the world went spinning round them – or were they spinning round the world? And then, whichever it was ceased.
They found themselves in a grassy clearing surrounded by bamboo trees. Green paperlike leaves rustled in the breeze. And above that quiet swishing they could hear a steady rhythmic sound – a snore, or was it a purr?
Glancing round, they beheld a large furry shape – black with blotches of white, or was it white with blotches of black? They could not really be sure.
Jane and Michael gazed at each other. Was it a dream from which they would wake? Or were they seeing, of all things, a Panda! And a Panda in its own home and not behind bars in a zoo.
The dream, if it was a dream, drew a long breath.
“Whoever it is, please go away, I rest in the afternoon.”
The voice was as furry as the rest of him.
“Very well, then, we will go away. And then perhaps” – Mary Poppins’s voice was at its most priggish – “you’ll be sorry you missed us.”
The Panda opened one black eye. “Oh, it’s you, my dear girl,” he said sleepily. “Why not have let me know you were coming? Difficult though it would have been, for you I would have stayed awake.” The furry shape yawned and stretched itself. “Ah well, I’ll have to make a home for you all. There wouldn’t be enough room in mine.” He nodded at a neat shelter made of leaves and bamboo sticks. “But,” he added, eying the herring, “I will not allow that scaly sea-thing under any roof of mine. Fishes are far too fishy for me.”
“We shall not be staying,” Mary Poppins assured him. “We’re taking a little trip round the world and just looked in for a moment.”
“What nonsense!” The Panda gave an enormous yawn. “Traipsing wildly round the world when you could stay here with me. Never mind, my dear Mary, you always do what you want to do, however absurd and foolish. Pluck a few young bamboo shoots. They’ll sustain you till you get home. And you two” – he nodded at Jane and Michael – “tickle me gently behind the ears. That always sends me to sleep.”
Eagerly they sat down beside him and stroked the silky fur. Never again – they were sure of it – would they have the chance of stroking a Panda.
The furry shape settled itself and, as they stroked, the snore – or the purr – began its rhythm.
“He’s asleep,” said Mary Poppins softly. “We mustn’t wake him again.” She beckoned to the children, and as they came on tiptoe towards her, she gave a flick of her wrist. And the compass, apparently, understood, for the spinning began again.
Hills and lakes, mountains and forests went waltzing round them to unheard music. Then again the world was still, as if it had never moved.
This time they found themselves on a long white shore, with wavelets lapping and curling against it.
And immediately before them was a cloud of whirling, swirling sand from which came a series of grunts. Then slowly the cloud settled, disclosing a large black and grey Dolphin with a young one at her side.
“Is that you, Amelia?” called Mary Poppins.
The Dolphin blew some sand from her nose and gave a start of surprise. “Well, of all people, it’s Mary Poppins! You’re just in time to share our sand-bath. Nothing like a sand-bath for cleansing the fins and the tail.”
“I had a bath this morning, thank you!”
“Well, what about those young ones, dear? Couldn’t they do with a bit of scouring?”
“They have no fins and tails,” said Mary Poppins, much to the children’s disappointment. They would have liked a roll in the sand.
“Well, what on earth or sea are you doing here?” Amelia demanded briskly.
“Oh, just going round the world, you know,” Mary Poppins said airily, as though going round the world was a thing you did every day.
“Well, it’s a treat for Froggie and me – isn’t it, Froggie? Amelia butted him with her nose, and the young Dolphin gave a friendly squeak.
“I call him Froggie because he so often strays away – just like the Frog that would a-wooing go, whether his mother would let him or no. Don’t you, Froggie?” Her answer was another squeak.
“Well, now for a meal. What would you like?” Amelia grinned at Jane and Michael, displaying a splendid array of teeth. “There’s cockles and mussels alive, alive-O. And the seaweed here is excellent.”
“Thank you kindly, I’m sure, Amelia. But we have to be home in half a minute.” Mary Poppins laid a firm hand on the handle of the perambulator.
Amelia was clearly disappointed.
“Whatever kind of visit is that? Hullo and goodbye in the same breath. Next time you must stay for tea, and we’ll all sit together on a rock and sing a song to the moon. Eh, Froggie?”
Froggie squeaked.
“That will be lovely,” said Mary Poppins, and Jane and Michael echoed her words. They had never yet sat on a rock and sung a song to the moon.
“Well, au revoir, one and all. By the way, Mary, my dear, were you going to take that herring with you?”
Amelia greedily eyed the fish, which, fearing the worst was about to happen, made itself as limp as it could in Mary Poppins’s hand.
“No. I am planning to throw it back to the sea!” The herring gasped with relief.
“A very proper decision, Mary,” Amelia toothily smiled. “We get so few of them in these parts, and they make a delicious meal. Why don’t we race for it, Froggie and me? When you say ‘Go!’, we’ll start swimming and see who gets it first.”
Mary Poppins held the fish aloft.
“Ready! Steady! Go!” she cried.
And as if it were bird rather than fish, the herring swooped up and splashed into the sea.
The Dolphins were after it in a second, two dark striving shapes rippling through the water.
Jane and Michael could hardly breathe. Which would win the prize? Or would the prize escape?
“Froggie! Froggie! Froggie!” yelled Michael. If the herring had to be caught and eaten, he wanted Froggie to win.
“F-r-o-g-g-i-e!” The wind and sea both cried the name, but Michael’s voice was the stronger.
“What do you think you’re doing, Michael?” Mary Poppins sounded ferocious.
He glanced at her for a moment and turned again to the sea.
But the sea was not there. Nothing but a neat green lawn; Jane, agog, beside him; the Twins in the perambulator; and Mary Poppins pushing it in the middle of the Park.
“Jumping
