Teachers World Letters, Jan 1930 - July 1934

Discuss Blyton's magazines, short stories and poetry here.
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26768
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Courtenay wrote:Enid slips a bit at the end with her ornithology, though. Brer Rabbit is described as "laughing as loudly as a green woodpecker" — but Brer Rabbit and his friends (and enemies) are decidedly American, and green woodpeckers aren't found in America!! :P
Enid Blyton has Brer Rabbit hop across the pond in some of her stories as he even visits Old Thatch and encounters Bobs in a couple of tales! :lol: I don't know whether Brer Bear and Brer Wolf ever follow him to England though!

I suppose Brer Rabbit could laugh "as loudly as a green woodpecker" wherever he is in the world. Sometimes I hear people in Britain describing someone as "laughing like a hyena", even though we don't have hyenas in the wild here.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
Courtenay
Posts: 19274
Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
Favourite character: Lotta
Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Courtenay »

Fair enough — I just couldn't help noting the incongruity. I suppose Brer Rabbit might even have laughed as loudly as a kookaburra (which is a lot louder than a green woodpecker)! :wink:
Society Member

It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26768
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/blyt ... perid=1175" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lively letters from Enid and Bobs, and a lovely poem. I particularly like the story 'Beech-Tree Brownies', which has a folksy charm and urges readers to look carefully at beech-tree buds. It's freezing cold here today but Enid makes me feel that spring is truly on its way!
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
Moonraker
Posts: 22387
Joined: 31 Jan 2005, 19:15
Location: Wiltshire, England
Contact:

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Moonraker »

I particularly like the story 'Beech-Tree Brownies'
Yes, so did I! Princess Peronel cropped up in a short story I read to my grandson the other night. I wasn't too sure how to pronounce it, though: Per-roe-nel or perro-nel.
Society Member
User avatar
Courtenay
Posts: 19274
Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
Favourite character: Lotta
Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Courtenay »

I really liked "Beech-Tree Brownies" too — beautifully written and, just like the Pip stories, it taught me something I didn't know before about the natural world in Britain. We have a beech wood here where I live, so now I'll have to go and look for beech buds as soon as there are some and see for myself if they really do have sharp points! :D

As for Peronel, I took a look online and couldn't find a pronunciation, but it seems it's a contraction of Petronel, which in turn is a contraction of Petronella (ultimately a feminine form of Peter), so I would assume it's pronounced Perro-nel.
Society Member

It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
User avatar
Kate Mary
Posts: 1916
Joined: 20 Apr 2007, 06:25
Favourite book/series: The Treasure Hunters/ Five Find Outers
Favourite character: Barney
Location: Kent

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Kate Mary »

If Sandy has been chewing stones maybe he (or she) did eat his/her collar. No wonder, the poor dog must be confused. I thought Beech-Tree Brownies was a lovely story too.
"I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines." Oliver Goldsmith

Society Member
User avatar
Moonraker
Posts: 22387
Joined: 31 Jan 2005, 19:15
Location: Wiltshire, England
Contact:

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Moonraker »

Courtenay wrote: As for Peronel, I took a look online and couldn't find a pronunciation, but it seems it's a contraction of Petronel, which in turn is a contraction of Petronella (ultimately a feminine form of Peter), so I would assume it's pronounced Perro-nel.
Yes, I think you're right. I started reading it as Per-roe-nel then changed it half way through to Perro-nel!
Society Member
User avatar
Kate Mary
Posts: 1916
Joined: 20 Apr 2007, 06:25
Favourite book/series: The Treasure Hunters/ Five Find Outers
Favourite character: Barney
Location: Kent

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Kate Mary »

A mild Spring-like day for Enid on 28th February 1934, 84 years on and the crocuses and snowdrops are under four inches of snow here in Kent. A super poem this week, Pip the Elf must be an early incarnation of Pip the Pixie, the similar story A Nice Little Pot of Glue didn't appear until 1946. I loved Mrs Wimple's Trick as well, although this story is uncollected I have read something similar, can't remember what though.

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/blyt ... perid=1176" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines." Oliver Goldsmith

Society Member
User avatar
Moonraker
Posts: 22387
Joined: 31 Jan 2005, 19:15
Location: Wiltshire, England
Contact:

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Moonraker »

"Bright sunshine and hot," our good lady says. A bit different here, 84 years later!
Society Member
User avatar
Courtenay
Posts: 19274
Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
Favourite character: Lotta
Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Courtenay »

Yes, very different here today too! Lovely descriptions from Enid as always, though I feel sorry for Pat's kitten still being just "the kitten". Didn't Enid ask her readers to send in suggestions for names?

Bobs' and Sandy's and Gillian's antics with the green paint made me laugh — I assume something like that actually did happen and there must have been quite a mess! Poor Bobs' closing line "Nobody loves me, so I'm going to go to my kennel and chew straw" reminds me of what we used to sing as kids when someone was sulking: "Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I'm going down the back to eat worms!" But I doubt Enid would ever quote that one, if it was around in her time. :wink:

I'm also sure Pip the Elf must be an earlier version of Pip the Pixie. I loved "Mrs Wimple's Trick" too — it sounds like it could be based on an old fable. A shame it was never reprinted, as it's a good one!
Society Member

It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26768
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

It is strange to read about Enid Blyton sitting in her open doorway enjoying hot sunshine, while we in Essex are experiencing the deepest snow we've had for some years.

The poem 'The Scrap Book' is delightful. Fancy trying to glue "A winking dewdrop full of light" into the book!
Kate Mary wrote:I loved Mrs Wimple's Trick as well, although this story is uncollected I have read something similar, can't remember what though.
Two similar stories that have stuck in my mind are 'Sally Dumble's Trick' (1936) and 'Tom the Scout-Cub' (1951). Great tales, all three of them! Turning the mattress every single day does sound rather over the top though!
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26768
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/blyt ... perid=1177" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How interesting that Enid Blyton had two wells at Old Thatch - a "little surface well" and a "very deep well that we always use for our water."

I had a chuckle at the idea of Bobs trying to give "a few little clucks"!

'The Busy Sunbeam' is a great poem, conjuring up some lovely images of early spring. I like the story 'The Great Big Bone' too. It has elements of traditional fables and also teaches children about starlings.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
Courtenay
Posts: 19274
Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
Favourite character: Lotta
Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Courtenay »

Lovely letters again — funny to think of Enid experiencing a near drought at this time of year when we've just had so much snow! I still find it a bit strange how "the kitten" apparently doesn't have a name after all this time. (Well, not nearly as strange as Sandy's famous gender confusion, but "he" seems to be firmly a "he" again now that the puppies are gone.)

"The Great Big Bone" was a good one. There's a story in the compilation Stories for You by the same name (but with an exclamation mark) that's narrated by Bobs — I never realised, reading that when I was little, that Bobs was Enid's own dog and something of a literary star! :wink: Going by the Cave, that story was first published in Teacher's World in 1935, the next year on from where we're reading. It's another story of a squabble over a bone, this time between Bobs and a smaller dog, but in this case it's Bobs who falls for the other dog's trick — pretending to be poisoned when he tastes the bone, so Bobs runs off to get help, and of course when he comes back with Mistress, there's no little dog and no bone either...

Actually, this 1934 story of "The Great Big Bone" is also quite similar to another story from Stories for You, "The Horse, the Wasp and the Donkey" (also originally published in Teacher's World in 1935) — in this case the quarrel is between the horse and the wasp over an apple, and the donkey tricks the two of them into having a race from the other end of the field (rather like the starlings with Sandy) to decide who should have the apple. You can guess who gets it! :wink: It does show Enid recycling the same basic plot several times even during a short period of her career, but she makes each version different enough that they each have a different atmosphere and are all enjoyable to read.
Society Member

It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
User avatar
Kate Mary
Posts: 1916
Joined: 20 Apr 2007, 06:25
Favourite book/series: The Treasure Hunters/ Five Find Outers
Favourite character: Barney
Location: Kent

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Kate Mary »

Very interesting letter this week, presumably Old Thatch didn't have mains water at this time, probably most rural homes didn't and relied on a well. A drought must caused great hardship. I really liked the story and poem; and thank you Courtenay you have inspired me to dig out my copy of Stories For You.
"I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines." Oliver Goldsmith

Society Member
User avatar
Moonraker
Posts: 22387
Joined: 31 Jan 2005, 19:15
Location: Wiltshire, England
Contact:

Re: Enid Blyton's Weekly Letters in Teachers World

Post by Moonraker »

Anita Bensoussane wrote: How interesting that Enid Blyton had two wells at Old Thatch - a "little surface well" and a "very deep well that we always use for our water."
Well (pun intended), Old Thatch is in Well End...
Society Member
Post Reply