In all my short life I have never realised how completely politically uncorect Enid Blyton's books are. I read them as a child, probably all of them twice over, yet my little innocent self was not aware that Dame Spankalot was any other than a women the charcters of the story had befriended during another magically adventure at the top of The Faraway Tree. Why would I question PC Goons motives when i am satisfied with an outdoor land where the sun never goes down and there is an eternal pinic blanket layed with cheese, ham, boiled eggs, cake, sandwiches and lappings of ginger beer? Books entitled, The Three Golliwogs, and Happy Hours Story Book mean totally different things to me now, than when I was a gullible 7 year old willing to believe in Wishing-Chairs.

Out of many books i read as a child, the one i can remember reading over and over again and never getting bored of, was A Book Of Brownies by Enid Blyton - a story based on three naughty brownies (brownies are sort of a cross between pixies and elves) named Hop, Skip, and Jump who play naughty tricks on their fellow neigbours, which leads them to the sanction of being forgoten purposely when the King has a party and invites the whole village. Hop, Skip, and Jumps whole lives are then transformed as they disguise themselves as magicians so they can go to the party, and consequently, they end up disappearing the Kings daughter permently, and are forced to leave the village and never come back until they have returned her. It's a good book, i liked it, anyway. However, now looking back through it, the characters and chapter names are a little odd. For example, chapter five: Their adventure in the Land of Clever people. Chapter 9 is about The Saucepan Man - a half deaf man wearing lots of saucepans, who is accused more than once of being saucy. The book ends on page 185 with a poem:

GOODBYE!

And now the three brownies are happy once more,
And the princess is smiling and gay;
She often comes knocking at their cottage door
(Usually about quarter-past four),
And asks them to come out and play.

But first they have tea, and they eat jammy bread,
While they talk just as fast as they can
of the Vanishing Door and the Hob-Goblin red,
Of the Very Wise man with his very big head,
And, of course, of the old saucepan man.

And Hop laughs to think of the worm they once met,
Who was in such a terrible hurry;
And Skip says he really will never forget
The time when the Green Railway Train was upset
And put everyone in a flurry!

So they chatter and laugh while they finish their tea,
Then they think they will go out to play;
And off they all clatter, as merry can be,
To take the old Dragon-Bird out for a spree
away in the air, hip hurray!

They have a fine time in the sunny blue sky,
And then come to earth with a bump.
And after that Peronel calls out "Goodbye!
Goodbye, dear old Dragon-Bird; thanks for the fly,
And goodbye to you, Hop, Skip and Jump!"

Enough said!