Five Children And It Chapter 5: Bedtime Story

Hello beloveds,

Welcome to today's reading of Edith Nesbit's Five Children and It as we continue our adventures with chapter 5.

Five Children and It is a delightful story about 5 siblings who find themselves in the English countryside in summertime. Whilst out exploring one day they discover a sand fairy who has the ability to grant them wishes.

What will they wish for today? Let's head into their world and see what unfolds.

Have a beautiful day.

Transcript

Hello dear ones and welcome to today's reading of Five Children and It by Edith Nesbitt.

As always just taking a few moments to arrive here,

Whether you're stretched out in bed ready for a nice night's sleep or whether you're just taking a few moments out of your day to listen to the adventures of the Five Children.

Just becoming aware of your surroundings and of your body and any thoughts in your mind and taking some deeper breaths now in and out and when you are ready we will begin Chapter Five No Wings Whether anyone cried or not there was certainly an interval during which none of the party was quite itself.

When they grew calmer,

Anthea put her handkerchief in her pocket and her arm around Jane and said it can't be for more than one night we can signal with our handkerchiefs in the morning they'll be dry by then and someone will come up and let us out and find the siphon said Cyril gloomily and we shall be sent to prison for stealing you said it wasn't stealing you said you were quite sure it wasn't well I'm not so sure now said Cyril let's throw the thing away among the trees said Robert then no one can do anything to us oh yes and hit some chap on the head and be murderers as well as thieves said Cyril but we can't stay up here all night and I want my tea said Jane you can't want your tea said Robert you've only just had your dinner but I do want it especially when you begin talking about stopping up here all night oh panther I want to go home I want to go home hush hush Anthea said don't dear it'll be all right somehow don't cry oh let her cry said Robert desperately if she howls loud enough someone may hear and come and let us out Robert don't be such a brute oh Jane it's just the same for all of us there was a pause then Cyril said slowly look here we must risk that siphon I'll button it up inside my jacket and perhaps no one will notice it you others keep well in front of me there are lights on in the clergyman's house they've not gone to bed yet we must just yell as loud as ever we can now when I say three all scream one two three and they all screamed and a maid at one of the vicarage windows paused with her hand on the blind cord one two three another yell piercing and complex startled the owls and starlings to a flutter of feathers in the belfry below the maid flew from the vicarage window and ran down the vicarage stairs and into the vicarage kitchen and fainted as soon as she had explained to the manservant and the cook and the cook's cousin that she had seen a ghost it was quite untrue of course but I suppose the girl's nerves were a little upset by the yelling one two three the vicar was on his doorstep by this time and there was no mistaking the yell that greeted him goodness me he said to his wife my dear someone's being murdered in the church give me my hat and a thick stick and tell Andrew to come after me I expect it's the lunatic who stole the food the children had seen the flash of light when the vicar opened his front door they had seen his dark form on his doorstep and they had paused for breath and also to see what he would do when he turned back for his hat Cyril said hastily he thinks he only fancied that he heard something right yell now one two three and it was certainly a whole yell this time and the vicar's wife flung her arms around her husband and screamed a feeble echo of it you shan't go she said not alone jesse the maid unfainted and came out of the kitchen send Andrew at once there's a dangerous lunatic in the church and he must go immediately and catch him here Andrew said the maid there's someone screaming like mad in the church and the missus says you to go along and catch it catch it not alone I don't said Andrew to his master he merely said yes sir you heard those screams the vicar asked I did think I noticed a sort of something said Andrew well come on then said the vicar my dear I must go he pushed her gently into the sitting room banged the door and rushed out dragging Andrew by the arm a volley of yells greeted them then as it died into silence Andrew shouted hello you there did you call yes shouted four far away voices they seem to be in the air said the vicar very remarkable indeed where are you shouted Andrew and Cyril replied in his deepest voice very slow and loud church church tower top come down then said Andrew and the same voice replied can't door locked my goodness said the vicar Andrew fetch the stable lantern perhaps it would be as well to fetch another man from the village hello there shouted Cyril from the church tower come up and let us out we're coming said Andrew I'm going to go and get a policeman and a gun Andrew Andrew said the vicar that's enough so Andrew fetched the lantern and the cook's cousin and the vicar's wife begged them all to be very careful they went across the churchyard it was quite dark now and as they went they talked the vicar was certain a lunatic was on the church tower the one who had written the mad letter and taken the cold tongue and things Andrew thought it was a trap the cook's cousin alone was calm he was not afraid at all but then he had a gun that was why he was asked to lead the way up to the worn steep dark steps of the church tower and he did lead the way with the lantern in one hand and the gun in the other Andrew went next he pretended afterwards that this was because he was braver than his master but really it was because he thought of traps and he did not like the idea of being behind the others being behind the others for fear someone should come up softly behind him and catch a hold of his legs in the dark they went on and on and round and round the little corkscrew staircase then through the bell ringers loft where the bell ropes hung with soft furry ends like giant caterpillars then up another stair into the belfry where the big quiet bells are and then on up a ladder with broad steps and then up a little stone stair and at the top of that there was a little door and the door was bolted on the stair side the cook's cousin who was a gamekeeper kicked at the door and said hello are you there the children were holding on to each other on the other side of the door and trembling with anxiousness they could hardly speak but Cyril managed to reply huskily hello you there how did you get up there it was no use saying that we flew up so Cyril said we got up and then we found the door was locked and we couldn't get down oh let us out do how many of you are there asked the keeper only four said Cyril are you armed are we what i've got my gun handy so you'd best not try any tricks said the keeper if we open the door will you promise to come quietly down and with no nonsense yes oh yes said the children all together bless me said the vicar surely that was a female voice shall i open the door sir said the keeper andrew went down a few steps to leave room for the others he said afterwards yes said the vicar open the door remember he said through the keyhole we have come to release you you will keep your promise to refrain from violence how this bolt do stick said the keeper anyone would think it hadn't been drawn for half a year and as a matter of fact it hadn't when all the bolts were drawn the keeper spoke deep chested words through the keyhole i won't open it till you've gone over to the other side of the tower and if one of you comes at me i fire we're all over on the other side said the voices the keeper felt pleased with himself and owned himself a bold man when he threw open that door and stepping out flashed the full light of the stable lantern on the group of desperados standing against the parapet on the other side of the tower he lowered his gun and he nearly dropped the lantern well so help me he cried if they ain't a pack of kiddies the vicar now advanced how did you come to be here he asked severely tell me at once oh take us down please said jane catching at his coat and we'll tell you anything that you'd like you won't believe us but it doesn't matter oh please take us down and the others crowded around him with the same entreaty all but cyril he had enough to do with the soda water siphon which would keep slipping down under his jacket it needed both hands to keep it steady in its place so they were taken down it is no joke to go down a strange church tower in the dark but the keeper helped them only cyril had to be independent because of the soda water siphon it would keep trying to get away halfway down the ladder it all but escaped cyril just caught it by its spout and as nearly as possible lost his footing he was trembling and pale when they at last reached the bottom of the winding stair and stepped out onto the stones of the church porch then suddenly the keeper caught cyril and robert each by an arm you bring along the girls sir said he you and andrew can manage them let go said cyril we aren't running away we haven't hurt your old church let us go you come along said the keeper and cyril dared not to oppose him with violence because just then the siphon began to slip again so they were marched into the vicarage study and the vicar's wife came rushing in oh william are you safe she cried robert hastened to ally her anxiety yes he said he's quite safe we haven't hurt them at all and please we're very late and they'll be anxious at home could you send us home in your carriage or perhaps there's a hotel near where we could get a carriage said anthia martha will be very anxious as it is the vicar had sunk into a chair overcome by emotion and amazement cyril had also sat down and was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees because of the soda water siphon but how did you come to be locked up in the church tower asked the vicar we went up said robert slowly and we were tired and then we all went to sleep and when we woke up we found the door was locked so we yelled i should think you did said the vicar's wife frightening everybody out of their wits end like this you ought to be ashamed of yourselves oh we are said jane but who locked the door asked the vicar i don't know at all said robert with perfect truth do please send us home well really said the vicar i suppose we'd better andrew put the horse too and you can take them home not alone i don't said andrew and the vicar went on let this be a lesson to you he went on talking and the children listened miserably but the keeper was not listening he was looking at the unfortunate cyril he knew all about poachers of course so he knew how people look when they're hiding something the vicar had just got to the part about trying to grow up to be a blessing to your parents and not a trouble when the keeper suddenly said ask him what he's got there under his jacket and cyril knew that concealment was at an end so he stood up and squared his shoulders and tried to look noble and he pulled out the siphon and said well there you are then there was silence cyril went on there was nothing else for it yes we took this out of your larder and some chicken and tong and bread we were very hungry and we didn't take the custard or the jam we only took bread and meat and water just the necessaries of life and we left half a crown to pay for it and we left a letter and we're really truly very sorry very sorry and my father will pay a fine and anything you like but please don't send us to prison mother would be so vexed you know what you said about not being a disgrace well don't you go and do it to us we're as sorry as we can be however did you get up to the larder window said mrs vicar i can't tell you that said cyril firmly is this the whole truth you've been telling me asked the clergyman it's all true said jane but it's not the whole truth but we can't tell you that it's no good asking oh please do forgive us and take us home she ran to the vicar's wife and threw her arms around her the vicar's wife put her arms around jane and the keeper whispered behind his hand to the vicar they're all right sir i expect it's a pal that they're standing by someone put them up to it and they won't peach on them game little kids tell me said the vicar kindly are you screening someone else had anyone else anything to do with this yes said anthia thinking of the samiad but it wasn't their fault very well my dears said the vicar then let's say no more about it only just tell us why you wrote such an odd letter i don't know said cyril you see anthia wrote it in such a hurry and it really didn't seem like stealing then but afterwards when we found we couldn't get down off the church tower it seemed just exactly like stealing and we're all very very sorry say no more about it said the vicar's wife but another time just think before you take other people's tongs now would you like some cake and milk before you go home when andrew came to say that the horse was put to and was he expected to be led alone into the trap that he had plainly seen from the first he found the children eating cake and drinking milk and laughing at the vicar's jokes jane was sitting on the vicar's wife's lap so you see they got off better than they deserved the gamekeeper who was the cook's cousin asked leave to drive home with them and andrew was only too glad to have someone to protect him from that trap that he was so certain of when the wagonette reached their own house between the chalk quarry and the gravel pit the children were very sleepy but they felt that they and the keeper were friends for life andrew dumped the children down at the iron gate without a word you get along home now said the vicarage cook's cousin who was a gamekeeper i'll get me home on shanks mayor so andrew had to drive off alone which he did not like at all and it was the keeper that was cousin to the vicarage cook who went with the children to the door and when they had been swept to bed in a whirlwind of reproaches he remained to explain to martha and the cook and the housemaid exactly what had happened he explained so well that martha was quite amicable the next morning after that he often used to come over to see martha and in the end oh but that's another story as dear mr kipling says martha was obliged to stick to what she had said the night before about keeping the children indoors the next day for a punishment but she wasn't at all ugly about it and agreed to let robert go out for half an hour to get something he particularly wanted this of course was the day's wish robert rushed to the gravel pit found the samiad and presently wished for but that too is another story

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Aren’t they lucky! And more to come! Thank you❤️🙏🏼😘