The Phoenix and the Carpet | Page 3

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The Phoenix and the Carpet
E. Nesbit

TO
My Dear Godson HUBERT GRIFFITH and his sister MARGARET
TO HUBERT
Dear Hubert, if I ever found A wishing-carpet lying round, I'd stand
upon it, and I'd say: 'Take me to Hubert, right away!' And then we'd
travel very far To where the magic countries are That you and I will
never see, And choose the loveliest gifts for you, from me.
But oh! alack! and well-a-day! No wishing-carpets come my way. I

never found a Phoenix yet, And Psammeads are so hard to get! So I
give you nothing fine-- Only this book your book and mine, And hers,
whose name by yours is set; Your book, my book, the book of
Margaret!
E. NESBIT DYMCHURCH September, 1904
CONTENTS
1 The Egg 2 The Topless Tower 3 The Queen Cook 4 Two Bazaars 5
The Temple 6 Doing Good 7 Mews from Persia 8 The Cats, the Cow,
and the Burglar 9 The Burglar's Bride 10 The Hole in the Carpet 11
The Beginning of the End 12 The End of the End
CHAPTER 1
THE EGG
It began with the day when it was almost the Fifth of November, and a
doubt arose in some breast--Robert's, I fancy--as to the quality of the
fireworks laid in for the Guy Fawkes celebration.
'They were jolly cheap,' said whoever it was, and I think it was Robert,
'and suppose they didn't go off on the night? Those Prosser kids would
have something to snigger about then.'
'The ones I got are all right,' Jane said; 'I know they are, because the
man at the shop said they were worth thribble the money--'
'I'm sure thribble isn't grammar,' Anthea said.
'Of course it isn't,' said Cyril; 'one word can't be grammar all by itself,
so you needn't be so jolly clever.'
Anthea was rummaging in the corner-drawers of her mind for a very
disagreeable answer, when she remembered what a wet day it was, and
how the boys had been disappointed of that ride to London and back on
the top of the tram, which their mother had promised them as a reward

for not having once forgotten, for six whole days, to wipe their boots
on the mat when they came home from school.
So Anthea only said, 'Don't be so jolly clever yourself, Squirrel. And
the fireworks look all right, and you'll have the eightpence that your
tram fares didn't cost to-day, to buy something more with. You ought to
get a perfectly lovely Catharine wheel for eightpence.'
'I daresay,' said Cyril, coldly; 'but it's not YOUR eightpence anyhow--'
'But look here,' said Robert, 'really now, about the fireworks. We don't
want to be disgraced before those kids next door. They think because
they wear red plush on Sundays no one else is any good.'
'I wouldn't wear plush if it was ever so--unless it was black to be
beheaded in, if I was Mary Queen of Scots,' said Anthea, with scorn.
Robert stuck steadily to his point. One great point about Robert is the
steadiness with which he can stick.
'I think we ought to test them,' he said.
'You young duffer,' said Cyril, 'fireworks are like postage-stamps. You
can only use them once.'
'What do you suppose it means by "Carter's tested seeds" in the
advertisement?'
There was a blank silence. Then Cyril touched his forehead with his
finger and shook his head.
'A little wrong here,' he said. 'I was always afraid of that with poor
Robert. All that cleverness, you know, and being top in algebra so
often--it's bound to tell--'
'Dry up,' said Robert, fiercely. 'Don't you see? You can't TEST seeds if
you do them ALL. You just take a few here and there, and if those
grow you can feel pretty sure the others will be--what do you call
it?--Father told me--"up to sample". Don't you think we ought to

sample the fire-works? Just shut our eyes and each draw one out, and
then try them.'
'But it's raining cats and dogs,' said Jane.
'And Queen