The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me Read online

  And his Stickjaw for talkative parents.

  And his Mint Jujubes that will give the boy next door green teeth for a month.

  On the Grand Opening Day, I decided to allow all my customers to help themselves for free, and the place was so crowded with children you could hardly move. The television cameras and the newspaper reporters were all there, and the old Duke himself stood outside in the road with my friends the Giraffe and the Pelly and the Monkey watching the marvellous scene. I came out of the shop to join them for a few moments and I brought each of them a bag of extra special sweets as a present.

  To the Duke, because the weather was a little chilly, I gave some Scarlet Scorchdroppers that had been sent to me from Iceland. The label said that they were guaranteed to make the person who sucked them as warm as toast even if he were standing stark naked at the North Pole in midwinter. The moment the Duke popped one into his mouth, thick smoke came gushing out of the old boy's nostrils in such quantities that I thought his moustaches were going up in flames.

  'Terrific!' he cried, hopping about. 'Tremendous stuff! I'll take a case of them home with me!'

  To the Giraffe I gave a bag of Glumptious Globgobblers. The Globgobbler is an especially delicious sweet that is made somewhere near Mecca, and the moment you bite into it, all the perfumed juices of Arabia go squirting down your gullet one after the other.

  'It's wonderful!' cried the Giraffe as a cascade of lovely liquid flavours poured all the way down her long long throat. 'It's even better than my favourite pink and purple flowers!'

  To the Pelican I gave a big bag of Pishlets. Pishlets, as you probably know, are bought by children who are unable to whistle a tune as they walk along the street but long to do so. They had a splendid effect upon the Pelican, for after he had put one of them into his beak and chewed it for a while, he suddenly started singing like a nightingale. This made him wildly excited because Pelicans are not song-birds. No Pelican had ever been known to whistle a tune before.

  To the Monkey I gave bag of Devil's Drenchers, those small fiery black sweets that one is not allowed to sell to children under four years old. When you have sucked a Devil's Drencher for a minute or so, you can set your breath alight and blow a huge column of fire twenty feet into the air. The Duke put a match to the Monkey's breath and shouted, 'Blow, Monkey, blow!' A sheet of orange flame shot up as high as the roof of the Grubber house and it was wonderful.

  'I've got to leave you now,' I said. 'I must go and look after my customers in the shop.'

  'We must go, too,' said the Giraffe. 'We have one hundred windows to clean before dark.'

  I said goodbye to the Duke, and then one by one I said goodbye to the three best friends I had ever had. Suddenly, we all became very quiet and melancholy, and the Monkey looked as though he was about to cry as he sang me a little song of farewell:

  'We have tears in our eyes

  As we wave our goodbyes,

  We so loved being with you, we three.

  So do please now and then

  Come and see us again,

  The Giraffe and the Pelly and me.

  All you do is to look

  At a page in this book

  Because that's where we always will be.

  No book ever ends

  When it's full of your friends

  The Giraffe and the Pelly and me.'

  Find out more about Roald Dahl by visiting the website at roalddahl.com

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

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  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  puffinbooks.com

  First published in the USA by Farrar, Straus and Giroux Inc. 1985

  Published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape Ltd 1985

  This edition with new illustrations published by Jonathan Cape Ltd 1992

  Published in Puffin Books 1993

  Text copyright (c) Roald Dahl Nominee Ltd, 1985

  Illustrations copyright (c) Quentin Blake, 1992

  All rights reserved

  The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book

  ISBN: 978-0-14196346-4

  THERE'S MORE TO ROALD DAHL THAN GREAT STORIES ...

  Did you know that 10% of Roald Dahl's royalties* from this book go to help the work of the Roald Dahl charities?

  * * *

  Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity exists to make life better for seriously ill children because it believes that every child has the right to a marvellous life.

  This marvellous charity helps thousands of children each year living with serious conditions of the blood and the brain - causes important to Roald Dahl in his lifetime - whether by providing nurses, equipment or toys for today's children in the UK, or helping tomorrow's children everywhere through pioneering research.

  Can you do something marvellous to help others? Find out how at www.marvellouschildrenscharity.org

  * * *

  * * *

  The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, based in Great Missenden just outside London, is in the Buckinghamshire village where Roald Dahl lived and wrote. At the heart of the Museum, created to inspire a love of reading and writing, is his unique archive of letters and manuscripts. As well as two fun-packed biographical galleries, the Museum boasts an interactive Story Centre. It is a place for the family, teachers and their pupils to explore the exciting world of creativity and literacy.

  Find out more at www.roalddahlmuseum.org

  * * *

  Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity (RDMCC) is a registered charity no. 1137409.

  The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre (RDMSC) is a registered charity no. 1085853.

  The Roald Dahl Charitable Trust is a registered charity no. 1119330 and supports the work of RDMCC and RDMSC.

  * Donated royalties are net of commission