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Jemima Puddleduck original story

113 replies

user1471517900 · 03/10/2017 07:29

We had a box set gifted to us so thought we would read Jemima last night by request. Dear god that book has a needlessly horrific ending (was hurriedly changed in our reading). Dogs save her from the fox.... Then eat her eggs and then it states she's a rubbish mum for no real reason. What is wrong with Beatrix Potter?! Last three pages attached - apologies if a couple are sideways.

Did everyone else know about these original stories?

Jemima Puddleduck original story
Jemima Puddleduck original story
Jemima Puddleduck original story
OP posts:
EBearhug · 04/10/2017 09:17

I thought Silky was always a fairy. If I remember, I may check the books later, but I won't be home till late.

MaroonPencil · 04/10/2017 12:09

I'm sure Silky was always a fairy. The Angry Pixie was a pixie. Moon Face is...whatever he is.

peachgreen · 04/10/2017 12:14

Blyton fanatic here confirming that Silky was always a fairy.

Housewife2010 · 04/10/2017 13:26

In my childhood 1970s editions Silky was definitely a pixie. www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book-details.php?id=216

YetAnotherSpartacus · 04/10/2017 13:33

Actually I'm sure she is an elf. That's what it says on the dust jacket that housewife linked and that's how she is described in my own copy!

UnicornRainbowColours · 04/10/2017 13:37

Her books are wonderful, they were written in another time when not everything was sugar coated etc.

I grew up on a farm and nothing was sugar coated, lol

these books are perhaps a little to harsh for the snowflakes of today I guess.

Housewife2010 · 04/10/2017 13:48

Yes. Silky was an elf. I knew she had been updated to a fairy. She's described at beginning of chapter 3 here as an elf. www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/82524956/Blyton-Enid-the-Enchanted-Wood-3-the-Folk-of-the-Faraway-Tree-1946

OlennasWimple · 04/10/2017 13:48

The sandy-whiskered gentleman was clearly grooming Jemima in a Humbert Humbert sort of way

I remember being terrified by The Witches when I was little, but still read the book over and over again. Sometimes it's good to let children be scared!

TinklyLittleLaugh · 04/10/2017 13:59

Tommy Brock was the figure of fear in our house for years. Strangely the kids still asked for the stories though.

MaroonPencil · 04/10/2017 14:26

She was a fairy in the 1980s. But if she wasn't originally a fairy that does explain something to me and the kids, and that is why she never flies, even when it would be quite helpful to do so!

But hang on, isn't there a bit where she gets turned into a doll, and she is a fairy doll to go on the top of a Christmas tree? Although I suppose she could be an elf and then turn into a fairy doll. And hang on again, the other elves are all beardy creatures that are more like gnomes, unless they have changed as well.

MaroonPencil · 04/10/2017 14:35

Ah, I see the other elves were originally brownies.

MaroonPencil · 04/10/2017 14:49

Sorry, I have totally hijacked OP's thread, but I have just had a look at the original Faraway Tree book linked and it is hilarious what has been changed in the modern one. For example at one point in the modern one the tree is growing raisins, which lead to much derision when we were reading it as obviously raisins don't grow on trees. Silly old Enid. But the original said "white currants". Someone has obviously decided currants and raisins are kind of the same thing (!) and either that children nowadays won't understand what white currants are, or that what with Blyton being a well-known racist and everything, any reference to white, brown or black needs to be expunged. I honestly am not sure which it is, but we have a copy of Amelia Jane where "black telephone" has been changed to "telephone" so who knows.

Also Connie's sardine ice-cream is a fish ice-cream now. Why?! And when a cat comes by looking for his treat, he now hopes it will be fish, not mice sandwiches. What's wrong with mice sandwiches? Why is it OK to eat fish but not mice??

Housewife2010 · 04/10/2017 16:19

Don't forget that the infamous Dame Slap from the Wishing Chair books becomes Dame Snap in the later books and tells off children rather than hitting them!

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