Also by Jacqueline Wilson:

The Magic Faraway Tree: A New Adventure

Look out for these other

Magic Faraway Tree stories by

The Enchanted Wood

The Magic Faraway Tree

The Folk of the Faraway Tree

Adventure of the Goblin Dog

Picture books:

The Magic Faraway Tree: Silky’s Story

The Magic Faraway Tree: Moonface’s Story

www.hachettechildrens.co.uk

To Gary Freemantle

The best technical wizard in the world

With many thanks

Also by Same Author

Title Page

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Meet Our Faraway Tree Friends

If You Liked This, You’ll Love…

About the Author

Enid Blyton

Copyright

‘WE WISH you a merry Christmas!’ Milo sang.

‘We wish you a merry Christmas!’ Mia sang.

‘We wish you a merry Christmas!’ Birdy sang at the top of her voice.

‘And a happy New Year!’ they sang together, and then they started all over again.

‘Please! No more! That’s the tenth time!’ Mum protested.

‘How am I supposed to concentrate on my driving with you lot bellowing Christmas carols?’ Dad said.

Their parents weren’t really cross though. Everyone was in a happy holiday mood.

‘Just one more time!’ Birdy begged.

Mum and Dad joined in several more times before they saw the sign to the motorway services and turned off to park there. It took a while to find a space because so many people were travelling to spend Christmas with their family or friends. When they climbed out of the car, at last, they heard familiar music.

‘We wish you a merry Christmas!’ A group of carol singers were standing outside the entrance in woollen hats and thick coats, singing away.

‘Let’s go and sing with them!’ said Birdy.

‘We can’t do that, silly!’ said Milo.

‘People would think we were showing off,’ said Mia, tutting at their little sister.

‘I like showing off!’ said Birdy, and she ran to join the carol singers before they could stop her.

She smiled at them and joined in the chorus, singing heartily. Birdy wasn’t worried when they started singing the verse. She didn’t know the words, but she just went la-la-la, more or less keeping in tune. The carol singers didn’t seem to mind. They were all looking at her, smiling. Other people were smiling too, and saying she was sweet, and a little pet.

‘Mum, Dad, stop her!’ said Milo, going red.

‘She’s hopeless!’ said Mia, rolling her eyes.

‘But she is sweet and nobody seems to mind,’ said Dad. He always said he didn’t have any favourites – but if he did they were sure it would be Birdy.

‘Still, I think she’s had her little moment,’ said Mum. She went over and took hold of Birdy’s hand. ‘Come on, pet.’

Birdy smiled at everyone and waved her free hand. They all went, ‘Aaaah!’

Milo and Mia sighed. They loved their younger sister, but she could be a royal pain at times.

They were playing more Christmas songs inside the cafe. Birdy started to sing along again, but Mum shook her head.

‘I think that’s enough now,’ she said. ‘Come on, what do we all want to eat? I’m going to have one of those rainbow salads.’

‘Well, I’m going to have fish and chips,’ said Dad.

‘Fried chicken, chicken, chicken!’ said Milo.

‘I’d like a veggie burger please,’ said Mia.

‘I’d like a doughnut!’ said Birdy.

It took quite a while to gather all their choices from the different outlets. Mum said Birdy had to eat something with protein, so she peeled the top piece of bread off an egg mayonnaise sandwich and nibbled at it before she was allowed the doughnut. She ended up with egg mixture in her ears and jam all down her chin and needed a thorough wash in the Ladies’ room afterwards.

Then they all went to the sweet shop to choose special treats for Christmas. Mum and Dad wanted a big tin of chocolate toffees because everyone liked them. They said Milo and Mia and Birdy could each choose one chocolate bar for themselves. They wandered around together, trying to make up their minds.

‘Look!’ said Milo, pointing to a big multipack of ten different kinds of chocolate. ‘It says, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas!”’

Birdy immediately started singing again.

‘Stop it!’ said Mia, giving her a little nudge. ‘Hey, we’d get three bars each, plus one over!’

‘And I’d get the extra one because I spotted the packet and I’m the oldest,’ said Milo.

‘No, I’d get all of them because I’m the youngest,’ said Birdy. She couldn’t do division yet, but she was very good at arguing.

‘Perhaps we ought to give a chocolate bar each to Mum and Dad, because our Christmas presents to them aren’t all that great,’ said Mia.

She had made cross-stitch coin purses for both of them. She’d worked hard, but trying to stitch neatly had made her very cross. Milo had made Mum and Dad a bookmark each out of leather. He’d written their names with a special gold pen, but they’d gone a bit smudgy. Birdy had made ‘books’ for both her parents. She’d cut out pieces of paper with her special blunt scissors and Mia had sewn them together for her to make two little booklets. Birdy had drawn a picture of Mum on one and a picture of Dad on the other. They looked identical – two circles with dots for eyes and smiley mouths, and little stick arms and legs.

‘Mum and Dad say they like homemade presents,’ said Milo, but he could see Mia had a point.

‘I made my lovely books for Mum and Dad,’ said Birdy. ‘I want to give a chocolate bar to Silky for her Christmas present.’

‘Oh, no! We haven’t got proper Christmas presents for all our Faraway Tree friends!’ said Milo.

‘We have to give Silky a present – and Moonface. And Pippin!’ said Mia.

They were going to spend Christmas at the same holiday cottage they’d stayed in during the summer. It was on the edge of the wonderful Enchanted Wood. They had spent almost every day of their summer holiday in the middle of the woods, climbing up the amazing Faraway Tree and making friends with all the folk who lived there.

Silky was a kind fairy whose wings changed colour to match her beautiful dresses. Milo and Mia had thought they were long past the age of believing in fairies, but they had to agree that Silky was real. Her best friend was Moonface, a sweet-natured magical man who could cast spells – sometimes! Pippin was an adorable talking bear cub who now had his own little bear cave in the Faraway Tree.

‘Then what about the Saucepan Man and Mr Watzisname? They’re our friends too,’ said Milo.

‘And Dame Washalot,’ said Mia.

‘Yes, she’s a friend, though she’s a menace when she empties her washtub down the tree and we get soaked,’ said Milo.

‘Especially you,’ said Birdy, giggling.

‘The Angry Pixie pours his jug of water over you too,’ Mia pointed out.

‘Well, maybe he’ll stop doing it if we give him a Christmas present,’ said Milo.

‘He’ll be a Happy Pixie then,’ said Mia.

‘So how many chocolate bars is that?’ Milo wondered, counting on his fingers. ‘Seven! So we still get one each! Awesome!’

‘Yay! Awesome!’ echoed Birdy. ‘Can Silky have the biggest one?’

‘Pippin must have the honeycomb bar!’ said Mia.

‘And we must give Moonface the big chocolate toffee bar because he loves toffee so,’ said Milo, who was a big fan of Moonface’s special Toffee Shocks.

‘I can’t wait to see them all!’ said Mia.

Mum and Dad were happy to buy their multipack choice for them. They didn’t explain it was going to be a present. Mum and Dad didn’t know anything about their magic friends in the Faraway Tree. They’d just never believe it was possible to chat to a fairy or have tea with a little man who looked like the moon. Even Birdy knew she must never ever tell their parents just in case it would break some spell and they’d never find their way to the Faraway Tree ever again.

There was a toy vending machine near the exit to the car park – the sort where you work a special crane to grab one of the colourful teddies crammed inside. Dad was in such a jolly mood, he dug out some change from his pocket.

‘Oh, dear, it’s all in a muddle,’ said Dad. ‘I wish I had a special coin purse to keep it safe.’

‘Really?’ said Mia joyfully. She had the first go on the machine, but couldn’t manage to hook a toy, though several times she grazed an ear or a paw.

‘Let me have a go. You’re rubbish!’ said Milo.

Milo found he wasn’t any better and got annoyed. Birdy had her go and actually managed to lift a plump fairy up by her wings, but she couldn’t make the crane keep hold of her. She got upset too, because she wanted it so much.

‘Hey, kids, cheer up,’ said Dad. ‘No one’s allowed to be grumpy when it’s nearly Christmas! I’ll have a go.’

He had several tries, but with no success whatsoever.

‘It’s a fix!’ he said. ‘There’s no way anyone could get one of those wretched toys out – they’re too tightly jammed in.’

‘Now who’s getting grumpy?’ said Mum. ‘Shall I have a go?’

She had three tries and manipulated the crane with such steady precision that she captured three toys. Each time, she slowly and carefully kept the claws of the crane clasped as she swung it over and dropped it down the chute. Mum seized the plump fairy for Birdy, a green toy unicorn for Mia and a scarlet dragon for Milo.

They all cheered Mum – and Dad had the grace to cheer her loudest of all. Then they set off in the car again, and sang some more Christmas songs, and after a while the children got sleepy. It was rather a squash in the back, especially as Birdy had insisted on taking Gilbert, her huge toy dog, on holiday too. He was almost as big as she was.

Milo was shunted right up against one side of the back seat and Mia the other, and Birdy could hardly breathe with hairy Gilbert sprawled all over her, but at last they stopped fidgeting and fell fast asleep.

They didn’t wake up until Dad called out, ‘We’re nearly there, kids!’

They peered out of the windows into the grey dusk and could just make out a vast wood down the hill below them, with one very tall tree that reached all the way up to the gathering clouds. The Magic Faraway Tree!

DAD PARKED the car outside the holiday cottage and the children tumbled out and went running up to the door. It didn’t look quite the same in the winter, without hollyhocks and cornflowers and poppies in the front garden, and roses and honeysuckle growing around the porch.

‘We’ll make a Christmas wreath and hang it on the door,’ said Mum. ‘We can gather little branches and twigs and see if we can find any holly and mistletoe in the wood. Come and help unload the car now.’

There were lots of big bags and suitcases and a hamper of food. They helped lug everything to the door, and then Dad fumbled with the key. He had to rub his hands hard because they were cramped from holding the steering wheel and it was very cold. They’d had the heater on in the car and now it was nearly night-time it was a shock to discover it was freezing, with an icy wind.

‘Is it cold enough for snow?’ Milo asked hopefully, wrapping his arms round himself.

‘It will look so fantastic for Christmas, everything crisp and white and beautiful,’ said Mia, jumping up and down.

‘We wish you a merry Christmas!’ Birdy muttered, clutching Gilbert for warmth.

Dad got the door open at last and they rushed inside the cottage and snapped on the light. It was just as cold inside the cottage as outside, maybe even colder.

‘Don’t worry – we’ll get the boiler lit and the radiators will heat up in no time,’ said Mum.

‘We’ll be as warm as toast in five minutes,’ said Dad, picking Birdy up and swinging her round and round.

It didn’t take five minutes. It didn’t take fifteen. It didn’t take fifty. Dad moved over for Mum to have a go. Then Dad tried again, and gingerly took the front part off the boiler to have had a good peer, using his phone as a torch. They had to admit defeat. The boiler was broken.

‘Never mind, we’ll have a proper fire in the living room. There are lots of logs in the woodpile outside. It’ll be really cosy,’ said Dad, while Mum was phoning the holiday letting company.

The children kept their coats on and helped Dad build up a log fire in the living room grate. It took him a very long time to get the fire going. The children huddled around, teeth chattering. It didn’t feel very Christmassy at all, though no one liked to say so.

‘I know!’ said Milo. ‘Mia and Birdy and I will go out the back and run up and down the lane to get warm!’

‘Oh, yes!’ said Mia.

‘Awesome!’ said Birdy, which was her new favourite word.

They knew Milo didn’t really mean they should run races. He was suggesting they jump over the ditch that separated the lane from the Enchanted Wood, and make their way to the Faraway Tree in the dark! They could meet all their friends and warm up in Silky’s bright little house while she made them flying pancakes. Or they could climb up to Moonface’s round room, fill their mouths with a Toffee Shock and whizz down the slippery-slip that led from the middle of his floor down through the trunk of the Faraway Tree to the ground.

‘You’re not going out in the pitch-dark,’ said Mum. ‘Don’t be daft!’

‘We’ll take the blankets off the beds and huddle up here,’ said Dad. ‘We could play bears!’

Milo wrinkled up his nose in an expression that clearly meant pathetic.

‘Oh, Dad, we’re not little kids!’ said Mia.

Birdy was a little kid and would have loved a game of bears with Dad, but it would never be the same as going to the Magic Faraway Tree and playing with a real bear. Dad was looking hurt and she wished she could explain, but knew it was impossible.

She climbed on Dad’s lap instead and put her arms round him.

‘This is a bear hug,’ she said, and made Dad smile.

In the end they had a good supper of sausages and bacon and baked beans and tomatoes, all cooked on the small electric stove, and then they played board games.

‘I’m bored of playing board games,’ Milo whispered to Mia, wishing the cottage had broadband, or at the very least a television, but he cheered up when he won Ludo.

Then Dad read them a story with some very funny rude bits, which made them all laugh, and Mum read them a story about a girl who was very naughty and played dares, which made them all gasp. Then they took turns reading their favourite story about a magic land where there were fairies and amazing creatures and animals who could talk. It made them all sigh.

‘This is a great story, Dad,’ said Milo.

‘We love it,’ said Mia.

‘It’s awesome,’ said Birdy. ‘It just makes us want to—’

‘Birdy!’ said Milo and Mia simultaneously.

‘I was only going to say it makes us want to go there,’ said Birdy.

It was so hard to know that their own magic world was only a hop and step away from the back door, but they could hear the wind howling outside, and rain had started pattering against the little latticed windows. They knew there was no point trying to make Mum and Dad relent and let them outside.

They went up to bed early because they were all hoping they might get a glimpse of Silky flying past their cottage. Birdy had spotted her the first night at the cottage in the summer holidays. Milo and Mia were ashamed to admit that they hadn’t believed her at first. But now they crowded into Birdy’s small attic room and peered out of the window hopefully.

The rain was really lashing down now, and the wind rattled the windowpane unnervingly. They waited and waited, shivering in their pyjamas, with their outdoor coats on top. Mia even made Birdy put on her woolly hat and mittens, because she was worried about her catching cold.

‘If it’s so cold for us in here, then Silky’s hardly likely to be flying around in the midst of this storm,’ said Milo.

‘I think Milo’s right, Birdy,’ said Mia sadly. ‘It’s freezing. Let’s just go to bed. We’ll see her tomorrow!’

‘I need to see her now!’ said Birdy. ‘She always comes when I’m here!’

‘Yes, but she doesn’t know you’re here, does she?’ said Mia.

‘I wrote her a letter saying we were coming for Christmas!’ Birdy insisted.

She’d certainly written what she said was a letter. They’d seen Birdy laboriously scribbling line after line on a page of her drawing book. They were very wobbly lines and her spelling was questionable. She’d signed it ‘Luv from Birdy’ and drawn a little blob with a beak and sticky-out wings and two tiny legs. Then she’d ripped the page out of her book and wrapped it up in an old envelope she’d found in the wastepaper basket.

Birdy had remembered that envelopes had to have an address, so she’d printed ‘Silky the Fary, The Farwy Tree’ on it and then popped it in the Christmas card post box at school.

She was disappointed not to get a reply the very next day. She became fretful the day after. Mia had comforted Birdy by saying that maybe Silky couldn’t read and write properly as she hadn’t been to school. ‘But I’m sure she got someone to read your letter to her. She’d have been thrilled,’ Mia had said.

Mia sighed, realising Birdy had believed her. Milo was yawning and thumping his arms to try to get the blood circulating.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever been so cold in my life!’ he complained. ‘Sorry, Birdy, but we’ve got to go to bed now or we’ll all turn into snowmen.’

‘You two can go to bed. I’m staying up to see Silky,’ said Birdy determinedly. ‘Oh, I think she’s coming right now!’

‘You’re making it up, Birdy,’ said Mia.

‘No, I’m not! I can see her, look!’ Birdy insisted, jumping up and down.

‘It’s pitch-black outside,’ said Milo, yawning again – but Mia suddenly clutched him.

‘Look!’ she repeated, transfixed.

There was a small silvery light in the distance, like a tiny moon. It was getting nearer and nearer – and soon they could make out the distinctive winged shape of a little flying creature. It wasn’t a bird, it wasn’t a bat – it was a fairy. Not just any old fairy. It was Silky!

She was wearing a silver raincoat and she had a matching silver hat on her head and silver boots on her delicately pointed feet. She’d grown large, powerful silver wings that gleamed in the rain and steadied her in the wind. She was flying straight towards them, a beaming smile on her lovely face.

‘Silky!’ they all breathed.

She came right up to the round attic window and put her hand on the glass. Birdy stretched up and put her hand on it too. Milo and Mia put their hands either side of hers. They all smiled back at Silky and mouthed hello.

‘See you tomorrow?’ she said.

They couldn’t hear through the glass, especially with the noise of the wind and the rain, but they all made out her words. They nodded vigorously and mouthed, ‘Yes!’

Silky turned herself round gracefully, bobbing in the air, and took something out of her raincoat pocket. It was Birdy’s letter.

‘Thank you!’ she mouthed, and then flew away.