The Magical Sweet Shop

Jo and Tom were going over Breezy Hill for a walk when they saw a narrow path going off to the west that they had never seen before. “Hallo” said Tom, in surprise. “I’ve never seen that path before. Let’s see where it leads, shall we, Jo?” So off they went down the funny little path. Little did they know that it was going to be the beginning of a very strange adventure! After a while they came to what looked like a tiny village- just three or four cottages set closely on the hillside with two little shops in the middle. One of them was a funny little shop with a small window of thick glass. Behind the panes were tall thin bottles of brightly colored sweets. “A sweet shop,” said Jo, surprised. “I didn’t know there was one on this hill, did you, Tom?”. “No,” said Tom. Jo pressed her nose to the window and looked at the bottles of sweets.

“Tom! These are very queer sweets! Just read what they are! " Tom looked at the labels, and certainly the names of the sweets in that sweet-shop were very strange indeed. A bottle of blue sweets was labelled Giant-sweets, and a bottle of pink ones was called Dwarf-sweets. Another bottle had the label Invisible sweets.

" You know, this must be a magical shop," said Jo, excited. " Let's go in and buy some of the sweets! I've got a penny and so have you."

So, they pushed open the door, which had a little tinkling bell, and went inside the dark shop. At first, they thought there was nobody there, and then they saw behind the counter a small nobly looking man with a pair of large spectacles on his long nose.

He had a strange tuft of hair growing straight up from his head and two long, pointed ears. He was sitting by himself reading a bright blue newspaper. “What would you like this morning?” he asked, folding up his newspaper neatly. The children timidly asked for a bag of sweets. “Certainly!” said the shop man, twitching his pointed ears like a dog. He took four bottles from the window and emptied some sweets onto his scales. Jo looked at the labels on the bottles so that she would know which of the sweets were which. She saw him place a Giant sweet, a Dwarf sweet, and Invisible sweet and a Home Again sweet into the scales.

The children felt very much excited when the shop man handed each of them a bag. He took their pennies and put them in a tin box. Then he picked up his blue newspaper and began to read again. “What will happen to us if we eat these sweets?” Tom asked the little man, but all he would say was “Try, and see!”. The children did not like to ask him anything else, they went outside and walked up the little crooked street. They were surprised when they came to a big white gate that went right across the road. “This is stranger and stranger,” said Tom.” “I have never seen that village before, and now here is a gate that I have never seen before either”. “Shall we climb over?” said Jo. “We are nearly at the top of the hill”. “Yes, let’s, go” to their surprise, they saw a town on the other side!

“How strange!” said Jo. “There has never been anything on the other side of this hill before!”. They went on down towards the town, and soon met some most peculiar looking people. They were round, and their arms were very long indeed. Their faces were as round and red as tomatoes, they wore big white ruffs round their necks, which made their faces seem redder than ever. Some of them were riding small motor cars, rather like toy ones but with hoods like sunshades instead of proper hoods. Jo and Tom stood in the middle of the road and stared in astonishment.

A motorcar with a bright yellow hood came along at a tremendous pace. Tom jumped to one side, but Jo was just too late, and the little car ran into her. To her great amazement it exploded into a hundred pieces! The little round man in the car shot up in the air and down again. He landed on the ground with a bump he was cross!

" You silly, stupid, foolish, ridiculous girl! " he cried. " Why didn't you get out of my way? Look what you've done to my car. It's gone pop!"

" Well," said Jo, getting up and dusting herself. " I'm sorry about it, but you were driving too fast. You didn't even hoot."

" You horrid, nasty, rude, selfish girl! " cried the little man, getting even crosser But Robin was not going to have his sister spoken to like that, so he pushed the man away and spoke sharply to him.

" Hey!” Don't speak to Jo like that! Haven't you got any manners? You might have hurt her very much running into her like that! "The little round man went quite purple with rage. He took a trumpet from his pocket and blew loudly on it. " Tan-Tara! Tan-Tara! "

At once a whole crowd of the funny-looking people came running up and took hold of Jo and Tom.

" Take them to prison! " shouted the man whose motor-car had exploded. " Give them nothing but bread and water for sixty days! "

The children could do nothing against so many, so they were marched off to a big yellow building and locked up in a tiny cell. Tom banged on the door, but it was no use. It was locked and bolted on the outside.

" Look here, Jo! " said Tom, suddenly. ' Let's eat one of these sweets each. Perhaps something will happen to help us! '

So, they each picked from their bags a blue sweet and put it into their mouths. And before long a very curious thing happened! They began to grow taller. Yes, and fatter, too! In fact their heads soon touched the ceiling.

" I say! Those must have been the sweets out of the Giant-sweet bottle! " said Tom, in excitement. He kicked at the cell-door and it nearly broke, for his feet were now very big.

" Stop that! " cried an angry voice outside. " If you kick your door again, prisoners, I shall come in and smack you both, giving no supper! "

" Ho! " said Tom, pleased. " I shall certainly kick it again! Then when it's opened, Jo, we'll walk out and give everyone a shock! "

" Bang, bang, bang! " he kicked the door hard again. At once it was unbolted and unlocked and a very angry keeper came in. But when he saw how big the children were, his red face turned pale and he fled for his life as fast as his little legs would carry him!

" Tom and Jo somehow managed to squeeze themselves out of the door and went down the street! They walked out of the prison, seeing everyone run in fear before them. How they laughed to see the astonishment on the red faces of the townsfolk, who now looked very small indeed to the children.

They went down the street, frightening everyone they met, and soon came to cross-roads. There was a signpost, and on it was printed " To Giantland."

" Goodness! " said Jo. " How exciting! We are giants now, Tom. Let's take this road and see if we can find other giants too.”

So, the children set off, feeling more and more excited. After half-an-hour's walk they came to some enormous trees and realized they must have arrived in Giantland. And knew that they were coming nearer......

Soon after that they saw a giant —but dear me, the giants were far bigger than the children had guessed they would be! In fact, they were enormous! They towered over the children.

A very large giant with eyes like dinner-plates saw them first. He gaped at Tom and Jo in surprise and then called to his friends nearby in a voice like thunder.

"HEY! LOOK HERE! HERE ARE SOME STRANGE CHILDREN! "

In a trice the children were surrounded by a dozen of huge and enormous giants. They didn't like it at all. One of the giants poked his finger into Tom’s chest.

" He's real," he said, in a booming voice. " He's not a doll." "Of course, I'm not a doll! " shouted Tom, crossly. "Don't poke me like that! "

It amused the giants to see how furious Tom was, and they poked him again with their big, bony fingers. 

" Aren't they nasty, unkind creatures," cried Jo, for she didn't like the great giants with their enormous eyes and teeth like piano-keys. Oh, Tom." Can't we escape?"

" How can we? " said Tom, trying to push away a finger that came to tickle him. " Oh, Jo, I know! Let's eat another sweet!”

In great hurry the children took out their sweet-bags and ate a pink sweet each. In an instant they felt themselves growing smaller and smaller.

The giants seemed to grow bigger and BIGGER and BIGGER. Soon they were so big that they seemed like mountains! The children were tinier than sparrows to the giants—tinier than ladybirds even!

"Quick! " said Jo, catching hold of Tom's hand. “Let’s go somewhere safe before their great feet tread on us! "

There was a large hole in the ground not far from them and Jo and Tom ran to it. It seemed like a dark tunnel to them, but really it was a worm-hole! 

Down the tunnel they went, and suddenly came to a thing that looked like a large snake. They met huge worms and other creatures as they went down the worm-hole A great beetle hurried by them, treading heavily on Jo's toes. It was all rather alarming.

" I wish we could get out of here," said Tom covered with mud, after a time. " Oh look, Jo! There's a tiny pinhole of light far ahead of us. That must be where the worm-hole ends. Come on! " On they went and at last came out the sunshine. They were on a green hillside, and nearby was a notice which said: " Broomstick Hill All trespassers will be turned into Snails." "Ooh! " said Jo, alarmed. " Look at that! " But they hardly had time to read the notice again before there came a strange whirring noise above them. To the children's enormous surprise about a hundred witches came flying through the sky on long broomsticks, darkening the sunshine as they gathered, like black clouds. The witches were heading for the green hillside and,

 of course, the very first thing their sharp eyes saw was Jo, her black hair flying in the wind. Tom had hidden behind a bush, but Jo was so surprised to see the witches that she hadn't even thought of hiding!

As the witches came rushing over towards them, Tom pulled Jo down beside him. " Get your bag of sweets and eat one! " he whispered. " We've got two left. Eat the purple one and we'll see what happens! "

" Where are those trespassing children! " cried the witches. " We will turn them into snails! How dare she come to our hillside "

Jo and Tom popped their purple sweets hurriedly into their mouths. They looked around and to their great astonishment they couldn't see each other. At first, they didn't know what had happened, and then they guessed the sweets had made them invisible!

Jo put out her hand and tried to find Tom. She felt him and took his hand in hers. He was rather prickly, but she didn't mind. She dragged him down the hillside and then looked back at the witches. They were hunting in astonishment all around the bush where they had seen Jo.

" There is no one here! " the witches cried. " Where has she gone? "

By this time Jo and Tom were at the bottom of the hill. As they could not see one another, they held hands very firmly " I'm tired of this adventure," said Jo, at last. “We always seem to be chased by something—giants, or funny people, or witches. Goodness knows what it will be next time! “Can’t we go home now, Tom?”

" But we don't know the way," said Tom, looking around. " I'm hungry and I'd love to go home. I wish I did know the way! "

" Let's eat the last sweet shall we, Tom”, and see what happens," said Jo, feeling for her sweet bag. " 

So, they put their last sweet- a red sweet into their mouths and before they had finished eating it they could see one another again! They were so pleased, for they both were tired of being invisible! Tom and Jo waited patiently to see what else would happen. Would a big wind come and carry them home? Or perhaps a fairy carriage pulled by butterflies would arrive to help them. Would their legs walk them safely back? 

They waited and waited, but nothing happened at all. They looked at each other and sighed. Tom and Jo just went on sitting there are the bottom of the hill waiting in the sunshine. But still nothing happened. It was very strange. Perhaps the Home-again sweets wouldn’t take them back home after all? If not, how could they get home? They were quite sure they would never be able to find their way back home!

 Then Jo began to look around her. She saw a big birch tree that she seemed to know. She noticed a house not far off. She heard a milk-cart clattering along a road a little distance away—and she suddenly jumped up with a cry of delight. " Tom! We are home! This is the hill just outside our own garden! That's our house over there! There's the milkman's cart, look! We were at home all along and didn't know it! However, could we have got here! I'm sure the hill outside our garden isn't really a witch's hill."

They were most astonished, but it was quite true—they were home again, for they were just outside their garden, and they could even hear their gardener whistling a tune to himself as he hoed the garden beds!

" Well, how surprising!" said Tom, standing up. " We're safely back after our adventures. Let's go and tell mother. Perhaps she'll come with us and see that funny magic sweet-shop on the hillside."

The children ran home and told their mother all about their obscure adventures. That evening they took their mother up the hillside to find the sweet shop. They followed the little path—but alas, it did not lead to any sweet-shop; only to a great many rabbit-holes!

" It's just a rabbit-path! " said mother. " You must have dreamed it all, my dears! "

But they didn’t really, you know!