"I said ‘Will Mister Watzisname be there?" said Jo loudly.
"Something in the air?" said the Saucepan Man, and he looked up anxiously. "Not a thunderstorm, you don’t mean?"
"No, I certainly don’t mean a thunderstorm," said Jo, with a groan. "Yes—we’ll come. We must ask Mother first."
Mother said they could go, though she still didn’t very much like the look of the Old Saucepan Man.
"Good-day," she said to him, as he went off with the children.
He really was a most peculiar sight, but he had such a twinkly sort of face that the three children couldn’t help liking him and trusting him.
They soon came to the Faraway Tree, and saw that Moon-Face had thought of a marvellous idea. He had borrowed Mother Washalot’s biggest washing-basket and let it down on a rope. Then, as soon as they were all safely in it, he and Silky meant to haul them up, to save them the long, long climb!
"That’s a really good idea!" said Jo, delighted. They all climbed in. It was a bit difficult to get the Saucepan Man in too, but they managed at last, though he seemed to find it most uncomfortable to sit on his saucepans.
"Up we go!" shouted Jo as the basket swung upwards through the branches. It ran very smoothly, and the children enjoyed the strange ride. At last they came to a big branch and stepped out on it. It was quite near Moon-Face’s house at the top. Moon-Face was there, winding up the rope, a grin on his big, shining face.
"How did you like that?" he asked. The Saucepan Man looked at him anxiously.
"Cat?" he said. "Another cat? Dear me! I hope it won’t escape into my land. I’ve got my mice there."
"Now he’ll go looking for cats again," said Bessie. And sure enough the Saucepan Man began to peer here and there, calling, "Puss, Puss, Puss!"
"Never mind him," said Moon-Face. "Go on up the ladder. He wants you to go to tea with him in his funny saucepanny house!"
"Come on, Saucepan Man!" called Jo. "If you want us to come to tea, we’d better go!"
The Saucepan Man heard. He stopped looking for cats and ran up the ladder. With a bound he was through the hole in the cloud, and right above.
And no sooner had he gone out of sight than he began to yell:
"Oooooh! Oooohoww! Wowooo!"
The children listened in alarm. "Whatever’s the matter with him?" said Jo.
Crash! Bang! Clang! Smash!
"He sounds as if he’s rolling about on all his kettles and saucepans!" said Bessie. "What can he be doing?"
"Ooooohooow!" shouted the Saucepan Man above them. "Stop it! Ow! Stop it!"
"Somebody must be attacking him!" cried Jo. He leapt up the ladder. "Come on, Everyone! We’ll soon send any enemies off!"
He shot up the ladder, followed by Bessie, Fanny, and Moon-Face. They all clambered through the hole in the clouds and stood in the land above.
But oh, my goodness me! It was no longer the Land of the Saucepan Man, that tiny, little, cloud-edged country! It was another land altogether!
"My land’s gone!" shrieked the Saucepan Man. "I didn’t know it had! This is somewhere else! Oooooh!"
No wonder he said "Oooooh!" The bit of flat field he was standing on suddenly gave a shiver like a jelly, and then just as suddenly tipped itself up so that it made a hill! The Saucepan Man rolled down it at top speed, all his pans clattering like milk-churns on a railway station!
"This is Rocking Land," said Moon-Face, in dismay. "Quick! Come back to the ladder and get down the hole before we have forgotten where it is! Hie, Saucepan Man, come over here to us!"
"Bus, did you say?" shouted back the Saucepan Man, picking himself up and looking round. "I can't see a bus. I’d like to catch one."
"Come here to US, to US, to US!" shouted Jo, in despair. "The hole through the clouds is here. We must get back again quickly!"
The Saucepan Man began to run downhill to them, but the ground all round suddenly tipped backwards, and he and the children and Moon-Face found themselves running downhill away from the hole in the clouds where the precious ladder was! They tried to stop. They tried to walk back up the sudden hill—but the land tipped up the more and at last they couldn’t stand up, but had to lie down.
Then they began if roll downhill. How they rolled. Over and over and over, with the Saucepan Man making a frightful clatter with all his pans.
"Ooooooh! Ow! Ooooooh!" cried Everyone.
"We've lost the hole !" shouted Jo. But before he could say any more he bumped into a bush that knocked all the breath out of him! Soon everyone lay in a heap at the bottom of the hill, and tried to get back their breath.
"Now we're in a fix," said Bessie, dusting herself. "What a very tiresome land to have got into. Does it do this sort of thing all the time, Moon-Face?"
"Oh, yes," said Moon-Face. "It never stops. It heaves up here and sinks down there, and rocks to and fro and gives sudden little jerks. People do say there’s a giant just underneath, trying to throw the land off his back."
XVI
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE ROCKING LAND
The Rocking Land was really most annoying. No sooner did the children stand up very carefully and try to walk a few steps, than the earth beneath them either fell away or tipped up or slanted sideways in a very alarming manner!
Then down they all went, rolling over and over! The Saucepan Man made a tremendous noise and almost cried when he saw how battered his saucepans and kettles were getting.
"Moon-Face!" yelled Jo. "How can we get out of here? Don’t you know?"
"We can only get out by going down the ladder that leads to the Faraway Tree!" shouted back Moon-Face, who was busy rolling down a little hill that had suddenly appeared. "Look for it all the time, or we’ll never get away from here. As soon as the Rocking Land leaves the place where the Faraway Tree is, we’ve no way of escape!"
That gave the others a shock. The thought of living in a land of bumps and jerks and jolts was not at all pleasant! They all began to look about for the hole through which they had come into the Rocking Land.
Soon the earth began to do something rather different. It heaved up and down very quickly as if it were breathing fast! When it heaved up it threw the children and the others into the air. When it breathed downwards they rolled into holes and stayed there. It was all dreadfully uncomfortable.
"I’m getting awfully bruised!" shouted Bessie. "For goodness’ sake let’s find a place on this land where it’s not quite so fidgety. I think we must be on the worst bit."
As soon as the earth stopped heaving about they all ran hard to where a wood grew. And there, just inside the wood, they saw a shop!
It was such a surprising thing to see in the Rocking Land that they all stopped and stared.
"What does it sell?" said Jo.
"You don’t feel well?" said the Saucepan Man, quite deaf for a time. "I don’t either. I feel as if I’ve been on a ship in a very rough sea!"
"I said ‘What does the shop sell?’ " said Jo.
"No, I didn’t hear a bell," said the Saucepan Man, looking round as if he expected to see an enormous bell somewhere.
Jo gave it up. He looked hard at the shop. It was just a wide stall, with a tiny house behind it. No one seemed to be there, but smoke rose from the chimney, so someone must live there, Jo thought.
"Come on," he said to the others. "Take hold of hands so that we keep together. We’ll go and see this funny shop and see if we can get help."
They walked up to it. The stall was piled high with cushions of all colours, each one with a rope tied to it.
"How funny!" said Bessie, in astonishment. "Cushions with ropes! Now who in the world would want to buy cushions here?"
"Well, I would, for one!" said Moon-Face at once. "My goodness, if I had a line fat cushion tied on the front of me, and another tied at the back, I wouldn’t mind being bumped about nearly so much!"
"Oh, of course—that’s what the cushions and ropes are for," said Bessie joyfully. "Let’s buy some—then we shan’t get bruised anymor
e."
Just then a sharp-nosed little woman, with cushions tied all round her, came out of the tiny house and looked at the children. She even had a small cushion tied on her head, and she did look funny.
Fanny giggled. She was a dreadful giggler. The woman looked cross and glared at Fanny.
"Do you want to buy my cushions?" she asked.
"Yes, please," said Moon-Face, and he took out his purse. "How much are they?"
"Five silver pieces of money each," said the woman, her little green eyes shining as she saw Moon-Face’s purse. Moon-Face looked at her in dismay.
"That’s much too high a price!" he said. "I’ve only got one silver piece. Have you got any money, Saucepan Man?"
"No, I don’t sell honey," said the Saucepan Man.
"MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!" shouted
Moon-Face, showing the Saucepan Man his
purse.
"Oh, money," he said, taking out an enormous purse from one of his kettles. "Yes, I’ve plenty."
But the great big purse was empty! The Saucepan Man stared at it in dismay.
"All my money must have fallen out when I rolled about," he said. "There’s nothing left!"
The children had no money at all. The sharp-nosed little woman shook her head when Moon-Face begged her to lend them cushions in return for his silver piece.
"I don’t lend anything," she said, and went back to her house, banging the door loudly.
"It’s too bad," said Moon-Face, taking hold of Jo’s hand and walking off gloomily. "Mean old thing! Oh, look-—there are some more people—all wearing cushions!"
Sure enough they met plenty of queer-looking folk, well padded with cushions of all colours, sizes, and shapes, walking carefully about the paths. One man wore a big eiderdown all round him, which Bessie thought was a fine idea.
"The Rocking Land is quite peaceful for a change," she said to Fanny. But she spoke too soon—for even as she said these words the earth began to heave up, first one way and then another! Over went the children and everybody else and rolled here and there and up and down as the land poked up first in one place and then in another.
"Oooooh!" groaned the children.
"Wish I had a few cushions!" cried Moon-Face, who had rolled on his big nose and bent it sideways.
Crash! Clank! Bang! went the Saucepan Man, rolling on his kettles and pans very noisily.
"Oooh, look!" suddenly shrieked Bessie, in delight, and pointed back towards the little wood where the shop was. The earth there had risen steeply upwards, and all the cushions were rolling down towards the children!
"Grab them!" shouted Jo. So they all caught the cushions, and began to tie them firmly round them. My goodness, it did make a difference when they rolled about!
"It serves that mean old woman right!" said the Saucepan Man as he tried his hardest to put cushions round himself and his saucepans.
Suddenly one of the people of the Rocking Land gave a frightened shout and clutched hold of a nearby tree. A strange wind blew with a low, musical sound.
"Now what’s going to happen?" cried Moon-Face.
"Get hold of a tree! Get hold of a tree!" shouted the people round about. "When the wind makes that sound it means that the whole of the land is going to tip up sideways and try to roll Everyone off. Your only hope is to catch hold of a tree !"
Sure enough the land was slowly tipping up—not in bits and pieces as it had done before, but the whole of it! It was very extraordinary. Moon-Face was frightened. He tried to get to a tree, and he shouted to the others.
"Catch hold of a tree! Hurry up!"
But not one of them could, for they had left the wood behind them and were in a field. Slowly and surely the land tipped sideways, and the children and Moon-Face and the Old Saucepan Man began to roll downhill on their cushions. They were not bruised but they were very much frightened. What would happen to them if they rolled right off the land?
Down they went and down, nearer and nearer to the edge of the Rocking Land—and then, quite suddenly, Moon-Face disappeared! One moment he was there—the next he was gone! It was most peculiar.
But in half a minute they heard his voice, lifted up in the greatest excitement. "I say, I say, Everyone! I’ve fallen down the hole to the ladder that leads to the Faraway Tree, quite by accident. I’ll throw my cushions up through the hole so you’ll know where it is. Roll to it if you can! Make haste!"
Then the children and the Saucepan Man saw two cushions appear, and they knew where the hole was. They did their best to roll to it, and one by one they got nearer and nearer.
Bessie rolled right down it, plop, and caught hold of the ladder as she fell. Jo rolled down next, missed the ladder and landed with a bump on the top branch of the Faraway Tree.
The Saucepan Man rolled to it next, but he got stuck in the hole, for he was now so fat with cushions as well as kettles and saucepans that he could hardly get through.
"Oh, quick, quick, quick!" shouted Jo. "Get in, Saucepan Man, get in! Poor Fanny will roll right past the hole if you don’t make haste!"
The Saucepan Man saw Fanny rolling past.
Poor Fanny! Once she rolled past the hole she couldn’t possibly roll back again, for it would be all uphill. Quick as lightning the Saucepan Man reached out his hand and caught hold of one of the ropes that tied Fanny’s cushion to her back. She stopped with a jerk.
One of the Saucepan Man’s kettles gave way and he fell through the hole to the ladder, making a tremendous noise. Moon-Face caught him—and then the Saucepan Man gave a tug at Fanny’s rope and she came down the hole too, landing softly on the top branch of the Faraway Tree, for she was well-padded with her cushions! `
"Well, thank goodness you found the hole, Moon-Face!" said Everyone, still looking rather scared. "What an adventure!"
XVII
AN INVITATION FROM MOON-FACE AND SILKY
Nobody had really enjoyed their visit to the Rocking Land, which had been a mistake, anyhow. They sat in Moon-Face’s house, untying their cushions from their backs and fronts, and looking at all the bruises they had got. "What shall we do with these cushions?" said Bessie.
"Moon-Face could do with them, I expect," said Fanny. "He uses such a lot for his slippery-slip, don’t you, Moon-Face?"
"Yes, they’d do very well," said Moon-Face, his big face beaming joyfully. "Some of mine are getting very old and worn. We can’t possibly give them back to that cross old woman in the Rocking Land, so we might as well put them to some use here."
"Right," said Jo, and he handed Moon-Face his two cushions. Everyone else did the same. Moon-Face was pleased. He poured lemonade for everyone, then handed round a tin of sweets.
"I don’t feel as if I ever want to see what land is at the top of the Faraway Tree again," said Jo, as he munched a peculiar toffee sweet which seemed to get bigger in his mouth instead of smaller.
"Neither do I," said Bessie. "I certainly never will !" said Fanny. "It seems as if there are never any lands there worth visiting. They are all most uncomfortable."
"Except my little land," said the Saucepan Man, rather mournfully. "I was always very comfortable there."
Jo’s sweet was now so big that he couldn’t say a word. Then it suddenly exploded in his mouth, went to nothing, and left him feeling most astonished.
"Oh dear—did you take a Toffee Shock?" said Moon-Face, noticing Jo’s surprised face. "I’m so sorry. Take another sweet."
"No, thank you," said Jo, feeling that one Toffee Shock was quite enough. "I think we’d really better be going. It must be getting late."
"What’s going to happen to the Old Saucepan Man now that he’s lost his land?" asked Bessie, picking up a yellow cushion, ready to slide down the tree.
"Oh, he’ll live with Mister Watzisname," said Moon-Face. "Hallo—he’s taken a Toffee Shock by mistake. Watch him, do!"
They all watched. The Saucepan Man’s Toffee Shock had got enormous, and was about to explode. It did—and went to nothing in his mouth. The Saucepan
Man blinked his eyes and looked so astonished that Everyone shouted with laughter.
"That was a Toffee Shock you were eating!" said Moon-Face.
"A Coffee Clock?" said the Saucepan Man, even more surprised. “Dear me!"
"Come on!" said Bessie, giggling. "It’s time we went. See you another day, Moon-Face! Goodbye, Saucepan Man!"
She shot off down the slide, round and round and out of the trap-door at the bottom. Then Fanny slid off, and then Jo.
"Goodbye," he called. "Goodbye!"
Mother was astonished to see their bruises. "Whatever have you been doing?" she said. "I shan’t let you go to tea with the Saucepan Man again if you come home like this. And how dirty your clothes are!"
Jo longed to tell Mother about the Rocking Land and their adventure there, but he felt sure she would think he was making it all up. So he said nothing and went off to change his dirty clothes.
Things did not go very well the next week. Father lost some money one night, and Mother could not get very much washing to do. So that money was very scarce, and the children did not have as much to eat as they would have liked.
"If only we could have a few hens!" sighed Mother. "They would at least give us eggs to eat. And a little goat would give us milk."
"And what I want is a new garden spade," said Father. "Mine broke yesterday and I can’t get on with the garden. It is very important that we should grow as many vegetables as possible, for we can’t afford to buy them!"
To make things worse their father was very cross with them for having spoilt their clothes the day they had gone off with the Saucepan Man.
"If that’s the way you treat the only nice clothes you have, you will just stay at home and not go out at all!" he scolded.
The children did not like being scolded, and Bessie mended their clothes as nicely as she could. Two weeks went by, and the children had not even had two hours to themselves to go and see Moon-Face.
"He’ll be wondering what has happened to us," said Fanny.
Moon-Face certainly was wondering. He had waited each day and each night to see the children, and he and Silky wondered what was the matter.