Mary Poppins - the Complete Collection. P.L. Travers

the good of knowing if you don’t tell anyone?” grumbled Michael, but he said it under his breath so that Mary Poppins couldn’t hear. . .

      Jane and Michael could never remember having been put to bed so quickly as they were that night. Mary Poppins blew out the light very early, and went away as hurriedly as though all the winds of the world were blowing behind her.

      It seemed to them that they had been there no time, however, when they heard a low voice whispering at the door.

      “Hurry, Jane and Michael!” said the voice. “Get some things on and hurry!”

      They jumped out of their beds, surprised and startled.

      “Come on,” said Jane. “Something’s happening.” And she began to rummage for some clothes in the darkness.

      “Hurry!” called the voice again.

      “Oh dear, all I can find is my sailor hat and a pair of gloves!” said Michael, running round the room pulling at drawers and feeling along shelves.

      “Those’ll do. Put them on. It isn’t cold. Come on.”

      Jane herself had only been able to find a little coat of John’s, but she squeezed her arms into it and opened the door. There was nobody there, but they seemed to hear something hurrying away down the stairs. Jane and Michael followed. Whatever it was, or whoever it was, kept continually in front of them.

      They never saw it, but they had the distinct sensation of being led on and on by something that constantly beckoned them to follow. Presently they were in the Lane, their slippers making a soft hissing noise on the pavement as they scurried along.

      “Hurry!” urged the voice again from a nearby corner, but when they turned it they could still see nothing. They began to run, hand in hand, following the voice down streets, through alleyways, under arches and across Parks until, panting and breathless, they were brought to a standstill beside a large turnstile in a wall.

      “Here you are!” said the voice.

      “Where?” called Michael to it. But there was no reply. Jane moved towards the turnstile, dragging Michael by the hand.

      “Look!” she said. “Don’t you see where we are? It’s the Zoo!”

      A very bright full moon was shining in the sky and by its light Michael examined the iron grating and looked through the bars. Of course! How silly of him not to have known it was the Zoo!

      “But how shall we get in?” he said. “We’ve no money.”

      “That’s all right!” said a deep, gruff voice from within. “Special Visitors allowed in free tonight. Push the wheel, please!”

      Jane and Michael pushed and were through the turnstile in a second.

      “Here’s your ticket,” the gruff voice said, and, looking up, they found that it came from a huge Brown Bear who was wearing a coat with brass buttons and a peaked cap on his head. In his paw were two pink tickets which he held out to the children.

      “But we usually give tickets,” said Jane.

      “Usual is as usual does. Tonight you receive them,” said the Bear, smiling.

      Michael had been regarding him closely.

      “I remember you,” he said to the Bear. “I once gave you a tin of golden syrup.”

      “You did,” said the Bear. “And you forgot to take the lid off. Do you know, I was more than ten days working at that lid? Be more careful in the future.”

      “But why aren’t you in your cage? Are you always out at night?” said Michael.

      “No – only when the Birthday falls on a Full Moon. But you must excuse me. I must attend to the gate.” And the Bear turned away and began to spin the handle of the turnstile again.

      Jane and Michael, holding their tickets, walked on into the Zoo grounds. In the light of the full moon every tree and flower and shrub was visible, and they could see the houses and cages quite clearly.

      “There seems to be a lot going on,” observed Michael.

      And indeed, there was. Animals were running about on all the paths, sometimes accompanied by birds and sometimes alone. Two wolves ran past the children, talking eagerly to a very tall stork who was tiptoeing between them with dainty, delicate movements. Jane and Michael distinctly caught the words “Birthday” and “Full Moon” as they went by.

      In the distance three camels were strolling along side by side, and not far away a beaver and an American vulture were deep in conversation. And they all seemed to the children to be discussing the same subject.

      “Whose Birthday is it, I wonder?” said Michael, but Jane was moving ahead, gazing at a curious sight.

      Just by the Elephant Stand a very large, very fat old gentleman was walking up and down on all fours, and on his back, on two small parallel seats, were eight monkeys going for a ride.

      “Why, it’s all upside down!” exclaimed Jane.

      The old gentleman gave her an angry look as he went past.

      “Upside down!” he snorted. “Me! Upside down? Certainly not. Gross insult!” The eight monkeys laughed rudely.

      “Oh, please – I didn’t mean you – but the whole thing,” explained Jane, hurrying after him to apologize. “On ordinary days the animals carry human beings and now there’s a human being carrying the animals. That’s what I meant.”

      But the old gentleman, shuffling and panting, insisted that he had been insulted, and hurried away with the monkeys screaming on his back.

      Jane saw it was no good following him, so she took Michael’s hand and moved onwards. They were startled when a voice, almost at their feet, hailed them.

      “Come on, you two! In you come, Let’s see you dive for a bit of orange peel you don’t want.” It was a bitter, angry voice, and looking down they saw that it came from a small black Seal who was leering at them from a moonlit pool of water.

      “Come on, now – and see how you like it!” he said.

      “But – but we can’t swim!” said Michael.

      “Can’t help that!” said the Seal. “You should have thought of that before. Nobody ever bothers to find out whether I can swim or not. Eh, what? What’s that?”

      He spoke the last question to another Seal who had emerged from the water and was whispering in his ear.

      “Who?” said the first Seal. “Speak up!”

      The second Seal whispered again. Jane caught the words “Special Visitors – Friends of—” and then no more. The first Seal seemed disappointed, but he said politely enough to Jane and Michael:

      “Oh, beg pardon. Pleased to meet you. Beg pardon.” And he held out his flipper and shook hands limply with them both.

      “Look where you’re going, can’t you?” he shouted, as something bumped into Jane. She turned quickly and gave a little frightened start as she beheld an enormous Lion. The eyes of the Lion brightened as he saw her.

      “Oh, I say—” he began. “I didn’t know it was you! This place is so crowded tonight and I’m in such a hurry to see the humans fed I’m afraid I didn’t look where I was going. Coming along? You oughtn’t to miss it, you know—”

      “Perhaps,” said Jane politely, “you’d show us the way.” She was a little uncertain of the Lion, but he seemed kindly enough. “And after all,” she thought, “everything is topsy-turvy tonight.”

      “Dee-lighted!” said the Lion in rather a mincing voice, and he offered her his arm. She took it, but to be on the safe side she kept Michael