Free Adventures of the Wishing-Chair by Enid Blyton Page B

bits of paper and put them round the legs of the chair on the floor! Then, when its wings grow, the bits will all fly about in the draught the wings make with their flapping —and we shall see them and know the chair is ready to go off adventuring again!”
    The children tore up the bits of paper and put them on the floor near the legs of the chair.

    “Really, it does look funny!” said Mollie. “A ribbon balanced in mid-air—and bits of paper below, on the floor! Mother would think us very untidy if she came in. ”
    “Let’s play tiddly-winks now,” said Peter. “I’ll get out the cup and the counters.”
    Soon the three of them were playing tiddly-winks on the floor. Mollie flipped her counters into the cup very cleverly, and had just won, when Chinky gave a shout:
    “Look! Those bits of paper are fluttering into the air! The chair must have grown its wings!”
    Mollie and Peter turned to look. Sure enough, the scraps of paper they had put on the floor were all dancing up and down as if a wind was blowing them. The children could feel a draught too, and knew that the wishing-chair had once again grown its red wings.
    “That was a good idea of yours. Peter,” said Chinky. “Boys have good ideas as well as girls, I can see! Come on, let’s get into the chair and see if it will fly to Jiffy Wood to the old witch’s.”
    They climbed on to the chair. It was really very strange climbing on to something they couldn’t see, but could only feel. Chinky sat on the back, as usual, and the children squeezed into the seat.
    “Go to Jiffy Wood, to the little Spinning House,” Chinky said to the chair. It rose up into the air, flew out of the door, and was up high before the children could say another word! They must have looked very queer, sitting in a chair that couldn’t be seen!
    It was raining. Mollie wished they had brought an umbrella. “Tell the chair to fly above the clouds, Chinky,” she said. “It’s the clouds that drop the rain on to us. If we fly beyond them, we shan’t get wet because there won’t be any rain.”
    “Fly higher than the clouds, chair,” said Chinky. The chair rose higher and higher. It flew right through the misty grey clouds and came out above them. The sun was shining brightly! It made the other side of the clouds quite dazzling to look at!
    “This is better,” said Mollie. “The sun will dry our clothes.”
    They flew on and on in the sunshine, above the great white clouds. Then they suddenly flew downwards again, and the children saw that they were over a thick wood.
    “Jiffy Wood!” said Chinky, peering down. “We shall soon be there!”
    Down they flew and down, and at last came to a little clearing. The chair flew down to it, and came to rest on some grass. A little way off was a most peculiar house. It had one leg, like a short pole, and it spun round and round and round on this leg! It did not go very fast, and the children could see that it had a door on one side and a window on each of the other three sides. It had one chimney which was smoking away merrily—but the smoke was green, a sign that a witch lived in the house.
    “Well, here we are,” said Chinky, getting out of the chair. “I’d better carry the chair, I think. I don’t like leaving it about here when we can’t see it. We shouldn’t know where it was if anyone came along and untied the ribbon.”
    “Is the old witch a fierce sort of person?” asked Mollie.
    “No, she’s a good sort,” said Chinky. “She will do all she can to help us, I know. You needn’t be afraid. She won’t harm us. My grandmother knew her very well.”
    “How are we going to get into the house?” asked Peter, looking at the strange house going round and round and round. “It’s like getting on a roundabout that’s going! Our mother always says that’s a dangerous thing to do.”
    “Well, we’ll try and get the witch to stop the house spinning round for a minute, so that we can hop in with the chair,”