Enid Blyton Read Online Free PDF Page A

company— especially the cat and the rabbits—but she was too polite to say any¬thing. She welcomed them all, and helped the goblin children off with their coats.
    Well! When Mollie and Michael saw their strange guests trooping into the nursery, they were most excited and pleased. Gracious! What a marvellous party it would be, with rabbits and a cat, and goblin children and a pixie, and the rest.
    Everyone had a present to give to Mollie and Michael, of course, though the rabbits only brought a bunch of early primroses each, which they thought were not very good presents—but the twins simply loved the pretty pale-yellow flowers, and Mollie put them into a little blue bowl at once, in the very middle of the birthday table.
    You should have seen some of the presents that the guests gave to the children. Mr. and Mrs. Roundy gave them a dear little mug each, and as soon as it was lifted up to drink from, each mug played a tune. Mollie's played, "Sing a song of sixpence," and Mike's played, "Humpty-Dumpty."
    "I shall drink all day long now," said Mike. "I think this mug must be magic."
    Mr. Tiddley-Winks gave them a set of beautiful Tiddley-winks each, of course, and Sooty, the cat, gave them a black china cat exactly like himself—and it meowed when its tail was pulled. So you can guess that it meowed all the afternoon, because somebody or other was always pulling its tail. It really was great fun.
    The tea was gorgeous, because Mrs. Tickle had brought along a big tin of her best home-made biscuits, and as they were all made in the shape of toys, with jam right in the middle, they were most exciting. Mike had a biscuit just like an engine, and when he squeezed it, the jam came out of the funnel. Everyone thought it was wonderful.
    Then they had the bran-tub—and how all the guests loved their presents! Sooty got a clock-work mouse, and when Mike wound it up and set it going Sooty was quite mad with delight, and chased the mouse under chairs and tables till Mrs. Brown felt quite giddy from watching him.
    "I think this is the finest party anyone ever had," said Mollie happily.'' Fancy finding twelve guests who don't mind about whooping-cough! I am sorry we couldn't have our proper friends—but I can't help thinking this is a more exciting party with this sort of guests, Mike."
    Mr. Pink-Whistle was asked to do a little magic, because the twins knew now that he was half-magic.
    So he was most obliging, and kept appearing and disappearing in a most surprising way. Mollie begged him to whisper the magic words in her ear, so that she could make herself disappear too—but she didn't get them quite right, and to everyone's great astonishment only her legs disappeared.
    And there was Mollie running about the room without any legs that could be seen. Mrs. Roundy laughed till she cried.
    Then they had the crackers. Sooty and the rabbits had never seen crackers before, and when the first one went off BANG, they were dreadfully frightened. Sooty jumped up the chimney at once, and the two rabbits rushed under the sofa.
    When Sooty came down at last, he was just as sooty as his name, and Mrs. Brown had to hold him under the tap and scrub him clean. Then he sat in front of the fire to be dried, whilst the two rabbits crept out from under the sofa and wondered if they dared to pull a cracker themselves.
    "'Well, let's," said the bigger rabbit. "There are caps inside, Whiskers, dear—and you know I've always wanted some sort of hat to wear."
    So they pulled a cracker, and then another, and out came a blue bonnet for Whiskers and a golden crown for Floppy. Goodness, they were pleased!
    Then they played tiddley-winks—and you should have seen the way Mr. Tiddley-Winks played. He was simply marvellous. He could not only flip counters into the cup—but he could flip just anything.
    "You are clever/' said Mike. "I wish I could play tiddley-winks like that."
    Then Mr. Pink-Whistle looked at his watch. "Dear me!" he said. "We must all go. We