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Blyton fans don't talk all that much about a guy known as Mr. Wumble but our distinguished author is far reaching and her stories are variety filled so it's difficult to be conversant with all of her characters. Incidentally, this EB book might be the only example that begins with a limerick:

"There was an old fellow of Kentshire
Who wished he could have an adventure,
He jumped on a 'plane and was not seen again
That silly old fellow of Kentshire."

On the cover is a fairly basic picture of Mr. Wumble but it can be added he's probably in his fifties or sixties, has a 'Bill Smugs' hairdo, and dresses reasonably well in everyday life. The first picture shows him reading a book of fairy tales and finding it rather frightening because one story features a fire-breathing dragon that has captured a princess. Fortunately a prince rescues the royal personage and this causes Mr. Wumble to cry tears of joy, which he wipes away by using the parrot's tail as a handkerchief. Yes, he and his wife have such a pet. After reading of the prince and princess marrying each other Mr. Wumble gets up and dances a little jig telling the parrot how much he'd love to have an adventure like they do in storybooks. The parrot's vocabulary totals three sentences, one of which is:

"Mr. Wumble, you forget yourself."

That particular comment was not taught to it by Mr. Wumble - rather it was Mrs. Wumble who did the deed - the reason being that she wanted her husband to behave himself when she was away. Mr. Wumble throws his spectacle case at the parrot but instead of striking the mark, it hits a vase causing said vase to fall and break into a hundred pieces.

"Mr. Wumble, I'm surprised at you!"

That's the parrot again. Mr. Wumble can't think what his wife will say when she sees the smashed vase so he decides to make himself scarce - and at the same time look for an adventure. We have to know what the parrot's third sentence is:

"Have you got your handkerchief, your hat, your umbrella, your cough lozenges, your muffler and your galoshes?"

Mr. Wumble growls at the bird whilst donning his hat.

"Mr. Wumble, you forget yourself."

Mr. Wumble gathers all the things he'll need and then tells the parrot to inform Mrs. Wumble that he's off to look for an adventure because he's tired of sitting at home. He's going out to rescue a princess and kill fierce dragons.

"Mr. Wumble, I'm surprised at you!"

The Master departs in an excited and apprehensive mood to search out an adventure - but not 'too much' of an adventure - so he quickly turns and walks the other way when Mrs. Wumble is seen in the distance. He diverges into a field and examines the hedges and ditches for something exciting but the only 'adventure' encountered is when his umbrella gets caught in a hedge before he slips into a ditch. Just when he's thinking it's not a very good day for finding adventures, a small aeroplane suddenly appears and swoops down towards him.

He races away and ends up tripping over a stone to fall flat on his face as the 'plane lands and bumps over the field to stop beside him. Someone jumps out. Mr. Wumble picks himself up and confronts the individual who turns out to be quite small - a factor that causes Mr. Wumble to feel more sure of himself. He begins complaining about being made to fall over and bump his nose but the aviator tells him he's lost and simply flew down to get some directions.

Mr. Wumble deigns to tell him he's near a town in Kentshire, and then something extraordinary is revealed to him - the pilot has been sent to locate a doughty prince because the Princess of Silver River is being threatened by a dragon, which needs to be eliminated. Upon being asked if he knows the way to Fairyland Mr. Wumble answers "No!" - but then he remembers his book about princesses and a dragon and suggests there might be a map hidden in it somewhere.

That' sounds all right so Mr. Wumble's invited to board the 'plane and once he's settled they take off into the air and head for Mr. Wumble's house. It's his very first flight and he feels queer when a glimpse over the side reveals just how high they are. Soon they're above the Wumble home but as they're about to land the pilot almost upsets the aeroplane when an ear-piercing shriek comes from his passenger. The reason is that Mr. Wumble has just seen his wife coming out of the back door carrying pieces of the vase her husband accidentally broke earlier on. Looking up she suddenly spots him in the aeroplane and Mr. Bumble sees her lips moving.

Mrs. Bumble is "saying a great many things." (that's what it says in the book) and we can but imagine what feelings are being expressed at that exact moment. Mr. Bumble urges the pilot to head for the hills because there's "something very fierce" on the ground and when the puzzled chap asks him if there's a dragon down below, Mr. Bumble affirms that something like that is waiting for him. When they've flown further away, Mr. Wumble looks back to observe his wife throw something up into the air and he wonders what it might be. He soon knows,

"Mr. Wumble, I'm surprised at you."

It's that " ... niggledy, naggledy, annoying bird!" He can't seem to get away from it; still, the parrot rescues Mr. Wumble's hat when it's 's suddenly whisked off his head and ... but now on to more important things:

"Where are we heading?"

The answer turns out to be a little unsettling for Mr. Wumble when he hears they're returning to Silver River because the pilot thinks his passenger could kill the dragon just as well as any prince could, and despite his protestations Mr. Wumble's told it'll be quite an easy task - and he can even be loaned a sword to perform the operation. Right now it appears the 'adventure' is becoming a trifle too adventurous and Mr. Wumble thinks that if there's any dragon killing to be done, Mrs. Wumble might be better at it than him; however, not wanting to appear cowardly, he shuts up and amuses himself by pushing the parrot away whenever it starts up with one of its infernal utterances.

There has to be a glittering palace in any story that features princesses and sure enough, when they reach Silver River, the 'plane circles downward and an excited Mr. Wumble exclaims,

"Snorting Pigs!" (That's one of his expressions). "A real live palace!"

"Mr. Wumble, you forget yourself."

The parrot's shoved out of the aeroplane as they land gently in front of the many-towered building whereupon Mr. Wumble is helped out. He quickly polishes his galoshes with the only thing available at short notice - a hanky, then raising his umbrella although it doesn't appear to be raining, Mr. Wumble's ready to encounter royalty. They enter the castle, mount some steps, and enter a high room where there's a beautiful princess lying on a couch, reading. She gets up and shakes hands with Mr. Wumble who doesn't know whether to bow or curtsey, so he does both. The aeroplane man who, when he takes of his flying gear turns out to be a gnome, explains that Mr. Wumble has been brought along to kill the dragon.

"Why didn't you bring me a prince?"

The pilot replies to this question by saying it'd be a pity if the dragon was to devour a nice handsome prince so he's obtained a substitute - and because the princess looks so sweet, Mr. Bumble decides not to let on that he won't be going near any dragon. He states his name, unfurls his umbrella, and then goes to sit beside the young lady feeling happier that he's ever been in his life.

"Would you like to kill the dragon before tea or after tea," asks the Princess and Wumble thinks it would be best to perform the task afterwards, so the princess has refreshments brought in - and what a feast it turns out to be. Before today Enid Blyton has given some excellent descriptions of various meals her characters (usually the child ones) receive at odd times; afternoon tea at the princess's palace includes six kinds of cream cakes plus two flavours of jam. After working his way through the goodies, Mr. Wumble is definitely in no mood to go about killing dragons. He takes out his hanky to wipe the stickiness off each hand not realising how filthy it is from polishing his galoshes earlier on - but the parrot notices and naturally has to comment

"Mr. Wumble, you forget yourself!"

The princess asks Longnose (that's the pilot's name) if he would take Mr. Wumble to where the dragon lives. Mr. Wumble who's feeling very uncomfortable now suggests that it might be a good idea if he went off and looked for it by himself; the idea being that he could run away and hide somewhere, but the princess won't hear of it. Mr. Wumble is escorted to the gate and told that his parrot will be well looked after until he returns, and if Mr. Wumble never comes back, the princess will be very kind to his pet.

Is that a comforting thought or is it not a comforting thought?

After checking to make sure he's got everything, Mr. Wumble takes up his umbrella and sallies forth to slay the terrible dragon. Unfortunately he can't get away from that parrot because, looking up, he notices it flying over his head. The bird settles on his shoulder once again so he just has to put up with it.

He and his pilot companion reach the dragon's hill and sure enough a column of smoke is seen rising in the distance. The gnome tells Mr. Wumble to make his way up the hill, slaughter the dragon, and then return to the palace. He disappears and there's Mr. Wumble alone with his parrot and wondering what on earth he's going to do. His first thought is to abscond but when he thinks of the princess's delightful smile he has second thoughts and decides the least he can do is to take a peek at the enemy. He might be able to kill it somehow but he'd have to look the other way whilst doing so seeing he's not a violent man. Bravely he ventures further up the hill peering carefully behind each tree just in case the dragon tries to take him by surprise.

At this point the tale became so scary I couldn't pursue the matter any further so, not knowing what eventually happens, the ending can only be surmised. A faint hint exists - just before shutting the booklet a reference to the dragon as "being miserable" was spotted (P.36). We can try figuring out what that might signify.

The final chapter is intriguingly titled because the mild mannered Mr. Wumble is described as a 'Hero!' Since learning about this character I can't imagine him actually killing a dragon so what he did to result in being described as such will have to remain a mystery for now.

---

'The Strange Tale Of Mr. Wumble' could be labelled as a short story of romance and adventure although Mr. Wumble may not fit into our own particular version of a romantic interlude; still, it contains fairy-folk, a princess, a castle, and even the hint of a dragon fight.

The word 'shire' is tacked on to the end of various English counties but 'Kentshire' did not sound all that valid so a search was mounted. No, there doesn't appear to be a 'Kentshire' as far as geographical locations go - except of course in Enid Blyton's tale about Mr. Wumble.

'Bill Smugs' is an Enid Blyton character of old ('Adventure' series). He has a Mr. Wumble hairdo.

EB often used the language adopted by little people so the pilot is sometimes referred to as 'The Aeroplane Man.'

The 'plane was originally headed for Fairyland - presumably to locate a prince; surely one or two princes would be found in Silver River seeing a princess lives there, but perhaps a 'magical' fairy prince was deemed essential. There's a possibility that Silver River is actually in Fairyland judging by a reference in Chapter Two - "He wouldn't have minded going to Fairyland, but killing dragons was a bit too much." Make of that what you will.

The parrot isn't sitting on Mr. Wumble's shoulder when he finally sets eyes on the dragon but that sounds reasonable ... after all what bird would choose to hang around in such threatening circumstances?

It must have been daunting to ride in one of those aeroplanes that aren't enclosed all round. Perhaps Mr. Wumble's braver than we thought.

Another of Enid Blyton's characters owns a parrot that frequently sits on his shoulder, and that person's name is 'Jack Mannering' (formerly Jack Trent). He's a star of the well-worth-reading 'Adventure' series.

Speaking of other Blyton characters, there's one whom Mr. Wumble resembles quite markedly and that's 'Mr. Twiddle.' This elderly gentleman's life and times are recorded in a series of three books, and some one-off tales. He's far better known than Mr. Wumble and, as with the latter, he has an annoying pet presence ... his wife's cat.

The illustrator has supplied pictures for about ten books that aren't very likely to be on the bookshelves of an average Blyton addict. The artist's name features as just MacDowell, and his existence is recorded in the 'Enid Blyton Dossier.' Further searching has brought up what appears to be an artist with a capability exceeding, that which is portrayed in 'Mr. Wumble.' The Enid Blyton Society website forums are often visited by one or two members who could provide comparable, or even better, illustrations than those depicted in the Wumble booklet; however one Daniel Ferguson McDowell has revealed a far greater talent when his depictions of ships are taken into account. His lifespan is down as 1901-1974.