The Magic Faraway Tree series
Encyclopedia
The Faraway Tree is a series of popular novel
s for children by British
author
Enid Blyton
. The titles in the series are The Enchanted Wood (1939), The Magic Faraway Tree
(1943), The Folk of the Faraway Tree
(1946) and Up the Faraway Tree (1951).
The stories take place in an enchanted forest
in which a gigantic magical tree
- the eponymous "Faraway Tree" - grows. The tree is so tall that its topmost branches reach into the clouds and it is wide enough to contain small houses carved into its trunk. The forest and the tree are discovered by three children named Jo, Bessie, and Fanny, who move into a house nearby.
When the children climb the Faraway Tree they discover it is inhabited by different magical creatures, including Moon-Face, Silky the fairy, The Saucepan Man, Dame Washalot, Mr. Watzisname and the Angry Pixie. They befriend some of these creatures, in particular Moon-face and Silky. At the very top of the tree they discover a ladder which leads them to a magical land. This land is different on each visit, because each place moves on from the top of the tree to make way for a new land. The children are free to come and go, but they must leave before the land moves on or they will be stuck there until the land returns to the Faraway Tree.
The lands at the top are sometimes extremely unpleasant - for example the Land of Dame Slap, an aggressive school teacher - and sometimes fantastically enjoyable notably, the Land of Birthdays, Land of Goodies and the Land of Take-What-You-Want.
The first land the three children visit is The Roundabout Land, where they give some cake to two rabbits, and the rabbits dig a hole for themselves and the three children.The last land they visit in this book is The Land Of Birthdays, where the brownies and the inhabitants of the Faraway Tree celebrate Bessie's Birthday.
decides to live in the tree, after leaving her job as a cook
in Dame Slap's land. She sets up a cake shop in the tree.
Over the years, the Faraway Tree stories have been illustrated by various artists including Dorothy Wheeler, Rene Cloke, Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone and Georgina Hargreaves.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s for children by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton was an English children's writer also known as Mary Pollock.Noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups,her books have enjoyed huge success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 600 million copies.One of Blyton's most...
. The titles in the series are The Enchanted Wood (1939), The Magic Faraway Tree
The Magic Faraway Tree (novel)
The Magic Faraway Tree is a children's novel by Enid Blyton, first published in 1943.It is the second book in the The Faraway Tree series of novels, in which Jo, Bessie and Fanny, the protagonists of the series, have their cousin Dick over to stay with them...
(1943), The Folk of the Faraway Tree
The Folk of the Faraway Tree
The Folk of the Faraway Tree is a children's novel in the Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1946.It is the third book in the series, in which Jo, Bessie and Fanny introduce their mother's friend's daughter, Connie, to Silky, Moonface, Saucepan Man and all the rest of...
(1946) and Up the Faraway Tree (1951).
The stories take place in an enchanted forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
in which a gigantic magical tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
- the eponymous "Faraway Tree" - grows. The tree is so tall that its topmost branches reach into the clouds and it is wide enough to contain small houses carved into its trunk. The forest and the tree are discovered by three children named Jo, Bessie, and Fanny, who move into a house nearby.
The Enchanted Wood
In the first novel in the series, Jo, Bessie, and Fanny move to live near a large wood. One day, they go for a walk in the wood and discover an enormous tree whose branches seem to reach into the clouds. This is the Faraway Tree.When the children climb the Faraway Tree they discover it is inhabited by different magical creatures, including Moon-Face, Silky the fairy, The Saucepan Man, Dame Washalot, Mr. Watzisname and the Angry Pixie. They befriend some of these creatures, in particular Moon-face and Silky. At the very top of the tree they discover a ladder which leads them to a magical land. This land is different on each visit, because each place moves on from the top of the tree to make way for a new land. The children are free to come and go, but they must leave before the land moves on or they will be stuck there until the land returns to the Faraway Tree.
The lands at the top are sometimes extremely unpleasant - for example the Land of Dame Slap, an aggressive school teacher - and sometimes fantastically enjoyable notably, the Land of Birthdays, Land of Goodies and the Land of Take-What-You-Want.
The first land the three children visit is The Roundabout Land, where they give some cake to two rabbits, and the rabbits dig a hole for themselves and the three children.The last land they visit in this book is The Land Of Birthdays, where the brownies and the inhabitants of the Faraway Tree celebrate Bessie's Birthday.
The Magic Faraway Tree
Jo, Bessie and Fanny's cousin Dick comes to stay and he joins the adventures in the magic faraway tree. Dick is not interested at first but later on in the story he gets interested, and into trouble.The Folk of the Faraway Tree
Connie, a stuck-up girl also comes to stay with the children, while her mother, Lizzie, is ill. At first Connie refuses to believe in the Faraway Tree or the magical folk who live in it, even when the Angry Pixie throws ink at her. Jo, Bessie, and Fannie take her to the lands at the top of the tree and Connie gets a few surprises! The Saucepan Man's motherMother
A mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...
decides to live in the tree, after leaving her job as a cook
Cook (profession)
A cook is a person who prepares food for consumption. In Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Canada this profession requires government approval ....
in Dame Slap's land. She sets up a cake shop in the tree.
Up the Faraway Tree
The first title of the main trilogy, The Enchanted Wood, was published in 1939, although the Faraway Tree and Moon-Face had already made a brief appearance in 1936 in The Yellow Fairy Book. A picture-strip book, Up the Faraway Tree, was published in 1951.Over the years, the Faraway Tree stories have been illustrated by various artists including Dorothy Wheeler, Rene Cloke, Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone and Georgina Hargreaves.
Updates
- In modern reprints, the names of the children have been changed:
- Jo is changed to Joe, because the character is a boy and this is the more commonly used spelling of the name for males;
- Bessie is changed to Beth, because the former name is now less commonly used as a nicknameNicknameA nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
for Elizabeth; - Fanny is changed to Frannie, because the former name is slangSlangSlang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
for vulvaVulvaThe vulva consists of the external genital organs of the female mammal. This article deals with the vulva of the human being, although the structures are similar for other mammals....
in the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
(see Wiktionary entry) and "bottom" in the USA. - Cousin Dick, who appears in "The Magic Faraway Tree", has been changed to "Rick" as "Dick" is American, Australian and British slang for penisPenisThe penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
.
- In modern reprints, the character of Dame Slap has been re-named to Dame Snap and she no longer practises corporal punishmentCorporal punishmentCorporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
but instead reprimands her students by yelling at them very loudly.
Characters
The main characters are Joe, Beth, and Franny, three siblings. Franny is the youngest, Beth is next in age and Joe is their big brother. They live near the Enchanted Wood and are friends of the residents of the Faraway Tree. Other characters include:- The Angry Pixie- He lives in a house with a tiny window and has a habit of throwing cold water or any liquid at hand over people who dare to peep inside.
- An owl lives in the house after the Angry Pixie's. He is a friend of Silky's.
- Silky the fairy. Silky is so named because of her long, silky, golden hair.
- Mr.Watzisname- He cannot remember his name. He sleeps and snores all the time. During a particular episode at the Land of Secrets, Mr. Watzisname discovers that his name is 'Kollamoolitumarellipawkyrollo'. This is forgotten by the end of the episode (even by the man himself) and he goes back to being Mr. Watzisname.
- Dame Washalot- She spends her time washing her clothes and throwing the dirty wash water down the tree. If she has no clothes to wash, she washes the dirty laundry of other people and even the leaves of the Faraway Tree.
- Moonface- Moonface is named for his round face that looks like the moon. His house is likewise round, and filled with curved furniture. There is a slippery-slip in the middle of his house, which is a slide which lets you slide down to the bottom of the Faraway Tree instead of climbing down.
- The Saucepan Man- lives with Mr. Watzisname. His name stems from the fact that he is covered all over with saucepans and kettles. Sometimes, he cannot understand what his friends are saying because he is quite deaf, which is further aggravated by all the noise from the pans and kettles which he carries all the time.
- The Saucepan Man's mother- lives with Dame Washalot. She runs a cake shop.
- Dame Slap- runs a school for bad pixies which in adventures, the friends accidentally land in.