The Phoenix and the Carpet #3


 My reading of the third chapter of Edith Nesbitt's (1904) children's story The Phoenix and the Carpet. The children have a run-in with the temperamental cook (apologies to the entire population of Ireland for the unconvincing accent) and are transported to an exotic island - the language about the natives of the island is very dated (it was written in the early 1900s, after all) so if you are easily offended by such things, perhaps best to skip this chapter!

The children are quite ruthless in their determination to deal with difficult adults - always worth bearing in mind when dealing with sprogs (or so-called adults whose moral development is somewhat arrested).

The fate of the cook is somewhat ambiguous and perhaps speaks to the risk of getting what you want and then never being wholly convinced that what you are experiencing is quite real!



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