Wild rose

[goblinwood]

I am looking for a story in one of the Bedside Books called Why the
Wild Rose Grows Tall about a witch who uses her cat's claws to grow
a rose. Has any member an idea of the date of this book?

[Anita Bensoussane]

Hi Goblinwood,

Do you mean the Barker Bedside Books, or the World Distributors Bedside Books? I checked the Book Listing on this site (see Home Page) and couldn't find that story in the Barker Bedside Books. However, it may well have been in one of the World Distributors Bedside Books, as not all the stories from those are listed yet. I have the story myself in Enid Blyton's Bedtime Annual (World Distributors, 1968), and it's called "How the Wild Rose Grew Tall." The story also appears in Tales of Green Hedges (1946), with the title "The Witch's Cat." Hope someone can tell you exactly which book you want. If you look at the Book Listing pages you'll be able to see the covers of all the Bedside Books, which may jog your memory. Best of luck in finding the story!

Anita

[Tony Summerfield]

Anita has more or less answered that for me, before I could get my message done, but the Bedside Book you are looking for is No. 14 published in 1970 - and therefore not in our Book Listing yet. It was as Anita points out one of the many stories where World Distributors changed the title as it was originally called 'The Witch's Cat'.

Best wishes
Tony

[Anita Bensoussane]

Funnily enough, I came across this story again today in a Cliveden Press paperback (1991) which I picked up in a charity shop (Clever-One the Imp and Other Stories.) The title has reverted to "The Witch's Cat." What I found strange is that the same volume contains another story called "The Magic Claws," which is also about cats' claws being used for thorns on a wild rose, to help it hook on to things and grow tall. I see from the Book Listing that this second story was originally published in Sunny Stories, but that it also appeared in the World Distributors Bedside Book Number 5.

Anita