More about Mary Poppins / И снова о Мэри Поппинз

Did you notice that Aunt Flossie nearly went mad with delight when I did it yesterday? �The Darling, the Clever, the Marvel, the Creature!’ – didn’t you hear her saying all that?” And John threw his foot from him and roared with laughter as he thought of Aunt Flossie.

“She liked my trick, too,” said Barbara complacently. “I took off both my socks and she said I was so sweet she would like to eat me. Isn’t it funny – when I say I’d like to eat something I really mean it. Biscuits and Rusks and the knobs of beds and so on.

But Grown-ups never mean what they say, it seems to me. She couldn’t have really wanted to eat me, could she?”

“No. It’s only the idiotic way they have of talking,” said John. “I don’t believe I’ll ever understand Grown-ups. They all seem so stupid. And even Jane and Michael are stupid sometimes.”

“Um,” agreed Barbara, thoughtfully pulling off her socks and putting them on again.

“For instance,” John went on, “they don’t understand a single thing we say.

But, worse than that, they don’t understand what other things say. Why, only last Monday I heard Jane remark that she wished she knew what language the Wind spoke.”

“I know,” said Barbara. “It’s astonishing. And Michael always insists – haven’t you heard him? – that the Starling says �Wee-Twe – ee – ee!’ He seems not to know that the Starling says nothing of the kind, but speaks exactly the same language as we do. Of course, one doesn’t expect Mother and Father to know about it – they don’t know anything, though they are such darlings – but you’d think Jane and Michael would – ”

“They did once,” said Mary Poppins, folding up one of Jane’s nightgowns.

“What?” said John and Barbara together in very surprised voices. “Really? You mean they understood the Starling and the Wind and – ”

“And what the trees say and the language of the sunlight and the stars – of course they did! Once,” said Mary Poppins.

“But – but how is it that they’ve forgotten it all?” said John, wrinkling up his forehead and trying to understand.

“Aha!” said the Starling knowingly, looking up from the remains of his biscuit. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Because they’ve grown older,” explained Mary Poppins. “Barbara, put on your socks at once, please.”

“That’s a silly reason,” said John, looking sternly at her.