The Faraway Tree

The Faraway Tree

Author	Enid Blyton
Language	English
Genre	Fantasy
Publisher	EgmontUK
Publication date	May, 1939
Publication place	UK

The Faraway Tree is a series of popular novels for children by British author Enid Blyton. The titles in the series are:

1. The Enchanted Wood (1939)
2. The Magic Faraway Tree (1943)
3. The Folk of the Faraway Tree (1946)
4. Up the Faraway Tree (1951)

The stories take place in an enchanted forest in which a gigantic magical tree - the eponymous "Faraway Tree" - grows. The tree is so tall that its topmost branches reach into the clouds and it is wide enough to contain small houses carved into its trunk. The forest and the tree are discovered by three children named Jo, Bessie, and Fannie, who move into a house nearby.

The Enchanted Wood

In the first novel in the series, Jo, Bessie and Fanny move to live near a large wood. One day, they go for a walk in the wood and discover an enormous tree whose branches seem to reach into the clouds. This is the Faraway Tree.

When the children climb the Faraway Tree they discover it is inhabited by different magical creatures, including Moon-face, Silky the fairy, The Saucepan Man, Dame Washalot, Mr. Watzisname and the Angry Pixie. They befriend some of these creatures, in particular Moon-face and Silky. At the very top of the tree they discover a ladder which leads them to a magical land. This land is different on each visit, because each place "moves on" from the top of the tree to make way for a new land. The children are free to come and go, but they must leave before the land "moves on" or they will be stuck there until the land returns to the Faraway Tree.

The lands at the top are sometimes extremely unpleasant - for example the Land of Dame Slap, an aggressive schoolteacher - and sometimes fantastically enjoyable - notably, the Land of Birthdays, Land of Goodies and the Land of Take-What-You-Want.

The Magic Faraway Tree

Jo, Bessie and Fanny's cousin Dick comes to stay and he joins the adventures in the magic faraway tree.

The Folk of the Faraway Tree

Connie, a stuck-up girl also comes to stay with the children, while her mother, Lizzie, is ill. At first Connie refuses to believe in the Faraway Tree or the magical folk who live in it, even when an Angry Pixie throws ink at her. Jo, Bessie and Fanny take her to the lands at the top of the tree and Connie gets a few surprises! The Saucepanman's mother decides to live in the tree, after leaving her job as a cook in Dame Snap's land. She sets up a cake shop in the tree.

Updates

• In modern reprints, the names of the children have been changed:
  • Jo is changed to Joe, because the character is a boy and this is the more commonly used spelling of the name for males;
  • Bessie is changed to Beth, because the former name is seldom used as a nickname for Elizabeth;
  • Fanny is changed to Frannie, because the former name is slang for vulva in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand (see Wiktionary entry) and "bottom" in the USA.
  • Cousin Dick, who appears in "The Magic Faraway Tree", has been changed to "Rick" as "Dick" is American and British slang for penis.
• In modern reprints, the character of Dame Slap has been re-named to Dame Snap and she no longer practises corporal punishment but instead reprimands her students by yelling at them very loudly.

Characters

The main characters are Jo, Bessie and Fanny, three siblings. Fanny is the youngest, Bessie is next in age and Jo is their big brother. They live near the Enchanted Wood and are friends of the residents of the Faraway Tree. Other characters include:

• The Angry Pixie. He lives in a house with a tiny window and has a habit of throwing cold water or any liquid at hand over people who dare to peep inside.
• An owl lives in the house after the Angry Pixie's. He is a friend of Silky's.
• Silky, the fairy. Silky is so named because of her long, silky, golden hair.
• Mr.Whatzisname. He cannot remember his name and snores all the time.
• Dame Washalot. She spends her time washing her clothes and throwing the dirty wash water down the tree.
• Moonface. Moonface is so named because of his large round face that looks like a moon. He is the children's closest friend. There is a slippery-slip in his house, a slide which runs down to the bottom of the tree.
• The Saucepan Man lives with Mr. Watzisname. His name stems from the fact that he is covered all over with saucepans and kettles. Sometimes, he cannot understand what his friends are saying because of all the noise from the pans.
• The Saucepan Man's mother lives with Dame Washalot. She runs a cake shop.