The Enid Blyton Society

Once upon a time in the imagination of Enid Blyton lived a Princess held captive by a wicked witch in a tower. The story went that she could only be set free by three strange keys...

Read the story here:

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SPOILER ALERT:
Don't read the blog below unless you want the solution to the puzzle before you read the story!

I loved this story and over the years have read it countless times. It was in an old collection of short stories that belonged to my Mum when she was a little girl, and now I read them to my son.

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Is there one more page, Pete? There are two copies of page 45 there and it doesn't quite seem to be the end of the story.

I did edit it,but perhaps I didn't press 'save'.Try it now?

Yes, it's there now, Pete. Thanks!

I'm sure someone in my family had Twenty-Minute Tales (was it my dad when he was little and Gran still had his copy at her house?) — I recognise the cover (without the dust jacket) and the title — but for some reason I never read any of the stories, even though I was normally a voracious Blyton reader. I only re-encountered it just over 5 years ago when I picked it up from a stand outside one of the various antiques-and-collectables shops in my favourite shopping strip, Maling Road in Canterbury. (Canterbury in Melbourne, that is, not Canterbury in Kent. ) I opened it and was at once struck by the title of The Three Strange Keys, so I read the story on the spot and really enjoyed it — it's stuck in my memory ever since.

I wished afterwards I'd bought the book and read the rest of the stories, but I was within probably only a fortnight of moving from Australia to the UK and I was strictly NOT letting myself buy any more books... (I've made up for it since I settled here, believe me. ) Anyway, when I'm next back with my family, I'll nose around and see if we do have a copy still.

I did just have a look on eBay to see if there are any vintage copies available, but I think I'll pass on this "acceptable" one... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Acceptable-TW ... Sw4shYBp21" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (At least they have the decency to offer free P&P. )

Courtenay wrote: I did just have a look on eBay to see if there are any vintage copies available, but I think I'll pass on this "acceptable" one... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Acceptable-TW ... Sw4shYBp21" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (At least they have the decency to offer free P&P. )

How do people reach these ridiculous prices? I half wonder whether maybe they made a typing error, and pressed '8' when they meant it to be £16 (still would be expensive, but slightly more reasonable!).

My copy is just like that, with no dust wrapper - it cost me £2 (the price is still written in it) - but I can tell by the writing style that it was from the same second-hand bookshop in Stratford -upon-Avon where I bought the second edition 'Secret Island' for £3.

My Secret Island copy is 1947. I am not sure whether mine is second edition?

If yes, I bought it for £8 plus postage of £7.

I was guessing when I said mine was a second edition - its actually a third edition - 1941.

Incidentally, as someone raised the question on another thread (was it Rob?) about turkeys being black, not red, I just took a look online and found there IS at least one red variety, called Bourbon Red. Here's a picture:



Not "red" as in scarlet, but certainly "red" as in the same colour as a red hen!

Thanks Courtenay! The only turkeys I've seen had black feathers - including a plastic one I had in my toy farm as a kid! Those in the photo could indeed be described as 'red' so maybe Enid was more familiar with that variety!

Maybe indeed — I've only ever seen black turkeys too. I just looked up the Bourbon Red on Wikipedia and it's described as having "unique reddish plumage", so I assume it's the only breed of turkey with mainly "red" feathers. It originated in Bourbon County in Kentucky (hence the name) and was a popular breed for meat in the 1930s and '40s, but is now relatively rare. The article only talks about America, though — I've no idea if Bourbon Reds were ever bred in England or whether Enid had any contact with them. Maybe in thinking of the three "keys", she decided she wanted one of them to be a more intriguing colour than black...

Just in case anyone's interested, there's a cheaper edition available on eBay now -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Twenty-Minute ... SwMtxXvWSC

£3.99 plus £1.40 postage.

Thanks, Rob. It's not in brilliant condition, though — I think I'll wait and see if my family does still have a copy, as I'm sure ours was in much better nick than that.

Yes - I agree. Mine is in much better condition as well!

Pete, we have the end of the story on page 46 now but page 45 has disappeared!