The Wishing - Chair Collection (3 Books In 1) by Enid Blyton

1. THE STRANGE OLD SHOP

The adventures really began on the day that Mollie and Peter went out to spend thirty-five pence on a present for their mother's birthday.

   They emptied the money out of their money-box and counted it.

   "Thirty-five!" said Peter. "Good! Now, what shall we buy Mother?"

   "Mother loves old things," said Mollie. "If we could find an old shop somewhere, full of old things-you know, funny spoons, quaint vases, old glasses, and beads-something of that sort would be lovely for Mother. She would love an old tea-caddy to keep the tea in, I'm sure, or perhaps an old, old vase."

   "All right," said Peter. "We'll go and find one of those shops this very day. Put on your hat and come on, Mollie."

   Off they went, and ran into the town.

   "It's a shop with the word 'Antiques' over it that we want," said Peter. "Antiques means old things. Just look out for that, Mollie."

   But their seemed to be no shop with the word "Antiques" printed over it at all. The children left the main street and went down a little turning. There were more shops there, but still not the one they wanted . So on they went and came to a small, narrow street whose houses were so close that there was hardly any light in the road!

   And there, tucked away in the middle, was the shop with "Antiques" printed on the label inside the dirty window.

   "Good!" said Peter. "Here is a shop that sells old things. Look, Mollie, do you see that strange little vase with swans set all round it? I'm sure Mother would like that. It is marked twenty-five pence. We could buy that and some flowers to put in it!"

   So into the old dark shop they went. It was so dark that the children stumbled over some piled-up rugs on the floor. Nobody seemed to be about. Peter went to the counter and rapped on it. A tiny door at the back opened and out came the strangest little man, no higher than the counter top. He had pointed ears like a pixie. The children stared at him by surprise. He looked very cross, and spoke sharply.

   "What do you want, making a noise like that?"

   "We want to buy the vase with swans round it," said Peter.

   Muttering and grumbling by himself, the little chap picked up the vase and pushed it across the counter. Peter put down the money. " Can I have some paper to wrap the vase in?" he asked politely. "You see, it's for my mother's birthday, and I don't want her to see me carrying it home."

   Grumbling away to himself, the little man went to a pile of boxes at the back of the shop and began to open one to look for a piece of paper. The children watched. To their enormous surprise a larger black cat with golden eyes jumped out of the box and began to spit and snarl at the little man. He smacked it and put it back again. He opened another box.

   Out of that came a great wreath of green smoke that wound about the shop and smelt strange. The little man caught hold of it as if it were a ribbon and tried to stuff it back into the box again. But it broke of and went wandering away. How he stamped and raged! The children felt quite frightened.

   "We'd better go without the paper," whispered Mollie to Peter, but just then another extraordinary thing happened. Out of the next box came a crowd of blue butterflies. They flew into the air, and the little man shouted with rage again. He darted to the door and shut it, afraid that the butterflies that escape. To the children's horror they saw him lock the door, too, and put the key into his pocket!

   "We can't get out till he lets us go!" said Mollie. "Oh dare, why did we ever come here? I'm sure that little man is a gnome or something."

   The little fellow opened another box, and, hey presto, out jumped a red fox! It gave a short bark and then began to run about the shop, its nose to the ground. The children were half afraid of being bitten, and they both sat in an old chair together, their legs drawn up off the ground, out of the way of the fox.