The Ugly Old Scarecrow and other stories by Enid Blyton is a collection of fifteen short stories titled, The Very Old Kettle, Louise and Bobs Have an Adventure, The Apple That Couldn't Be Found, Well, Really, Old Grandad, Polly Piglet, Gillian Earns Some Money, Billy-Dog, Mr. Tweeky's Magic Pockets, The Talking Teapot, How Lucky They Were, The Wizard's Needle, What a Surprise, The Chocolate Cock, Funny Face and The Ugly Old Scarecrow.
The Very Old Kettle is about a kettle which once belonged to a family and was thrown away after it grew old. The kettle was thrown into the garden where it lived in the middle of a blackberry bush for a long time. One morning in Spring, a robin came into the garden with his wife and decided that the kettle would be a good place to make their nest. The robin and his wife built a pretty little nest inside the kettle with hay, dry leaves and moss. Then the two robins lined it with rabbit fluffs and dog hairs and the nest was warm and cosy.
The robin and his wife felt very comfortable inside their nest, and soon the mother robin laid four pretty speckled brown eggs and sat on them while her husband sang sweetly to her.
The kettle was also very happy because this was much better than sitting on the hob. After some time the eggs hatched and four sweet little baby robins came out. The baby robins grew up soon and the kettle felt very sad when the time came for the family of robins to leave.
The kettle felt lonely again until one morning a little girl and boy came by and saw the kettle with the nest inside and took it with them to keep in their nursery.
The kettle is not lonely anymore and has a happy life in the children’s nursery and their friends also see it when they come to tea.
Reviewed by Hannah William