Anyone remember this book of short stories - see message

[Bramble7]

Hi I am trying to find the name of a collection of short stories, here are the 2 I remember

How the Male blackbird got his golden beak, (it was all about dipping it in a pot o gold dust so the pixies could tell the birds apart ,or something like that )

Also

There was a story about the pixies looking after thesparrows in winter but getting the boy and girl sparrows mixed up so they put black bibs on the boys (again this was based on the fact that male sparrows do have black patches on their chests)

I am sure both these stories were in the same book but it was a while ago so i could be wrong, can anyone help with the name of the book??
I hope you can as i want to buy it for my godson

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's possible that you're thinking of The Adventures of Pip. Pip is a pixie, and each story in the book contains a nature lesson. In "Little Black Bibs," the male sparrows are given black bibs so they can be told apart from the female sparrows. And in "A Crock of Gold," the blackbirds dip their beaks into a bran tub and they turn a brilliant gold. There are lots of other stories in the book which look at toads, birds' nests, hedgehogs, bees, bluebells, holly, etc. Charming tales, beautifully illustrated by Raymond Sheppard.

Anita

[Bramble7]

thank you so much, that is the book, it was really bugging me that I couldn't remember the name, i'm off to buy it now!!!!

[Topsy-Turvy]

I remember The Adventure of Pip being the book where the birds dip to get their golden beaks. Not sure about the 2nd story though as I came across another story in the Purnell Sunshine Library books where this elf/pixie fed the birds for winter too (and it wasn't Pip!).

Speaking of dear Pip, has anyone read More Adventures of Pip...?

[Anita Bensoussane]

Hi,

Bramble, I hope The Adventures of Pip is the book you're looking for. As Topsy-Turvy says, there is also a story about sparrows being given bibs in Bedtime Stories (Purnell Sunshine Library). I've just checked and it's called "The Sparrow Children." The sparrows in that story are given black cloth bibs, whereas the sparrows in the Pip story are dabbed with black paint. However, there are no stories about blackbirds' beaks in Bedtime Stories.

Topsy-Turvy, which edition of The Adventures of Pip do you have? I have a 1970s Dean & Son Ltd copy, which I believe contains both the eariler titles in one volume (ie The Adventures of Pip and More Adventures of Pip, even though it is called The Adventures of Pip.) The Dean & Son Ltd book contains about 60 stories, while the two earlier volumes contain about 30 stories each. I learnt from an article in the Journal that there are also many uncollected Pip stories, which were published in a newspaper - the Sunday Graphic, I think (Tony will correct me if I'm wrong!) In fact, I believe that all the Pip stories were originally published in the Sunday Graphic, including the ones that appeared in the books.

Anita