Five Children And It Chapter 9: Bedtime Story

Hello beloveds,

Welcome to today's reading of Edith Nesbit's Five Children and It as we continue our adventures with chapter 9.

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.

Let's see what adventures they get up to today!

Have a beautiful day.

Transcript

Hello dear ones and welcome to today's reading of the five children and it Chapter 9 grown up Cyril had once pointed out that ordinary life is full of occasions on which a wish would be the most useful and And this thought filled his mind when he happened to wake early in the morning Cyril dressed hastily he did not take a bath because tin baths are so noisy and he had no wish to rouse Robert and he slipped off alone as Anthea had once done and ran through the dewy morning to the sand pit he dug up the Samoyed very carefully and kindly and Began the conversation by asking it whether it still felt any ill effects from the contact With the tears of Robert the day before yesterday the Samoyed was in good temper and it replied politely and Now what can I do for you?

It said I Suppose you've come here so early to ask for something for yourself Something your brothers and sisters aren't to know about a now do be persuaded for your own good Ask for a good fat megatherium and I've done with it Thank you,

But not today.

I think said Cyril cautiously What I really wanted to say was you know How you're always wishing for things when you're playing at something I?

Seldom play said the Samoyed Well,

You know what?

I mean Cyril went on what I want to say is won't you let us have our wish just when we think of it and Just where we happen to be So that we don't have to come and disturb you again It's a lonely end and you're wishing for something that you don't really want as you did about the castle said the Samoyed Stretching its brown arms and yawning It's always the same since people left off eating really wholesome things However,

Have it your own way Goodbye Goodbye said Cyril politely I'll tell you what said the Samoyed suddenly shooting out its long snail eyes I'm getting tired of you all of you.

You have no more sense than so many oysters go along with you and so Cyril went What an awful time babies stay babies for Said Cyril After the lamb had taken his watch out of his pocket while he wasn't noticing and with coups and clucks of Naughty rapture had opened the case and used the whole thing as a garden spade Cyril had said several things in the heat of the moment But now he was calmer and had even consented to carry the lamb part of the way to the woods Cyril had persuaded the others to agree to his plan and not to wish for anything Until they really really did want it Meantime it seemed good to go to the woods for nuts and on the mossy grass under a sweet chestnut tree The five were sitting The lamb was pulling up the moss by fat handfuls and Cyril was gloomily contemplating the ruins of his watch I Suppose he'll be grown up someday Anthea was saying Dreamily looking up at the blue of the sky that showed between the long straight chestnut leaves But at that moment the lamb struggling gaily with Cyril Thrust a foot into his brother's chest and there was a crack The innocent lamb had broken the glass of father's second-best Waterbury watch Which Cyril had borrowed without leave Grow up someday said Cyril bitterly Plumping the lamb down on the grass.

I dare say he will When nobody wants him to I wish to goodness he would Oh take care Cried Anthea in an agony of apprehension But it was too late Like music to a song Like music to a song her words and Cyril's came out together Anthea Oh take care Cyril Grow up now The faithful Samyad was true to its promise and there Before the horrified eyes of its brothers and sisters the lamb suddenly and violently grew up It was the most terrible moment The change was not so sudden as the wish changes usually were The baby's face changed first It grew thinner and larger Lines came in the forehead The eyes grew more deep set and darker in color The mouth grew longer and thinner most terrible of all A little dog mustache appeared on the lip of one who was still Except the face a two-year-old baby in a linen schmuck and white open work socks Oh,

I wish it wouldn't grow up.

I wish it wouldn't You boys wish as well And they all wished hard For the sight was enough to disturb the most heartless They all wished so hard indeed that they felt quite giddy and almost lost consciousness But the wishing was quite in vain For when the wood ceased to whirl around Their dazed eyes were riveted at once by the spectacle of a very proper looking young man in flannels and a straw hat a Young man who wore the same little black mustache which just before they had actually seen growing upon the baby's lip This then was the lamb grown up their own little lamb It was a terrible moment The grown-up lamb moved gracefully across the moss and settled himself against the trunk of the sweet chestnut He tilted the straw hat over his eyes He was evidently weary and going to sleep the lamb The original little tiresome beloved lamb often went to sleep at odd times and in unexpected places Was this new lamb in the gray flannel suit and the pale green necktie just like the other lamb?

Or had his mind grown up together with his body?

That was the question which the others in a hurried council held among the yellowing brake fern a few yards from the sleeper Whichever it is.

It'll be just as awful said anthia If his inside senses are grown up,

Too.

He won't stand our looking after him And if he's still a baby inside of him,

How on earth are we going to get him to do anything?

And it'll be getting on for dinner time in a minute A fat lot of dinner we should get if we went back without the lamb Said cyril in scornful misery And it'll be just the same if we go back with him in the state that he's in now Yes,

I know.

It's my doing don't rub it in I know i'm a beast and not fit to live The question is what are we going to do?

Let's wake him up and take him into rochester or into maidstone and get something to eat at a baker's shop said robert hopefully Take him You'll find you've got your work cut out for you.

If you try to take that young man anywhere The lamb always was spoiled,

But now he's grown up.

He's a demon.

I can see it.

Look at his mouth Well then said robert Let's just wake him up and see what he'll do They drew lots with little bits of brake fern and it fell to jane's lot to waken the grown-up lamb She did it gently by tickling his nose with a twig of honeysuckle And he said bother the flies twice and then opened his eyes Hello kiddies He said You're still here What's the giddy hour?

You'll be late for your grub I know we shall said robert bitterly Then cut along home said the grown-up lamb But what about your grub?

Asked jane Oh How far is it to the station?

Do you think?

I've a sort of a notion that i'll run up to town and have some lunch at the club Blank misery fell on the other four the lamb alone Unattended would go to town and have lunch at a club Perhaps he would also have tea there Perhaps sunset would come upon him amid the dazzling luxury of clubland and helpless cross sleepy baby Would find itself alone amid Unsympathetic waiters and would wail miserably for panty from the depths of a club armchair The picture moved anthea almost to tears Oh,

No lamb ducky.

You mustn't do that.

She cried The grown-up lamb frowned My dear anthea,

He said How often am I to tell you that my name is hillary?

Any of my baptismal names are free to my little brothers and sisters But not lamb a relic of foolishness and far-off childhood This was awful He was their elder brother now Well,

Of course he was if he was grown up since they weren't But the most daily adventures resulting from the samyads wishes were making the children wise beyond their years Dear hillary said anthea and the others choked at the name You know father didn't wish you to go to london He wouldn't like us to be left alone without you to take care of us Look here said cyril If you are our elder brother Why not behave as such and take us over to maidstone and give us a jolly good blowout?

And we'll go on the river afterwards I'm infinitely obliged to you said the lamb But I should prefer solitude Go home to your lunch.

I mean your dinner Perhaps I may look in about tea time or I may not be home till after you are in bed Speaking glances flashed between the wretched four much bed there would be for them if they went home without the lamb We promised mother not to lose sight of you if we took you out jane said before the others could stop her Look here jane said the grown-up lamb Putting his hands in his pockets and looking down at her Little girls should be seen and not heard You kids must learn not to make yourselves a nuisance now run along home and perhaps if you're good I'll give you each a penny tomorrow Look here said cyril In the best man-to-man tone at his command Where are you going old man?

You might let bobs and me come with you even if you don't want the girls This was really rather noble of cyril For he never did care much about being seen in public with the lamb who of course after sunset would be a baby again the man-to-man tone succeeded I shall run over to maidstone on my bike said the new lamb eerily fingering the little black mustache I can lunch at the crown and perhaps i'll have a pull on the river But I can't take you all on the machine now,

Can I?

Run along home like good children The position was desperate Robert exchanged a despairing look with cyril anthia detached a pin from her waistband a pin whose withdrawal left a gaping chasm between skirt and bodice And handed it furtively to robert with a grimace of the darkest and deepest meaning Robert slipped away to the road There sure enough stood a bicycle a beautiful new one Of course robert understood at once that if the lamb was grown up,

He must have a bicycle This had always been one of robert's own reasons for wishing to grow up He hastily began to use the pin 11 punctures in the back tire seven in the front He would have made the total 22 But for the rustling of the yellow hazel leaves which warned him of the approach of the others He hastily leaned a hand on each wheel and was rewarded by the Of what was left of air escaping from 18 neat pinholes Your bike's run down said robert Wondering how he could so soon have learned to deceive So it is said cyril It's a puncture said anthia Stooping down and standing up again with a thorn which she had got ready for the purpose The grown-up lamb or hillary as I suppose one must now call him Fixed his pump and blew up the tire The punctured state of it was soon evident I suppose there's a cottage somewhere near where one could get a pail of water said the lamb There was And when the number of punctures had been made manifest It was felt to be a special blessing that the cottage provided teas for cyclists It provided an odd sort of tea and hammy meal for the lamb and his brothers And his brothers This was paid for out of the 15 shillings which had been earned by robert when he was a giant For the lamb it appeared Unfortunately had no money about him This was a great disappointment for the others,

But it is a thing that will happen even to the most grown-up of us However,

Robert had enough to eat and that was something Quietly but persistently The miserable four took it in turns to try and persuade the lamb to spend the rest of the day in the woods There was not much of the day left by the time he had mended the 18th puncture He looked up from the completed work with a sigh of relief and suddenly put his tie straight There's a lady coming.

He said briskly For goodness sake get out of the way go home hide vanish.

Somehow.

I can't be seen with a pack of dirty kids His brothers and sisters were indeed rather dirty Because earlier in the day the lamb in his infant state had sprinkled a good deal of garden soil over them the grown-up lamb's voice was tyrant like That they actually retreated to the back garden and left him with his little mustache and his flannel suit To meet alone the young lady who now came up the front garden wheeling a bicycle The woman of the house came out and the young lady spoke to her And lamb raised his hat as she passed him And the children could not hear what she said Though they were craning around the corner and listening with all their ears When the lamb spoke they heard well enough a puncture He was saying Can I not be of any assistance?

If you could allow me There was a stifled explosion of laughter and the grown-up lamb turned the tail of an angry eye in its direction You're very kind said the lady looking at the lamb She looked rather shy but as the boys put it there didn't seem to be any nonsense about her But oh whispered Cyril I should have thought he'd had enough bicycle mending for one day And if only she knew that really and truly he's only a whiny piney silly little baby Baby He's not Anthea muttered angrily He's our own precious lamb still whatever silly idiots may turn him into He's a deer Now the lamb Whom I must try to remember to call hillary Was examining the lady's bicycle and talking to her with very grown-up manner indeed No one could possibly have supposed to see and hear him That only that very morning He had been a chubby child of two years breaking other people's waterbrew watches Hillary took out a gold watch when he had mended the lady's bicycle And all the hidden onlookers said oh Because it seemed so unfair that the baby who had only that morning destroyed two cheap but honest watches Should now in the grown upness to which Cyril's folly had raised him have a real gold watch with a chain and seals Hillary as I will now term him Withered his brothers and sisters with a glance And then said to the lady with whom he seemed to be quite friendly If you will allow me I will ride with you as far as the crossroads.

It is getting late and there are tramps about No one will ever know what answer the young lady intended to give to this gallant offer for Directly anthia heard it made she rushed out knocking against the swill pail which overflowed in a turbid stream And caught the lamb.

I suppose I ought to say hillary by the arm The others followed and in an instant the four dirty children were visible beyond disguise Don't let him said anthia to the lady and she spoke with intense earnestness He's not fit to go with anyone Go away,

Little girl Said hillary in a terrible voice go home at once You'd better not have anything to do with him Anthia went on he doesn't know who he is.

He's something very different from what you think he is What do you mean?

Asked the lady not unnaturally While hillary tried vainly to push anthia away The others backed her up and she stood solid as a rock You just let him go with you said anthia and you'll soon see what I mean How would you like to suddenly see a poor little helpless baby spinning along downhill?

Beside you with its feet up on a bicycle that it had lost control of The lady turned rather pale Who are these very dirty children?

She asked the grown-up lamb I don't know.

He said miserably Oh lamb,

How can you cried jane?

When you know perfectly well,

You are our own little baby brother that we're so fond of We're his brothers and sisters She explained turning to the lady who with trembling hands was now turning her bicycle towards the gate And we've got to take care of him and we must get him home before sunset or I don't know Whatever will become of us you see He's sort of under a spell Enchanted You know what?

I mean Again and again the lamb Hillary I mean Had tried to stop jane's eloquence But robert and cyril held him one by each leg And no proper explanation was possible The lady rode hastily away and electrified her relatives at dinner By telling them of her escape from a family of dangerous lunatics The little girl's eyes were simply those of a maniac.

I can't think how she came to be at large she said When her bicycle had whizzed away down the road cyril spoke gravely Hillary old chap,

He said You must have had sunstroke or something and the things you've been saying to that lady Why if we were to tell you the things you've said when you are yourself again say tomorrow morning You wouldn't even understand them.

Let alone believe them Trust me old chap and come home now And if you're not yourself in the morning,

We'll ask the milkman to ask the doctor to come The poor grown-up lamb hillary seemed now too bewildered to resist Since you all seem to be as mad as hatters.

He said bitterly.

I suppose I had better take you home But you are not to suppose that I shall pass this over.

I shall have something to say to you all tomorrow morning Yes,

Yes,

You will my lamb said anthia under her breath But it won't be at all the sort of thing that you think it's going to be In her heart she could hear the pretty soft little loving voice of baby lamb So different from the affected tones of the dreadful grown-up lamb Oh,

Let's go home for goodness sake.

She said You shall say whatever you like in the morning if you can she added It was a gloomy party that went home through the soft evening During anthia's remarks robert had again made play with the pin and the bicycle tyre And the lamb Whom they had to call hillary Seemed really at last to have had his fill of bicycle mending So the machine was wheeled The sun was just on the point of setting when they arrived at the white house The four elder children would have liked to linger in the lane till the complete sun setting Turned the grown-up lamb into their own dear tiresome,

Baby brother But he in his grown-upness Insisted on going on and thus he was met in the front garden by martha Now you remember that as a special favor the samiyad had arranged That the servants in the house should never notice any change brought about by the wishes of the children Therefore martha merely saw the usual party with the baby lamb About whom she had been desperately anxious all the afternoon Trotting beside anthia on fat baby legs While the children of course Still saw the grown-up lamb And martha rushed at him and caught him in her arms exclaiming Come to his own martha then a precious puppet The grown-up lamb Whose names shall now be buried into oblivion?

Struggled furiously An expression of intense horror and annoyance was seen on his face But martha was stronger than he She lifted him up and said Martha was stronger than he She lifted him up and carried him into the house None of the children will ever forget that picture the neat gray flannel suited grown-up man With the green necktie and the little black mustache Fortunately,

He was slightly built and not torn Struggling in the sturdy arms of martha who bore him away helpless Imploring him as she went to be a good boy now and to come and have his nice bremink Fortunately the sun set as they reached the doorstep The bicycle disappeared And martha was seen to carry into the house the real live darling sleepy two-year-old lamb The grown-up lamb was gone forever As soon as the lamb's old enough to be bullied said cyril We must jolly well begin to bully him for his own sake so that he may not grow up like that You shan't bully him said anthia stoutly not if I can stop it We must tame him by kindness said jane You see said robert if he grows up in the usual way There'll be plenty of time to correct him as he goes along The awful thing today is that he grew up.

So suddenly there was no time to improve him at all He doesn't want any improving said anthia As the voice of the lamb came cooing through the open door Just as she had heard it in her heart that afternoon Me loves panty wants to come to panty