The Book of Brownies (The Enchanted World) by Enid Blyton Page A

rhyme hastily, to fit his last
sentence.
    ‘Oh, look at that excited sheep!’ he said, pointing behind him.
    There was no sheep, of course, and by the time the policeman had discovered that, the brownies had fled down the street.
    They came to the neatest little house imaginable. In the window was a card. On it was printed:
     
    STEP INSIDE AND YOU WILL SEE LODGINGS HERE FOR TWO OR THREE
    ‘
Just
the thing,’ said Hop. ‘Let us ring,’ he added hastily, as another policeman came round the corner and looked at them.
    He rang. The door opened, and a kind-faced old woman looked out.
    ‘Would you let us stay with you?’ he asked, hoping that the old woman would finish the rhyme.
    ‘What can you pay me if you do?’ she asked, at once.
    ‘Would a silver coin be enough to pay?’ said Hop.
    ‘Oh, yes, it would. Please come this way,’ said the old woman, and led them inside.
    The house was very neat inside. The room the old woman took them to was strange-looking. It had knobs here and there on the wall, and Hop longed to pull them and see what happened.
    ‘This is where you are to sleep,’ said their guide, and waited for Hop to finish the rhyme.
    ‘Always look before you leap,’ said Hop solemnly. The woman stared at him and went out.
    ‘This rhyming business is making me tired,’ said Hop, when the door closed. ‘I do hope we find some way of getting out of this land soon. What about pressing a few of these
knobs? Look, this one’s marked SOUP.’
    He pressed it. A little door flew open in the wall, and there stood three mugs of steaming soup!
    ‘Goodness!’ said Skip. ‘
That’s
clever, if you like. Let’s have the soup!’
    They soon finished it up, and began pressing more knobs. The one marked CHOCOLATE brought them three packets of chocolates, and the one marked APPLES a dish of apples. They thought it a very
good idea.
    ‘Now, if these Clever People had ideas like this
only
,’ said Hop, ‘and no silly nonsense about rhymes and riddles and things, this would be a pleasant place to live
in.’
    He pressed a knob marked BED. Immediately a bed rose from the floor under them, and stood there ready to be slept in. The brownies rose with it, and found themselves sitting on it.
    Skip gave a loud giggle.
    At once the window flew up.
    ‘Was that a giggle that I heard?’ demanded a policeman, peering into the room.
    ‘No, just a cough. Don’t be absurd,’ shouted Hop. The window shut with a bang.
    ‘There are policemen everywhere here,’ whispered Hop. ‘For goodness’ sake, don’t giggle any more and only talk in whispers.’
    At that moment there came a knock on their door. It opened, and in came a bright-eyed, prettily dressed little girl.
    ‘Hello,’ she said. ‘I heard one of you laughing. Are you from the Land of Giggles, by any chance?’
    ‘No, we’re not,’ said Hop in astonishment. ‘Why aren’t you talking in rhyme?’
    ‘I’m not one of the Clever People,’ said the little girl. ‘I can’t make up rhymes properly, so I usually don’t talk at all. I come from the Land of
Giggles.’
    ‘What are you here for, then?’ asked Skip.
    The little girl hung her head.
    ‘I was discontented in my own land,’ she said, ‘and I thought I was too clever for my people. So I came here, and now I can’t get away, because I can’t think of
anything that the Very Wise Man can’t do. And I get scolded every single day because I can’t make up riddles or answer them.’
    ‘Who asks them?’ asked Hop.
    ‘Oh, everybody goes to the market-place and stands in a row for their examination each morning,’ explained the little girl. ‘Then the Very Wise Man comes along, and you have to
ask him your riddle and answer his. If you don’t, he sends you to be scolded. It’s to teach you to be clever.’
    ‘I don’t think it’s clever to do
that
sort of thing,’ said Skip, feeling sure he would be scolded every day.
    ‘If you can help me to get back to my own people, I’d be so