So Mollie sat in the Wishing-Chair whilst the others chose swans and rose up in the air on the backs of the beautiful white birds. How lovely it was sailing along like that on a bird's back!
When it was Winks' turn to sit in the Wishing-Chair and stay with it, whilst the others rode on the swans, he got bored. So he thought he would get the chair to chase the swans and make them fly faster!
And up went the Wishing-Chair into the air and began to chase the swans, bumping into their tails and creaking at them in a most alarming manner. One swan was so startled that it turned almost upside down trying to get away from the Wishing-Chair—and the rider on its back fell headlong to the ground.
It was a witch! Fortunately she had her broomstick with her and she managed to get on that as she fell. She landed on the ground with not much more than a nasty bump.
But she was so angry with Winks! She called the Wishing-Chair to the ground at once and scolded Winks so hard that he tried to hide under the chair in a fright. Mollie, Peter and Chinky flew down at once, angry, too, because of his mischievous trick.
“Ha, Chinky! “ said the angry witch, “is this brownie a friend of yours? Who is he?”
“He's Winks, a brownie,” said Chinky.
“What—Winks, who turned his grandmother's pigs blue?” cried the witch. “I thought he was at Mister Grim's school. Well—it's time he was back here. Swan, come here!”
A big white swan flew down to her. The witch picked up Winks as if he were a feather and sat him firmly down on the swan's back.
“Now,” she said to the swan, “take Winks to Mister Grim's school and deliver him to Mister Grim himself. If he tries to escape from your back, peck him hard.”
“Oh, no, oh, no!” wailed Winks. “Mollie, Peter, don't let me go.”
“You'll have to, Winks,” said Mollie. “You really are too naughty for anything. Try to be good this term, and perhaps you'll be allowed to spend your next holidays with Chinky and us. Goodbye.”
“But I shan't get enough to eat! I always have to go without my dinner!” wailed Winks, with tears pouring down his cheeks. “I don't want to go!”
Peter couldn't help feeling sorry for him. “Here— take the Titbit Dish,” he said, and pushed it into Winks' hands. “You'll always have something nice to eat, then.”
Winks' tears dried up at once. He beamed. “Oh, thank you, Peter—how wonderful! Now I don't mind going back a bit! I'll be as good as anything. I'll see you all next holidays. Goodbye!”
And off he went on the swan, back to Mister Grim's school for Brownies, hugging the Titbit Dish in joy.
“He's very, very naughty, and I can't help thinking that Mister Grim's school is the only place for him,” said Mollie. “But I do like him very much, all the same.”
“He's a bad lot,” said the witch. “It's a very good thing I didn't send him off to the Village of Bad Lots. He'd have had a dreadful time there.”
“Look, the sun's going down,” said Chinky suddenly. “We must go. They say the Island of Surprises always disappears at sunset, and we don't want to disappear with it. Quick—it's disappearing already!”
So it was! Parts of it began to look misty and dream-like. The children and Chinky went to the Wishing-Chair at once. “Home, Wishing-Chair,” said Mollie. “Quick, before we all disappear with the Island. That witch has vanished already!”
And home to the playroom they went- They heard Mother ringing the bell for bedtime just as they arrived.
“Oh dear—our very last adventure these holidays, I'm afraid,” said Mollie. “Chinky, you'll take the chair to your mother's, won't you, and take great care of it for us? You know the date we come back home from school. Be here in time to welcome us!”
“We'll slip in and say a last goodbye before we leave for school,” promised Peter. “Don't be lonely without us, Chinky, will you? And couldn't you go and see Winks once or twice at school—in the Wishing-Chair— just to cheer him up?”
“I'll see if my mother will let me,” said Chinky. “She doesn't like Winks, you know. Anyway, he will be quite happy with the Titbit Dish, Peter. It was nice of you to give it to him.”
“Goodbye, Wishing-Chair,” said Mollie, patting it. “You've taken us on some wonderful adventures this time. Be ready to take us again next holidays, won't you?”
The chair creaked loudly, as if it, too, were saying goodbye. The bedtime bell rang again, this time quite impatiently.
“We must go!” said Mollie, and she gave Chinky a hug. “We are lucky to have you and a Wishing-Chair, we really are! Goodbye!”
Goodbye, too, Mollie, Peter, Chinky, Winks and the Wishing-Chair. We'll see you all again someday, we hope!
THE END
The first story about
Mollie, Peter and Chinky
is called
ADVENTURES OF THE
WISHING-CHAIR
Enid Blyton, The Wishing-Chair Again
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