The Phoenix and the Carpet E. Nesbit (read more books .TXT) đ
- Author: E. Nesbit
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âOh, please donât,â said Anthea. âI canât understand all these beginnings of stories, and you seem to be getting deeper and deeper in them every minute. Do tell us your own story. Thatâs what we really want to hear.â
âWell,â said the Phoenix, seeming on the whole rather flattered, âto cut about seventy long stories short (though I had to listen to them allâ âbut to be sure in the wilderness there is plenty of time), this prince and princess were so fond of each other that they did not want anyone else, and the enchanterâ âdonât be alarmed, I wonât go into his historyâ âhad given them a magic carpet (youâve heard of a magic carpet?), and they had just sat on it and told it to take them right away from everyoneâ âand it had brought them to the wilderness. And as they meant to stay there they had no further use for the carpet, so they gave it to me. That was indeed the chance of a lifetime!â
âI donât see what you wanted with a carpet,â said Jane, âwhen youâve got those lovely wings.â
âThey are nice wings, arenât they?â said the Phoenix, simpering and spreading them out. âWell, I got the prince to lay out the carpet, and I laid my egg on it; then I said to the carpet, âNow, my excellent carpet, prove your worth. Take that egg somewhere where it canât be hatched for two thousand years, and where, when that timeâs up, someone will light a fire of sweet wood and aromatic gums, and put the egg in to hatch;â and you see itâs all come out exactly as I said. The words were no sooner out of my beak than egg and carpet disappeared. The royal lovers assisted to arrange my pile, and soothed my last moments. I burnt myself up and knew no more till I awoke on yonder altar.â
It pointed its claw at the grate.
âBut the carpet,â said Robert, âthe magic carpet that takes you anywhere you wish. What became of that?â
âOh, that?â said the Phoenix, carelesslyâ ââI should say that that is the carpet. I remember the pattern perfectly.â
It pointed as it spoke to the floor, where lay the carpet which mother had bought in the Kentish Town Road for twenty-two shillings and ninepence.
At that instant fatherâs latchkey was heard in the door.
âOh,â whispered Cyril, ânow we shall catch it for not being in bed!â
âWish yourself there,â said the Phoenix, in a hurried whisper, âand then wish the carpet back in its place.â
No sooner said than done. It made one a little giddy, certainly, and a little breathless; but when things seemed right way up again, there the children were, in bed, and the lights were out.
They heard the soft voice of the Phoenix through the darkness.
âI shall sleep on the cornice above your curtains,â it said. âPlease donât mention me to your kinsfolk.â
âNot much good,â said Robert, âtheyâd never believe us. I say,â he called through the half-open door to the girls; âtalk about adventures and things happening. We ought to be able to get some fun out of a magic carpet and a Phoenix.â
âRather,â said the girls, in bed.
âChildren,â said father, on the stairs, âgo to sleep at once. What do you mean by talking at this time of night?â
No answer was expected to this question, but under the bedclothes Cyril murmured one.
âMean?â he said. âDonât know what we mean. I donât know what anything means.â
âBut weâve got a magic carpet and a Phoenix,â said Robert.
âYouâll get something else if father comes in and catches you,â said Cyril. âShut up, I tell you.â
Robert shut up. But he knew as well as you do that the adventures of that carpet and that Phoenix were only just beginning.
Father and mother had not the least idea of what had happened in their absence. This is often the case, even when there are no magic carpets or Phoenixes in the house.
The next morningâ âbut I am sure you would rather wait till the next chapter before you hear about that.
II The Topless TowerThe children had seen the Phoenix-egg hatched in the flames in their own nursery grate, and had heard from it how the carpet on their own nursery floor was really the wishing carpet, which would take them anywhere they chose. The carpet had transported them to bed just at the right moment, and the Phoenix had gone to roost on the cornice supporting the window-curtains of the boysâ room.
âExcuse me,â said a gentle voice, and a courteous beak opened, very kindly and delicately, the right eye of Cyril. âI hear the slaves below preparing food. Awaken! A word of explanation and arrangementâ ââ ⊠I do wish you wouldnâtâ ââ
The Phoenix stopped speaking and fluttered away crossly to the cornice-pole; for Cyril had hit out, as boys do when they are awakened suddenly, and the Phoenix was not used to boys, and his feelings, if not his wings, were hurt.
âSorry,â said Cyril, coming awake all in a minute. âDo come back! What was it you were saying? Something about bacon
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