellow, because his feet were never,
_never_ dry, and nobody ever thinks of giving frogs medicine. Perhaps they
have neither nurses nor aunts.
And so the days and months went by, and presently George was big enough to
go to school. It was quite a nice school, so Puck said, for he went there
when he had time. Puck liked to listen to the fairy stories best of all,
and often sat on the teacher's shoulder and whispered in her ear. You
would have been surprised and delighted to hear what splendid stories she
told the children on those days, and she could _never_ imagine how they
came into her head.
Now, it is a very sad thing to have to tell you, but Puck soon found
out that George did not believe that there were any fairies, nor--worse
still--that there ever had been any.
One day he actually fell asleep when the very best story of all was being
told! Puck didn't know what was to be done, and the fairies couldn't help
him, for they had never heard of a boy like this before. "Dear me!" they
said. "If there were _no_ fairies how could there be any fairy stories?
How stupid of little George not to believe in us! We believe in _him_, and
he is only a boy and not a fairy at all."
So Puck set to work to think what to do, and went wandering through the
woods, asking all the birds, all the beasts, and even the insects if
they knew what to do with a boy called George who didn't believe in the
fairies. None of them were able to help him. An old horned beetle said,
"I should pinch him!" but Puck didn't think that pinching was of much use.
When George went to bed, Puck used to sit on his pillow and tell him the
most beautiful dreams, but George forgot all about them when he woke up.
What can one do with a boy like that?
Nurse, however, just nodded her head wisely and said: "Wait and see!"
There are thousands of nurses saying the same thing all over the world.
They just _know_ what will happen later on, and that is all. They never
tell anyone else. If they do they are not real nurses, and should be given
a month's notice.
George's nurse was what people called a 'comfortable' person. She was big
and round, and her shoes creaked just now and again--quite a lady-like
creak. She did not often smile, but when she did you felt sure the sun
was shining and that the world was a jolly place to live in. Nurses--real
nurses--know _everything_; very likely they have been taught by the
fairies, but if you asked your nurse this question she would never tell
you. Oh no!
Nurse always spoke of Alexander as "that black imp," but he knew how to
coax a piece of biscuit from her whenever he wished. He used to sit down
on the nursery hearth-rug with his head on one side, thump gently with his
tail on the floor, and bark very gently, "_Wuff! Wuff!_" without stopping,
for ever so long.
It must be a grand thing to be a dog like Alexander whenever one wants a
biscuit.
George was very busy just now, for he had made up his mind to be an
aviator. An aviator is a man who flies up in the air on a machine which
looks something like a large bird, and makes a noise like ever so many
cats quarrelling. It flies straight up, and then before you can say
"Knife!" it is out of sight. There are no tunnels or stations, no tickets
such as you have on the railway. You just go straight ahead until you get
there.
No wonder George didn't think about the fairies when his head was full of
such wonderful things.
But Father said: "Time enough to fly when you are grown up."
Mother said: "An aviator? _No_, George, darling! You can come for a ride
in the carriage with me this afternoon."
And Nurse said--of course, the same as before.
And so the months and the years went by; George grew bigger, Alexander
grew fatter, Nurse grew more and more comfortable, and Puck grew crosser
and crosser. At last, one day, everybody woke up and said: "George Henry
is eight years old to-morrow!"
[Illustration]
THE FAIRY RIDE
HAVE you seen the fairies ride
All down the magic glen?
Green jackets, red caps,
Teeny, weeny men!
Hearken to their music,
The winding of the horn!
_Ta-tan-ta-ra-ta!_
A fairy boy is born!
Mind you keep the doors shut
When they're riding by,
Lest you get some fairy dust
In your little eye.
If that were to happen,
In a flash you'd be
Changed into a fairy.
Goodness gracious me!
Green jackets, red caps,
See them trooping past.
Hear their bridles jingling--
Shut the door fast!
[Illustration]