The Three Strange Travellers and other stories by Enid Blyton is a collection of seventeen short stories titled The Three Strange Travellers, The Marvellous Pink Vase, Mr Stamp-About in a Fix, Goofy Isn't Very Clever, Mr Miggle's Spectacles, The Roundabout Man, Poor Bunny's Whiskers, Matilda Screams the House Down!, Something Funny Going On, The Tippitty Bird's Feather, He Wouldn't Wipe His Shoes, Mother Hubbard's Honey, Mr Stamp-About Goes Shopping, Jane Goes Out to Stay, Foolish Mr Wop, The Little Boy Who Peeped and The Forgetful Girl.
Something Funny Going On begins with Mrs. Jones and her family leaving home to go on a holiday. Mrs. Jones tells the domestic help to feed the cat called Whiskers who lives in a comfortable little box inside the summerhouse. Mrs. Jones goes to feed the cat everyday and on the third day she hears strange noises from the garden shed where Mr. Jones kept his gardening equipment. She thinks it is a mouse and tells Whiskers to come and sit by the door and then goes home.
The next day, Mrs. Jones hears strange noises from the shed again and requests the policeman on duty nearby to have a look inside the shed of the garden of Red Chimneys. Can you guess what the policeman finds?
The Three Strange Travellers is about an old billy-goat, a duck and a little dog who are not wanted by their masters and meet by the roadside one day. They walked together for miles during day time and found a sheltered place under a bush or near a haystack to sleep at night. But as Winter approached they became anxious and then one afternoon there was a snowstorm and they needed shelter. The dog goes in search of shelter and finds a small cottage up a little hill. The kind old lady who lived in the cottage takes pity on the dog, goat and duck and gives them shelter for the night. She thinks that the animals have got lost in the storm and does not know that they are homeless. The animals wished that they could tell her about their plight but she could not understand their language and they go out into the snow and fend for themselves.
Reviewed by Hannah William