Ode to Enid

Fungi, after the big rain, The Gap, Queensland, March 2022

Toadstools like this always remind me of the Magic Faraway Tree and the Enchanted Wood. I was an avid Enid Blyton reader as a child. So in honour of Enid 1897-1968 a couple of little quotes from The Enchanted Wood. It was first published in 1939 the year that many children were being sent to the country in England during World War 2.

“There were once three children, called Jo, Bessie and Fanny. All their lives they had lived in a town, and now their father had a job in the country, so they were all to move as soon as ever they could”

“Not far off was a clear piece of soft grass. As Fanny looked at it she noticed bumps appearing it. She stared in surprise. The bumps grew. the earth rose up and broke in about six places… All three watched in silence. And then they saw what it was. Six big toadstools were growing quickly up from the ground, pushing their way through and rising up steadily… The brownies went to the toadstools and sat down on them. They were holding a meeting”