The Fly-Away Cottage and other stories by Enid Blyton is a collection of fourteen short stories titled The Flyaway Cottage, Lazy Lenny, Dicky Dawdle's Adventures, Think Hard, Boatman, The Dirty Old Hat, Freddie Has a Job, A Visitor to Dinner, The Smugglers’ Caves, Patter's Adventures, It Really Served Him Right, The Surprising Buns, The Naughty Little Blacksmith, Little Mr. Tuppeny and Take Firm Hold of the Nettle.
Think Hard, Boatman is about a ferryman named Splash who lived in a house beside the river and had a boat that was painted blue. Everyone liked going across the river in Splash’s boat, but Splash did not like to take the wizard in his boat because he could cast a spell and take his boat to the moon or to some other horrible place. Splash did not like to take the giant either because he was afraid that he might weigh down the boat. And Splash did not like it when the evil witch named Grim told him that she had some goods that have to be taken across the river, which put Splash in a terrible predicament but he is very clever and manages to escape.
The Surprising Buns is about a woman named Bustle who baked buns for her brother, the policeman who came to tea on Saturday afternoons. Now Grumple Goblin who lived next door also liked the buns Bustle made, and he was very greedy and he stole the buns which was very wrong.
Grumple is eventually caught, punished and humiliated which serves him right for being a nasty thief.
Reviewed by Hannah William